Firefox 3.6x vs Firefox 9?

[Allan]

I guess the time is coming when I'm going to have to switch from Firefox 3.6 to the latest release. I've tried the newer versions a couple of times and kept going back to 3.6, with which I'm very comfortable. Who here as made the "upgrade" (I hesitate to use that word ) and what do you think? Speed aside, are you happy with the new version? Comfortable with it? Any issues with incompatible add ons?
 
  Thanks.

[patio]

Did the same as you so i'll also be interested in the responses...
(.0 lasted 3 days on my Main rig and i reverted to 3.6...been there ever since.

[Allan]

Yep, exactly. Problem is they are going to cease supporting 3.6 soon so it obviously won't be updated with security patches.

[kpac]

Pretty much no difference on the visual side of things, except the new Firefox button in the top left corner where all the options are now located.

I can't answer for addons as I don't use any except WOT and Garmin Communicator.

As regards speed, I haven't noticed any difference in loading times, but then again I'm not one of these speed-freaks where 10 milliseconds makes a massive difference.

[soybean]

Any issues with incompatible add ons?

Don't be surprised if you see a notice, when upgrading with later versions of Firefox, that one or more add-ons may/will not work immediately after you upgraded Firefox because the add-ons haven't been updated yet to be compatible with the latest version of Firefox.  In other words, the add-on developers sometimes lag a bit behind the latest releases of Firefox, but they usually catch up within a short time.

[Allan]

Yes, I'm aware of that thanks. I have the add-on compatibility reporter installed, which will help with some of them.

[patio]

MRTech Toolkit works well on letting all addons work...updated or not...
Works 98% of the time while waiting on updates for addons.

[Allan]

I have MRTech installed and didn't realize that was one of the options. Thanks.

[patio]

Anytime Captain...

[Salmon Trout]

Pretty much no difference on the visual side of things, except the new Firefox button in the top left corner where all the options are now located.

The first thing I did when the look changed was install the "Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4+"

http://ffaddons.game-point.net/ff3ff4/



I have quite a mix of addons

[Allan]

Cool - I'm going to use that. And I'm glad to see Tab Mix Plus works.

[evilfantasy]

Been using the latest 9.0/9.1 for a while now. Works fine.

If Tab Mix Plus ever doesn't work there is usually a Dev-Build that does. TMP Builds

Pretty much no difference on the visual side of things, except the new Firefox button in the top left corner where all the options are now located.

You can disable that and have the old menu back.

Right click an empty space next to the orange button and click Menu Bar.

I can't answer for addons as I don't use any except WOT and Garmin Communicator.

I use quite a few and all of them work fine with FF 9.1. The ones that didn't work I replaced with similar ones from different authors and in a few cases are better than what I was using. Extension List Dumper gives compatibility info plus a lot of other info and puts your add-ons into text and other formats for easy list copying/pasting/saving.

Application: Firefox 9.0.1 (20111220165912)
Operating System: WINNT (x86-msvc)

Total number of items: 29

• Adblock Plus 2.0.3
  
  • Conkeror 0.1 - 100.0
  • Fennec 4.0 - 11.0a1
  • Firefox 3.6.13 - 12.0a1
  • SeaMonkey 2.1 - 2.9a1
  • Thunderbird 3.1.7 - 12.0a1
• BBCodeXtra 0.3.2
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 12.0a1
  • SeaMonkey 2.0 - 2.1a1pre
• Bing Search for Firefox 1
  
  • Firefox 4.0 - 10.0a1
• Copy Pure Text 2.0.1
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 10.*
  • SeaMonkey 2.0a - 2.7a1
  • Thunderbird 3.0 - 10.0a1
• Deng Google Bookmarks 1.6
  
  • Firefox 2.0 - 9.*
• Extension List Dumper 1.15.2
  
  • Firefox 1.5 - 10.*
  • Flock 1.0 - 2.*
  • Songbird 0.4 - 1.11.0a
  • Sunbird 0.3 - 0.9
  • Thunderbird 1.5 - 6.*
• Flagfox 4.1.11
  
  • Firefox 3.5 - 11.0a2
  • SeaMonkey 2.0 - 2.8a2
• FoxLingo 2.7.2
  
  • Firefox 1.5 - 10.*
  • Flock 0.4+ - 2.6+
  • Mozilla 1.4 - 1.8
  • SeaMonkey 1.0 - 2.1a1pre
• Ghostery 2.6.2
  
  • Firefox 3.5 - 12.0a1
  • Flock 0.7 - 1.0.*
  • SeaMonkey 2.0a - 2.1b1
• Google Bookmarks for Firefox 0.7
  
  • Firefox 1.5 - 10.*
  • Flock 0.4 - 0.8
• Google Reader Watcher 1.6.3
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 10.*
• Google Shortcuts 2.1.7.1
  
  • Firefox 2.0a1 - 10.*
• IE Tab 2 (FF 3.6+) 4.1.3.1
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 12.0a1
• Imgur Uploader 1.0.3
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 10.*
• Malware Search 0.9.4
  
  • Firefox 1.0 - 10.*
• Open With 5.0.3
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 12.0a1
  • SeaMonkey 2.0 - 2.1b3
• OptimizeGoogle 0.79.1
  
  • (Disabled)
  • eMusic Remote 1.0 - 1.*
  • Firefox 1.0 - 10.*
  • Flock 0.4 - 2.*
  • SeaMonkey 2.0 - 2.7a1
  • Songbird 0.4 - 1.*
• Plus One Button 1.0.3.1
  
  • Firefox 4.0 - 11.0a1
• SimilarWeb 1.4.27
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 9.*
  • Flock 0.4+ - 2.5.*
• Skype Click to Call 5.8.0.8855
  
  • (Disabled)
  • Firefox 3.6 - 9.*
• Smiley Xtra 5.0.7
  
  • Firefox 3.6 - 10.*
• StumbleUpon 3.99
  
  • Firefox 1.0 - 11.0a1
  • Flock 0.4 - 2.*
  • Mozilla 1.5 - 1.8+
  • Netscape Navigator 8.0 - 9.0
  • SeaMonkey 1.0 - 2.1a1pre
• Tab Mix Plus 0.3.8.7
  
  • Firefox 3.5 - 10.*
• TinEye Reverse Image Search 1.1
  
  • Firefox 1.5 - 10.*
• Toolbar Buttons 1.0
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 10.*
  • Flock 2.0 - 2.5.*
  • [email protected] 1.0.0 - 2.0.*
  • Sunbird 1.0pre - 1.0pre
  • Thunderbird 3.0a1pre - 3.3a2pre
• VTzilla 1.2
  
  • Firefox 1.5 - 10.*
• WebMail Notifier 2.9
  
  • Firefox 1.5 - 12.0a1
  • SeaMonkey 1.0 - 2.9a1
  • Thunderbird 3.0 - 12.0a1
• WOT 20111107
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 12.0a1
  • SeaMonkey 2.0b2 - 2.6a1
• Xmarks 4.0.5
  
  • Firefox 3.0 - 12.0a1
  • Flock 0.7 - 2.6.*
  • SeaMonkey 2.0a1 - 2.9a1

[Allan]

I also have a bunch, but the three most important ones for me are Tab Mix Plus, Colorful Tabs and Google Toolbar. I now know the first two will work fine, and I've read a workaround for Google. I'll probably give it a go in the next few days. Thanks to everyone who responded

[evilfantasy]

and I've read a workaround for Google.

Google Toolbar - Requires Firefox 2.0 - 4.0.* http://www.google.com/toolbar/ff/index.html

I use a lot of Google services also but prefer to use the Google Shortcuts and the Google Bookmarks for Firefox add-ons instead of a toolbar.

[Allan]

Okay, just upgraded my primary system and so far so good. Thanks ST - without your suggestion about the theme I'd still hate it (couldn't stand that blue / gray color of the toolbars).

EF - Google toolbar DOES work - just need to make a couple of changes / tweaks first. See these two links:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/add-on-compatibility-reporter/
http://www.itsabhik.com/tech/how-to-enable-google-toolbar-in-firefox-5-10.html

[Allan]

There are a couple of themes I tried to install but they downloaded as .jar files instead. Does anyone know how to "install" them so they show as available themes in the add-on window? Thanks.

[evilfantasy]

Never heard of that but after playing around you can try this.

Open the add-on manager > Appearance > click the little gear and choose Install Add-on From File...

Be sure to restart FF once it's installed.

[patio]

There are a couple of themes I tried to install but they downloaded as .jar files instead. Does anyone know how to "install" them so they show as available themes in the add-on window? Thanks.

Tools/Addons/Themes...clik Install at the bottom...
An Explorer type window opens looking/asking for the location of the .jars...

[evilfantasy]

It's different with the new versions Patio. The Add-on manager opens in a tab.

[patio]

EF you guys just wanna force me into it huh ? ?......

 

[evilfantasy]

One or two minor tweaks and you will hardly notice the change.

[patio]

You can be very convincing you know....

[evilfantasy]

That's what she said...

[Allan]

Thanks EF & patio

patio - after a few tweaks I'm happy with it. Go ahead and do it, you'll be fine. That theme ST mentioned makes a huge difference, as does the compatibility reporter.

[kpac]

Why not use Personas?

[Allan]

I'm big on plain. Don't like all that fancy stuff.

[Salmon Trout]

Why not use Personas?

Themes change the appearance of Firefox. A Persona is a special type of theme that changes the look of your browser without changing the navigation buttons, toolbars, and menus. I got the impression that Allan wanted to preserve the layout and look of Firefox 3.x buttons, menus etc after migrating to the post-Firefox 4 generation. As far as I can see from a quick look, Personas enable you to have a cute flowers, Hello Kitty or Batman or whatever type of adornment without altering the basic browser setup.

[Salmon Trout]

I'm big on plain. Don't like all that fancy stuff.

Cross posted... me too.

[Salmon Trout]

By the way, if you miss having a status bar at the bottom, there is an addon called Status-4-Evar

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/?src=userprofile

[Allan]

Yeah, I looked at that yesterday thanks. There seem to be some possible appearance issues with FF9. I like having a status bar, but it's not really a big deal either way.

[Salmon Trout]

Yeah, I looked at that yesterday thanks. There seem to be some possible appearance issues with FF9. I like having a status bar, but it's not really a big deal either way.

I'm on FF 9.0.1 and I haven't noticed any yet. I must admit that mostly I only look at the left hand end of the status bar to see if all the elements of a page have finished loading, so there might be issues with other addons or features I haven't got. [Edit] I also look at the page load progress bar but that is duplicated on each tab by Tab Mix Plus anyway.

[Allan]

You know, we do a lot of complaining about things on support forums but I just had a very pleasant experience I need to tell you about.

One of the add-ons I've been using for a long time with Firefox is Colorful Tabs. Aside from brightening up the screen a little (as I said earlier, as a traditionalist I prefer a simple interface with no "persona" - but a little color is nice ) it makes it easy to glance at the tab bar an know which color is which site. This may not sound like a big deal, but give it a shot - after using it for a short while I think you'll agree it's hard to do without. You can assign specific colors for specific domain hostnames (my choice).

Well in the new release, which supports current Firefox versions, the text in the tabs seemed a little fainter to me. I installed it on several systems with the same result. This morning I sent an email to the developer asking if this could be addressed in future releases. Within 15 minutes the developer replied to me asking for screen shots, which I promptly provided. A few minutes later he sent another note saying that the current version adds a white "halo" around the text and this seems to be causing the faintness I noticed. He went on to say that if I find it an issue he will make this optional in the next release. This entire conversation, from my first email to his acknowledgment of the issue and a proposed solution took less than half an hour from start to finish. There was absolutely no defensiveness on his part, only a desire to support a user (and a willingness to make a change to the product code based on only one complaint!!!). And let's keep in mind these add-ons are free!

Okay, this may not be a big deal, but I was impressed enough with this level of support to create this post. If only ALL customer service was this exceptional

[patio]

Get his Autograph....

[kpac]

Actually, my experience with most open source products are quite similar.

[Allan]

ST - I noticed you are using the Backward / Forward Dropdown Marker. I tried that but didn't like the look of it so I went with this one: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/backforward-dropmarker/  (though you can just as easily either right-click on the forward or backward arrow or just hover over those arrows and hold down the left mouse button & get the same result). Thought you might want to take a look - it looks the same as the one in Version 3

[Salmon Trout]

Thanks Allan, after seeing your suggestion I swapped to Back/forward dropmarker, and I much prefer it. I did know about right clicking and/or hovering, but old habits die hard...

[Allan]

Yeah, tell me about it.

[patio]

All this talk of hovering reminds me of Black Helicopters.....

[Allan]

I've noticed on the three systems I upgraded that there are often delays when clicking on something. If I click on a link and then click on something else (another link, a tab, etc) there is a delay that was not present in previous versions (or other browsers). Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the same thing?

[soybean]

I get smoother scrolling with Opera than with Firefox.  Likewise, IE gives me smoother scrolling than Firefox.  In other words, scrolling web pages up and down in Firefox tends to be a bit choppy or jerky in Firefox.  Maybe users with more powerful systems won't notice this.   

P.S. I'm referring to using the mouse wheel to scroll pages.

[Allan]

I'm not having any issues with scrolling, only reaction time when clicking on something shortly after clicking on a link (doesn't always happen and not always related to whether or not the previous page has finished loading).

[evilfantasy]

Could be a Session Restore issue?

Are the Tab Mix Plus and the built in FF Session Restore both running?

[Allan]

No, neither. I don't use session restore.

[evilfantasy]

No, neither. I don't use session restore.

What antivirus software do you use?

Any type of link scanners like AVG anti-virus Link Scanner?

I get smoother scrolling with Opera than with Firefox.

Firefox Tip: Turn on 'Smooth Scrolling'

If you're a Firefox user, there's a way to make scrolling more pleasant:

1. Start Firefox.

2. Click Tools, Options.

3. Click the Advanced icon, then look in the Browsing section.

4. Enable Use smooth scrolling, then click OK.

Haven't tried either of these but it might be of use trying.

SmoothWheel <- 5 Star review.

Yet Another Smooth Scrolling

[Allan]

KAV - been using it on all systems for many years.

[evilfantasy]

Found some possible solutions/causes here.

Firefox very slow to load pages, how do I correct?

[Allan]

It's not that it's slow to load pages - there is simply an occasional delay in mouse clicks being accepted and acted upon. Don't worry about it, just wondered if anyone else was having the same issue. However, there was one page in the link you posted that might be very interesting as a general reference for speeding up FF9 and I'm going to look through it - thanks

http://newsandhow2s.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/how-to-speed-up-firefox-4-0-tweaks-tricks/

[patio]

If wireless it could be the mouse...my new Logitech does this...energy - saving feature of course...

[Allan]

Same mouse I've been using for years. No, it's something to do with the new installation of FF9.

[patio]

Hee hee...
I haven't changed as was strongly suggested....

[Allan]

Well, it appears my problem was being caused by Tab Mix Plus. As much as I like that add-on, once I disabled it the browser began working perfectly.

[Salmon Trout]

Well, it appears my problem was being caused by Tab Mix Plus. As much as I like that add-on, once I disabled it the browser began working perfectly.

I have been having some odd little pauses; Having read your post I have disabled Tab Mix Plus too. One less add-on to eat memory and slow down Firefox start. [EDIT] I did find I had lost the "open new tab at home page" functionality which I had with Tab Mix Plus, so I re-installed the New Tab Homepage addon (I had it before but had removed it because Tab Mix Plus duplicated it)

[Salmon Trout]

might be very interesting as a general reference for speeding up FF9 and I'm going to look through it - thanks

http://newsandhow2s.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/how-to-speed-up-firefox-4-0-tweaks-tricks/

This potentially involves multiple edits to FF about:config and unless you are sure you'll remember which ones you altered and what the previous setting was you may want to back up your existing ones first. They are stored in

%appdata%\mozilla\firefox\profiles\prefs.js

and you can just make a copy of that file before you start tinkering. If you do something that messes things up, just close Firefox and rename/restore the original file.

[patio]

MozBack creates a complete copy of User accounts including themes extensions and the about:config file...

[Salmon Trout]

might be very interesting as a general reference for speeding up FF9 and I'm going to look through it - thanks

http://newsandhow2s.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/how-to-speed-up-firefox-4-0-tweaks-tricks/

I applied all of those tweaks and Firefox seems to be running OK, it seems quite responsive and snappy, but then it was before. Certainly no "slower" than before. I have a Windows 7 64 bit, 4 GB RAM, an AMD 3 GHz quad core Phenom II cpu and a 20 Mbit (down) 768 Kbit (up) cable connection, and I hadn't really noticed very much sluggishness before to be quite honest. I have backed up the prefs.js so I can switch between them and see if I see any differences. I have 3 tabs open and FF has a 344,000 K Working Set showing in Process Explorer.

[Allan]

Instead of Tab Mix Plus I've installed Tab Utilities (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-utilities/ ). Not quite as full featured as TMP, but close.

[TheWaffle]

Switch to chrome it is way better

[patio]

Switch to chrome it is way better

Stop already...

[Linux711]

Do you use a lot of add-ons in firefox? If not, I think you should switch to opera. The limited add-ons is the only reason why I don't use opera on my main comp, otherwise it is a very fast and stable browser. I have seen the difference myself and I can tell that the programmers put more care into it. I was recently working on an old system with a 1.4GHz CPU and firefox was doing a lot of 'clipping' on even very simple pages with only a few graphics (especially wordpress). I put opera on there and problem solved. No 'clipping' was visible when scrolling. I know I will get a lot of **** for recommending a different browser, but whatever opera deserves it.

[2x3i5x]

is it good that firefox is attempting their chrome-like speedy firefox releases?

[soybean]

is it good that firefox is attempting their chrome-like speedy firefox releases?

  What do you mean?

[BC_Programmer]

  What do you mean?

they are releasing new versions far faster since Version 4.

[umbra]

I am not seeing any major modifications in these updates, and i found annoying to be advice so often to update firefox. Also many add ones crashed i do not think that was a good marketing strategy to release so many versions in such short time, but anyway now i am writing this from Firefox 12.0 .

[BC_Programmer]

I am not seeing any major modifications in these updates, and i found annoying to be advice so often to update firefox.

Try running it from some Linux distros. Mint 12 still happily proclaims that Firefox 3.6 is the "latest version" using the package manager, and the only way to get 8.0 was the build the bloody thing from source. Not something I care to repeat so at 8.0 I stay.

Most of the changes seem to be in the area of HTML5 support. At least that would be my guess.

the BIGGEST... and I mean absolute biggest problem with Firefox has to do with two things.

C++ and Garbage Collection.

C++? Fine. Garbage Collection? Fine. But the nature of the two beasts makes them pretty much incompatible.  having to restart Firefox because it's laden with that leftover garbage and sitting at 1.5GB of RAM with a single tab open is downright ridiculous.

[patio]

I am not seeing any major modifications in these updates, and i found annoying to be advice so often to update firefox. Also many add ones crashed i do not think that was a good marketing strategy to release so many versions in such short time, but anyway now i am writing this from Firefox 12.0 .

FireFox does NOT build their addons except in rare instances...
Therefore they shouldn't be criticised for which ones work or don't...

[umbra]

@BC_Programmer , i agree FireFox is consuming a lot of RAM memory... and i have only 2 Gb , it seems to use like a recent strategy game , i was thinking last days to try using another browser and now i am using also Opera to see if it performs better.

@patio for me as an user it does not matter who is guilty because my lovely add-on  stop working and last thing that i remember was, yeah... updating firefox....

[patio]

Then don't use it...

All i know is after using all Browsers FireFox for me has the least issues...