As I've mentioned elsewhere in Blog comments, please be gentle with Mozilla's server, they're getting hammered by hordes of eager geeks wanting to try out the newest toy. Please try to download the software from the mirror site if possible.

I have to say that I find Camino to be light years ahead of Firebird on the Mac. Maybe this new Firelight, or Firefight, or Firebright will use some of that advantage.

I was just coming over to tell you. I downloaded it at lunch and have been using it all day. 0.8 is head and shoulders above Firebird, which towered over IE.

Yes, the new Mozilla stuff is very nice. I just wish I could convince more people to shelve OE and IE but it's like pulling teeth. Their eyes just glaze over and they click on the big blue E.
On the Mac side, I don't understand why anyone would run anything other than Safari. It's head and shoulders above the rest.

Zygote,

I used safari until I tried Camino. Safari loads a lot slower than Camino and camino just has a simpler, cleaner interface. both are better than IE, obviously, which I *never* use unless I'm trying to load some site that has specific plug-ins that require IE - which isn't very often, thankfully.

Since Camino seems destined to be stuck at version .7, I'm sure I'll eventually migrate back to safari. I don't really like the brush-metal appearance, however.

Bryan,

There are a host of programs and hacks that can change the brushed metal. I use Shapeshifter to theme my entire OS and there is a specific program that can redo the widgets and icons for Safari.
You can probably find links to both on resexcellence.com

Oh my God Firefox 0.8 is the best thing ever! We should start a campaign going to every IE user's house and formatting their computers. Muh ha ha ha ha ha!

By the way, if you have a broadband connection, add the following to your user.js file for Firefox:

// This one makes a huge difference. Last value in milliseconds (default is 250)
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);

It'll make Firefox so unbelievably fast it's not even funny. It's freaky how fast it is.

dowingba, I'm not a techy. Could you put that in words a moron like me can understand?

re: Geoffrey

If you're using WinXP, do this:

Locate your Mozilla profile, in this case, it would be located at C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Phoenix\Profiles\default\aaaaaaaa.bbb

is your XP login id. The aaaaaaaa.bbb is just some random generated string. Create a file call user.js in that directory with what dowingba recommands, and save the file. The next time you start Firefox, it should pick up your user defined setting, and grafted into pref.js .

Alternatively, you can try this: On the address field, type in about:config , which should get you into the truely nitty-gritty configuration features of Firefox. In the filter field, type in nglayout.initialpaint.delay and you should narrowed the choice down to just that one item. Right click on that line, and select modify. Change the value to 0. Click on OK, and the setting is saved. You can go ahead and close out this page.

Holy crap. Dowingba, Bigfire, that's a great tip. Jesus, my screen is practically smoking.

BTW, I use Win98, so it was the all.js file I was looking for. Woof!

By the way, I was never able to get the Macromedia Flash player to work on the old version, but it installed no problem at all on this new version. This is sweet! I have no reason to ever use IE again!

Well, <strike>Firebird</strike> <strike>The Browser Formerly Known As Phoenix</strike> er, Firefox was a great browser back when I tried it, which was shortly after it went from Phoenix to Firebird. May have to download it and try it again, to see what's up with it now. (A person can never have too many browsers on his computer.)

However I must confess, I'm a longtime and satisfied paid Opera user. Have been using Opera, on one platform or another, for going on three years now. Currently running Opera 7.23 for Linux.

Though my brother, who also uses Opera, absolutely swears by <strike>Thunderfox</strike> er, Thunderbird.

Downloading it now. Another name change? It'd be really nice if open source projects would learn use a search engine before slapping a name on something. (Only kidding a little bit - this sort of thing has happened a lot lately.)

I love it, but one thing bugs the holy living hell out of me: It won't remember my settings when I tell it to automatically use Windows Media to open .wmv files.

Makes me question the intelligence of the programmers.

I use SlimBrowser 3.85... based on the IE engine, but much faster... pop up blocker, tabbed browsing, etc etc Anybody have an opinion of that? I'll dl firefox tonight and give it a whirl.

Thank you for providing this information for us, Dean.

downloaded it and tried it out for a while... so far, not terribly impressed. Maybe I'm just used to SlimBrowser, but I like the way SB handles and popups better than firefox. FF is quicker, but in my opinion SB is still better. Would be interested in hearing other opinions.

dowbinga,

YOWZA!! I added your line to my prefs.js file, and it does make a perceptible difference in Firefox's response. Firefox is fast to start with, but the mod turns fast into SNAP!

Thanks.

Hello all,

Just changed that setting recommended by Dowingba and further explained by Bigfire ("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0). Using Firebird 0.7 at the moment. Will this new setting work here too? I will test it today.

I am new to Mozilla, so the command recommended by Bigfire 'about:config,' has opened a new world to me.:) Is there a place to go to learn more about the individual settings?

I tried to use Firefox 0.8 recently. I discovered it takes off the back and forward browser buttons (on my side for some reason). When I go to view/toolbars/customize I do not see the back and forward browser buttons in there. Any help on this would be MUCH appreciated. As it is now, when using Firefox 0.8, lol, I have to open page in new browser, if I want to preserve the page for going back to it. Hehehe, thats a funny way to browz tha itnernet, but after the first laugh is over, I like to have the back and forward buttons, so I close Firefox 0.8 and open up Firebird 0.7

Good words on this forum. Thanks for all help.