Published Dec 2, 2003
After a brief but successful flirtation, I’ve been asked to uninstall Mozilla Firebird, which I had been using as my primary browser. Unfortunately (but quite reasonably), the IT department was not prepared to support (including backing up bookmarks and preferences) a new application for just one user. Now I’m back to IE at work, but I actually enjoy Firebird so much I may consider replacing Safari on my Mac at home with this new and promising browser.
Now, I’m not the first person to love Firebird. It’s a quietly popular browser — and for good reason. It’s got tabbed browsing, a searchable history, popup blocking, and can be extended to an almost absurd degree. Some of these extensions are incredibly clever, too, including:
- The only JavaScript debugger out there
- Tools to view and manipulate all of the information about a page of interest to a Web developer
- Mouse gestures
- The ability to navigate the URL
- The ability to save the tabs you’ve opened for later
Some of these features are available in Safari, others aren’t, but the cleverest part is that Firebird can be easily extended.
Now, on my IE I’ve installed the Google Toolbar for easy Google searching and popup blocking. It’s not bad, but I miss tabs (it’s hard to work with dozens of windows open at once) and I miss saving my state.
I also miss standards compliance, but that’s another blog entry.