Firefox 1.5 Beta 1, First Glance Review

Filed in: Mozilla, Reviews — September 9th, 2005

Firefox 1.5 Beta 1The next big release of Mozilla Firefox — version 1.5 — is on Beta 1 now. You can download it from Mozilla Firefox Project. I am testing it and here is my first glance review of Firefox 1.5 Beta 1.

Note: this is BETA version. It has been made available for testing purposes only. Use it at your own risk.

What’s New?

According to the Release Note, come of the changes are:

  • Automated update — Now update Firefox is easier. No need to download the multi megabytes installation file at every minor upgrade.
  • Faster browser navigation — We have see this on Opera browser, now Firefox has it too. Navigating forward or backward is almost instant now!
  • Drag and drop reordering for browser tabs — Finally, the feature bundled inside the core, no need install tabs drag & drop extension

First Glance Review

Since Firefox 1.5 is still in Beta stage, I have no intention to replace current stable version (1.0.6) with it. However, I still installed it for testing (this is the objective of Beta version!) and let you know what’s great about the new Firefox. :)

Incompatible Extensions

I install Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 as usual, it popup extension checker at first time startup. Most of my current extensions are not compatible with Firefox 1.4 and therefore disabled.

disabled firefox extensions
Disabled Firefox extensions

The “Reporter” is pre-installed extension from Firefox 1.5. It allows you to report website that is not compatible with Firefox. Great huh? ;)

I am not sure if my trick to upgrade incompatible Firefox extension works on Firefox 1.5 or not. Again, try it at your own risk.

Faster?

Perhaps many extensions have been disabled or the improvement of Firefox core, I feel that it is running faster and smoother than previous version.

New position for feed button

feed button and answers.com searchThe site feed button is move up from bottom of the page to the end of address bar, like Safari style. It will increase the percentage people subscribe to the site feed, I believe.

By the way, the loading bar position also changed to bottom right.

Clear Private Data

Found a new item under “Tools” menu, called “Clear Private Data“.

Firefox 1.5 -- clear private data

With the “Clear Private Data“, you can easily erase your web browsing trace on Firefox. It is especially useful if you are browsing with a public computer.

New Options Layout

Click “Options…” under “Tools” menu, you will found that the Options window design is changed. Now, all option buttons moved from left hand side to the top.

Firefox 1.5 - options

It is easier to navigate between options with the button on the top. I think Mac user will found this layout similar. :)

My two cents

It is great. I do not face any problem with Beta 1 yet. As soon as the extensions upgraded, I will switch to Firefox 1.5. (Oh, I just cannot live without those extensions!)

What have you found in Firefox 1.5? Share with us pleasae. :)

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  • http://www.shaolintiger.com/ ShaolinTiger

    Haven’t had chance to try it yet, but had a lot of reports saying it’s much faster, looks nicer aswell, neat changes to the interface.

    Just need to wait for all the extensions to be recoded :)

  • http://www.shaolintiger.com ShaolinTiger

    Haven’t had chance to try it yet, but had a lot of reports saying it’s much faster, looks nicer aswell, neat changes to the interface.

    Just need to wait for all the extensions to be recoded :)

  • http://strangnet.se/blog Patrick

    Want your extensions to work?

    Just add a string variable to about:config called app.extensions.version and set the value to 1.0

  • http://strangnet.se/blog Patrick

    Want your extensions to work?

    Just add a string variable to about:config called app.extensions.version and set the value to 1.0

  • http://cheeaun.phoenity.com/weblog/ Lim Chee Aun

    In my opinion, the best part of this beta build is the SVG and canvas support! Rocks!

  • http://cheeaun.phoenity.com/weblog/ Lim Chee Aun

    In my opinion, the best part of this beta build is the SVG and canvas support! Rocks!

  • http://tiensoon.blogspot.com/ Tien Soon

    Before the 1.5 Beta 1 is available, I was using the Deer Park Alpha, a version mean only for developer’s testing. However, in the Alpha version, the automated update component was not available.

    While I was using the Deer Park Alpha 2, sometime the browser will freeze and hang for no reason. But so far, I’ve not encountered this problem in 1.5 Beta 1.

    SVG support is undeniably a step-ahead right move.

  • http://tiensoon.blogspot.com Tien Soon

    Before the 1.5 Beta 1 is available, I was using the Deer Park Alpha, a version mean only for developer’s testing. However, in the Alpha version, the automated update component was not available.

    While I was using the Deer Park Alpha 2, sometime the browser will freeze and hang for no reason. But so far, I’ve not encountered this problem in 1.5 Beta 1.

    SVG support is undeniably a step-ahead right move.

  • http://aizatto.com/ aizatto

    New errors pages also :) and .svg woot.

  • http://aizatto.com aizatto

    New errors pages also :) and .svg woot.

  • http://www.wongpk.com/ wongpk

    Should try it out as well… But my problem since 1.0.5 is… I can’t view Chinese… Why huh?

  • http://www.wongpk.com wongpk

    Should try it out as well… But my problem since 1.0.5 is… I can’t view Chinese… Why huh?

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/lotso/ lotso

    Hi, Ho,

    Once again, could it be possible that you bundle this up and give it to the mag for publication? it would really help. We need more contributors!!

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/lotso/ lotso

    Hi, Ho,

    Once again, could it be possible that you bundle this up and give it to the mag for publication? it would really help. We need more contributors!!

  • spurtniq

    Best solution I’ve found yet to extension compatibility issues is
    to install the “Nightly Tester Tools” extension.

  • spurtniq

    Best solution I’ve found yet to extension compatibility issues is
    to install the “Nightly Tester Tools” extension.

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  • michael

    have a problem with firefox 1.5 – can not opet my gmail account for at least 4 days – it means, after writing my username and password – it s not workin. so i have downloades opera – where it is working – but after firefox is faster and nicer, would like to find a good advice

  • michael

    have a problem with firefox 1.5 – can not opet my gmail account for at least 4 days – it means, after writing my username and password – it s not workin. so i have downloades opera – where it is working – but after firefox is faster and nicer, would like to find a good advice

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