the single greatest feature of firefox is its add-ons. the wealth of third party developers who have added so much to the browsing experience makes firefox not only a web browser, but a wonderful experience and interaction with the web.
safari is most notably marketed as the fastest browser for the mac. and it’s true, safari’s rendering engine is pretty fast. you get to see the page loaded up faster than most browsers on the market. as a mac os x user, it’s hard not to drink from the apple kool-aid. yes, mac os x has a beautiful user interface, but just because software comes from apple doesn’t mean that it is the best of breed. it’s usually the case, but not always.
opera is a pretty speedy browser too, i’ve only used it under windows and it does also seem to have a reasonably speedy experience.
internet explorer is my least favorite browser of the major browsers. the newest IE’s user interface is supposed to make it easier to use, i’d imagine, but i find that it’s harder for me to use than easier. it just feels incomplete.
so firefox may not have the fastest rendering engine or the fastest javascript engine, but what it does have are add-ons. the mix of add-ons that i use completely transform the web experience for me and i have not been able to use a different browser that gives me a similar experience. i’m reluctant to use firefox 3 because it is still in beta, but it looks like some of my favorite features of firefox 2 w/ add-ons might natively be dealt with in the new firefox.
absolute must have add-ons for general firefox use:
adblock plus
adblock filterset.g updater
auto copy
colorful tabs
customizegoogle
del.icio.us bookmarks
fasterfox
foxylicious
linkification
long titles
pdf download
piclens
tab mix plus
additional add-ons for developers:
add n edit cookies
console2
image zoom
live http headers
measureit
show ip
tamper data
user agent switcher
web developer
wmlbrowser
Hey Mike,
You totally forgot about Firebug, and optionally Y!Slow for developers.
my biggest issue with firebug is that it made some pages that use the extjs library load ridiculously slowly. so much so that it made using firebug useless. yslow looks cool, but it being a firebug-dependent plugin makes it less useful for me.
i’ll have to check firebug out again though, maybe the issues that i’ve had with it have since been resolved. aside from that, i really do like the functionality it offers.
Did you you already know that the developer of Adblock Plus recommends not to use Filterset.G any more? See here: http://adblockplus.org/en/faq_project#filterset.g . There is also a link to the other filterlists, probably the best list for English sites is EasyList+EasyElement, you should give it a try. 🙂
Ares
i did not know that the developers of adblock plus recommends not to use Filterset.G anymore! it has been a default install for me on every machine that i use. i’m giving easylist+easyelement a try now to see if i notice a difference in browsing speed and ad blocking. thanks for the tip!