Firefox 2 (and Internet Explorer 7)

Firefox 2 is gold. You can read about it and download it here.

I’ve been using it for about a month in the form of betas and release candidates, all via Firefox Portable. Firefox Portable is not official, and it’s designed to be run from removable media like a USB flash drive. It doesn’t leave any trace of itself on the host computer, the point of which is to maintain the user’s privacy. I think it’s a great safeguard against the potential dangers of beta software.

I find it very interesting that Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 came out of beta within a week of each other, even if it is a coincidence. It’s reminiscent of the browser wars of the late 1990s, which Netscape lost. Depending on who you ask, this is now the “second browser war.”

Frankly I like the look of the buttons in IE7 better than those in Firefox 2. But Firefox is skinnable, and I won’t be at all surprised to see an IE7 skin show up for it. It’s interesting how much effort Microsoft has put into getting the interface out of the user’s way; In full screen mode, the interface hides above the top of the screen. (Curiously, the status bar remains at the bottom, but it can be toggled normally.) I actually think that the buttons are a little scrunched in IE7. I’d like a little more room between the forward and backward buttons, and I’d like them just a little bit farther from the top left corner.

I like how IE7 combines the Go and Reload buttons. Once a page is loaded, the Go button becomes the Reload button. At times while using several browsers I have reach a point where both buttons seemed like they would get me what I wanted, but I felt slightly uneasy as I was unable to determine a functional difference between the two. I hope that Microsoft has move the functionality around correctly (although my uneasiness may have been completely unwarranted), but they have certainly done away with the ambiguity. I’ll take that.

Both browsers should take a lesson from the Google Toolbar — it allows search results to appear in a new tab. Neither Firefox 2’s nor IE7’s built in search bar open results in a new tab, nor do they offer the user the option of that behavior. Nine times out of ten when I perform a search on Google it’s because I want to know more about the subject of the page I’m currently reading. I don’t want to stop reading it. I shouldn’t have to launch a new tab, navigate to it, and then perform my “convenient and built in search.” This should be one step. This single feature is the only thing keeping the Google Toolbar installed on (both) my browsers.

If this is a second browser war, I don’t see any party getting wiped off the face of the earth the way Netscape was. The market isn’t black and white any more — it’s fragmented. Mac OS has Safari. Windows has IE. The tech-minded have adopted Firefox, but it’s reaching beyond them. Then you’ve got Opera, Konqueror, Camino … There are options. The market (if you can call it that) has matured a lot in the last ten years.

Additionally, you don’t see companies like Virgin Records slapping giant “Only compatible with Internet Explorer” messages at the bottom of their homepages anymore. Ten years ago, I’d guess that big companies looked at the Internet and still couldn’t see it for more than an alternative to TV. Perhaps they thought of IE3 and Netscape Navigator like television networks — you’ve gotta pick one and only one. Now, I think the mindset is inclusion rather than exclusion. Companies want their content to reach as many eyes as possible, and that means offering compatibility with as many browsers as possible. That leads to compatibility. That leads to standards.

Another reason I don’t see this as much of a war is because different browsers aren’t pitching new, incompatible rendering technologies. Browsers want to be able to render the most popular websites. They must — or users will abandon them. Assuming all browsers render pages relatively accurately, all that’s left to draw users into their camp are speed and interface. I personally switched to the Mozilla browser because it offered tabs. I hated dealing with all my IE6 windows on the Windows XP taskbar. Tabs were a joy, and still are. If not for tabs, I don’t think IE7 would exist today. Firefox had tabs to get users to seriously consider the switch. It had speed to keep them. If Firefox had loaded pages slower than IE, many users would have gotten frustrated and stayed with IE.

I have no plans to stop using Firefox. Version 2 is better than version 1. It appears (to me) that it loads pages more quickly than IE7. IE7 won’t let me see my Gmail (which I load up in https) until I hit OK on the “secure and unsecure items” dialog box. That is enough to keep me from switching. It’s enough to keep me from even considering the switch.

IE’s come a long way with its interface. A long way. The fact that there is a team at Microsoft means that incremental features will roll out. Firefox will need more innovations than it’s had in two years. Competition will benefit the consumer.

Anyway, if you haven’t downloaded IE7, download it and install it (assuming you’re on Windows). If you haven’t downloaded Firefox, go download version 2 and install it. Then make it your default browser.

Firefox 2 (and Internet Explorer 7)

K2: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

WordPress theme K2 recently updated with version 0.9.1. I downloaded it. I installed it. I’m unhappy with it.

My number one gripe? The fonts changed from Beta Two to 0.9. Why? It’s an arbitrary change. I had been using Beta Two for months and now I’m supposed to deal with tweaky bulls***? This is the sort of thing I deal with when I’m evaluating a potential theme, not when I’m applying an incremental update.

My number two gripe? Although there is an extrememly useful tool — new in 0.9 — that allows me to change my header image without using an FTP client, there is no toggle to turn off the header text. This sounds to me like it should be simpler to implement than an image uploader, parser, selecter, and hell — randomizer! This means that if people want to disable the header text, we’ve got to edit CSS. Not unheard of, but again — this is the sort of thing I look at when I’m evaluating a theme, not when I’m applying an update.

The tipping point? K2’s forum is down, and although the post that tells me this says the problem “might take up to a day or two,” that very post is over a week old, and the forums still aren’t back up. So I can’t read the old forum post that told me how to eliminate the header text.

As a result of these gripes, I have rolled my site back to K2 Beta Two.

PS — As of 0.9, there are spelling errors in the K2 admin interface. This is the sort of thing that should lessen as a product nears final release — not increase. Boo K2, boo.

K2: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I Ordered a New Camera

Earlier this week I placed an order on a website for the Sony Cyber-shot® DSC-H2 Digital Camera. I initially placed my order with Royal Camera, a business that has an online store through store.yahoo.com. I chose Royal Camera because the price this business offered on the DSC-H2 was roughly one hundred dollars less than what most other online retailers offered.

After placing the order, I received no confirmation email and began to feel nervous. However, the final screen that loaded into my web browser after I entered all of my personal information included a phone number in case I wanted to track my order. I called it the next day and discovered a few things:

  • Royal Camera must have no more than two customer service reps, because I waited on hold for a while
  • Royal Camera really wants me to buy a memory stick, or batteries, or a case
  • The camera I ordered will take 6 to 8 weeks to ship — because
  • It’s being shipped from Japan — because
  • It’s the international version — oh, and
  • The international version does not come with cables, batteries, or a charger — so
  • To use the camera, I’m going to need batteries, cables, a memory stick, and what do I mean I don’t want a case?
  • Yes, Royal Camera offers the camera with the standard USB cable, batteries, and charger included, but that will be another $180, which means this is no longer a bargain

I cancelled my order with Royal Camera. Before I finalized my order, Royal Camera’s website told me that the camera was in stock and that it would ship in 1-2 days. Remember: Don’t ever buy anything from Royal Camera’s website. They are part of the store.yahoo.com system. Some merchants on store.yahoo.com might be honorable. Royal Camera is not honorable. Avoid it.

Anyway, to get off of Royal Poopy, I’m looking forward to the new camera. It’s six megapixels (yes, I could have had more megapixels for another hundred bucks), has a 12x optical zoom, and will not slip easily into a jeans pocket. But I don’t really want a camera that will fit easily into a pocket. I want a camera that will let me zoom in on Michael Vick or Jeff Francouer or a skittish deer. I believe a 12x zoom will allow me to do that.

Also, this may force me to pull a Lewis and get a Flickr Pro account.

I Ordered a New Camera

My iPod Died

I purchased an iPod almost exactly two years ago. About one month ago, it began failing intermittently. Within a week, it no longer booted up at all.

When I turn my iPod on, the Apple logo appears, and I can hear the hard drive trying to rev up, but then it clicks. Then I can hear the hard drive again trying to rev up. But then it clicks. That happens five or six times until this guy shows up:

ipod-folder-icon.gif

It’s very easy to find the help page that corresponds to this icon on Apple.com. Unfortunately, it didn’t help me at all. After a few misfires I got an appointment today at the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store. (I shudder whenever I call it the “Genius Bar.”) I can pay Apple roughly three hundred bucks to repair my iPod. I can pay someone else as little as $125 to repair my iPod. I can sell my iPod to one of several websites that buy dead iPods, for an unpredictable sum. Or, finally, I can give my dead iPod back to Apple in exchange for 10% off my next iPod. How about 50% off?

Seriously — Are these things designed to last two years after normal wear and tear? I paid 400 bucks for two years. That’s 200 dollars per year. I’m tempted to buy a Nano with its lack of moving parts and ultra small size, but a 4GB is $250 and a 30GB iPod video is only another fifty bucks! But $300 just to get back to where I was a month ago?

PS — Maybe this story has a happy ending. Two weeks ago I bought a Nintendo DS Lite for $130 and it came with a game … F iPod. I’ve got something to do on plane rides.

My iPod Died

K2, Permanently

I implemented K2 today. I will leave it in place for the forseeable future.

I still want to make some changes to the sidebar, but the code is a little bit different than Kubrick, the default WordPress theme and the one I used up until now.

[UPDATE] Sidebar is done. I left out the Newsvine feed. May or may not put that back in.

K2, Permanently

My Least Favorite Thing About Netvibes

I’m the type of person who leaves his computer on all the time. For the purpose of this post, I specifically leave it on while I’m at work.

Netvibes, which I have posted about before, is my first homepage. By first, I mean that it occupies the first tab when I launch Firefox. Netvibes pulls down your chosen RSS feeds throughout the day. When it encounters a problem, it pops up a little box like this one.

For the last two or three days, I’ve gotten home to find that same little box. Only, when I click OK, I find another little box just like it, right where the first one used to be. Ten minutes ago I arranged them all over the screen, and took a screenshot, which I have cropped here, but I think you get the basic idea.

That’s a lot of error messages.

I managed to click through all the visible message windows, but after that, a new one appeared when I clicked OK. When this happens (it’s happened more than once), I am forced to call up Task Manager and just kill Firefox.

I estimate that I clicked OK on 100 message boxes before killing Firefox today. I’ve only been gone about eleven hours.

Dear Netvibes: Fix this. If there’s an error, make the whole page crap out to a 404, or something. Anything besides this.

My Least Favorite Thing About Netvibes