Firefox 4 has finally been launched and it is up there to compete with the standard and modernized web browsers present out there. We will give you an in-depth review on the Firefox 4 browser. We will provide you with details regarding the redesigned user interface, Installation, Features and specifications and performance.
Installation
The Firefox 4 was easy to install and the process of installation was a fine and quick experience. Users who have used the beta versions of the browser will find no difference in the speeds of installation. One of the minor drawbacks is that there is no option for automatically updating the browser as in Chrome and Opera browsers though you can go to the About page and click on the check for updates button to install the updates automatically. The browser restarts within a minute after you have finished applying some updates to it.
If you install Firefox 4 on Windows 7, then automatically a Task bar icon for the browser will be created.
Interface
One of the major changes that we come across and notice in Firefox 4 is the completely redesigned Interface. The user Interface is entirely different from what we saw in other previous versions of the browsers except for the large back button which made its debut in Firefox 4.
The Menu bar has been collapsed and hidden under a stylish Orange colored button on the top left corner of the browser. The menu bar when clicked will spread into two columns. This style of design to the Menu bar will make it much easier for users to reach their bookmarks, history and add-ons because it allows all of them to reside on the same line.
All your browser tabs will now be displayed on top by default while the Stop and Refresh buttons have been moved to the right side of the address bar, immediate next to the Bookmarks button. When you start typing an URL, the Go button turns green in color and when you stop loading a page or when you resolve an URL, the refresh buttons turns into a red colored ‘x’ icon. These visual clues help in enhancing your Firefox browsing experience.
To the rights side of the URL bar, you will see the Search bar with a list of drop down menus with each menu representing a standard search engine. On the top of the Search bar, you will find the list of all your opened tabs and you can also add a button to the right side of the tab bar which allows you to group your tabs. This button was preinstalled by default in the beta version but for some reason, we could not find the Tab grouping button in Firefox 4. However, you can add this feature by customizing your toolbar by right clicking on the toolbar and clicking on Customize and then drag and drop the Tab group button to the toolbar area.
The home button and the bookmarks button find their places next to the search bar of the browser.
The status bar is hidden by default in Firefox 4 in order to keep the minimalist design interface. One of the great strengths of Firefox browsers is that even novice users can easily customize the browser accordingly to suit their requirements.
Features
Firefox 4 comes with a plethora of rich and robust features. Firefox is one of the best and progressive browsers available till date.
The most important feature of the browser is Sync. Using this Sync feature, you can synchronize your bookmarks, history, preferences, passwords, and Tabs with any portable devices or even with your home computer. To use the Sync feature, click on Menu and then click on Options. In the Options window thus opened, under the Sync panel, click on Set up Firefox sync button and follow the on screen instructions.
Another important and useful feature of the Firefox 4 browser is Restartless add-ons. In earlier version of the browsers, you should restart your browser whenever you installed a new add-on. But the Firefox 4 has got rid of this feature and will enable you to install and use add-ons without the need of restarting the browser.
The browser supports a feature called APP tabs which allow you to resize your tabs to the size of their favicons and also allow you to pin your favorite sites as task bar icons. To pin your tabs, just right click on a tab and then select Pin as App tab.
The URL bar or the awesome bar is almost similar to the one that was present in Firefox version 3.5 but the only change is whenever you type in the URL bar, the most likely search results will not be displayed as you saw in the earlier versions.
The Private browsing mode is kept unchanged but it seems to work swifter than the earlier versions.
You can configure various changes under the Options window of the browser. There are tons of options which you can configure for the browser to suit your requirements.
Performance
As said, the Firefox 4 is a much improved and the fastest version due to the presence of hardware powered Graphics acceleration. This helps the browser in rendering and loading web pages faster. The Javascript feature looks much impressive than that of the previous versions and helps in running the browser almost 3.5 times faster than the 3.6.12 version.
One of the most noticed performance highlight of Firefox 4 is that, this version of the browser has a very low crash rate. The browser never crashes easily, thanks to the improvements made in terms of plugin protection.
Final words
Overall, Firefox browser is one of the best browsers available in the current market and one of the drawbacks is that, it always accounts for a significant amount of memory on your PC. We should not expect any changes on its memory usage since the browser is mainly relied upon to do major and more tasks.
Firefox 4 will definitely have a tough time than the Firefox 3. Some users have already started neglecting the browser since they consider that there is a significant decrease in terms of speed for the version 3.6 when compared to chrome.
We have to wait and see how the Firefox browser is going to compete with the rest of the browsers and do keep an eye on the number of downloads.
Download the Firefox 4 browser from the following link