Firefox 4 Review

Beta Tester for Firefox 4
Being a beta tester often means trying out something first. The only thing I don't like about Firefox 4 is that many of the apps still need to be rewritten so that they are compatible with Firefox 4. The rest is perfect. Love the clean look of the menu bar. Currrently, if you download Firefox 4, they're on Beta 10. There is one more Beta to release - Beta 11 - and then the Beta is over and the Firefox is Better.

Menu Bar is Spacious
Firstly, I am always having issues with the favorites bar. There are so many things that I want at my fingertips. There's facebook, gmail, wiki, games, craigslist, the news, youtube, Pandora Radio, various feeds and that's just the beginning. Somehow, there just is never enough room to put it all on. Well, Firefox 4 has resolved that beautifully. One can pin the app to the menu bar and a tiny little box with the logo of the particular site comes up. It's instantly recognizable. Also, the browser retains those tabs so that when you next open the browser, it's all there.

Firefox 4 Currently in Beta
Because Firefox 4 is currently in Beta, when you download, there's a feedback tab in the upper right hand corner. Whenever you want to provide the creators with feedback (and suggestions) on how they're doing, you can click it and provide your feedback.

I have also found it frustrating dealing with Chrome and Internet Explorer in the past because their menu bars take up so much space. Firefox 4 does away with this, leaving most of the screen available for the good stuff.

 Rethinking Organization of Menu Tabs
Organization is also a vast improvement on previous browsers. Instead of having several menu items like email, print, favorites, tools, etc. taking up room, there is now one word - Firefox - in the top left hand corner. When one clicks it, there is a drop down menu and this enables one to find the task one wishes to do. The design is small, highly functional and beautiful! The traditional menu tags like home, the arrows for moving backwards and forwards, the URL bar, and the search bar, are all neatly placed on one line, thereby optimally utilizing space.

Third Party Cookie Control Improved
As is usual, Firefox gives one the best cookie control and I'm delighted to say that I'm not battling with third party cookies the way I do with Internet Explorer. Like many others, I don't like the marketing gurus spying on me. That brings me to the 'Private Browsing Button." Yes, on the left hand side, included in the Firefox Menu, there is a 'start private browsing' so no one can check where you've been!

Firefox Panorama 4
Firefox Panorama enables one to group one's tabs so, for example, one can group all social networking sites in one category while all news sites will form another category. This is done by simply clicking on the Panorama Button.

Firefox High Tech
There is also a substantial increase in technology, all of which is explained on their beta pages for those who can understand it. For me, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and I cannot think of an easier, more enjoyable experience than downloading Firefox 4 Beta and beginning to use it. Through the years I have used Netscape, Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, several others that are not so well known, and, of course Firefox.

Download Firefox 4 Beta
Should you wish to download Firefox 4 Beta, it's easy to do. There's a link box to do so on this page. Just look for the box that says, "Download Firefox 4"