more than utility

Ok, so I am not a huge browser snob. I use Safari because that is what came on my Mac. I keep Firefox around for the few financial sites that don't care for Safari. Based on a friends recommendation I checked out Firefox 3. Version 3 retains all the Firefox goodness like plug-in support and browser enhancements to mold and fit the browser to meet your needs. There are a lot of little things that make the browser tip top. The first thing I noticed was the speed. This thing flys. Same connection, same settings, same websites - a ton faster. Refined formatting makes the browser so slick. Take the address window for example:

The use of color breaks up the list of sites into a usable list. Also, adding the website's avitar/icon is a visual marker I resonate with. To the right of some of the addresses listed you will find a blue star - those are the sites that reside in your favorite places AKA bookmarks (sorry, grew up using AOL). I greatly rely on password managers to keep all my junk straight online. Firefox has hit the nail on the head with the implimentation of the password manager in verion 3. On most other browsers (and previous versions of Firefox) you enter a username and a password combo, click submit, then a popup window asks you if you would like the program to remember the password for that site. After you click the box it loads the page normally. Here is the problem. What happens if/when you type the password or username in wrong. Now you have to fish through the list sites within the password manager. BIG PAIN IN THE BUTT! How cool would it be if you could see if your password was correct before committing to retaining it within the browser? I think it would be very cool and Firefox agrees.

A dropdown box appears after entering a username and password. However, instead of holding the page load until completion of the dropdown box - the web page continues to load as usual. This means that I can type a password and wait to see if it is correct before adding it to my password manager. Seems like something so obvious and simple ... seems like everyone would do it that way.

I have only been using the browser for a few days; however, it is quickly wooing me away from Safari as my browser of choice. Blogger integrates better with it aswell so that is a plus as well. It's free - so if you haven't taken it for a test drive go check it out - I think you will enjoy it!