I may be one of the last developer types to make the move to the Firefox browser. Most everyone I know uses Firefox and has for a long time. I initially tried when it first came out but I didn't see anything in it that I didn't already have in SlimBrowser or Maxthon. Plus, it was missing the two things I needed for my everyday browsing needs. I read about the web developer extensions; I tried again. The extensions where cool and useful but for my everyday browsing it was still missing the two key things I had grown dependent on in Maxthon. If Firefox wanted me as a customer then it had to deliver those two items.
The two things?
- Tab Management
- URL Aliases
Through the years of using SlimBrowser and Maxthon I got spoiled by having the ability to tell the browser when to use a new tab, when to focus a tab, when to use the same tab, etc. I also was spoiled at typing "gl" or "ng" in the address bar to go to Google or Newsgator. Type in "wx 21230" and it would pull up Accuweather.com for my zipcode. These were two things that I couldn't find out how to do (easily) so I didn't make the switch.
Jump forward to about 3 weeks ago. I started my new contract and I'm using a machine provided by the client. They've locked down the browser so there is nothing you can do but have the Intranet as the startup page. I'm a blank page kind of guy myself and it's hard to change. I installed Maxthon2 but since it uses the Internet Explorer engine I couldn't change the homepage there either. I decided to give Firefox a shot, again. Firefox worked and so I was able to get back to a clean starting page every time I opened up my browser. Since Firefox was able to provide me this option, I decided I was going to put in some real effort and hunt down any possibility for me to get the tab management and URL Alias support I so desperately needed.
BINGO!
The URL alias functions was the first to get cleared up. Firefox calls it "Bookmark Keywords". In the property of every Bookmark you can set a keyword for it. Type that keyword in the address bar and off you go. One down and one to go. The tab management support I was looking for was a bit trickier. I sifted through a few different extensions that dealt with tabs to finally settle on TabMixPlus. This nifty extensions is Tab Management on steroids - so many options and provides the flexibility I was looking for. Good stuff!
I'm now a Firefox convert. I've been using Firefox for about 3 weeks as my primary browser and I've found it more useful that I ever thought a browser could be. I've also come to appreciate its simplicity just like I have in Textpad. I'll go through my current setup and maybe others would be willing to chime in on theirs as well.
Giddy Up!
ps. If you've been waiting on a review of Maxthon2, I'm sorry but it will be shelved until further notice. :-)