I've said enough. I already told you how much I like to tinker when I was testing the WordPress fork, but wasting hours patching code is not in my plans. No more document.all, no more ActiveX and no more botches.
A few days ago the Mozilla Foundation finally released the final version 1.0 of Firefox (yes, the browser that was formerly called Phoenix and then Firebird, let's see if they finally make up their mind with the name). I've been using it non-stop for a week as my default browser, leaving IE parked, and one thing is crystal clear to me: there's no turning back.
The nightmare of developing for IE6
Those of us who spend all day writing web code know that developing for IE6 has become an absolute torture. You have to dirty your stylesheets with filthy CSS hacks. Who hasn't used the asterisk (*color) or the underscore (_margin) to force IE6 to swallow a rule that browsers that actually comply with W3C standards gleefully ignore? It's exhausting.
But Firefox 1.0 is in another league; it's like breathing fresh air. Let's start with the obvious: native pop-up blocking. No more invasive pop-ups from forums and download pages. You no longer need to install questionable Yahoo or Google toolbars that eat up half your screen just to stop advertising or spyware.
And then there's the crown jewel: Tabbed browsing! It sounds silly if you haven't tried it, but having 15 Internet Explorer windows occupying and collapsing the entire Windows taskbar while you browse is over. Everything is grouped in a single window. It is pure usability magic and completely changes your workflow.
Real tools for developers
For those of us who like to get our hands dirty, this browser is a goldmine. The entire system is based on XUL, which means the community can easily create extensions. I've been tinkering with a brutal extension called "Web Developer" (created by some guy named Chris Pederick) that adds a toolbar where you can disable JavaScript, view CSS live, or outline <div> tags with a single click. I can no longer imagine developing without it.
Furthermore, at the performance level, the Gecko engine loads pages in a much cleaner way. But if you really want to squeeze your ADSL connection, you can poke around the browser's guts. Type about:config in the address bar (yes, as if it were the Quake or Doom console). Look for these variables and change them to enable HTTP pipelining and force websites to request their files in parallel to the server:
network.http.pipelining -> true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests -> 8
network.http.proxy.pipelining -> true
Close the tab, restart the browser, and you notice how heavy pages load quite a bit faster. IE6 doesn't even know what this is.
The future of the web should be open
Honestly, I don't know what will happen a few years from now. I am realistic: Microsoft has a brutal monopoly, bordering on a 90% market share, basically because IE comes pre-installed with the operating system and most ordinary people are afraid to install "the icon of the little fire fox".
But developers need tools that respect standards, make our lives easier, and are secure. Firefox 1.0 is not just a very fast alternative browser without glaring flaws; it is a declaration of intent from the Open Source community. It proves that the web must be open and not depend on the whims or technological stagnation of Redmond.
I'm going to bed, I have to wake up early tomorrow, but tonight I fall asleep with a smile and the peace of mind knowing that the design of my new personal website finally validates perfectly in XHTML 1.0 Strict (at least, if you look at it with Firefox). Goodbye, Explorer. I definitely won't miss you.