FF3 anyone?

[Travis Newbury]

So, anyone have some comments on how this bad boy handles things?
Seems ok to me, and the extensions I use seem to be working (web
developer, Google, Download helper, download status bar, fire FTP, IE
tab)

 

[David Segall]

So, anyone have some comments on how this bad boy handles things?
Seems ok to me, and the extensions I use seem to be working (web
developer, Google, Download helper, download status bar, fire FTP, IE
tab)

Alas, Adblock does not yet work although there is a work around at the
add on site.

 

[Dylan Parry]

Alas, Adblock does not yet work although there is a work around at the
add on site.

Adblock Plus appears to be working fine - http://adblockplus.org/

--
Dylan Parry
http://electricfreedom.org | http://webpageworkshop.co.uk

The opinions stated above are not necessarily representative of
those of my cats. All opinions expressed are entirely your own.

 

[C A Upsdell]

So, anyone have some comments on how this bad boy handles things?
Seems ok to me, and the extensions I use seem to be working (web
developer, Google, Download helper, download status bar, fire FTP, IE
tab)

FF3 sometimes sizes fonts differently from all previous versions of the
Mozilla browsers. E.g., depending on the user's font size,
"font-size:small" and "font-size:x-small" may produce the same font size
instead of different sizes.

Other than that, my sites -- which are standards compliant -- seem to be
okay.

Some extensions which are important to me (e.g. Dust Me Selectors) do
not (yet) work with FF3.

Some UI changes are unexpected and do not work like any other browser,
which is somewhat disconcerting (e.g. you have to Right Click on the
previous page button to get a dropdown list of previous pages, which is
counter-intuitive).

 

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

So, anyone have some comments on how this bad boy handles things?
Seems ok to me, and the extensions I use seem to be working (web
developer, Google, Download helper, download status bar, fire FTP, IE
tab)

So far, I am not impressed. See my comments at:
<http://cfaj.freeshell.org/idw/ff3.shtml>

 

[Jonathan N. Little]

So far, I am not impressed. See my comments at:
<http://cfaj.freeshell.org/idw/ff3.shtml>

"Next and Previous page buttons?"

You now have a double button and to the left of it is the drop-down
history. If you back up then you will see your current location within
the history rather than having a forward history and a backward history...

 

[Travis Newbury]

LOVE the new zoom feature where it zooms the entire page, content and
text. What a boost to usability for vision impaired surfers. This is
also a HUGE boost for Flash sites that may have been previously
unusable because of print size. And yes, there is some pixilization
as they are images, but this is a step in the right direction, and I
am sure other browsers will follow this one just for the ability to
let people easily (and enjoyably) use sites they could not use in the
past.

As a matter of fact, this pretty much is a boost for fixed width very
strictly formatted sites. The sites no longer fall apart with a
change in the text size. Again, some images may get pixilated a
little, but the bennefit far outweighs the pixilization.

Of course I guess if you are a Flash hater, or fixed width hater then
this may not seem to be as great a feature, but it does allow people
to use more websites, and that is a good thing.

I would be interested in hearing from someone that disagrees. Not to
make this a Flash or fix width argument, but if this feature will
boost the usability of pages like that, that either were unusable
because of small font size (flash sites) or unusable because the
change in font size made the site a complete mess and virtually
unusable.

 

[Nik Coughlin]

LOVE the new zoom feature where it zooms the entire page, content and
text.

I am sure other browsers will follow this one just for the ability to
let people easily (and enjoyably) use sites they could not use in the
past.

Opera has had this for a long time and IE has it from 7 onward

 

[dorayme]

Opera does it without pixilizing the image (-via resampling)

Depends on your definition of pixilizing.

 

[Bergamot]

LOVE the new zoom feature where it zooms the entire page, content and
text.

It's a matter of taste, I think.

What a boost to usability for vision impaired surfers.

Not really. Read on...

As a matter of fact, this pretty much is a boost for fixed width very
strictly formatted sites.

I would be interested in hearing from someone that disagrees.

Not everyone cares about maintaining some dee-ziner's pixel-perfect
vision of things. Personally, I don't see page zoom as plus feature. I'd
rather just have zoomed text, and can get that already with the minimum
font-size pref. That can screw up inflexibly designed sites the same as
text zoom. So no benefit there.

Mostly, I hate the resulting horizontal scrolling zoomed pages
invariably end up with. Being forced to pan a page to read it does not
sound like good usability to me.

 

[dorayme]

Uh, the results are the same as you'd get from a decent graphics program.
What, exactly, are you dissenting about?

So are you saying that DGPs enlarge pictures without pixilising?
If so, then the often poor results must be due to some other ising. I
was simply inviting you to discuss the different isings that can cause
bad results when a machine like a DGP tries to make a lot from a little.

Am I in the place where free discussion can take place? Is it ok to do
this?

(Don't worry, Boji, you don't have to send me money on this occasion...)

 

[dorayme]

The issue is pixilizing,
not the quality of results. Resampling tends to blur sharp edges in order
to minimize pixilization

Yes, ok, no problem.

I was hoping to steer you to something more interesting. I will leave it
for now. I need to know for sure that it is the native size of the pic
that Opera is zooming and not the specified size in the html before
venturing a strategy I am in favour. To get the answer to this I need to
conduct some tests.

 

[Travis Newbury]

Opera has had this for a long time and IE has it from 7 onward

Never used Opera, and rarely use IE for that matter, but do you agree
that this feature (no matter who has it) actually increases the
usability of many flash and fixed width sites?

 

[dorayme]

Never used Opera, and rarely use IE for that matter, but do you agree
that this feature (no matter who has it) actually increases the
usability of many flash and fixed width sites?

Nick. Stop. It's a trap! I can feel Travis setting it, fiddling with the
springs and stuff.

 

[Travis Newbury]

Not everyone cares about maintaining some dee-ziner's pixel-perfect
vision of things.

I understand you don't care about the pixel-perfect design, but many
pixel-perfect websites completely fall appart when just the text is
zoomed, making them (for the most part) unusable. However, now (and
apparently for a while with IE7 and Opera) someone can actually use
the site because it no longer falls apart when they zoom. I just see
that as plus to usability because yesterday they couldn't use the
page, and today they can. This is especially true with microfont
Flash sites.

Mostly, I hate the resulting horizontal scrolling zoomed pages
invariably end up with. Being forced to pan a page to read it does not
sound like good usability to me.

I agree, horizontal scrolling is a pain in the ass bi-product of
zooming and the method is not perfect by any means, but if yesterday
you could not even use the site, and today you can use the site
(albeit with some horizontal scrolling) I see the zoom feature a
benefit.

Thanks for the opinion and reply

 

[Travis Newbury]

I was hoping to steer you to something more interesting

With all the petty bickering I often wonder if you two are secretly
married?

 

[dorayme]

Thanks for the opinion and reply

O please Travis, you're killing me!

 

[Travis Newbury]

O please Travis, you're killing me!

Hey! This is the nicer, kinder Travis...

 

[Bergamot]

I agree, horizontal scrolling is a pain in the ass bi-product of
zooming and the method is not perfect by any means, but if yesterday
you could not even use the site, and today you can use the site
(albeit with some horizontal scrolling) I see the zoom feature a
benefit.

I still don't see it. If I found a site unusable yesterday because
zoomed text made it fall apart, I would have made good use of the
browser 'back' button and found an alternative site that was more
accommodating to my browsing environment.

That first site would have to have some really special content for me to
bother going back and try it again with page zoom, but even then it's
unlikely I would bother. I've got more important things to do.

If I came across that site today for the first time, my minimum font
size setting would have made it fall apart, so page zoom wouldn't help
at all. If it were a Flash site, I probably wouldn't bother out of
habit, if for no other reason.

I recognize that it does depend on the individual, though. I spend very
little time at entertainment type sites and keep Flash disabled by
default due to its high annoyance factor (I *loathe* the non-stop
animations that often go with it). For the types of sites I do frequent,
there are virtually no Flash sites that are useful *because* they are
Flash, so it's all fluff to me anyway.

Just don't fool yourself into believing that page zoom is really much
benefit to vision-impaired users. Those of us who *need* large text have
already figured out how to make the web more usable, and page zoom isn't
it. It may be helpful on a handful of Flash sites that have truly unique
content, but for the most part it'll be ignored.

 

[Travis Newbury]

Just don't fool yourself into believing that page zoom is really much
benefit to vision-impaired users.

I use the zoom feature all the time (got that 51 year old bad eye
creep going on), and I love the new ability to zoom the text and not
break the site. Maybe it is because I am not what I would classify as
"vision impaired" (from your text I am assuming you are), but rather I
need a little assistance from larger fonts every now and then.

This is why I find it useful. This is especially true on microfont
Flash sites.