THUS.SPAKE.Z  This was meant as a reply to St00pid Monk3y below. I DID click the reply tab before typing this but my comment appeared in as a new comment anyway. Must be a glitch somewhere.  
(Version 3.6b3)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  What website is this happening on? I'm not currently having this issue, but javascript has been a tad finicky in this version.  
(Version 3.6b3)

THUS.SPAKE.Z  Earthbrowser.com......When I go to that site using 3.6b3 this message appears on my screen: 'Javascript is required to use this website, please turn it on or use a different web browser'.  
(Version 3.6b3)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Firefox makes me want to pull out my hair on my old iMac G4. I feel your pain.  
(Version 3.6b3)

KKNOPP  LOL then why did you neg me?

I was pointing out that Safari was JUST AS FAST on my G4. But Firefox is slower. I wonder why.   
(Version 3.6b3)

GORDON142  Every new version of Firefox, people like to claim it is becoming bloated. Unless you consider the simple addition of any new features from Firefox 1.0 "bloat", this just isn't true. The early versions of Firefox had a much slower renderer, took longer to launch, and had a far less responsive (not to mention totally un-"mac-like") interface. Every major release of Firefox has improved on this. Firefox has gotten progressively "sleeker" over the years, not less. It is true that Safari and Chrome launch faster and have marginally faster page rendering (although Firefox is catching up fast), but if you're comparing Firefox to earlier versions of itself, its performance has only improved in every area.  
(Version 3.6b3)

SEANBPERIOD  http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1587515

This will allow you to override!   
(Version 3.6b3)

O5220803  Hi you may find this thread interesting... http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1585535&p=7982005#p7982005  
(Version 3.6b2)

GORDON142  Deleting the "Firefox" folder in /Users/you/Library/Application Support/ will generally fix these problems. Be warned that this also deletes all your settings and bookmarks, so back up what you can about (you can use the bookmark manager to export your bookmarks to an HTML file).  
(Version 3.6b2)

MRC  Thx GORDON142. I will give that a try after backing up bookmarks etc. Your help is greatly appreciated. And... here... we... go!  
(Version 3.6b2)

O5220803  You may want to purge Fx's cache and History; take a look at the size of Fx's 'cookies' file, as there could be some benefit in reducing its size. I am currently running Fx 3.6b2 (with all of my 3.5 add-ons) under SL 10.6.2 w/o any problems. Good luck.  
(Version 3.6b2)

MRC  Hmmmm... not sure why my reply to O5220803 got posted as a new post in this thread, but it did. But Thx for your input O5220803, see above for my reply.   
(Version 3.6b2)

GORDON142  That's always going to happen when you run a pre-release version of Firefox. You can type "About:config" in the address bar, right-click, select "New Boolean", give it the name "Extensions.checkCompatibility" and set its value to false. After doing this old your existing extensions will load, along it is possible some of them will not work or will cause Firefox to do weird things, as they have not been tested with the beta version of Firefox.  
(Version 3.6b2)

THEKIDFROMTHEREDBANK  @Gordon142

Thanks for the hint. But it does not work for me... Anybody else?  
(Version 3.6b2)

YOSHINATSU  More like:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/3.7_Mac_Theme_Mockups  
(Version 3.6b2)

KKNOPP  Anymore? I don't think it ever was. At least not in the Mac world.   
(Version 3.5.5)

ILGAZ  They didn't add colorsync support even while Apple could help them, for years. They never figured the concept of font rendering is different under OS X and even a single-double pixel glyph/hint issue bothers this userbase...

Whatever, their fans will bite me now, no need...  
(Version 3.5.5)

JON555  "Windoze"? Really? I'm surprised you didn't replace the "z" with a dollar sign or something.

Grow up.  
(Version 3.5.5)

CANADIANPJ  Agreed. It is not clever. At all. Firefox has had its share of issues but overall I find the stability of the browser to be higher than IE.  
(Version 3.5.5)

DAVE BROCK  While I'm nearly in tears that you took exception to how I spell crap, I mean to say "Windows", regardless of your opinions regarding how clever or stupid my misspelling happens to be; neither one of you actually addressed any content that my message contained.

The single statement thus far is, "Firefox is more stable than IE!" While that's quite thrilling (and something I acknowledged in passing), I'm unclear what it has to do with a review of the Mac version of Firefox.

If both of you are such big fans, could you please, coherently and succinctly explain why exactly? I understand the plug-ins and add-ons or I will die people, but Firefox is at best a 3rd rate app on OS X. 5+ years without figuring out how services work? Does Firefox somehow run faster and use less memory for the two of you, in the special universe you inhabit, that makes it more appealing than Safari or Chrome?

I don't get it... Why do you like it, or what are you reviewing that I'm not seeing? Polite, genuine question.  
(Version 3.5.5)

DANMARC  Agree with your assessment and the many constant minor upgrades are starting to grate on me. Fine that they improve stability and security but it feels now that just going for a quick brows on internet leads to spending time upgrading either latest version and/or plug ins (no I do not have many) and restart.

Still a great browser, me I use Safari for main browser as I find it clean and fast and no real issues with sites (if I have I just find alternative). I really like the Themes and plug ins so yes I use it: I would give it one more star than you did ; ) just opionion.

I also agree with your comment and feel it´s a bit unfair of the others specially including the IE comment as it really isn´t related to a comment on a Mac version (you really using IE on Mac ? : ) )

I write Windoze all the the time specially in speed related issues : )  
(Version 3.5.5)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  I'm sorry, but your Safari fanboy bandwagon rant sounds just as bad as the Firefox crowd. Now granted, your word choices are more eloquent than those complaining about your review, but you still sound biased, nonetheless. I personally use Safari as my #1 browser, but there are still a few websites that do not work at all in Safari that work perfectly in Firefox. For example... when posting an ad on Craigslist.com, when you are all finished with the ad and go to submit, a CAPTCHA verification page will appear to confirm the ad. This does not appear in Safari (I have tried every means imaginable to make it appear, trust me), but it does appear in Firefox. This is a rare instance in which a site just simply does not work in Safari, but I use that site on a daily basis, so I wish Apple would address that issue with Safari ASAP. So... both Safari and Firefox have their pros and cons, but don't belittle other people because you can't comprehend why they'd want to use Firefox over Safari because that defies all logic that encompasses your existence. Use what you like... that's all that matters, anyway. That's why there is diversity. That's why there is competition. That's why there is choice. If there wasn't any competition, we wouldn't see as many innovative ideas as we do now. Competition breeds creativity.  
(Version 3.5.5)

ERUNNO  I've already stated the reasons why I think that Firefox suits me better than the competition even without the myriad of extremely useful extensions. The list was written with Safari in mind so obviously some points do not apply to Chrome (although many do):

1) Bookmark tags, which tremendously help in case you quickly want to recover a bookmark among hundreds. Also allows to safe searches like with Spotlight.

2) Automatic session recovery, which also restores tab history and even remembers the position on a site (very useful when reading long single sites across several sessions).

3) Fine-grained privacy control for those who care.

4) Better keyboard control (tab switching, switching to private browsing, etc.).

5) Non-modal save password dialogs.

6) Basic download manager which supports resuming for servers which allow it.

7) Firefox can differentiate whether to open new windows for pop-ups or redirect new windows into tabs automatically. With Safari it's even with the hidden preferences all or nothing.

8) You can add different search engines even without an extension if the site supports it.

9) The AwesomeBar :-) although it seems to be a love or hate thing. As a heavy keyboard user I can't live without it anymore.

10) A maximize window functionality. :-)

11) You can restore closed tabs and windows.

And probably some other features as well which I can't remember right now. ;-)

It's not really difficult to be better than Safari if one has little use for the OS X features as it probably the most under-featured major browser on the market. The Chrome beta leaves it in the dust as a native browser replacement although it's only slightly over one year old and the Mac port even younger.  
(Version 3.5.5)

SPHERICAL CUBE  Firefox is just... old and starting to creak. Try loading up Google Wave in Firefox, the experience is like... go make coffee and grow old and die, while waiting for a page to load. Now try the same thing in Safari, Webkit, or Chrome, it's instant.   
(Version 3.5.5)

MECHAMANIA  Here's a news flash, monkey: opinions are biased by definition.  
(Version 3.5.5)

ERUNNO  Dave Brock wrote:

"If you really absolutely want the Gecko rendering engine for some reason, then Camino stomps all over this dinosaur."

I'm sorry for being blunt but you have no idea what you are talking about. The current stable Camino version 1.6 uses a completely outdated Gecko 1.8 and even the new Camino 2.0 will use the outdated 1.9.0 version. FYI Firefox 3.6 will use Gecko 1.9.2 which received massive improvements since the initial major revision was released. Camino currently is technically no alternative to people who want or need Gecko powering their browser.  
(Version 3.5.5)

K. VAUGHAN  I don't understand what gecko or whatev is, or care much. I use Camino when there is some site that will not load no matter what on Safari, like some other person said here before. Firefox is very ugly and slow on my Mac (iMac 27" with 8GB ram) compared to safari or camino which is also slow but at least looks like a Mac program.

Where do I find google Chrome? I don't see it anywhere linked from this site, when searching it doesn't find it. thanks.  
(Version 3.5.5)

HORACE GREELEY  Firefox is important as a open source project that exists, that's about it, but it's a big, important reason. I don't trust anything by Google not to constantly spy on me and send statistics back to Google and would be very hesitant to install Chrome before the final release and reading some technically knowledgeable reviews of what it's really doing or sending back to Google.

Firefox existing, constantly forces the other big browsers to keep improving and getting better, which is great for everybody.

Other then existing, I too only use Firefox as a backup when Webkit fails, in the current browser wars saying Firefox is trailing by a wide margin is a nice way of saying it's dead in the water and an outdated speed-bump unless some massive effort to improve its performance comes along. It's so much slower it's becoming sad. Honestly Firefox 3.5 is so much slower it's terrible, but I've heard good things about 3.6 to let's hope.

It's probably far more important that Firefox exists on the Windows platform, then any special reason on the Mac other then the people who love all the addons and there seem to be lots of those.  
(Version 3.5.5)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  This is probably the first time in MacUpdate history that I'm seeing good points on both sides being discussed. It's refreshing and everyone is making valid points. But you're right, opinions... by definition... are a little biased. I just can't tolerate the "you're an idiot for using this over this" crowd. I keep switching between Firefox, Safari, and Camino. I wish they could combine all 3 to create some super dooper ultimate browser. That'd be nice.  
(Version 3.5.5)

DMNELSON  I have gone back and forth, using virtually every browser under the sun as my default at some point or another since the mid 90's -- including both Safari and Firefox. Both apps excel at being a browser. Either one beats Internet Explorer hands down. But as they say, the devil's in the details.

To me, the issue of Safari vs. Firefox is a debate of form vs. function. Both have their place, and the ideal is a balance of the two -- a blend of aesthetics and utility. With its ability to add extensions, Firefox leans toward the "function" end of the spectrum. Safari leans more toward the "form" end of the spectrum with its sleek appearance and native feel.

Personally I mostly use Safari because all I want is a browser, no extra add-ons. Both do that just fine but Safari is prettier so I choose it. But some people need extensions that are available for Firefox, so they have good reason to favor it instead.

In the end there is no right answer. Just two apps that have a similar core purpose but differ in their priorities. I comes down to which one is a fit for your needs and preferences.  
(Version 3.5.5)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  I just make those comments for the completely random negatives that people give others for no reason whatsoever.  
(Version 3.5.5)

KKNOPP  I was just pointing out that the things you claim to be annoyed by, you do as well. And as far as your G4 comment. You really think you shouldn't have been negged down?

I have my own issues with MacUpdate and it's system. But this instance isn't one of them.   
(Version 3.5.5)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  G4? How can you still stand using those dinosaurs?  
(Version 3.6b1)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Oh I'm sorry... did I offend you people using G4s? I tried using my old G4 iMac a few weeks ago and I would rather remove my fingernails than use that slow piece of garbage again. But yes I agree, Firefox runs terribly on old G4s. It's almost unbearable. I was genuinely asking how you could stand being on a G4 these days. All the modern websites I throw at my old G4 bring that thing to its knees.  
(Version 3.5.5)

DEMOLITION  @ ST00P!D M0NK3Y

The people who modded down your comment may be reacting to its insulting tone, rather than its content. Next time, word it in a less inflammatory manner and you will likely get a more positive reaction.  
(Version 3.5.5)

KKNOPP  Heh the funny thing is, I have a dual Intel mac at work, and a 1.25 GHZ G4 tower (Towers are a bit different than iMacs) at home. I can BARELY tell the difference in browsing on both of them using Safari. The only time I can tell the difference is when Java/Flash loads. However with Firefox, I can tell a BIG difference between the two.   
(Version 3.5.5)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  So... because you blindly installed a firmware update on an array that contained valuable data with an unnecessary update that probably didn't even need to be installed in the first place because it was apparently working fine, you're going to say that because software developers don't have release notes for... God forbid... 15 minutes to 1 hour after putting their product up here, that the company is somehow stupid and irresponsible? Perhaps you should just develop some patience. If it bothers you that bad, wait for the release notes.

Just a heads up, you should probably have backed up your data before applying a firmware update. Just a thought.  
(Version 3.6b1)

KOSOVAR1  Hey Stupid Monkey (apt name!):

I applied the update to the first three drives because in a level 1 three-disk array, you have to do it that way. The only LaCie notes, that accompanied the firmware upgrade was that it was necessary to correct some problems that were linked to the current firmware, although the specifics of what was wrong or what was fixed were not available. And I DID wait a week for the release notes before applying the updates, which actually were never produced, not even with the version 1.1 updater. (What arrogance after all the grief LaCie caused, not to mention lying about the version 1 updater problems!) My only real mistake was rushing to backup the half gig drive before thoroughly testing the disk array. Since you are so trusting of the ethics of corporate scoundrels at the xpense of end-users, let me recommend to you a few health insurance companies and investment firms I know you will love.  
(Version 3.6b1)

LIVINGS124  You think the release notes would have said "might delete all your data"? This has nothing to do with release notes.  
(Version 3.6b1)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  You should always back up your data before doing a firmware update or any kind of update for that matter. In fact, you should always have two back ups of your data in case your back up has issues. This is a general rule of thumb. They say, any data you don't have backed up twice... is data you don't care about. I've had drives take a nose dive many times. Yes, it stinks that you lost your data. I've had nothing but poor experiences with LaCie drives and I've since stopped using them entirely. I can't believe we're discussing this in comments regarding Firefox.  
(Version 3.6b1)

BUSHWHACK  Downgraded back to the most stable release.... broke my PDF Viewer plugin.... would not render PDF in browser or allow me to download it... oh well....

Will wait for that to be upgraded before trying 3.6 again  
(Version 3.6b1)

ERUNNO  The performance gain is probably just your imagination as Mozilla usually doesn't do dangerous performance optimizations for maintenance releases unless it is absolutely necessary. I can't see any performance related bug fixes at a glance:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=ALL%20status1.9.1%3A.4-fixed  
(Version 3.5.4)

STAR-AFFINITY  Well, I too think 3.5.4 is faster than before. For example I don't remember the scrolling being as smooth as in Safari, which it certainly is now. Maybe you're right; it might just be placebo, but I absolutely didn't expect it to be any different from before plus it's not always every change is written in the release notes.

I might be wrong though, haven't done any side-by-side comparing. :)

Anyway, Flash is still more heavy on the processor(s) in Firefox compared to Safari. Don't know about the new 3.6 beta though.  
(Version 3.6b1)

ERUNNO  @STAR-AFFINITY

The Mozilla developers improved smooth scrolling performance for 3.5. It has been this way since 3.5.0.  
(Version 3.6b1)

ERUNNO  I'm glad that you still like it though. ;-)  
(Version 3.5.4)

LIDADOR  Your are missing Firefox extensions.  
(Version 3.5.4)

ERUNNO  And not only extensions, but also some very useful built-in functionality:

1) Bookmark tags, which tremendously help in case you quickly want to recover a bookmark among hundreds. Also allows to safe searches like with Spotlight.

2) Automatic session recovery, which also restores tab history and even remembers the position on a site (very useful when reading long single sites across several sessions).

3) Fine-grained privacy control for those who care.

4) Better keyboard control (tab switching, switching to private browsing, etc.).

5) Non-modal save password dialogs.

6) Basic download manager which supports resuming for servers which allow it.

7) Firefox can differentiate whether to open new windows for pop-ups or redirect new windows into tabs automatically. With Safari it's even with the hidden preferences all or nothing.

8) You can add different search engines even without an extension if the site supports it.

9) The AwesomeBar :-) although it seems to be a love or hate thing. As a heavy keyboard user I can't live without it anymore.

10) A maximize window functionality. :-)

11) You can restore closed tabs and windows.

And probably some other features as well which I can't remember right now. ;-)  
(Version 3.5.4)

OZEAN  I guess the way to go if you need services and want Firefox's rendering engine is: Camino  
(Version 3.5.4)

PIZZACAKE  Firefox crashes when I try to print a webpage otherwise its stable. Just got to remember not to press command-p!  
(Version 3.5.2)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Prints fine for me. o.O  
(Version 3.5.2)

ESPIRIDION  I don't have trouble printing. Many crashes occur when closing a Tab, but sometimes it crashes without me doing anything. I could have Firefox open and it will crash on its own. From what I recall, it is usually when I have multiple (3 or more) Tabs open.  
(Version 3.5.2)

MACNOOK  By chance, do you have KeyCue installed?

I was having the same problem-- crashes every few minutes (yes, literally) and updating to the latest version of KeyCue fixed the problem.

I didn't realize that it was a known issue until I happened to notice the release notes for the latest version of KeyCue

Maybe that'll help someone.  
(Version 3.5.2)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Uh... what?  
(Version 3.5.2)

JPW  Indeed, forgive me: I am not at all adept at describing technical things. I'll take another stab presently. When using Firefox, if I go to a webpage which has advertisements and I right click on the advertisement, on the contextual menu that pops up there is an option to "Block all advertisements from . . . ". However, this seems only to be the case for banner advertisements (not sure if this is the correct technical term; what I mean is advertisements that contain no moving images). However, if one does this (right click) on a non-banner advertisement - one that does contains moving images, the contextual menu only says things like "Zoom In" and "Show All" and "Quality" and "Rewind" and "Forward" and "About Adobe Flash Player 10". There is in these instances no option to block the advertisement. Probably this isn't that big of a deal for most people - and perhaps there is a way around this - or perhaps I should get out of the house more or something - but I really, really hate ads. Furthermore, Camino - at least for me - is quite a bit faster, which pretty much seals the deal for me.  
(Version 3.5.2)

MISHA  You should download and install this add-on:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

Set it to subscribe the banner ads list best for your country and it will automatically block most ads.

Except set it to allow ads from macupdate.com and even click those once in a while so we can keep delivering you our great service! :)

-Misha w/ MacUpdate  
(Version 3.5.2)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  That's why I was confused. That's what separates Firefox from the rest. Like MISHA said, get Adblock Plus and that won't be an issue anymore. It's an amazing ad blocker... way better than the built-in blocker in Camino. Firefox is all about add-ons. Pages load a lot faster with Adblock Plus as well.  
(Version 3.5.2)

STAR-AFFINITY  Wish I could say the same, but since I can't map the ”back” and ”forward” function to buttons on my mouse it doesn't win my heart.

The reason is that I run Mac OS X in English but use a Swedish keyboard layout.

In all other apps this is not a problem since I have mapped the keys ”cmd”, ”alt” and ”8” to ”Back” and ”cmd”, ”alt” and ”9” to ”Forward.

This gives ”cmd [” and ”cmd ]” which is ”Back” and ”Forward” in the English Mac OS X menus.

In Firefox this doesn't work.

The ”History” menu just blinks when I press the key combo for ”Back” or ”Forward”.

The funny/silly thing is that it works if the History menu first is opened (pulled down) and then the key combo is pressed! :-S

What's up with that? :)  
(Version 3.5.2)

MACFOOL  There are new security threats emerging all the time. Safari is at 4.02 and Firefox is at 3.5.2 due to newly discovered potential issues.

Do you own a Apple keyboard? There is a huge threat there.  
(Version 3.5.2)

EXORZIST  Can you provide us with some numbers or is it just like "it feels that..." ? Because MY Safari is much faster as MY Firefox (latest versions of everything) and I wonder why your Firefox is faster as your Safari.  
(Version 3.5.1)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  It's faster than Safari in most cases that I've been browsing. Ugly UI? Get a new theme... I'm using the Camino Camifox theme to look like Camino. Too many crashes? It hasn't crashed once on me. Sounds like a personal issue. Too cumbersome? In what way? You can customize it to your heart's content. Too many headaches? From what? Not knowing how to use a computer? Too much like a Windows app? Feels like a Mac app to me. You're comparing it to the much slower, much uglier version 2? Version 2 was a vomited up, lazy coding diarrhea that really did feel like a Windows app being ported over. Wasted bandwidth? 17MB? Are you on dial-up?

Sounds like nonsensical dribble to me. This isn't even an opinion. You give a 1 star review and this is your review? Ridiculous.

I switch between Firefox and Safari out of boredom. Neither crashes on me.  
(Version 3.5.1)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Oh and I missed... "too many versions". In what world is that a negative against a program that's free with a company that is constantly improving up the browser to bring you as much security and stability as possible? Would you rather they not update for years at a time... letting issues that users are having fester without being resolved? What kind of half-assed logic is that?  
(Version 3.5.1)

EXORZIST  MACTECHHEAD,

your comment gives me the impression that you should replace the RAM in your computer :)

because...

Firefox is stable and does the job good enough. It may be not as pretty as Safari (agreed) but this is just personal taste.  
(Version 3.5.1)

AUDIOENG  Once again, more useless babble.  
(Version 3.5.1)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  What computer are you running? Runs blazing fast for me.  
(Version 3.5.1)

MAC MAIL  ECHOROB,

Is you, not the browser.  
(Version 3.5.1)

ECHOROB  It's me ? How so ? The UI is extremely un Mac like, some sites do not display properly, still doesn't support services or dictionary. Still forced to keep 2 copies of firefox for English and Italian. Managing book mark is still so messy, no where feature complete as say Safari, using adons is a pain every update seems to brake the adons. The list goes on and on. It just isn' a good browser on OS X.  
(Version 3.5.1)

ECHOROB  Still no key chain support.   
(Version 3.5.1)

HOFMAN  And to be clear, this was fixed in 3.5.1, http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox35.html#firefox3.5.1.  
(Version 3.5.1)

STAR-AFFINITY  ”Safari is great I love it, but using safari is like surfing the web blind.”

You don't think you're over exaggerating just a taaaad bit here? ;)

Most people don't care about all the plug-ins and add-ons. I under stand that some do, but many don't. They just want a working, stable browser and I think Safari is more then enough when it comes to this. Glims also add the bling bling I need to Safari.  
(Version 3.5.1)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Best review ever... really... I'm moved.  
(Version 3.5)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  1 star? Really? You're an idiot.  
(Version 3.5)

CBX322  ST00P!D M0NK3Y:

Don't be personal!

It is my personal rating I have my reasons for.

Firefox is unusable in our computer network since we run educational language services offered to students speaking different languages. It is impossible to install Firefox for all languages in our computer network, at least I did not find a solution. Btw, this rules against Apple's programming guide lines. Unfortunately, I have been waiting since version 1 for a fully localized version and 3.5 still comes as "one app one language" which makes me to give the worst rating possible.  
(Version 3.5)

MACFOOL  CBX322 - Have you ever addressed your specific need to Mozilla, directly?

If so, what was the response? If not, why not?  
(Version 3.5)

CBX322  MACFOOL:

Yrs ago, they closed the bugreport with closed, won't fix. So they simply won't do it.  
(Version 3.5)

SOLOSAINT  valid complaint ... but ONE star?? come on... ONE? just one star?   
(Version 3.5)

CBX322  Come on, one star for something that's even not usuable? One star for being against Apple's programming guidlines? Why isn't it possible to give minus-points?  
(Version 3.5)

SOLOSAINT  it is dude... i just think that minor usablity thing warrants attention but not only one star, the fact that you know about apple usability guidelines, tells me you are no n00b and know what you are talking bout.

I often wish firefox had sparkle updates, i mean how much better are those than the windows counterpart?

cheers  
(Version 3.5)

CBX322  Sure, but I have been waiting for yrs to get multilingual support, opened bugreports, talked to devs. And now it is time to make my opinion public. How nice would that be, a single version which contains all languages? One install and everyone could switch their useraccount to their spoken language and Firefox will automatically show up in the chosen language.  
(Version 3.5)

CHRISWAN  Well, I believe most people will only use one language; So I think it's more practical to have one app one language implementation, They can save a lot of bandwidth accumulatively (it's free and it's downloaded by millions of people, every byte saving counts); Localizations can makes an app unnecessarily large  
(Version 3.5)

CHRISWAN  Personally, I hope someday every 3rd party apps will go this route (one app one language); Or at least they provide 2 version, one is English only, the other one is stuffed with all of those localizations  
(Version 3.5)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Don't know why they're posting that as the minimum requirements. I have 13 tabs open and it's using 80MB of RAM... the app itself only takes up 50MB of space.  
(Version 3.5)

NEONBLUE2  It should probably be noted that Firefox 3.5 requires Tiger. In order to run Tiger you must have at least 256MB of RAM anyway.

Windows 2000, on the other hand, requires 64MB of RAM and is the Windows minimum requirement.  
(Version 3.5)

A DUDE  Cool that explains it. Thanks to both of you for answering instead of burying my question like everyone else.  
(Version 3.5.1)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Opens in 1.5 - 2 seconds for me and runs insanely fast. Safari runs fine for me too.  
(Version 3.5)

ROBOTANK  Firefox also takes a long time to start for me. I used to have too many extensions.I got rid of most of them, but I didn't notice any substantial improvement in loading time. I hate FF's long load time: It makes it feel bloated, and makes Safari feel like a far more streamlined browser.  
(Version 3.5)

MACFOOL  About 2 seconds to load on a Dual G5 10.5.7 and maybe 3 seconds on a new 4 GB Mini 10.5.7

Y'all got something wrong.  
(Version 3.5)

BOSSA-NOVA  First launch of Firefox after a RESTART of the computer?  
(Version 3.5)

BRUCEANDERSON  Part of Safari is running in the system itself, so its initial launch time is shorter. Firefox has to bootstrap itself. After the first launch after a reboot FF should start about as quickly as Safari does.

But I'm wondering how often do you restart your computer for this to be a significant issue?  
(Version 3.5)

BOSSA-NOVA  I work a lot with photos, like in Lightroom. After a while computer gets very slow, so I reboot it from time to time.  
(Version 3.5)

MACFOOL  BOSSA-NOVA - Had to wait until I needed to Restart to respond to the question. Firefox 3.5 takes 4 seconds or a little less to open from launch on both machines subsequent to a Restart or Cold Boot.

If this has any bearing (probably not) I run all non-Apple applications from a second partition that will let me install there.

The fact you think you must reboot so often may be the source of your slow launching?

Both Firefox and Safari launch VERY fast give or take a few hundred milliseconds.

Try a cold start into a PRAM zap (thrice) to a Safe Boot, run Permissions repair in Disk Utility, then run your maintenance scripts, trash all caches and then Restart. If things are still slow, well, good luck.

Hope this helps.  
(Version 3.5)

BOSSA-NOVA  Firefox 3.5 only takes so long (about 30 seconds) to launch when I first open it after a restart of the system. Subsequent launches while the system is running only take 3 seconds.

I just want to know if others experience the same.  
(Version 3.5)

JAN13  That is exactly what I am talking about .... it sloooooow ...  
(Version 3.5)

IMHO  BRUCE ANDERSON

I restart my Mac at least every day. And almost every day a second time, when I'll be away of my Mac for some hours. Energy saving, you know. You don't mind about energy shortness and the environment?  
(Version 3.5)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  I'm surprised that Safari is taking 5 seconds to start for you, let alone Firefox taking 30+ seconds. It takes both Firefox and Safari only 1.5-2 seconds to open for me even after a restart. Maybe you should consider reformatting your Mac. I do that every once in a while when nothing else seems to work.  
(Version 3.5)

ROBOTANK  If I'm not mistaken, Fast Dial is an extension, not a default feature of Firefox? That isn't clear in your post.  
(Version 3.5)

CROPP  Select FF3.5.app, -> Show Package Contents -> Contents

Open PKginfo in TextEdit and change "-n APPLMOZB" to "APPLMOZB".

It works, I did it.

Do it at your own risk though, because I have absolutly no clue on what it could interfere with...  
(Version 3.5)

DOUG ENGELBART  Thank you, thank you, thank you, CROPP! ^^ I did it as you told me. Now my mousedriver 'USB Overdrive X' works fine with FF3.5 just like with every other app. As it should be.

Additional tips:

(1) Close Firefox before doing this.

(2) Be sure to erase the '-n ' in front of the capitals AND the CarriageReturn after them (as it is in Firefox 3.0.11 and before). Then save and close the PkgInfo file.

(3) Duplicate the so modified Firefox application, then trash&delete the original. Rename the duplication from 'Firefox copy' to 'Firefox' or 'Firefox 3.5' etc. and use only it.

P.S.: I reported the bug to bugzilla. Hope they'll avoid such an awkward bungling in the future.  
(Version 3.5)

MACUPDATE ADMIN  This is the official 3.5 release. It may be a earlier build that the mozilla folks decided to use for the final 3.5 release. Happens all the time with many different softwares.  
(Version 3.5)

BRIAN KENDIG  That's not happening to me here. I have a single Firefox 3.5 window open, I resize it, and then I close it; when I open a new window, it has the same placement and dimensions as the previous one. Maybe your preferences are corrupted?  
(Version 3.5)

KBEAT  I've not seen that behavior either. I customize the window size and it always opens to the last size I set. Trash your prefs and/or reinstall Firefox.   
(Version 3.5)

STAR-AFFINITY  Hmm... Got it sorted, but I had to throw away the ”Firefox” folder in ”user/Library/Application Support”. I guess one or more files in there where causing every new window to get zoomed, just at bit difficult to know which one...  
(Version 3.5)

STAR-AFFINITY  Hey! What's with the people pressing the sad face on my first post? I had a problem and the fix wasn't too obvious. Maybe I could have been more humble in my first question, but I was stressed at work and just threw up the question her on MacUpdate.

OK, bring on the sad faces... :P :)  
(Version 3.5)

MACUPDATE ADMIN  official, 3.5, not a release candidate.

http://www.macorchard.com/www/Firefox.php  
(Version 3.5)

E_COMMERCE  Front page of mozilla.com now updated showing 3.5 released.  
(Version 3.5)

UMIJIN  OK, NOW 3.5 shows up when you ask for updates. It didn't an hour ago.

I don't appreciate MacUpdate Admin ERASING my comment regarding the update feature NOT working.

I pay your salary with my membership.  
(Version 3.5)

CORPSECORPS  Not ANY OS conditions.

When i'm playing flash games online, i typically get more stutters, and other snags in Firefox than Safari even if i have only 1 window with 1 tab.

I've actually had very few problems with Safari. I use Firefox as my primary browser because it's got THE critical add-on Adblock Plus.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/26171/safari-adblock

This works quite well for ad blocking in Safari.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

CORPSECORPS  Safari Adblocker isn't bad, but it's pretty primitive in comparison and has no "Element Hiding Helper" equivalent. Plus input managers can be problematic.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

FYREFLYE  Add Glimmerblocker to Safari and back it up by using AdSubtract.css as your style sheet and you have ad blocking as good as Firefox's Adblock. But you can't disable it for individual sites.  
(Version 3.5)

FYREFLYE  I should have said "you can't disable *AdSubtract.css* for individual sites" (except on OmniWeb). You can disable Glimmerblocker on a site by site basis and it works almost as well as Adblock.  
(Version 3.5)

ERUNNO  I hope that you are aware that there is also a review type "Troubleshooting". Why does everybody feel it's necessary to add a rating which consists nothing more than trouble/description with a single feature?  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  I've noticed some funky page rendering as well on occasion... and it seems to only be with this latest release. Hope they address this issue.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ERUNNO  64-bit support is being actively developed for the next version of Firefox which should be released 6-9 months after 3.5 (not that Mozilla has a great track record of keeping appointed dates).

What is actually wrong with the interface? It looks and (mostly) behaves like a native Cocoa application. Firefox 3.5 received a lot of tweaks compared to 3.0 to get rid of many inconsistencies (e.g. inactive state, moving by grabbing toolbar, etc.). And the general look is in line with applications like QuickTime and especially iTunes.

It sure looks more like a native OS X application than QuickTime X ;-)  
(Version 3.5rc3)

IINDIGO  There are still a few UI inconsistencies (for example, selected menu items don't blink like normal Mac ones do - you click the item, the menu disappears) and I don't know if it's like this on an intel machine, but on my PPC iMac, 3.5 still has that "clunky" feeling where UI elements lag a second before redrawing. This causes it to still feel distinctly non-native.

Unfortunately, I don't believe this problem can be resolved unless Firefox does a Camino-style shedding of its XUL-powered UI.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ERUNNO  @IINDIGO

What kind of menu items are you talking about? I do not doubt statement but I haven't come across any bug report on bugzilla which deals with this inconsistency. Might be worth opening a bug for it. If it's easy to fix there's a good chance it will find its way into the next version.

I don't have any problem with UI drawing speed but I'm on a MacBook Pro 5.1 so it might be that it's simply fast enough so that any lag becomes unnoticeable. And Firefox will never drop XUL as many extensions depend on it for cross-platform UI (incidentally, this is the reason why Camino does not support Firefox extensions as it lacks a proper XUL implementation).  
(Version 3.5rc3)

IINDIGO  The menu items that seem affected by the problem are those that reside in contextual menus yielded by right-clicking anything in a page. Also, while it's difficult to notice, the same contextual menus make use of Tiger-style menu dividers instead of the simpler Leopard ones.

As for my machine, I'm currently using a 20" 2.1Ghz iMac G5.

I'll just continue to use OmniWeb since it provides most of the extra niceties that Firefox addons give (adblocking, per-page preferences and stylesheets mainly) while still feeling completely native.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

MACTECHHEAD  Hahaha

I agree! Sick 'em Danno

With all the constant crashing I deleted Firefox 3 from my drive.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

TEDSTOUTPA  Safari 4 has crashed several times since download. Firefox 3.5 has not crashed once. MacBook, 2 GB RAM, 10.5.7.

Ted  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ERUNNO  This review has been rated R for Retarded.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ROBOTANK  Whatever, dude. You're obviously a bit of a tool. It's interesting that you have all sorts of other problems with Firefox that you failed to mention in your first "review." By the way, I wouldn't count on getting any of the sort of lip service you're after, now or ever.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

MACTECHHEAD  Yawn  
(Version 3.5rc3)

MACTECHHEAD  The same old B.S. page after page.

Safari crashes too much, well duh, stop using all the lame 3rd party plugins or bitch at the developers of them to make them stable. Safari has never crashed on me like Firefox does.

I had zero, nada, zilch, nothing extra installed in a few versions of Firefox 3 and they all kept crashing constantly. I filed about 2 dozen bug reports and the problems still persist.

Safari 3 or 4 never crashed on the same pages and I never had as much grief from a browser as Firefox gives me.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  @ MACTECH

I've never had Firefox crash once on me since the advent of 3.5 Beta. I have all kinds of add-ons installed. This is obviously a per-user issue, so bagging on Firefox because of a personal problem is just as ridiculous as anything else. Obviously bugs are still being worked out...

But generally when a program keeps crashing, there's likely some other reasons for the issue than just the app itself, especially when not everyone is having the same issues as you. In fact... none of the programs I have on my Mac crash.

As for Safari 4, I've never had that crash either, even with all the extensions I have, but of course, I keep them all up to date.

As for the original commenter, you're a giant tool. No two ways about it.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

NADAMAC  shorter URL to the screenshot:

http://tinyurl.com/mey75l  
(Version 3.5rc3)

MARK EVERITT  Weird. The thing on the right normally happens at the end of the day, to highlight the most popular updates.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

CALL ME YO DADDY  I pretty much feel you on that. That is part of the reason I'm sticking with Camino 2 beta 3. I can live without the extensions.   
(Version 3.5rc3)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  So... get a different theme. This is far above and beyond the fastest version of Firefox yet and it actually "FEELS" like a Mac app. Don't know how you could have liked the 2.0 GUI... I mean... it felt like a badly ported Windows Java app. Seriously. But everyone has their tastes, so whatever.

To the person mentioning Camino...

Get the latest nightlies here ~~> http://caminobrowser.org/download/releases/nightly/

New version is out. ;]  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  By the way... I'm using the Camino theme for Firefox to make it look like Camino ~~>

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7527

So now that you can make Firefox look like Camino... what do you have to complain about now?  
(Version 3.5rc3)

KAIWAI  Mate, are you some sort of idiot? you think that as of RC3 they would suddenly change the user interface? come on, this is pathetic, it truly is. I'm running Firefox 3.5RC3 + Camifox, I can't work out what the heck you're whining on about because there is nothing wrong with Firefox.

As for you praising Firefox 3.x - good lord, Firefox 2.x was an abortion whose programmers couldn't even be bothered using Cocoa widgets for the form buttons let alone attempting to make it not stand out like a sore thumb. It is obvious that raising Firefox 2.x, you don't have the slightest clue on what you're talking about.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  LOL... yeah... Firefox 2 made my eyes bleed. That was an abomination against Apple. Glad they care enough to not make just a simple port of their browser now.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ROBOTANK  All other things being equal, it's absurd to post a one-star review of an app because you don't like the GUI. Reviews are supposed to consider a wide range of criteria, not a single element. If you want to comment on one aspect of a program, post a comment, not a review. This is absolutely ridiculous. Admin should delete this senseless "review." By the way, I'm not even saying this to go to bat for Firefox--I actually prefer Safari and OmniWeb over anything Mozilla.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

KAIWAI  @ROBOTANK

Na, I want to see the comment remain as to show him up for the idiot he really is. Let others see the quality of his so-called 'reviews' and then realise that they carry no weight.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

XENOPHILE  What's with the negative ratings on this comment? The reviewer posted a simple, verifiable fact, and apparently it hit a nerve amongst the Firefox Fanboyz here.  
(Version 3.5rc2)

TWEETY_  Don't care ;) I use Firefox on my dual G4 Mac because Safari crashes a lot. And I'm happy with Firefox, it never caused me any problems.  
(Version 3.5rc2)

ERUNNO  http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pNgBCwWdyRTT2JeiZn4B2Yw&gid=0

Looking at the spreadsheet you'll notice that Firefox 3.5 mostly fails in SVG related tests, none which should be relevant in the near future. Plus, full standard compliance implies Acid 3 conformance, not the other way around. That's a common mistake people seem to make (i.e. 100/100 doesn't mean that a browser is fully standard compliant).  
(Version 3.5rc2)

CHRISWAN  Does it really matter? 93 vs 100?

I almost never have problem using Firefox, and it's customizbility beats the cr*p out of Safari  
(Version 3.5rc2)

GABBLE  ERUNNO, if you read at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid3

you'll see:

ECMAScript Conformance (subtests 81-96)

Data URI scheme (subtest 97)

XHTML 1.0 Strict (subtest 98)

HTTP 1.1 Protocol

SVG tests are:

SVG 1.1 (subtests 74, 78)

SVG 1.1 Fonts (subtests 77, 79)

In any case:

"Firefox developers had been preparing for the imminent release of Firefox 3, focusing more on stability than Acid3 success. The resulting 3.0 release consequently gained a score in the 70s. The performance of Firefox has been improved in version 3.5, which scores 93/100. The current trunk builds of Firefox score 94/100 with the default configuration and 96/100 with svg.smil.enabled set to true."

Aaaannd: :-)

"Microsoft, developers of the Internet Explorer browser, said that Acid3 does not map to the goal of Internet Explorer 8 and that IE8 would improve only some of the standards being tested by Acid3. IE8 scores 20/100 and has some problems with rendering the Acid3 test page."

Surely Firefox is a terrific browser, it only could be a bit better in standards compliance.

Happy browsing! :-)  
(Version 3.5rc2)

ERUNNO  @Gabble

What makes you think that the numbering of the tests is the same as the order they are executed? For instance, subset 79 (SVG fonts) is not implemented yet. This feature will be release with Gecko 1.9.2:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=119490

Your assertion about the numbering is wrong.  
(Version 3.5rc2)

O5220803  Well, if it's 93/100 or 100/100 either score is fine with the rest of us, when you consider how far FFx has come in is development life-cycle. This release of the FFx is truly the best yet. Kudos to the Mozilla Development Team for a browser very well done!  
(Version 3.5rc2)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Wow... dude... apparently people knew of RC1 way before you. Anyway... I agree. This is by far the fastest Firefox ever. It's awesome. =)  
(Version 3.5rc1)

FOLLEREC  It's not yet announced (or at least it's not yet on Mozilla's website), but RC1 is available in the mirrors. I've already downloaded it. Works great. Feels faster. Plus all my extensions work just fine.  
(Version 3.5rc1)

STAR-AFFINITY  Oops that Command sign didn't turn out very once posted...

cmd[ for ”Back” and cmd] for ”Forward” is what I meant.  
(Version 3.5rc1)

GORDON142  This is a pre-release version of Firefox. It is not supposed to show up as an auto-update as it is not intended for widespread public use.  
(Version 3.5rc1)

SOLOSAINT  all versions of firefox have been that way, not just pre-release  
(Version 3.5rc1)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Wow... look at my typos. I should lay off the caffeine.  
(Version 3.5b4)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Congratulations on having no clue what you're talking about. :)  
(Version 3.5b4)

DIAMOND  EU.playstation.com

Firefox 15 threads 30% cpu

safari 10 threads 20% cpu   
(Version 3.5b4)

DIAMOND  http://www.apple.com/startpage/

firefox 12 threads 14% cpu

safari 8 threads 8% cpu  
(Version 3.5b4)

BOLOBAR  Hey sport, why don't you try using the native Mac browser that comes with the operating system? It is called Safari. If you download v 4.0 from MacUpdate or Apple you will see a browser that will outperform Firefox as far as pure "speed" is concerned. "Speed" is obviously your drug of choice.  
(Version 3.0.11)

ROBOTANK  That's right. The current stable branch is 3.0.x. Firefox 3.5 was originally going to be numbered 3.1, but due to the degree of changes from 3.0, they decided to bump the version number to 3.5, starting with beta 4, so it will better reflect the scope of the changes between the two versions.  
(Version 3.5b4)

FYREFLYE  When you download 3.5b4 and open it Firefox takes you to the page describing this new release.  
(Version 3.5b4)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  Enjoying the assumptions about not visiting sites that may cause *gasp* crashes and the like. Maybe the people experience issues are lucky, perhaps, and maybe they are focusing more on the Beta than the current program. 3.1 is around the corner (they are now calling it 3.5), and the latest Beta is surprisingly even faster than the first Betas for 3.1 that have been out.

As for recommending NOT using Firefox as a work-tool I cannot comprehend. Have never stopped using it as a work-tool since it's been on the Mac and nothing's changed since 3.x. It just plain doesn't crash on me. Perhaps run Onyx or DiskWarrior on your slave drive and see if anything is amiss.  
(Version 3.0.9)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  I will give you the benefit of the doubt, though and agree that they need to get their butts in gear with Firefox as this seems to be happening across the board with various Mac users. It just shouldn't be that buggy.  
(Version 3.0.9)

LEO SPILL  Next time you hear an excessive amount of fan noise - open 'Activity Monitor' in your Applications/Utilities folder and that might give you an idea what's taking up so much of your CPU.  
(Version 3.0.9)

EASER  Thank you.  
(Version 3.0.9)

MRC  Yeah, with the most recent update I noticed my cooling fans working very hard too... I used Activity Monitor, but could not find the culprit. It seems that certain Flash heavy web sites cause FF to go nuts and push my MacBook Pro's fans into overdrive!?  
(Version 3.5b4)