The Gong Show

The official Firefox 2.0 release is now available on the Firefox download site, but their public-facing pages won’t list Firefox as available for download until tomorrow according to BetaNews.

I downloaded and installed it. Unfortunately, the upgrade broke my del.icio.us toolbar, which is currently incompatible with FF 2.0. I’m sure that compatibility issue will be fixed quickly; it’s just a small glitch. Other than that one problem, the upgrade process was painless.

The best new feature is definitely the built-in spellchecker. Finally! I’ve been aching for this feature for a long time. It works in real-time as you type, and the recommended choices are pretty smart based on my initial use.

The other big feature that solves a significant usability problem with FF 2.0 is a list of recently closed tabs in the “History” menu. I frequently accidentally close a tab, and then smack my forehead in disbelief that it’s not a simple problem to “undo.”

The look and feel didn’t change substantially, but that’s a good thing IMHO. Very often in UI design, a designer will re-design an interface claiming that the new design is “better.” Whether or not a design is “better” is often subjective, but the design is usually quite different, and different is inherently worse because it requires relearning behavior and breaking muscle memory habits. So, I’m glad pretty much everything is in the same place it used to be.

There is one exception to the consistent UI. The “x” to close a tab is now on each individual tab instead of over on the right side of the tab bar where it used to be. I prefer the new location (I had my Firefox setup to place the “x” on the tabs by modifying the about:config), but I imagine this will affect some users’ habits. Hopefully the change will be well-received once people re-train their reflexes.

Overall, I’m very enthusiastic about the latest Firefox release. Go get it now.