A Day with Firefox Quantum

In my browser adoption history, Firefox was the second browser I used regularly following the demise of Netscape Navigator. Firefox was a decent browser that I used for a time, before I moved to Google Chrome. Once Safari started showing some serious promise, I switched and never looked back: it’s been my primary web browser for the past two years. With Chrome and Safari getting faster and better over the years, Firefox felt staid and boring. And yet, I still kept Firefox around because it was the only browser that could work on legacy pages that I needed to access for my teaching job.

Firefox Quantum is the latest version of Firefox, completely rewritten from the ground up. It boasts numerous speed and a streamlined UI, with a smaller memory footprint than Chrome. Of course I had to try it out.

I’ve used Firefox Quantum almost exclusively over the past 24 hours and in my brief testing, it certainly lives up to its billing. Firefox Quantum utilizes a better, faster page loading mechanism that uses less computer memory. Every page I accessed using it loaded almost instantaneously. In my testing, switching between 20 or 30 tabs was surprisingly speedy thanks to is reworked, responsive engine. This is a noticeable improvement over earlier versions. Bookmarks are easily imported into Firefox Quantum so you can continue browsing where you left off in your favorite browser.

Firefox has also fine-tuned its preferences, grouping them in a logical, clear manner. The latest version sports online tracker blocking and hidden tracker protection, staying true to its promise to protect users’ privacy.

Gone are the bulky tabs of yore. These are replaced by modern, minimalist tab that’s efficient and easy on my eyes.

Taking and sharing web screenshots is super easy, thanks to Firefox Quantum’s new screenshot feature. Users can take screenshots of sections of a page, or the entire page altogether for the purposes of keeping or sharing them with others. Best of all, the screenshots are saved within the browser – no more scrambling around your hard drive to seek them out.

Firefox Quantum includes Pocket, an offline reader that’s tightly integrated into the browser, for those who favor reading content offline.

I found enough to like with the latest version of Firefox to make the switch over. I feel that the increased speed, smaller memory footprint, and UI enhancements make Firefox Quantum a more than competitive alternative to Chrome and Safari. The real question is: how many people are willing to leave the comfort of their own browser to give the new version of Firefox a spin?

-Krishna

Krishna November 15, 2017 Firefox Quantum, linux, Mac, web browser, windows