I think that Internet Explorer has finally met it's match!

About 6 months ago I was introduced to Firebird (mozilla) and all its extensions. What a great browser that became for web desginers! Full editing functionality, validations, compatability checking, you name it... you could add it. But still, it had speed issues when loading, so until recently IE has always been my default browser, even though when I design sites I used Firebird.

But now its move over IE, time for trash heap. I updated to Firefox (it's upgrade) about a month ago & have been slowly customizing it. Everyone...if you haven't got it....GET IT ! No other browser even compares to it. Once you have customized Firefox to do everything you want to do, it leaves competition behind. It has more than 200 extensions Google search, popup blockers, web design & development, trouble shooting capabilities, compatability checking, accessibility & validation checking, ad banner removal, spell-checker, blogging, the ability to search Amazon.com, eBay or other popular sites, and much, much more. It reads good code better than most other browsers out there. If it reads well in Firefox/Firebird, it will read well in nearly every other browser. The beauty of it, add what YOU want, not what Microsoft SAY you want. And who even needs IE now to check how it looks in IE? You can do that too. In fact, I bet I could almost teach it to do my housework! ;-)

Now I know there will be those of you out there that will be saying "why, IE is already my default browser, I use the others when I need to", I have said it too in the past. After upgrading to Firefox, I actually sat back & asked myself why I was still keeping IE as my default browser. In fact, why was I even using it all! I couldn't come up with one good reason. Here was a free browser that was far superior to IE, a Microsoft's product that hasn't even had a decent update in years! All we have heard is whispers about 'what' MS is doing with future versions. Dangling that carrot in front of everyones noses. Why keep chasing that carrot, when its already here in another browser?

My next venture is trying out their email application Thunderbird. I have read some great reviews about, and if Firefox/Firebird are any indication, I am looking forward to trying it out. Mozilla 1.6 is next on the agenda, again having recieved rave reviews for its stability & features.

Take the few minutes to download these, especially Firefox. Browse through the addons & customized it to what you want. Then see if you want to go back to using IE again. Don't just stay with IE because its convenient. If your a fan of Microsoft, do it anyway... its about time that MS got of its rear end & realized there is serious comptition out there, and not to be so complacent in what it provides to the public.

Now I will go collect my commission fee from Mozilla! ;-)

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It' time for Progressive Web & IT Development!

I wanted to choose a quote from Mat to start with, but I agree 100% with everything she says.

But I can add some gonzo benifits to what she has already pointed out for designing webpages: It is like the most complete tool that you can have, and it is even better than having shortcuts to these 'checking and validating' sites because with Firefox, the extensions are grouped as 'dropdown' menu's on your tool bar and it is just point and click and instant results - you don't have to worry about cut'n'paste the urls inot the box in the validation page, it just does it for you.

One click to 'view source', 'view scripts',' view css', 'SHOW BLOCK LEVEL ELEMENTS!', show DOM tree - nodes and elemental, all the debuggers, java tools, chane to alternate style sheet, etc etc etc etc...

I just still have to be careful with CSS pages because I cannot get everything identical sometimes, so I would rather get it looking best in IE because it is br far the most commonly used browser - for now! lol

It is amazing, Mat is beating me to the punch as usual, too ;o)

Oh yo, TABS R GREAT