The joys of Firefox

Throughout my life on the internet, I've come to hate Internet Explorer, I've found that Apple Safari is just not adaptable enough, that Netscape is really slow and that AOL just generally stinks. Finally, after slaving away for years with sub-par internet browsers, I came across a free online browser, and with one tiny 8.6 megabyte download, I was cruising my way across the internet basking in the glory of Mozilla Firefox.

Mozilla, the parent company of Firefox, is a nonprofit organization in California that states its mission as trying to preserve choice and innovation on the internet, according to the Mozilla website. In addition to Firefox, Mozilla also makes an email client called Thunderbird and several tools for use by software developers. All are available for free as an online download.The people of Mozilla did something right, and their innovative features are quickly becoming common on other web browsers, but they are still leading the pack.

Tabbed Browsing

The greatest feature that Firefox offers above its competitors is the tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing allows a user to open multiple web pages within the same window and change from tab to tab by clicking on one at the top of the page. Additionally, anyone with a two-button mouse can open links in new tabs simply by right-clicking on them.

I frequently find myself with as many as 10 different tabs open, especially when doing research or searching for some product I want to buy online. The ability to switch from one bit of information to another instantly or compare prices at a glance is truly invaluable.

Need for speed

If you're an internet junkie like me, there's nothing more annoying than having to wait a long time for a webpage to load. Now, don't ask me how the good folks at Mozilla did it, but the speed difference between Firefox and other browsers like Netscape is definitely noticeable, even on the same computer.

Tabbed browsing also speeds up the internet experience because if there are several links from one page, each link doesn't have to be opened individually but instead can be opened simultaneously.

Safety

Although it's not very exciting, Firefox is one of the safest browsers out there, which is very important these days with hard drives full of private and important documents. Firefox has an extremely effective popup blocker that makes popups few and far between. In addition, the browser alerts you to any strange scripts a page is running, but not so frequently that it becomes annoying like in some other browsers.

Firefox can be set to also download new features and safety fixes in tiny downloads that users don't even notice while browsing. These constant updates make the browser very resistant to worms, viruses and spyware.

Features galore!

Firefox's integrated search bar is one of the best things out there, and combined with the tabbed browsing, it's really easy to look up something you don't recognize in the middle of an article. The browser also allows you to select what search engine it uses, and while it includes popular ones like Google, Yahoo and Ebay, users can program in any search engine they please.

Although it's not essential, having a cool-looking web browser is just fun, and Firefox makes it amazingly easy to download new themes and looks for the browser. Available themes range from plain color changes and streamlined looking buttons to more complex overhauls of the entire look of Firefox.

In addition to simple look add-ons Firefox offers a host of useful extras to really enhance the browsing experience. These include clients to help you search "best of the web" sites, a weather forecaster, an instant link to answers.com, which allows users to look up any word on any webpage as you view it and foxy tunes, which allows users to control their favorite music player on their computer without exiting Firefox.

The extras on Firefox provide a really great web experience and begin to make the browser a tool in and of itself instead of just a gateway to the internet. The rock solid browser base for these extras is just as powerful, and it's hard to be disappointed with this king of internet browsers.