FF 12 Loses Status (Bar)

[lexipixel]

I was having a problem with the Adsense Control Panel screen, (as were others, see: [webmasterworld.com...] ), so as a last resort I updated FF from 3.6.24 to "4" (which says "12.0" in the Help>About box?)...

I'm on Win/PC/XP.

As I mentioned in the Adsense thread --- Yup, FF has done away with the Status Bar, (but there's an Add-on called "Status-4-Evar" you can install that replicates the functionality).

The FF4 progress bar is now a green line that appears in the Address Bar. "Status" messages appear in the lower left corner of the browser, and now there's an "Add-On" bar that can be made visible at the bottom of the browser (where the status bar has been for all of eternity).

Lots more changes in the newest FF browser too -- many I don't like, some I'm getting used to, some I found out how to reconfigure.

- New Tab: In earlier versions, there was a [+] sign that appeared to the right of the last opened tab -- you could click it to open another tab -- gone by default setup. I dragged the [+] from the menu bar to that same location and it stuck there.

- Refresh Page: I like my refresh page to the right of the address bar. By default FF4 setup it's to the right of the address, but inside the address bar -- along with the "X" to stop loading a page. I don't like it. When I tried View > Toolbars > Customize to fix it, it would suck it right back into the address bar -- the fix was to drag a separator onto the menu bar -- between the address box and the refresh icon.

- Speed: I think FF4 is slower than v3.6.24... but I haven't formally benchmarked it.

Anyone else have interesting observations, comments, etc..

[Fotiman]

You are looking at Firefox 12, NOT Firefox 4. Just want to be sure you realize that Firefox is currently at version 12.

[lexipixel]

I are confused.

Why did my last version say "3.6.24" and this one says "12".

Were there (8) major version upgrades in a year -- or just a change in numbering system?

NOTE: If this is v.12 -- someone please change the title of this thread.

[incrediBILL]

Yup, FF has been jumping major version #s for the past couple of years at a rapid pace and has just recently jumped from 9 to 12 in very little time.

Total madness.

[bill]

Apparently the "Status-4-Evar" add-on was the official fix for the status bar issue. I couldn't live without it either.

You'll be excited to know that FF 13 will be out momentarily. ;)

[lexipixel]

stuff that bugs me...

Right Click on Link: the fly-out always had "Open Link in New Window" first, then "Open Link in New Tab" second --- now they reversed the order.

I was wondering why new windows kept opening -- kinda sucks having to relearn the basics of a software package because it got upgraded.

(I'd still be on DOS 3.2 if I had my way.. it was the best OS from MS ever).

******************************************
* Living on the rusty edge of technology *
******************************************

[Robert Charlton]

Right Click on Link: the fly-out always had "Open Link in New Window" first, then "Open Link in New Tab" second --- now they reversed the order.

Probably to get in sync with IE.

You'll be excited to know that FF 13 will be out momentarily.

My heart's pounding. I'm realizing that I must have turned off "nag me about updates" and I'm still on 11.0, wondering why everything was so peaceful. Do I want to fool with 12, or should I just wait for 13?

PS:

FF 12 Loses Status (Bar)

I'm not seeing a status bar on 11.0.

[bill]

If you allow it FF will now automatically update similar to Chrome, without nagging you at all. When I setup someone else's machine I always make sure the automatic update is turned on. That's a huge maintenance timesaver.

status bar

I can't recall when that disappeared officially, but this Mozilla KB article indicates it was sometime after version 4: [support.mozilla.org...]

[lexipixel]

- View Image: I'm frequently right-clicking on images and doing a "View Image", (to see the URL, or see if it is scaled via <img> tag width or height, etc). The image was always shown top-left in the window, on a white background -- now the image is centered on a black background... Not a biggie, just something different to throw me off kilter, (at first I thought it was the site I was looking at doing it -- then realized it was the browser).

Again -- I went from "3.6.24" to "12"... so don't know when this change happened.

[incrediBILL]

Yeah, the status bar has been missing a real long time, nothing new and quite annoying really. That little pop-out to show the URL where the status bar used to be isn't the same.

They should make it a checkbox on the VIEW menu and let those of us that want it, need it, and have REALLY BIG SCREENS enable the old status bar.

Browser UI is actually getting worse, not better, in the latest releases of MSIE and FF if you ask me and I can adapt to just about anything until it becomes next to ridiculously hard to use which FF is quickly becoming.

[Robert Charlton]

If you allow it FF will now automatically update similar to Chrome, without nagging you at all. When I setup someone else's machine I always make sure the automatic update is turned on. That's a huge maintenance timesaver.

I look at updates differently. I view an update as a possible disruption/mess that I don't want to deal with while I'm in the middle of something important, so I like to be able to pick my time. Eg, if I'm relying on a FF extension during a project, I don't want to chance it will be disabled by an update... and I generally don't want to take time to check out how long my current extensions are predicted to work.

[incrediBILL]

My FF 12 just auto-updated to FF 13 so this thread is old new ;)

if I'm relying on a FF extension during a project, I don't want to chance it will be disabled by an update... and I generally don't want to take time to check out how long my current extensions are predicted to work.

Having your computer security held hostage over an add-on is a bad strategy.

Imagine some flaw in the browser allows your computer to get seriously hacked and you could have way more trouble on your hands than a disabled add-on, such as compromised server passwords, your machine being involved in a botnet spamming and hacking other computers, etc. etc.

Try explaining to your customer that your computer got hacked because you refused to update until his project was complete because you were afraid some FF SEO add-on might not work and now the machine is out at Geek Squad and may not come back for days or weeks and "... oh BTW, your FTP passwords were probably compromised..." or worse.

The next sound you hear will be the sound of his check bouncing off your bank account as he has the bank put a stop payment on it.

Not that there's anything wrong with using FF add-ons to do your work, I would just make sure I have a backup plan that will get the same job done in the event they no longer exist. I've been burned by a few add-on developers that literally just drop the ball and don't do timely updates to base a business strategy around any of them. If you can find any other alternate way to do the job, besides a FF add-on, I would opt for that route before banking on a single FF add-on. If you can't find anything, perhaps ask some developer your know to build it because others may be seeking an alternate solution as well, you never know!

But that's just me, YMMV.

[lexipixel]

I never liked auto updates for anything, and always had them set for manual when possible. MS made it nearly impossible to run that way -- I'd get near daily "Updates are Ready, Install Now or Wait (1 hour)" type messages -- eventually I caved in on the Windows automatic updates.

I still don't let browsers update automatically -- and I think it's with good reasons. How many times does a release need a "security update" 24-48 hours later because the NEW version introduced an exploitable bug?

I prefer to live on the rusty edge of technology -- give the software a year or so to age and mellow.

I think a lot of "updates" and "upgrades" are driven by marketing departments so they can say, "Look! New! Different! Improved!"... and all they did was rearrange the menus -- but it gets them some press.

I liked FF 3.6.24... it allowed me to skip several versions I never missed. I only upgraded because for some reason Adsense control panel no longer properly displayed under it. Now I have 4-5 new issues to deal with on the browser side -- and after a week, I'm already a version behind "the bleeding edge".