Opera 9.5 vs. Firefox 3 (pt. 2) Plus Extra Tips for FF3

After about a month using Opera 9.5, I have to say it works ok. Not as great as I hoped. And here's why: Opera is not compatible with some websites! You might know this already - but I had no idea! Mapquest, for one, isn't compatible for Opera. When I'm on Mapquest, it will show the map for only 10 seconds before it closes and says that it's not compatible with my browser. That sucks.

Also, I've found more problems with using Opera 9.5 for blogging (with Blogger). There's this problem with adding a new Page Element. I have Opera set to where instead of opening a link to a new window, it will just open a new tab. For Opera, after I open the tab and make additions, it has a problem closing. Or it will have problems saving, at which point I'll close the tab and refresh on the Layouts screen. The changes are saved, it just lies to me and says it's not (o_O). Very inconvenient for blogging.

So in the first "Opera 9.5 vs. Firefox 3" post (I should have named it "Battle of the Browsers", would've been cooler), I gave a good review on Opera 9.5. But after finding these problems, I would have to say that it's still good, but there are alot of things they need to improve, far as compatibility is concerned. I still use it for casual browsing, since it works for popular websites, such as Youtube, Google, and whatnot.

A Firefox update was just released about a week ago. They supposedly fixed a couple bugs that were giving people some problems, I guess. Personally, I haven't run into a single problem as of late. Currently, I use Firefox as my default browser. Yes, it may be slow, but it works without problems. Plus it's so customizable I feel like a geek whenever I add stuff to it xD. For now, FF3 is the best browser out there. In my opinion, of course.

One thing that is very cool about Opera 9.5 is the "Speed Dial" feature. If you see a website you think you're going to check out often, just add it there, and when you open a new tab, you can select it from the "Speed Dial". Pretty cool. But I've found a way to add that feature to FF3! You have to download a couple add-ons though, but it's not intrusive, and it doesn't slow your browser. Here's how I did it:

1. Download Tab Mix Plus (Dev Build). Here's the link if you don't have it already (the link will take you directly to the download page). You can check it out on the FF add-ons page for more information. After you download it and restart FF, go to your Tools section at the top of the toolbar and go to Tab Mix Plus options, and go to the Links tab. Enable single window mode.

2. Download the Taboo add-on. This has a feature similar to the "Speed Dial" for Opera 9.5. The problem is you can't change the settings. After you download it and restart FF, you can start adding your favorite websites by going to them and clicking the new "+" button that should appear to the left side of the address bar.

3. Click the new "T" button to open your Taboos in a new tab. After that, copy the URL in the address bar.

4. Go to the Tools section and click Options. Go to Main (if you're not there already), and paste the URL you copied into the homepage section. Click OK. That's it!

Now, instead of having to click the "T" button to see your Taboos (your sites), you can just make a new tab my pressing ctrl+t and it will automatically display on the new tab! One thing about Taboos is if you click the "+" button twice, you can also add a description for the Tabooed site. You can also edit it on the Taboo page. Also, you can add as many sites to Taboo as you like!

Hope you find this tip useful! This makes browsing with FF3 all the more convenient and easy! Like to "ping" your blog? Add the site to Taboo, and you won't have to re-type the URL evertime you update your blog! If you're having trouble getting it to work (I might not explain things too good xD), just leave a comment and I'll help you out. Or if you have tips of your own, let me know about them!

Entrecard: One Widget to Rule Them All

Entrecard. If you don't like recognition for your work, people to interact with, or attention in general, I suggest you stay away from it. Because joining the Entrecard network will ensure you get all that - and more!

Check out my Muscle Armor blog. Before I joined Entrecard, I had 14 views in two weeks, some from me xD. After I joined, maybe 2-3 weeks ago, that number has climbed to 174! Very effective! I even have a few return visitors! I have to thank Entrecard for all they've done for me, and you should really consider it if you're lookin to pick up traffic for your blog.

Why Entrecard? Why not! Look, you can join a million different blog directories and ping your blog every post, but it's not going to bring you nearly as much traffic as Entrecard will do in just a couple of days! My blog is a true testimony to this claim! All you do is sign up and add your blog (which is all free). After you activate your account, get the code for the widget and place it on your blog - that's it! Oh, and drop your card to other Entrecard bloggers and they will surely return the favor!

That's why it works so well. It's based on a credit system - the more you drop, the more people will return the favor. And if your blog is interesting, something may catch their eye! That's how it works. Oh, and here's another huge thing about Entrecard. They've recently just partnered up with SezWho, a blog commenting service, to ensure visitors actually read your blog and make comments! That's an extra credit per comment, which is a reason why more people do it, but to comment, people will have to read your blog's content, and again, if it's interesting, they may return and hopefully comment some more, giving you more credits!

Like the title says: one widget to rule them all. This simple looking widget has a function that completely dominates all other blog trafficking services!

Firefox 3 vs. Internet Explorer 7 vs. Opera 9.51

Here are the notes I made while browsing with Opera:

"First impression of Opera... this is fast! It looks different! It's like a tricked out version of IE7, but faster! Not to mention the added features! Very impressed and looking forward to learning more about it! Also, there's this thing to the right of the address bar that's sort of like a progress meter. No other browser has this!

Hmm, let's see how it works with Blogger... ran into problems with both Firefox 3 and IE7. Uh oh, problem found. Went to check my email and there was a problem with the shockwave plug-in. Opera just crashed. Firefox never crashed like this... also takes a LONG time to sign into Twitter. What's up with that? May be the server, cuz it lags pretty bad while I'm Twitting (that right?) on FF3. Hey! I noticed the scrolling action on Opera is way smoother than FF3, same as IE7. Lags a little bit with video's also. Checked out my Muscle Armor blog. FF3 for some reason won't display my video widget on the sidebar, IE7 takes too long to load, but Opera loads the site quicker and also displays my sidebar vid. I've just found out this shortkey to check my security. By hittin the alt+Enter, I can see if a website is safe or not. Should be useful. Ok, scratch what I said about the vids. I'm watching the vid on my site, and I notice the video doesn't lag when I scroll, unlike IE7. Not significant, but kewl. 

Alright, done with the review. Opera would really benefit anyone that has a computer (with internet).Also, I'm typing this note on Opera! Very useful for bloggers. A little laggy though. One last test..."

To sum all that mess xD, here's Thaiger's review:

• Opera is faster than FF and is safer than IE7
• Smooth scrolling and quicker video uploads
• Crashed earlier from a Shockwave plug-in... maybe this can be fixed? 
• The look and feel of Opera is more organized and looks more visually appealing than FF (although you can download skins for FF, you can also download for Opera)

Blogging with Opera, I haven't ran into problems like I usually do with IE7 and FF. For Firefox, the problem is sort of the same with IE7 (bulletin problems, uploading vids, and the bold/italic buttons get messed up sometimes), but I haven't run into any problems with Opera as of yet. But this is only my first post using Opera. 

With IE7 out of the picture, which is best? FF or Opera? Hmm... tough call. Haven't downloaded anything with Opera yet, but with FF the downloads are quick, and the files are scanned before hand. So I would say keep FF for downloading apps and for casual browsing, and use Opera for watching vids and blogging, because the notes feature is invaluable for bloggers like me who don't plan on topics to write about xD!

Operation: Muscle Armor

Finally, I'm proud to announce the opening of my new project blog called Muscle Armor! It's a blog dedicated to informing readers on health and nutrition, so it's gonna be pretty useful for my readers out there that are thinking about getting in shape, but may not know how or where to begin.

I think the blog looks pretty good. The ads are not intrusive, but they do grab the readers attention, because they're on the side of the blog posts, with a "Tried and True" sidebar to the far left. That is a list of the supplements I've used in the past and have found them to be pretty effective. The items on the side of the blog post are new releases, courtesy of Bodybuilding.com.

The template is a 5-column one remade from the Minima template. It's unique, but I dunno, one critic suggested I use the 3-column instead, so it doesn't look too overwhelming. Eh, maybe I'll keep it. Fuggetaboutem xD.

So check it out! Maybe you'll find something useful to aid you in your fight against obesity! o_O

Firefox 3 Review

I just downloaded Mozilla's new Firefox 3, and I gotta say... it's friggin awesome! I still have IE7 for my Windows Updates, but I think I'm gonna set Firefox as my primary web browser. There are a couple things I don't like about it, but there are more positives than negatives for Firefox 3, in my opinion.

The positives: There are a TON of add-ons and plugins! You can pretty much trick your browser out with all the latest gadgets and skins and really make it look nice. Also, there are a TON of short keys to make browsing convenient. Like if you want to go to the previous page, simply hit the backspace button -- no ctrl+b or whatever. If you want to Google something up, just type it in the address bar and it searches for you. For me, when I hit "y" on the address bar, it goes straight to my e-mail with Yahoo. Bookmarking is also convenient. If you want to bookmark something, just click the star on the right of the address bar and it's done. If you click the star again, you can edit the settings for your bookmarked page, like adding a keyword for it or saving it to a folder. There are plenty of options available for Firefox 3.

A couple downsides though: It takes alot of memory. And obviously, the more add-ons you add, the more space it takes. So you may want to just get the ones you need. I did a test with Firefox 3 and IE7 to compare how much memory the web browsers use. I went to two pages for both and I used Windows Task Master to compare the two, and Firefox took up almost 80,000 k while IE7 took up only 12,000 k memory. So if you have a slow computer, you may lag a little bit with Firefox.

I pretty much tricked out my Firefox browser the first 5 minutes I downloaded it xD. I got a new skin (which I might uninstall), an add-on called Tab Mix Plus (very useful), and this feature that allows me to zoom in on my tabbed webpages. I'm about to add a couple more add-ons to it soon. One thing I noticed about Firefox is that it's actually kinda fun to mess around with.

So if you don't have Firefox 3 yet, you really need to check it out. This is my first time using it, and I gotta say I'm hooked! There's a Youtube video by jimmyrcom that gives a better tutorial about Firefox 3, here's the link.

I still have IE7, but it's not really working for me, atleast not as good as Firefox is. Some features here in Blogger actually don't work with IE7 (for me anyways), and it's only now that I notice the difference. Some of the differences I've noticed while blogging is that here I have to highlight the text to make a link, while in IE7 I couldn't do that. I also didn't notice I had a spell checker here. It didn't work for IE7. Also a couple times with IE7 I couldn't right click if I'm online for a certain period of time. I have to either close the browser or restart the computer. Hope it's not a virus, but I don't have the same problem with Firefox.

So, to me, Firefox whoops IE7 any day!