Browsersphere

After reading an article over at the SiteCrafting Blah Blah Blog about different ways to alternate table row colors, it occurred to me that the nth-child approach was not mentioned.  Way back in 2004 I had implemented a ridiculous (hindsight is 20/20) proof-of-concept around implementing tables without using the <table> tag.  However ridiculous the prototype might have been, one touch I added was the use of the nth-child pseudo-class to display alternating table rows in a different color.  Here’s what I wrote about that at the time:

This rule is actually a part of the CSS3 selector set, and if your browser was capable of rendering it correctly (I’m willing to bet it isn’t, at least at the time of posting) you’d see alternate background colors on the table rows (alternating between white and light gray).

Remembering that old proof-of-concept today, I decided to have another look at it.  I was disappointed to find that even in the latest version of Firefox (version 3), over four years later, the alternating row colors were nowhere to be found.  I was happy to see, though, that the latest versions of Opera (9.51 at the time of writing) and Safari (3.1.2 at the time of writing) actually do display the alternating table row colors.  As one might guess, IE7 falls in the Firefox camp on this one.

It’s unfortunate that only half of the major players support this useful feature, but I’m guessing we’ll see support added in Firefox 3.1, of which there is a first alpha targeted for release at the end of this month, since that particular release is meant to include a slew of CSS support geared toward Acid3 compliance.  Furthermore, one can hope nth-child support will show up in IE8, but that may be the least likely scenario between the two.

An article titled Check the Security Status of Browsers with Opera Widget reads a bit like something coming directly out of the Opera marketing department.  The article covers an Opera widget called Stay Secure that refreshes based on the latest data from Secunia every hour to show you a graph like the following indicating the security levels of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Konqueror:

I say the article reads a bit like a release from the Opera marketing department, because assuming Opera views Firefox as a competitor, the widget screenshot shown in the article and statements like “the test showed that Firefox 3 was [the] most vulnerable one and Opera the least” seem a little biased.  Was this actually a test, or did it happen to be the state of security at that moment the screenshot was taken?  For example, above it looks like Internet Explorer and Konqueror are the two most vulnerable.

Regardless, it seems like a neat little widget for those who like to follow web browser security closely, as long as you’re willing to use Opera to track it, since the widget is Opera-only at present.  For those like me who dabble among various browsers, this isn’t an issue.

Anyone know of similar features/extensions for other web browsers?

In a few blog posts I’ve read recently, I’ve witnessed at least two backers of separate web browsers claiming that their respective browsers have an edge over Firefox because they don’t require all the add-ons Firefox does in order to behave the way a user expects them to.

First off, over at the Maxthon Blog last week, a Maxthon user was quoted as having said the following about Firefox 3:

I’m sure Firefox has add-ons that can compensate for its apparent lack of features but…my hard drive says it was nice knowing you but you have to go.

Given that the Maxthon Blog reminds me of a certain other source of information, I took the opinions there with a grain of salt.  However, I soon spotted a similar refrain at a much more trustworthy source.

Opera Watch has an article titled Guardian: Forget Firefox - I’m going back to Opera for browsing and email which quotes The Guardian columnist Andrew Brown as having said the following of Firefox 3:

With the release of Firefox 3, I mounted a private celebration: I went back to using Opera 9.5 as my main browser. This wasn’t just perversity. Firefox without its add-ons is clearly inferior to Opera. Firefox with enough add-ons to make it really useful is very much slower.

Although the reasoning behind Firefox’s add-on architecture has been well-publicized by Firefox spokesmen like Asa Dotzler and there are obviously those out there who appreciate that architecture, it appears that the latest approach by those supporting other web browsers is to suggest that the add-ons approach to feature support contributes to both a lackluster default set of features and excessive bloat once the desired features have been added.

So what’s your take?  Is Firefox’s add-on approach the right approach, or is it better to try and target a larger set of features out-of-the-box?

Here’s wishing a fun Fourth of July for all you American browserphiles out there.  I was hoping to link to some American themes for Firefox or Opera, but apparently there aren’t any out there (that I could find, anyway).

So instead, you’re stuck with this, which is the best I could come up with:

Just ignore the “25 million” and enjoy the fireworks tonight!

It’s that time again.  Since the last update, major versions of both Opera and Firefox have been released.  Only one of the two has been dominating in terms of Digg presence, though.

• Top 5 Web Browsers That Aren’t IE, Safari or Firefox - A site called OMGLists covers five web browsers that aren’t in what they consider the top three.  However, I’m not sure if I’d agree with calling a media player a web browser.
• Clarification about Firefox 3 system-killing performance - Some misunderstandings about Firefox 3 performance on Linux are addressed.
• Mozilla Firefox 3 Guinness World Record (Actual Page) - News of Mozilla’s attempt at a world record hits Digg.
• Ah, the Irony! Microsoft says Safari isn’t Safe on Windows - Discussion of a “carpet bombing” flaw in Safari.
• Safari Flaw Worse Than First Thought, Microsoft Warns - Moderate flaws in IE and Safari combine to make one critical flaw.
• Firefox to pass 20% before July? - Early speculation about Download Day’s impact on Firefox’s market share.
• Why Firefox 3 matters - Speed, memory use, phishing and malware protection and bookmark management are among the new features of Firefox 3 that make the browser “matter,” according to the target article.
• WSJ’s MOSSBERG: Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Is the Best Browser - Walt Mossberg gives a glowing review of the latest Firefox release.
• What’s new in Firefox 3? Check out this demo! - An overview of some of the new features in Firefox 3.
• Best Firefox Addon Ever?
• Beautiful glyphs - font rendering improvements in Firefox 3 - The system that renders text has been completely reworked in Firefox 3.
• Firefox 3 Download Day Pledges Hit 1 million
• Mozilla Announces Release Date for Firefox 3 — June 17th
• Opera 9.5 released
• Firefox 3 and Safari 4 in browser speed race
• Third Firefox 3 Release Candidate available for download
• A Field Guide to Firefox 3: A Full Inventory of the Goodness
• Web Browsers: Speed Testing the Latest Web Browsers - Lifehacker tests the latest major web browsers on Windows (informally) and Firefox, Safari and Opera all win in various categories.
• Don’t forget to be part of Firefox’s Download Day!
• IE8 development: Microsoft should learn from Apple, Mozilla - The article argues that due to Microsoft’s “closed” approach to developing its browser, IE will always be trailing the other major players in terms of development.
• Mozilla prepares for Firefox 3 release and plans for 3.1 - ars technica covers add-on compatability in Firefox 3 and gives a quick preview of what’s in store for Firefox 3.1, codenamed “Shiretoko.”
• 15 Browser Add Ons. No One Knows Them All!
• The History of Firefox 1.0 to 3.0 in Screenshots
• Why You Should Download Firefox 3 Right Now - Over 10,000 diggs on this one.
• Power User’s Guide to Firefox 3
• Firefox Download counter
• Forbes: Why Firefox Matters
• The cake is a lie: IE team bakes a treat for Mozilla
• Firefox 3 launch a success: 8 million downloads in 24 hours
• Mozilla Hits Its Firefox 3 Download Goal…and then some!
• Firefox 3 mentioned on the Colbert Report
• And the fastest browser is… - A quick post on CNET News relays information from Zimbra that Safari is the fastest browser with Firefox not far behind.

As I’ve been getting more and more active on Twitter in recent weeks (I’m Bernzilla on there), I’ve noticed that a couple web browsers (and their corresponding organizations) have been becoming more active on Twitter as well.  More than a few times, I’ve seen updates from folks like cheeaun referring to the Twitter accounts mozillafirefox and opera, which look like they were created on May 14, 2008 and April 11, 2007, respectively.  Therefore, I think it’s fair to say that Opera’s got quite a head start in the browser wars on Twitter.  That doesn’t necessarily mean, though, that Opera is the most active in that war.

Today, I noticed that a Firefox upgrade on Ubuntu led to the browser identifying itself as Firefox 3.0, with no information regarding whether it was a release candidate (which it is) or other unofficial release.  I Twitter’d about it, and within minutes I had gotten two replies from a Twitter account named firefox_answers, explaining why I was seeing what I was seeing (kind of).  Keep in mind that this isn’t an automated service.  The answers I received and others I’ve seen posted are very thorough and targetted at Firefox questions and/or feedback being tossed into the Twittersphere moment by moment.

Time will tell who ends up winning or at least dominating the browser wars on Twitter, a relatively young and growing platform, but one thing I can say is that it’s fairly obvious that there are at least two obvious guests who haven’t yet arrived at the party (at least, officially).

As so astutely pointed out by commenter iamcheese, Opera 9.50 was released on Thursday, June 12th.

Those following the Opera Desktop Team Blog likely saw the release coming, as there was a lot of focus on stability in the weeks leading up to the release, and also a preview of some of the major features, including a new default skin (which, like any major theme change, received a lot of immediate feedback) and malware protection.

Impressively, the official release of the browser came only two days after the release of the Opera 9.50 Release Candidate build.  For interesting facts about the release, you can check out the official announcement or the coverage at Opera Watch.  The latter also has some additional coverage on the new skin change.  Or, if you’re interested in the improvements made in Opera 9.5 on the CSS front, be sure to look at CSS3 . Info’s synopsis.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you can download the latest release at opera.com.

This probably isn’t even worth a post here at Browsersphere, simply because it’s so easy, but I installed Opera 9.5 Beta 2 on Ubuntu tonight and figured I’d share how I did it.  Unlike installing most packages on Ubuntu, it wasn’t as simple as using something like sudo apt-get install opera, but it was still straightforward.

First, I downloaded Opera 9.5 Beta 2 directly from the Opera website.  That launched the Debian package manager, which informed me that two dependencies were required and allowed me to install the software with one button click.  Once the install was finished, I optimistically glanced at my Applications, Internet menu to see if a shortcut to Opera had been added automatically, but it had not.  I started looking around online to see what the easiest way to add it was, but then noticed in the menu manager that the Opera icon was already showing up.  Fearing that it had already been added but that the Ubuntu menus simply hadn’t been refreshed, I quickly logged out and back in, and voila, there was the shortcut to Opera, already available in the Applications, Internet menu.

So there you have it.  Installing Opera 9.5 Beta 2 on Ubuntu 8.04 is easy as pie.  If you’ve used the browser on Windows like I have, it’s very familiar on Linux.

Craciun Dan has written a decent review of five of the major, GUI-based web browsers on Linux, including Konqueror, Firefox, Opera, Epiphany and Galeon.  See which browser he ends up recommending over at Comparison Between Linux Web Browsers - Review of 5 Linux Browsers.

Google Doctype was released on Wednesday.  It has been described as follows:

Google Doctype is an open encyclopedia and reference library. Written by web developers, for web developers. It includes articles on web security, JavaScript DOM manipulation, CSS tips and tricks, and more. The reference section includes a growing library of test cases for checking cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility.

This is certainly relevant to web browser compatibility, web development, etc., so I figured I’d post it here.  The corresponding video, which features Mark Pilgrim, is full of interesting info as well.  Toward the end, he mentions that the main browsers on which they focus their attention are the “tier 1″ browsers, namely Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera.