“Mozilla developer Josh Aas has released a preview build of Firefox that’s equipped with native Mac OS X form controls,” Macworld UK reports.
“The experimental build is currently only available for Intel-based Macs, though a PowerPC version is promised,” Macworld UK reports.
“The developer wants to enable native form controls in the trunk builds of Firefox within the next few weeks, meaning that they should make it into Firefox 3,” Macworld UK reports.
Full article, with link, here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s nice to see one of Firefox’s big minuses on Mac OS X finally addressed.
In plain English please.
This is good. Apple needs the competition. I mean Safari is good but it doesn’t hurt for us to have a viable option.
Also there are websites where one gets ‘ your browser is not suppported’ Almost always Firefox is one that is, and having Firefox as an option allowed me to get on with it.
Firefox isn’t as elegant as Safari, but it works, and it was very snappy on my G5 Imac. Nice to see Firefox put some resources into it!
ron: Here, let me help you!
From TFA: “The lack of native Aqua-styled widgets for webpage form controls in the OS X edition of Firefox has been a source of complaint for many in the Mac community.”
ron:
Firefox uses ugly drop-down menus, buttons, etc. in HTML forms. This update will use the default (pretty) ones from OS X (like Safari does)
Hey! What about my PowerBook?
Damn, I hate this ‘Intel Only’ bollox, first Joost, now this. What gives?
oo cool, unexpected
Jim,
Time to update your hardware.
jim – intel only for the beta, gonna have to get used to it, intel is the way things are now, so its a priority
Nonsense. If OS 9 was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me.
Hey JimJim!
There was a big announcement from Apple back in June, 2005.
“WWDC 2005, SAN FRANCISCO—June 6, 2005—At its Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple® announced plans to deliver models of its Macintosh® computers using Intel® microprocessors by this time next year, and to transition all of its Macs to using Intel microprocessors by the end of 2007.”
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html
My PowerBook cost me £1700 and was 2 years old last Friday, still with 1 Years AppleCare left on it.
Hardly an antique, wouldn’t you say?
The ftp address appears to have been /.ed.
Actually, I don’t mind MS advertising. Think of it this way: a Mac site is milking MS for ad money that is doing absolutely nothing for them. They say “we can get you that many eyeballs per month” and stupid MS ad men buy ad space. Ultimately, how many of us are clicking through the MS ads? Maybe zero? Nothing feels better than MS’s money wasted…
@Jim,
I’m with you on this. I’ve got a three year old PowerBook. It is the down side of buying into such an ‘innovation-driven’ product line. You buy in, and if you don’t have the money to keep upgrading to the newest equipment, you very quickly get left behind.
Mind you, I’m not really complaining, just noting a truth about Apple. I still like my PowerBook, and like the hardware, I don’t really need the absolute latest software either. I’ll drive this system into the ground . . and then, I’ll buy another Mac. By then, maybe they’ll be on their 7th or 8th CPU architecture.
@ Tergenev
Glad someone agrees with me!
I love my PowerBook, it still looks brand new and performs very very well, I’ve just got CS3 Design Standard installed on it, loaded with 2GB of RAM and I just can’t justify selling it, because it works so well.
I guess if I had a MacBook Pro I’d be like all the other Intel Mac owners, telling people like me to upgrade!
yay they are listening to us, they recently asked what sucks about firefox on the Mac hopefully this’ll mean the services and that stuff work or are in the pipeline
How to get better controls for firefox:
1) Download this file: http://users.tkk.fi/~otsaloma/art/firefox-form-widgets.tar.gz
2) Expand it and read the file named “INSTALL”.
3) The Res directory it refers to is reached by right-clicking on Firefox, show package contents, then open Contents, then open MacOS, then look for the Res folder.
Jim. I understand your situation. I think you were just getting ribbed. How dare Apple make Computers that last?! However, I can understand developers wanting to code for the (current) future.
Hey PowerBook guys….
“… a PowerPC version is promised…” Be patient.
“Hey! What about my PowerBook?
Damn, I hate this ‘Intel Only’ bollox, first Joost, now this. What gives?”
Real Macs run Intel these days. Upgrade or get used to being increasingly marginalized.
Firefox is better than Safari and will continue to be the preferred choice for MOST people until Apple realizes that they need to open up plugin (or extension) type architecture for Safari. Speedwise, they’re both neck and neck depending on the pages you’re loading. Safari has the edge in being a native Cocoa app, but Firefox has the edge in pure versatility, and in the end, once Firefox adopts things like cocoa widgets and keychain integration, what reason would anyone have to use Safari?
Open up Safari or in the years to come it will go the way IE is going now.
I don’t think it’s possible to make an Intel only build in X Code. I think when they say “Intel” they really mean “Universal”.
My guess.
I just use Camino. Same Gecko engine. It may not have all the Firefox features, but for typical web browsing on a Mac, I like it best. AND it’s built using Cocoa, which is about as Mac-native as you can get.
> Open up Safari or in the years to come it will go the way IE is going now.
I thought it was already open. It’s called Webkit. Check it out…
http://webkit.org/
Shiira 2.0 uses the same code base. I think OmniWeb does too.
why can’t Adobe do the same?
CS3 is very “Windows” centric
There is no reason to upgrade a computer that, if well taken care of, still works up to your standards.
So you have a 3 year old Powerbook? Great – continue to use it. They are great machines, and should last you many more years if you are happy with it now.
If you love your Mac, then love your Mac. Don’t get caught up in this “hyper-consumerism” garbage.
My 2 cents.
I agree. Hyperconsumerism is bull. There’s more to life than always getting new things. Live. Breathe. Create. Live.
I’m not too worried about being marginalized. I own a DP 1 GHz MDD PowerMac G4 circa 2002 that is now running 10.4.9. I’ve got a gig and a half of RAM and four HDs in it.
Apple has said that even my G4 will be able to run Leopard. I also own a Core Duo MacBook from last May. I expect to buy the family pack in order to put Leopard on both machines when it releases.
The fact that some developers are developing first for Intel doesn’t surprise me. I expect it, as a matter of fact.
I DO expect to need to move to something new in two years, tho. I expect that getting six years on my Macs is not bad, tho I got seven on the one before the G4…
Seriously, you whiners amaze me sometimes. I am a dedicated mac user but it’s just silly to bitch about the forms drop downs not being “pretty” like they are in safari.. do they work? YEP so for the love.. If anything I would like to see it utilize they keychain.. now THAT would actually be useful!
MW: ever, as in if I ever get this whiny please shoot me!!
Apple updates Safari way too often… NOOoooT.
I hope the Safari 3 will kick ass in terms of innovative functionality. Safari is like Ford Mondeo – good basic thing and nothing special. But damnit is clean and simple.
FX takes ages to launch.
Camino. Mozilla + OSX GUI. ’nuff said!
Nonsense. If OS 9 was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me.
Actually, the closest I’ve come to using OS 9 is a few screenshots that I’ve seen. Sorry.
Though I did get OS 7 running in an emulator…
>”If you love your Mac, then love your Mac. Don’t get caught up in this “hyper-consumerism” garbage.”
Agreed. No need to give in to urged obsolescence. It’s a Mac, and it runs OS X. All is well.
This is the only downside to the Intel switch. Intel updates their platforms so fast that every six months your machine gets ‘spanked’ by an upgraded version.
When you absolutely have to upgrade, then do so – and don’t worry about what’s next (unless of couse a known change is imminent). Intel will keep your head spinning if you worry about these things. I know, I used to when I was running Doze.
Forget about the looks, fix the friggin’ memory leaks! Sheesh already.
ron………… your an idiot.
no really.. it was all english.. you should check out dictionary.com if you are having trouble.
@tt – you’re a jerk. Check dictionary.com to learn the difference between “your” and “you’re”. Try a grammar site if you need help with apostrophes.
Go buy a Dell and be with your (not you’re) own kind.
Big deal…I’ve had a Firefox 2 build with aqua widgets for months (get the one that says aqua for your architecture from here http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2007/03/29/firefox-2002)
on a POWERPC.
It also seems that the aqua widgets have been merged into the trunk now as the trunk build I got from http://firefoxmac.furbism.com/ of FX3 already had it.
It’s pretty simple to compile your own copy which I’m doing right now to check that the widgets actually are in the trunk.