Every time I have to use Firefox I’m reminded about how awesome Safari really is. Every thing about this browser feels so out of place and weird, that I only use it when it’s absolutely necessary (a.k.a., online banking). But, one of the virtues of this browser is that it’s totally customisable. Besides, Firefox 3.5 is a major improvement over the previous version—it’s even got porn mode private browsing. So why not make it more like Safari so the transition isn’t so harsh.
Sheep in a Lion’s skin
The first thing you would want to do is paste Firefox with a crisp Safari-like theme. Take Back The Web has some of the best Safari like themes, although nothing that’s an exact copy of it. My favourite one is “Crisp”. It’s sort of what Safari 4’s tabs should have been like. These are Mac OS X only themes, so Windows users can look elsewhere. Take Back The Web. Thanks to Gilson for letting us know about these themes.
.
One button simplicity
What’s the point of having two separate buttons for Stop and Reload? Do it like it’s done in Safari and get back those wasted pixels. The plugin will automatically replace the two buttons on your toolbar with a single button so there’s no customisation required. Stop-or-Reload button.
(Old) Safari Progress bar
Just because Safari 4 now sports a crappy non-indicative “loading” spinner doesn’t mean Firefox has to suffer the same fate. It’s not nearly as perfect as Safari, since the loader starts outside of the favicon area, but this progress bar in the address field should go a long way in making it feel like home, or at least what home used to be like. Fission.
Top Sites to Fast Dial
While Opera is said to be the first one to sport a thumbnail rendering of popular websites on a blank page, Safari’s Top Sites is the most glamorous so far. The Fast Dial plugin for Firefox isn’t exactly like Top Sites, in that you have to manually manage the thumbnails that appear. However, this allows for more customisation as to how those thumbnails look, and you can even overlay your own image. Fast Dial.
Resizeable Text Area
One of the most innovative features of Safari was the ability to dynamically resize any text form. Comment forms, forum boxes, and even the Wordpress compose window. There’s a plugin for Firefox (one of the many), and although it’s not nearly as elegant, it works. It’s a little complicated to use at first (look at the preferences), but once you’ve mastered the trick you can resize and even move text boxes around. Text Area Resizer & Mover.
Web Inspector
Safari has the super useful web inspector which allows you to know so much about how a website was created, and help in web development. While testing sites in Firefox, there is a web inspector extension “Firebug” that allows you somewhat similar functionality. Firebug.
Well that’s it for taming the fox. After using it on the Mac, I see that Mozilla has done a fairly decent job with Firefox 3.5. It’s speedy, light, and if you can get past a few quirks it kind of works. Ah who am I kidding? Safari rules!
