So I just downloaded a copy of Firefox 3 Beta 4 SG-1 Sigma 9 Gamma, and pretty much the gist of what I’m going to say is that I really hope they polish it before it goes live, because right now this son of a bitch is rough. Most noticeably are the new navigation icons, both in small and full icon modes, the full version looks like a direct rip of IE7 panel which I guess is part of the “Vista Specific UI” but damn, the RSS icon is just hideous with it’s unnecessary 1px shadow and beveledness and the unrefined bookmark star that looks like someone used the shape from Photoshop to make. Not only that, but they removed the sub-back arrow, now I have to right click to see as list of the pages I’ve been to, but not only that but in full icon mode the remaining forward sub-arrow doesn’t even give you feedback when you click it, very sloppy in my book.

On the upside I do like Smart Bookmarks which allow you to view your most visited websites as well as your most recently bookmarked, the star, for it’s uglyness is a very nice way to quickly bookmark sites and the new notification system, while a little hard to get used to, is much more functional than the show stopping popup. There are also a mirriad of other features and behind the scenes stuff I’m sure, but that’s what has jumped out at me thus far.

All in all Firefox 3 is a needed and feature rich update that takes what works and does it’s best to make it better. It would be nice to see a little more polish before it ships but I’m not complaining, it’s the best browser available and it’s free.

Download Firefox 3 Beta 4