Episode 2
Today's episode talks about Mozilla Firefox and my experience of using it for the last 20 years and why I like the browser.
[audio https://static.lifeofpablo.com/podcast/season1/episode-2/firefox.mp3]
Transcript
Welcome to Pablo’s Thoughts Podcast hosted by me, Pablo Morales. This is a podcast where I share the things that are interesting to me such as technology, blogging, the IndieWeb and more.
Thanks for tuning into the second episode of the podcast! In today's episode, I dive into a tool that most of us use daily – our web browser. It's our window to the digital world. We’re all guilty of having so many tabs open that you wonder why your computer hasn’t crashed yet. If you know, you know? This could be an episode in itself. Anyway moving on…
Let’s dive into an internet browser that has been making waves since its inception, none other than Mozilla's Firefox.
The earliest concept of Mozilla’s browser, Firefox, had been around since the late 1990s and early 2000s. It’s gone through so many changes. We’re currently on version 120 at the time of this recording. This browser offers so many features and it is easy to use.
I want to talk about how long I’ve used it and why I use it.
So I’ve been a Firefox user since I was a little kid using Windows XP. It’s been my browser of choice for two decades. I would consider myself a die-hard Firefox user. The first time I heard of it was Reading CNET’s Mozilla releases Firefox 1.0. I actually remember the moment when I installed it on the family desktop. I thought it was the best day ever installing version 1.0 of Firefox. I recently researched the list of features and performed an image searched screenshots of the early days of the browser and what it what it has to offer today. Man, so much nostalgia.
I think many people are tired of Internet Explorer for various reasons such as the lack of web standards. Many sites were coded where they only seem to function correctly by using Internet Explorer. It hurts to think about those times. In modern times, Google Chrome has been doing the same thing.
That’s where Firefox came in to help to fix many of the problems of Internet Explorer..
I will admit there were dark times with Firefox. At one point it was bloated and not very fast. It wasn’t pleasant for your computer resources to spike in usage and making the experience unpleasant on your entire environment.. I’m really happy they fixed many of these issues. I’m super happy Mozilla redeveloped Firefox’s engine to Quantum.
My two cents on using other browsers are the following. I prefer to not utilize Google Chrome unless absolutely required. Safari is okay.
Here are some moments I had with Firefox, these are the ones that I recently remembered. I remember extensions that would enable the use of the Internet Explorer engine right in Firefox and allow ActiveX plugins in firefox. Now looking back, man that was so cool but such a security risk at the time.
One of my favorite projects related to Firefox was Prism from Mozilla Labs. I’m going to read this description form Mozilla Labs:
Prism is designed to create a better environment for running your favorite web-based applications. Much of what we used to accomplish using an application running locally on our computers is moving into the web browser. Thanks to advances in web technology, these apps are increasingly powerful and usable. As a result, applications like Gmail, Facebook and Google Docs are soaring in popularity.
Basically running certain websites as a desktop application. I used to manage the home router portal using Prism. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
Let me share some of my favorite features of Firefox in no particular order:
Firefox Browser Sync
I use [Firefox browser sync] along with my Firefox account to sync my tabs and history between my desktop/laptop devices and my mobile devices. It’s pretty nice that I can rely on my tabs and pick off where I left on my my laptop to my phone and vice versa. It’s nice being able to send tabs to my devices as well. I know this is standard in popular browsers.
Picture in Picture
Firefox’s Picture in Picture or PIP for short. I love being able to watch a Youtube video or watching a live feed in a pop-out. It comes in handy when I want to compare different videos at one time.
Fingerprint Blocking
Fingerprinting is another method of online tracking that’s more invasive than ordinary cookie-based tracking.
I am looking forward to seeing what Mozilla does with Firefox for user privacy around the web.
Questions or Comments
If you have any questions, or comments on this episode, please email me at podcast@lifeofpablo.com or send a webmention to the podcast page on my website.
