I've recently read an article called 9 things Firefox should steal from Safari. However, most of the items on that article are things Firefox already has, at least on the latest Gran Paradiso Alphas. Here are my views on the 9 points.
- Highlight the current text field: The author's right, there is a problem with the way XUL renders text forms, and it should be fixed to be native. Thankfully, Firefox 3 will correct this issue, at least on OSX, but not on Linux yet. Meanwhile, you could take a look here
- Font rendering: If you use OSX, then Apple anti-aliasing should be used. If you use Windows, ClearType should be used. If you use Linux, then the native anti-aliasing should be used instead. Again, it's a clear matter of Firefox-is-not-native-enough.
- The downloads dialog: Well, I think Firefox's is much more useful.
- Rendering speeds: Have you tried Gran Paradiso lately?
- The bug reporter: He's right, Firefox's bug reporter should and will be improved.
- The Find dialog: There should be an extension for this; it looks very, very useful. Take a look here to see if this helps a little.
- Detachable tabs: No thanks. One window cluttering my desktop is more than enough. Why was tabbed browsing created for anyway? And, if it's really absolutely necessary, that monstruosity called Tab Mix Plus has it anyway.
- Draggable Images: Firefox 3 on Linux has this, pretty graphics and all. Not on Windows, though. Must be the version of Cairo.
- Resizable Text Areas: You're absolutely right about this too. That what bookmarklets, userscripts and extensions are for.
So, to sum it up: Firefox needs to be more native, and you need to wait for Firefox 3. Nuff said.
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