So I’m back to Firefox (I know you care) after a few days of obsessively using WordPress which is ideally blogged from the browser. Sure you can use tools like NetNewsWire (which I do for article and link posting) or ecto (though there are some quirks with the current daily builds that should be resolved in the 1.2 final release), but the browser is pretty sweet.
As a recent Moveable Type convert, I am still amazed at the just longer than instant post timing. There is no rebuild with a change and you can easily add an array of tags as you can see from the graphic right here:
Another great feature is how drafts get integrated into the UI:
I like to use the bookmarklet which lets me have highlighted text from a page automagically appear in the body of a new post with a crediting link back to the site I happen to be on. Again, this is not a new feature, but I don’t always post these things right away, instead I’ll save them as a draft. When I enter the admin UI, I immediately see my waiting draft post which is great… I’ll just click it and begin editing for the final posting.
The main reason though, I can’t use Safari for all this is simple. Safari does not seem to be able to realize where the cursor is within a text box (like where I am currently editing) so when I choose to add a link to text I have highlighted (or just where I happen to be) it gets added to the end of all my text instead. Initially, this was a bummer as I really like Safari, but Firefix has been growing on me these past few days…enough to overlook a few details that absolutely need to be resolved and not as hacks or add-ons.
Firefox needs to get some real keyboard shortcuts for things I know I’ve certainly come to take for granted within Safari…
- Home – how could this not be there? Hitting Command+Shift+H
- The Search Box – In Safari you hit a Command+Option+F
- Commands to hit single bookmarks in the bar
- Form Auto-Fill
Beyond the keyboard shortcuts, I’d really like to see a spell-checker, which is sorely missed. Not sure what it takes to get the system to see what you are typing, but on Mac I’ve become quite accustomed to that as a cushion. The real killer though is the ability to direct external links to new tabs or even a new window (personally I prefer the tab option). There are a few extensions that add features to tabs, but I’ve found that they alter too much of the basic tab behavior and tend to mess up my browser rather than make it easier for me to use.