When browsing the web the main browser I use on a day-to-day basis is Firefox. I like Firefox over Internet Explorer because of its fast loading times, it displays web pages how they are meant to be displayed and it also allows themes and add-ons to be installed.
The one thing I don’t like about Firefox is how jerky the scroll is when using my mouse wheel to scroll down web pages. This brings me to a great new Firefox Add-on I have found, its called SmoothWheel.
SmoothWheel is an Add-on for Firefox that allows you to scroll web pages smoothly by either mouse wheel or keyboard arrows (needs to be switched on in options). It works on all web pages and is also available for the following applications; ChatZilla, Songbird, Flock, KompoZer, Prism, XUL Runner, and few deprecated applications.
SmoothWheel is fully configurable and works dynamically so scrolls fast or slow by trying to anticipating the users intention. It also workes with text and drop down boxes too.
Below is a video of it in action, compare it to how your scroll is in Firefox to see the difference.
Why use SmoothWheel?
- Faster Navigation – within long web pages (dynamic scroll distance).
- Less disorientation – when scrolling, especially with long texts (fluid scroll).
- Reading while scrolling – is actually possible.
- No learning curve – unaltered interaction, but more useful outcome.
- Very customizable – have a look in the options menu.
- Fun, Addictive – sounds sad but its true.
Download the latest version of SmoothWheel here: http://smoothwheel.mozdev.org
Let us know below how you get on with this add-on, all comments and suggestions welcome. I have tested this with Firefox 3.6.
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Until I read this post, I had never really paid attention to how the page scrolls, but now that I look at it, it’s jumpy as it scrolls the lines – thanks for pointing that out – it’s really annoying! lol
I’m glad this SmoothWheel add-on is available, if it wasn’t… it’d drive me nuts. Great little add-on!
Cheers
SmoothWheel add-on did NOTHING for me. It just made scrolling a little bit faster. But the choppiness/jerkiness was still there. This is one of the biggest reasons why IE users dislike FireFox. At least IE had very fluid smooth scrolling (and without the need of any add-ons).
But IE also has a major problem: it has a difficult time recovering you browsing session in the event your webpages close unexpectedly. One time one of the webpages got stuck so I had to exit that page via Task Manager. For some reason, 3 of the 5 pages I had open closed on me when I had just chosen to close 1 of them. There was no way to get them back. IE didn’t even offer me that option. FF always does.
But I cannot get used to this choppy scrolling. Supposedly FF 4 will have this fixed. And there’s a Beta version out there that can be used prior to it being released.
Very strange, do you double check in the options to make sure it was definitely enabled?
SmoothWheel worked great for me until I switched to Google Chrome
Until I read this post, I had never really paid attention to how the page scrolls. ha ha ha
Ashi