Thursday, February 28, 2008

Canadian Firefoxen

Neko, bottom left and Su lin, top.
Photograph by: Rick MacWilliam/Edmonton Journal

More Photos


News Source: David Ascher

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Tip: Transitioning From Netscape 9 to Fx 2

With the recent announcement from AOL that they will end support for Netscape in February, many loyal Netscape users will be looking for a new browser. Since Netscape 9 is based off of Firefox 2 with a few extensions built-in, it would seem moving to Firefox 2 would be the logical choice. However once users Get Firefox, they are going to discover that the social networking features that came with Netscape 9 are not included. While it is not too difficult to get these features installed in Firefox 2, locating them on addons.mozilla.org (AMO) isn’t as easy. The Guru has made this part a lot easier. Back in March, shortly after the time Netscape 9 was announced, the Netscape Add-ons Team registered on AMO and posted the Netscape theme and the 4 standard extensions for Firefox 2. These can be obtained here and include:

  • Netstripe- Netscape Navigator 9’s default theme, packaged for Firefox.
  • Propeller Friends’ Activity Sidebar - The Friends’ Activity Sidebar (FAS) extension helps you keep tabs on what stories your Propeller friends are submitting, commenting, and voting on.
  • Propeller News - Displays the latest news stories from Propeller in a top-level News menu and sidebar.
  • Propeller Sitemail Notifier - The Propeller Sitemail Notifier extension adds a button (shown above in the preview image) to your toolbar that indicates when you have new sitemail messages at Propeller.
  • Propeller Tracker - Follow the latest news, votes, and comments on the news at Propeller with this auto-updating sidebar.

So, what about your Netscape bookmarks? Firefox will not automatically pull your bookmarks over from Netscape. However, it only takes a couple minutes to manually bring them over:

  1. In Netscape 9 go to the Bookmarks Menu and select ‘Organize Bookmarks…’
  2. A new Bookmarks Manager window will pop-up, go to the File Menu and select ‘Export Bookmarks…’
  3. Select HTML (standard) from the list
  4. Choose an easy to find location such as the Desktop to save the bookmarks.html file and click ‘Save’
  5. Close any open Netscape 9 Windows
  6. In Firefox 2 go to the Bookmarks Menu and select ‘Organize Bookmarks…’
  7. A new Bookmarks Manager window will pop-up, go to the File Menu and select ‘Import…’
  8. Select From File and click ‘Next >’
  9. Locate the Bookmarks.html file you saved from Step 4 and click ‘Open’
  10. All your bookmarks from Netscape have been imported into Firefox 2. Close the Bookmarks Manager window

Hopefully this guide will make your transition from Netscape 9 to Firefox 2 a little smoother.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Review: Organize Search Engines

One of the nice features with Firefox is allowing you to add multiple search engines to your search bar. Since the introduction of this feature, more and more sites have added this functionality. As a result some users are bound to have a lot of search engines in their list. This is good and bad. Good in that you have plenty of search engines to choose from when you want to search; bad if you have so many search engines your drop down practically goes off the screen and you have to hunt down the search engine you wanted to use. Organize Search Engines solves this problem by allowing you to create folders (like you do for your bookmarks). Once you install the extension, simply go to your search bar and select from the drop-down ‘Manage Search Engines…‘ A new widow titled Manage Search Engine List will open an interface very similar to that of the Organize Bookmarks.

Keep in mind the Organize Search Engines extension is more designed for those ‘power users’ who have a lot of search engines. For the casual Firefox users with only a few search engines this extension is not very practical. I can confirm it plays well with SearchLoad Options extension and the developer has a list of other search related extensions that this does work with. However there may be some search related extensions that are not compatible with this extension. Should you run into an issue, you are urged to e-mail the developer with this information.

Organize Search Engines works with Firefox 2.0.0.X up through 3.0b3pre and is about 74K.

News Source: Learn Firefox

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Problems loading websites after Firefox update - MozillaZine Forums

When Firefox updates, you typically have to re-allow internet access to Firefox through your firewall.



http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firewalls



12 ways to get fooled by firewalls (by VanillaMozilla) http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=2295421#2295421



http://kb.mozillazine.org/Error_loading_websites



If you're using Kaspersky Internet Security, see the following link titled "Kaspersky forums."


Kaspersky forums (Credit goes to Littlemutt for the link)


Firefox: When you cannot connect: http://noise.loud.googlepages/home (by LoudNoise)



Kaspersky Internet Security blocks Firefox from using Domain-Name Service. http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=588264
This content was originally posted on http://fffacts.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Quicktime/Real/Windows Media Player Issues (Windows) - MozillaZine Forums

Complete Embedded & Streaming Quicktime/Real/Windows Media Player Guide for Windows Users.

Contents
Media

Warp to Introduction

Warp to Media Player Plugins and Missing Plugin Alert

Warp to Audio not playing, but no Missing Plugin Alert

Warp to Letting Firefox Claim it is Internet Explorer

Warp to Viewing Launch video

Warp to Download files instead of opening in browser

Warp to Stream files instead of downloading

Warp to If all else fails...


-------------------------------------------------------------


This media player info here is still being maintained, but it has also been mirrored in the mozillaZine Knowledge Base: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Video_or_audio_doesn%27t_play

Introduction

When surfing the web, it is common to find embedded audio and video that uses Windows Media Player, Quicktime, or Real Player. There are Netscape plugins available for all 3 (usually installed into Firefox when their respective player is installed) that work with Firefox, but compared to the Internet Explorer plugins they are limited and do not always work. In addition, many websites use IE-only techniques (as opposed to standard code, which is supported by all browsers) to embed media.



-------------------------------------------------------------


Media Player Plugins and Missing Plugin Alert

MozillaKine Knowledge Base article: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Video_or_audio_doesn%27t_play



The three basic media players (Windows Media Player, Quicktime, and Real Player) all have a browser plugin. This allows a browser such as Firefox to open a small media player window inside a web page. Installing a media player does not necessarily mean you also install its plugin - so if, for example, you have Windows Media Player installed and you still get a missing plugin alert on a web page that has a windows media file embedded in it, then you likely lack the Windows Media Player plugin. In addition, there are known issues with each plugin as well as ways you can configure them to make them work better. The following guides are available to help you solve these problems:


Embedded Real Player/Real Alternative by _Jim_

Embedded Quicktime/Quicktime Alternative by _Jim_

Embedded Windows Media in Firefox by Vectorspace

Embedded Windows Media/Launch (Firefox 9.x and 1.0PR) by Vectorspace



In addition, it is more common now for websites (such as Google Video) to use the Flash plugin to embed video clips. The Flash plugin can be obtained from here:


http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/windows.html#Flash


Click 'Download' to download the full intstaller - it is more reliable than the online installer.


Quicktime vs. Windows Media Player

If you have the necessary plugins and get missing plugin alerts, then its likely that there is a media file that none of the plugins is configured to play. The usual solution has always been to follow the Quicktime Guide to associate those file types with the Quicktime plugin. A user's preference would usually be to associate them with the WMP plugin, but WMP has no provision for changing the file types associated with its plugin.



Now, there is an alternative. Greasemonkey is an extension that lets you to add bits of JavaScript (known as "user scripts") to any webpage to change and customise it's behavior. I've written one called IE Media Mimic: It looks at all embedded media on all web pages, and the ones that (I think) IE would use WMP to play, are modified to open with the WMP plugin, and to play in Firefox more like how they would be played in IE.


At the time of writing, I do not consider it user-friendly enough yet for the average Firefox user, so read the information on its webpage thoroughly before you consider using it.


Since it is still a work in progress, I would appreciate feedback on how good/badly it works (which you should do here:


http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=327437). It also might be updated frequently, so check the version number every now again to see if there is a newer one available. The current verison is 0.8.4. Remember, it requires the Windows Media Player plugin to work so make sure you have it.


Plugin/Extension Conflicts

Some extensions can interfere with the media player plugins - hiding them or preventing them from loading at all. Extensions that conflict with with individual plugins are listed in that plugin's guide.

Adblock

Under Firefox 1.5, Adblock will hide all embedded media - Quicktime, Real Player, Flash, and Windows Media Player - if its OBJ_TABS setting is enabled. The media player will still play if it is set to autostart so sound bay still be audible, but the controls and video image will be hidden. Either disable the OBJ_TABs setting or uninstall it and use Adblock Plus instead.

Amazing Media Browser

This extension has a setting that is enabled by default, to block all embedded objects. For media to work you need to disable that setting or uninstall the extension.


-------------------------------------------------------------


Audio not playing, but no Missing Plugin Alert

MozillaKine Knowledge Base article: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Background_music_doesn%27t_play



If a page fails to play embedded audio but you do not get a 'Missing Plugin' alert, then it is possible that the page uses the non-standard 'bgsound' tag instead of the 'embed' or 'object' tag to embed the audio file. There are several ways you can make these pages work, Though I recommend you also e-mail the webmaster for the page and ask him to change it. Smile


You can install the 'BGM Conductor' extension from here: http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=369


This extension changes all bgsound tags to embed tags when you view the page, allowing Firefox to detect the embedded audio. While this extension will work in Firefox 1.5.x.x, it needs to be modified slightly before it will install. Instructions on how to do that are here: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Updating_extensions#Updating_incompatible_extensions_for_a_new_application_version



Another option is the aforementioned Greasemonkey script IE Media Mimic, which will (among other things) convert bgsound tags to embed tags. NOTE: At the time of writing, the author of IE Media Mimic does not yet consider it user-friendly enough for the average Firefox user - read the info on its homepage thoroughly before you consider using it.



-------------------------------------------------------------


Letting Firefox Claim it is Internet Explorer

MozillaKine Knowledge Base article: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Video_or_audio_doesn%27t_play



Some web pages deny you access entirely unless you use Internet Explorer, often because they haven't bothered to test on other browsers, or because they think it only works in Internet Explorer. You can use the User Agent Switcher extension to trick them into thinking you're using IE which may let you into the website, but it it is no guarantee that the website will work.



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Viewing Launch video

MozillaKine Knowledge Base article: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Yahoo%21_Music_videos_don%27t_work



Launch requires the ActiveX plugin for it to work in Firefox. See the latter half of the Embedded Windows Media in Firefox guide for instructions on how to install it.



Launch radio (LAUNCHcast) uses too much IE-only javascript, and by all indications will not function in Firefox. At least, no-one yet has been able to get it to work.



-------------------------------------------------------------


Download files instead of opening in browser

mozillaZine Knowledge Base Article: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Changing_media_handling_behaviour



With most media files, if you click a link to them you will be prompted to download them. For media files associated with some plugins (Acrobat, Quicktime, Windows Media and Flash files, for example), they will open automatically inside a browser window or in an external player instead.



If you wish to change this behaviour:

Firefox 1.0.x

Go into Firefox Options, and in the bar on the left click the Downloads icon. Click the 'Plug-Ins' button that is below the 'File Types' box, to reveal the list of file types that will open in the browser with the associated plugin instead of downloading. Disable the desired file types by clicking on the checkmark and they will give a download prompt instead. This will not effect media embedded in a web page - only links to the files themselves.


Firefox 1.5.x.x (Including Deer Park, the 1.5 Betas, and the 1.5 Release Candidates)


Go into Firefox Options, and in the top bar click the Downloads icon. Under 'Download Actions' click the 'View & Edit Actions' button to reveal the list of file types that will open in the browser with the associated plugin instead of downloading. Select a file type that you would rather have download or open with an external application and click 'Change Action...'


*If you want the file to open with the default external program for that file type, select "Open them with the default application"


*If you want the file to open with an external program other than the default, select "Open them with this application" - you will then be prompted to select the application to open them with.


*If you want the file to give a standard Open With/download to download prompt then select 'Save them on my computer'




Note: some of the file types listed there (such as all file types associated with the Windows Media Player plugin like .wma, .wmv, etc), if enabled/set to open with the plugin will, when clicked, automatically download and open the file with an external program instead of playing in the browser.



-------------------------------------------------------------


Stream files instead of downloading

mozillaZine Knowledge Base Article: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Streaming_media_%28Firefox%29



In both Internet Explorer and Firefox, you can click a download link and have the browser open the file in a program, instead of just donwloading it to a specified location. In the case of media files however, IE can have a media player stream the file whereas Firefox will still download the file first before opening it (or Firefox will open it in the browser with the associated plugin, if there is one).



Firefox can duplicate IE's behaviour in several ways. One is with the DownloadWith extension. It is an extension that lets you choose another program to download a file by right-clicking on the link . If you specify a media player for a media file type, then the player will stream the file.


Install the enhanced version of the extension from here: http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=203


And use the sample downloader settings that correspond to the media player that you use: http://downloadwith.mozdev.org/configurations/configurations.xml


While this extension will work in Firefox 1.5.x.x, it needs to be modified slightly before it will install. Instructions on how to do that are here: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Updating_extensions#Updating_incompatible_extensions_for_a_new_application_version


It can be configured to automatically stream links, but I haven't figured that out yet.



The Launchy extension will also allow this. When you right-click on a link, Launchy will provide you with a list of external programs that you can use to open the link. Right-click on a link to a media file, and you can open it directly with a media player without downloading it first.


The extension can be obtained from here: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=81


If you want to use an external application that Launchy does not list, see its homepage for instructions on how to add it.



A third method is to follow the Quicktime Guide to associate the desired file types with the Quicktime Plugin. When you click on a link to such a file, Firefox can use the Quicktime Plugin to stream it within a browser window instead of prompting you to download it. Once it has fully downloaded (once the slider is fully grey) you can just click File > Save Page As to save the file.



-------------------------------------------------------------


If all else fails...

Despite the web standards and all these guides, many sites have embedded media that will only work in Internet Explorer. If a media file has been embedded using too much non-standard html/javascript, then it will not play in Firefox no matter what you do. This is unfortunate, but there is nothing to be done but use Internet Explorer to view the page in question. Of course, convincing the webmaster of the site to start supporting Firefox can't hurt...



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keywords: ActiveX Active-X plugin Real Player RealPlayer Quick Time Quicktime Alternative Windows Media Player Mediaplayer WMP 6.4 7 9 10 stream streaming embed embedded embedding Launch Yahoo Radio Launch Launchcast Video mp3 wmv wma asf asx mov ra rm ram rpm midi BGSOUND



Thanks to _Jim_ for taking the time to write his guides and test pages, Konstantin Svist for his BGSOUND to EMBED Extension, and AnonEmoose & rtmjr50 for their input and help.
This content was originally posted on http://fffacts.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Review: Tab Effect

Tab Effect is a novelty extension, but seems to be very popular (at least at my office). Using DirectX 8 adds an effect when the current tab is changed. The effect is hard to describe, but there is sample picture on the AMO page. Not sure how long I will keep this one installed before the "novelty" wears off.


Tab Effect works with Firefox 1.5-2.0.0.x and is about 38K.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Firefox 3 Beta 3 now available for download

Please note: We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Firefox 3 Beta 3 milestone release. It is intended for testing purposes only.

Firefox 3 Beta 3 is now available for download. This is the eleventh developer milestone focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3 can be followed at the Firefox 3 Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #granparadiso.

New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:

  • Improved security features such as: better presentation of website identity and security including support for Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates, malware protection, stricter SSL error pages, anti-virus integration in the download manager.
  • Improved ease of use through: easier add-on discovery and installation, improved download manager search and progress indication in the status bar, resumable downloading, full page zoom, and better integration with Windows Vista, Mac OS X and Linux.
  • Richer personalization through: one-click bookmarking, smart bookmark folders, location bar that uses an algorithm based on site visit recency and frequency (called “frecency”) to provide better matches against your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles, ability to register web applications as protocol handlers, and better customization of download actions for file types.
  • Improved platform features such as: new graphics and font rendering architecture, JavaScript 1.8, major changes to the HTML rendering engine to provide better CSS, float-, and table layout support, native web page form controls, colour profile management, and offline application support.
  • Performance improvements such as: better data reliability for user profiles, architectural improvements to speed up page rendering, over 350 memory leak fixes, a new XPCOM cycle collector to reduce entire classes of leaks, and reductions in the memory footprint.

(You can find out more about all of these features in the “What’s New” section of the release notes.)

Testers can download Firefox 3 Beta 3 builds for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in over 30 different languages. Please be sure to read the full release notes before using this preview release. Developers should look at the Firefox 3 for Developers article on the Mozilla Developer Center.

Note: Please do not link directly to the download site. Instead we strongly encourage you to link to this Firefox 3 Beta 3 milestone announcement so that everyone will know what this milestone is, what they should expect, and who should be downloading to participate in testing at this stage of development.

This content was originally posted on http://fffacts.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

about:mozilla - Mobile team in Tokyo, SUMO, privacy policy, a trio of releases, and more

In this issue…

  • Mozilla mobile team in Tokyo
  • SUMO - now with l10n!
  • John Lilly appears on GigaOM show
  • Candidate revisions to Mozilla’s web site privacy policy
  • Firefox 2.0.0.12 released
  • Camino 1.5.5 released
  • Seamonkey 1.1.8 released
  • XPCOM reference updated
  • Developer calendar
  • Subscribe to the email newsletter

Mozilla mobile team in Tokyo

Christian Sejersen and Jay Sullivan of Mozilla’s mobile team will be in Tokyo to present at Mobile Monday Tokyo on Feb. 18th. They will be talking about Mozilla’s mobile strategy and showing off various prototypes and working models. Unfortunately the event is not free but you can register at the Mobile Monday Tokyo website.

SUMO - now with l10n!

The support.mozilla Firefox Support website now has better localization tools. There’s more work to be done, of course, but a number of important advancements have been made, including automatic language detection based on a browser’s accept-lang setting, the ability to hard-code locales into page URLs, and several improvements to other tools and processes. Lots more information about the recent changes is available on the SUMO blog.

John Lilly appears on GigaOM show

John Lilly, the new CEO of Mozilla, appeared on last week’s GigaOM show where he talked about the recent executive changes, the upcoming release of Firefox 3, Mozilla’s mission, the new “MailCo” Mozilla subsidiary, and several other topics. The video is just under fifteen minutes long, and is available through Revision 3.

Candidate revisions to Mozilla’s web site privacy policy

Mozilla’s websites have grown to be some of the top visited web sites in the world, and this massive increase in traffic has maxed out the capabilities of the current web analytics tools. New tools have been selected that will scale up to meet the new requirements, but are such that some changes to existing website privacy policies are required. Basil Hashem has blogged about the proposed changes and is seeking feedback from the Mozilla community. For more information, including links to the proposed changes and forums for providing feedback, please see Basil’s weblog.

Firefox 2.0.0.12 released

Last Thursday saw the release of Firefox 2.0.0.12, the latest security and stability update for Firefox 2. It is recommended that all users upgrade to this latest release in order to take advantage of the latest batch of security fixes. If you are still running Firefox 1.5.0.x, you are highly encouraged to upgrade to the Firefox 2 series as Mozilla ceased supporting Firefox 1.5.0.x in May 2007. Simply choose “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu to begin the upgrade process. More information about this release, please review the Firefox 2.0.0.12 release notes.

Camino 1.5.5 released

The Camino project has recently released Camino 1.5.5, a maintenance release that contains a number of security and stability updates for the browser. It is recommended that all Camino users upgrade to this newest release. More information is available in the Camino 1.5.5 release notes.

Seamonkey 1.1.8 released

Last Thursday, the SeaMonkey project released a new version of its all-in-one internet suite. This latest release closes several security vulnerabilities and fixes several smaller issues discovered in earlier versions. All SeaMonkey users are urged to upgrade to this newest version. More information is available through the SeaMonkey blog.

XPCOM reference updated

Last week Neil Deakin blogged that the XPCOM Reference on XULPlanet has been updated to reflect the most recent XPCOM changes and is now up-to-date for Mozilla 1.9 and Firefox 3.

Developer calendar

Monday

  • Mobile Meeting
  • SUMO Meeting
  • General Status Meeting

Tuesday

  • Firefox/Gecko Meeting
  • Bug Day!

Wednesday

  • Mac Gecko Meeting
  • Performance Infrastructure Meeting
  • Performance/Leaks Meeting
  • Mozilla 2 Meeting

Friday

  • Test Day!

Subscribe to the email newsletter

If you would like to get this newsletter by email, just head on over to the about:mozilla newsletter subscription form. Fresh news, every Tuesday, right to your inbox.

This content was originally posted on http://fffacts.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Firefox 2.0.0.12 security and stability update now available for download

As part of Mozilla Corporation’s ongoing stability and security update process, Firefox 2.0.0.12 is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux for free download from http://getfirefox.

We strongly recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest release. If you already have Firefox 2.x, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu.

For a list of changes and more information, please review the Firefox 2.0.0.12 Release Notes.

If you are still running Firefox 1.5.0.x, you are highly encouraged to upgrade to the Firefox 2 series as Mozilla ceased supporting Firefox 1.5.0.x in May 2007. Simply choose “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu to begin the upgrade process.

This content was originally posted on http://fffacts.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

about:mozilla - Firefox 2, Firefox 3, Thunderbird, Add-ons, icecream, and more

In this issue…

  • Firefox 2.0.0.12 schedule
  • Firefox 3 Beta 3 code frozen
  • Thunderbird in France
  • 600,000,000 Firefox add-on downloads
  • Mitchell interviewed for McKinsey Quarterly
  • Mozilla Toronto on the CBC
  • about:icecream
  • Developer calendar
  • Subscribe to the email newsletter

Firefox 2.0.0.12 schedule

On January 29th Mozilla increased the severity rating of a new security vulnerability to High. Since the security of our users is of utmost importance, the release schedule for Firefox 2.0.0.12 is being pushed up as much as possible, with a current release date estimated to be February 7th or 8th. For more information about the security vulnerability, see the Mozilla Security weblog. Additional information about the 2.0.0.12 release is available via the Firefox 2.0.0.12 planning page.

Firefox 3 Beta 3 code frozen

As announced at the Mozilla Developer Center, Firefox 3 Beta 3 code freeze happened late January 29th. For more information about the code freeze and current tree management procedures, please see the DevNews post. Additionally, there are now plans for a fourth Firefox 3 beta, but no schedule for that is currently available.

Thunderbird in France

David Ascher blogs, “The AFP (France’s largest news agency) reports that ‘French police deal blow to Microsoft‘, referring to the Gendarmerie Nationale’s decision to move to an open source stack for their 70,000 seats, using Ubuntu, OpenOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird.

Equally impressive, Tristan Nitot reports (in French) on his conversation with a representative of the French Defense Ministry, who indicates that they’re recommending Postfix as the mail server and Thunderbird as the recommended mail client for most users, reaching up to 200,000 users (this doesn’t include the 70,000 mentioned above).”

600,000,000 Firefox add-on downloads

The Blog of Metrics reports, “Earlier this week, AMO served its 600 millionth add-on download. That’s original downloads, not including updates. We currently have over 4000 add-ons hosted on the site and between 800,000 and 1 million downloads every day. The site has around 4.5 million pageviews per day, not including services hosted on AMO such as update checks and blocklisting.” For further information, including details about add-on update pings and what all of this means, see the Metrics blog post.

Mitchell Baker interviewed for McKinsey Quarterly

Bob Sutton and Lenny Mendonca interviewed Mitchell Baker a few months ago, and the interview has recently been published in the McKinsey Quarterly (registration required, but free). Mitchell talks about leading the original open-source project within Netscape, and about spinning that project out to start Mozilla. For more information see Bob Sutton’s blog post.

Mozilla Toronto appears on the CBC

On February 1st, Mozilla Toronto was featured on the CBC Toronto news. This full story about Firefox included footage of both the Seneca College and Mozilla Toronto offices, and interviews with both Dave Humphrey and Mike Shaver. The full video is now available through Google video.

about:icecream

Every once in a while one of our community members writes in with something special and makes everyone’s day here at Mozilla. Last Tuesday was one of those days, when a boy named Brody wrote in with a letter and a couple of pictures, as Melissa mentions in her weblog. Since then, one of those pictures has been incorporated into the about:icecream Firefox add-on which is making us happy pretty much every single day. If you want a smile, check out Melissa’s blog post, and if you’re running the Firefox 3 beta, install about:icecream today.

Developer calendar

Monday

  • Mobile Meeting
  • SUMO Meeting
  • General Status Meeting

Tuesday

  • Firefox/Gecko Meeting
  • Bug Day!

Wednesday

  • Mac Gecko Meeting
  • Performance Infrastructure Meeting
  • Performance/Leaks Meeting
  • Mozilla 2 Meeting

Friday

  • Test Day!

Subscribe to the email newsletter

If you would like to get this newsletter by email, just head on over to the about:mozilla newsletter subscription form. Fresh news, every Tuesday, right to your inbox.

This content was originally posted on http://fffacts.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Monday, February 11, 2008

Thunderbird

As promised, more information about Thunderbird. David Ascher (head of the new MailCo) has posted an extensive article: Thoughts on Thunderbird’s Evolution on his blog.

John Lilly on The GigaOM Show

John Lilly the new CEO of Mozilla Corporation is interviewed on the February 7th The GigaOM Show. Find out what the organization has in store for 2008 and if they will file for IPO. John also explains his and Mitchell’s roles in Mozilla. Other topics discussed in this episode include:

  • Microsoft makes hostile bid for Yahoo!
  • MySpace opens developer platform

The entire show is about 14 minutes and 30 seconds and the interview with John Lilly is a little over 8 minutes. John also give us his perspective about Microsoft hostile bid for Yahoo! Plus John discusses Thunderbird, David Asher and the future MailCo.

The GigaOM Show Episode 28

The Future of Yahoo!

Last week Microsoft made an unsolicited offer to acquire Yahoo! with an initial asking price of $31/per share which was about 62% higher than the January 31st closing price. On Wednesday, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang sent an internal e-mail seeking to keep the company’s employees focused on its strategy despite the uncertainty created by Microsoft’s unsolicited acquisition bid. Also on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that a merger involving Yahoo! and Google would be unlikely due to anti-trust (only Microsoft can get away with anti-trust, at least in the US) and regulatory concerns.


To add even more mystery to this possible acquisition, Microsoft is not discussing with the public anything about the integration process should the deal go through. Further they are not saying anything to their employees nor will they answer any questions as to what stays and goes. For example would Microsoft continue using the Live Mail or would they switch to Yahoo’s Mail? Would they use the MSN Portal or Yahoo! Portal? Those questions remained unanswered by Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms & Services Division.


On Friday a student watching remotely the company’s Minority Student Day, asked “What will Microsoft gain from purchasing Yahoo…” Steve Ballmer after saying at least three times ‘it was a good question’ replied:

There’s really three large players in the online world, and yet when you stop and look at it from a revenue perspective increasingly there’s just one strong player, and if you actually look at it, most of what people do online is very fragmented. It’s not like people spend most of their time at MSN or Yahoo or Google or anyplace else. So the Web is kinda big. Some things are a little concentrated, but from a revenue and sales standpoint of advertising, Google is really the big guy out there.


What our goal is, is to provide, what I would say, great innovation and great competition, particularly in the search and advertising area, to Google. … There’s already about $40 billion a year sold in search advertising, and in our desire to be a world leader in Internet search and Internet advertising, it helps us a lot to acquire Yahoo.

That response almost makes it sound like Microsoft wants Yahoo for the search advertising and would just scrap everything else mail, portal, maps and/or Foxy Tunes just so they could compete with Google. I hadn’t really paid much attention to this possible merger/acquisition/integration or whatever you want to call it, until gialloporpora commented on the FoxyTunes Acquired article from earlier this week.


Today both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal citing anonymous sources, report Yahoo is going to reject the offer. This offer “massively undervalues” Yahoo and “does not account for the risks Yahoo would be taking by entering into an agreement that might be overturned by regulators.” Yahoo board plans to inform Microsoft on Monday of their position, which as the Wall Street Journal has reported: not to consider any offers below $40 per share. Note: on Friday, February 8th Yahoo’s (YHOO) stock closed at $29.20 while Microsoft’s (MSFT) closed at $28.56 per share. There is still talk Yahoo may allow itself to be acquired enter into a partnership with Google as a way to fend off Microsoft.


Either way Google or Microsoft, I just can’t see this happening. Even if Yahoo agrees on a price chances are the deal would be tied up with regulators for a long, long time. Microsoft is no stranger to anti-trust claims, especially in the EU which is where I have feeling this could really get tied up. Further I would think trying to ‘partner’ would Google would raise even more red flags with regulators being the two have such similar products, services, technologies, etc. However it would be quite ironic if Google did ‘partner’ with Yahoo as the tag line on the FoxyTunes Acquired article was ‘And No, It Was Not By Google!’

One more thing. just in case you are curious Google’s (GOOG) stock closed at $516.69 per share on Friday.

Related Articles:

  • Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog:

    • Yahoo and Microsoft: Headed for a showdown?
    • Yahoo CEO says board will ‘take the time it needs’
    • Even internally, Microsoft mum on Yahoo ’synergies’
    • Latest from Ballmer on Microsoft’s Yahoo bid
    • What’s next: Microsoft’s options after Yahoo rejection
  • BBC News:

    • Microsoft wants to purchase Yahoo

Fx 2.0.0.12 Issues & Preloader

I noticed a couple comments on the Firefox 2.0.0.12 Released post about issues with add-ons when upgrading to this new release. I did upgrade to the released version of Fx 2.0.0.12 even though I should not have (more on this later). I did not have any issues with my add-ons no longer working or causing the browser to crash. While, I know two different readers have had this issue, I don’t know what add-ons they had installed or what OS they were using and for that matter if this involved the en-US version of Firefox. Without getting more specific details I can only guess that either their profiles were damaged or Firefox when it installed did not do so correctly.

However, just to be sure this wasn’t a bigger problem, I checked over on mozillaZine. I looked through both the Firefox Support and the Firefox Bugs forums and didn’t find anything related to this issue. The only thing I came across remotely related to the upgrade was Firefox 2.0.0.12 - Address bar does not reflect current page, but that turned out to be caused by an out-dated theme.

Now, I mentioned that I did ‘upgrade to Fx 2.0.0.12 even though I should not have’. I have my Firefox configured to check and get updates from the Nightly Update Channel. Earlier this week I had installed the Firefox Preloader and discovered it caused numerous problems, especially when it came to updates. In order for an update to take effect, Firefox needs to restart. However with the Firefox Preloader in use, exiting Firefox does not completely close the browser. I was getting numerous update errors because of this since Firefox was technically still running. Then on Friday I was presented with this screen:

Now wait a minute!!! I shouldn’t be seeing this screen. I am on the Nightly Update Channel, not the Release Update Channel. I should have been presented with an update for Bon Echo 2.0.0.13pre. Of course when I went to restart Firefox so I could apply this update I got numerous error messages saying the update failed. It even re-downloaded the Fx 2.0.0.12 update, which I was able to successfully install once I had selected the Unload Firefox option from the Firefox Preloader.

Now, before I had shut down Friday night I did get an update from the Nightly Update Channel for Bon Echo 2.0.0.13pre. I downloaded the update, but didn’t apply it last night. When I went to start Firefox today, once again had several error messages regarding the update failing. Once again after selecting the Unload Firefox option from the Firefox Preloader, I was able to get the update to install.

I have since removed the Firefox Preloader from my system. It really did not seem to make all that much difference as far as load time. Perhaps it because I already have the SuperFetch feature enabled in Windows Vista. My Firefox doesn’t take too long to load (not that I have timed it), but I know it not as bad as Spybot 1.5.1 (note the new 1.5.2 is suppose to fix the ‘load time’ issue).

Firefox 2.0.0.12 Released

Firefox 2.0.0.12 was released earlier today. Must users will get the automatic update notification in the next 24-48 hours. However you can manually download and install the new version by going to getfirefox or simply selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu. Several bug and security fixes are included in this version, see the complete Firefox 2.0.0.12 Release Notes

Attention Firefox 1.5 Users: In case you haven’t noticed Mozilla has ended support for this version of Firefox back in May 2007 and you really should be using the newer Firefox 2.0 builds.

News Source: Mozilla Developers News

Week Update 2008-02-04

Reminder: Due to the scheduled meeting time and my work schedule, I am not be able to get the meeting notes posted until the following Tuesday.


Here’s an overview of this week’s Update Meeting:

  • Fx 2.0.0.12

    • Release Schedule Updated:
      • QA Testing: Tuesday, January 29
      • Code Freeze: Friday, January 25
      • Beta Channel Release (RC4): Monday, February 4
      • Scheduled to Release: No later than Friday, February 8

  • Gecko 1.9 Beta 3 - No Report
  • Firefox 3 Beta 3

    • Spent the past week polishing up beta 3
    • over 1100 bugs closed between beta 2 and beta 3 — way to go, team!
    • new “bake for a week” strategy on beta builds has been working well
    • as soon as no beta 3 blockers remain, we’ll tag for builds
    • expect to re-open the tree tonight
      • patches on bugs marked blocking-firefox3+ or blocking1.9+ can land
      • any other patches need explicit approval1.9+ to land
      • string freeze in effect: any patches that change strings need explicit approval1.9+ to land and must be marked with the “late-l10n” keyword
      • please mark any bugs that affect add-on compatibility with the “late-compat” keyword
    • will discuss schedule/process for beta 4 at the next Firefox 3/Gecko 1.9 meeting

  • Lightning/Sunbird (Calendar Project) - No Report

  • TBird 1.5.0.14 - No Report

  • TBird 2.0.0.12 -
    • Rough Plan
      • Code complete: January 31
      • Build starts (no later then): February 18
      • QA/Testing starts: February 19
      • Release to beta channel: February 22
      • Final release: February 28

  • TBird 3 - No Report

Complete meeting notes.

FoxyTunes Acquired

And No, It Was Not By Google!

It was announced earlier today FoxyTunes, the very popular media player toolbar/extension for Firefox & Thunderbird and music service has been acquired by Yahoo! Music.

From the FoxyTunes Blog:

“We’ve been talking to the Yahoo! Music team about deepening our cooperation, and we quickly discovered that not only do they understand and appreciate what we’ve done with FoxyTunes, but they also share our vision of Universality and Openness”

Not really too sure what this is going to mean for future development of the extension. Further seems kinda odd that Yahoo! would acquire a Firefox extension.

News Source: Mozilla Links // CyberNet News

600-Million Add-Ons Downloaded

Add-ons have proven to be a major benefit of Firefox (and Thunderbird). The download counter at addons.nozilla.org (AMO) recently hit the 600-Million mark. Keep in mind the actual number of add-ons downloaded is likely much higher being this figure does not represent those add-ons downloaded from developers’ or third-party sites.


The chart on the right breaks down the percentage of these 600-million downloads by application (Firefox 1.x, Firefox 2.x, Firefox 3.x or Thunderbird). I am kinda mixed on the figure for Thunderbird, as I would hope it would be higher but then again 4% is pretty good given the significant lower number of add-ons available and the difficulties some users may have trying to install an add-on in Thunderbird. Some other AMO statistics:

  • 800,000 and 1 million downloads per day
  • 4.5 million pageviews per day
  • 4,000+ extensions currently hosted
  • News Source: CyberNet News

    "We Remove Vista"

    A reader on Todd Bishops Microsoft Blog sent in this photo taken back in October at A&D Computer in Milford, NH. This photo was in response to Bishop’s article Vista at one year: Progress and pain.

    Thunderbird 3 Plans for 2008

    David Ascher head of the newly formed MailCo has posted plans for Thunderbird 3. The main plan is to increase the already sizable user base (millions) by including with Thunderbird 3 built-in calendar integration (based off of Lighting) much like Microsoft Outlook.  Also to introduce a better search function such as those found in Gmail or Mail.app. In addition to these plans is the goal is to have a final release of Thunderbird 3 by the end of 2008. Here is an overview of David’s plans for Thunderbird 3 in 2008:

    • Goal:

      • To have at public milestone build of Thunderbird 3 in 2008.

        • Thunderbird 3’s overall aim is to significantly grow its user base worldwide, as well as build a strong foundation for later Thunderbird releases.

    • Release-defining features:

      • an integrated calendaring feature, based on Lightning
      • a better search experience, especially for message content searches
      • a better overall user experience

    • Less user-visible but important goals include:

      • Significant headway on getting rid of Mork and RDF
      • A concerted effort to improving the extensions ecosystem for Thunderbird, including refactorings, FUEL, developer documentation, and user experience
      • Better test coverage and performance metrics in place to support refactoring goals

    • Schedule

      • Figuring out the schedule at this stage is hard, as it will depend on who shows up with energy and talent. I would like to set some placeholder milestones for discussion, however:

        • Alpha builds in Q1
        • Beta builds without calendaring starting in Q2
        • Widely useful builds by Q4 (although whether they’re branded “release” will depend on quality, as always.
        • We’re revise the schedule as we gain knowledge.

    It is important to understand Thunderbird 3 will not be the end of Thunderbird. Planning for Thunderbird 4 will be beginning soon and will included features that were not possible to be part of Thunderbird 3 due to the aggressive build schedule. But with that said, tabbed browsing/navigation is a planned feature for Thunderbird 3 (however, t was for Thunderbird 2 as well).

    There is quite a bit of information on the Thunderbird 3 Mozilla Wiki Page.

    News Source: Mozilla Links

    Ten Years of Mozilla

    Press Release from Netscape Communications Corp:

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (January 22, 1998) — Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: NSCP) today announced bold plans to make the source code for the next generation of its highly popular Netscape Communicator client software available for free licensing on the Internet. The company plans to post the source code beginning with the first Netscape Communicator 5.0 developer release, expected by the end of the first quarter of 1998. This aggressive move will enable Netscape to harness the creative power of thousands of programmers on the Internet by incorporating their best enhancements into future versions of Netscape’s software. This strategy is designed to accelerate development and free distribution by Netscape of future high-quality versions of Netscape Communicator to business customers and individuals, further seeding the market for Netscape’s enterprise solutions and Netcenter business.

    This was during a time when Netscape was the browser of choice, especially within the educational segment.  However that would start coming to an end thanks to Microsoft (and later AOL):

    Netscape was still the dominant web browser: 65 million users and 90% market share in the educational segment according to Netscape’s own accounts. But Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was grabbing share at a furious pace thanks to it being free (at a time Netscape was about$30) and specially the fact that it came bundled with Windows 95 and upcoming Windows 98 (released on June 1998).

    Keep in mind the name ‘Mozilla’ at that time was nothing more than the name of Netscape’s user agent, the name a browser uses to contact the web server. Later on Mozilla would become the name of this open source project.  See History of Firefox & Mozilla  (PDF - 4.93 MB) for a very rich and detailed time line. Ten years later IE now dominates the market, but has been losing ground to Firefox, SeaMonkey (Mozilla) and Opera.  Netscape thanks to AOL is for intents and purposes a dying (if not already dead) browser. But in the end, this bold move lead up to the creation of the Mozilla Suite now SeaMonkey and Phoenix now Firefox.

    New Sources: Mozilla Links & Mitchell’s Blog

    Review: URL Link

    When I first saw this extension over at Learn Firefox, I was thinking it was just a scaled down version of Linky. But I decided I would go ahead and give it go anyway, especially since I discovered I don’t have Linky on this machine. Further I also discovered Linky hasn’t been updated since March 2006 and maxes out on the Firefox 3.0 builds at Alpha 3 (Beta 2 is the current build).


    So I installed it in both Firefox and Thunderbird and restarted the applications. First thing that happened when I restarted I was presented with dialog box telling me to check the Options and I would not see this box again. It is when I looked the options (more on these in a bit) that I discovered this extensions does more than just open plain text URLs. When you right-click on a plain text URL (http://ffextensionguru) you are presented with these options in your context menu:

    If you highlight a partial link (no http:// or www) or text you are presented with these options in your context menu:

    • Unaltered - Opens the highlighted text as-is
    • With ‘www.*’ - adds www in front of the highlighted text/partial URL (*). Example highlighting ffextensionguru and selecting thisoption would open the link as www.ffextensionguru
    • With ‘www.*’ or ‘www.*.net’ or ‘www.*.org’ - adds www in front of the highlighted text/partial URL (*) then , .net, or .org at the end. Example highlighting ffextensionguru and selecting the With ‘www.*’ option would also open the link as www.ffextensionguru
    • With ‘ftp.*’ - adds ftp in front of the highlighted text/partial URL (*). Example highlighting ffextensionguru and selecting the option would open the link as ftp.ffextensionguru

    The last options (under the –) are what makes this extension so much better than Linky. You can highlight some text and select to perform a search in Google (though this a default context menu item) or (even better) in Wikipedia. Now I mentioned earlier about options…you can customize the context menu by adding/removing/changing and even re-order the options:

    To add a New entry is fairly simple once you understand the formating. The things to remember for any type of entry are ‘*’ is the highlighted text ‘&’ will be the hot-key (underlined) letter for that item. For specialty links (Google, Wikipedia, etc). You will start with the text for the menu item followed by ‘|’ (note this is SHIFT + \) then the URL. I added one for YouTube. So in the New entry box I typed:

    In &YouTube|http://www.youtube/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=*

    Now I have an ‘In YouTube’ option in the context menu:

    There appears to be a minor formating bug that will resolve itself once you add a New entry. Hard to explain but this earlier screen shot shows what the context menu looked like prior to adding the New entry for YouTube:


    Click For Larger Image
    URL Link works with Firefox 2 & 3 and is 96 KB.

    Tip Source: Learn Firefox

    John Lily New Mozilla Corp CEO

    On the first ‘work” day of the New Year John Lily has been appointed as new CEO for Mozilla Corp. succeeding Mitchell Baker. Mitchell however will remain as Mozilla Corporation and Mozilla Foundation’s Chairman. Mitchel Baker explains:

    “In reality John and I have been unconsciously moving towards this change for some time, as John has been providing more and more organizational leadership. It is very Mozilla-like to acknowledge the scope of someone’s role after he or she has been doing it for a while, and this is a good part of what is happening here. I expect this transition to continue to be very smooth.”

    We have added John’s (Lily) Blog to our Blogroll.

    Related Stories:

    • John Lilly appointed as Mozilla Corp. CEO - MozillaLinks
    • New jobs, same people - David Ascher
    • my new job at mozilla - John’s (Lily) Blog
    • Mozilla Yanks Website & Appoints New CEO - CyberNet News

    Firefox Spybot 1.5.2 Load Times

    I just downloaded and applied the Spybot 1.5.2 update, which of course required me to restart the computer. After rebooting I launched Spybot and noticed and a huge difference in the load time. As mentioned prior, the old 1.5.1 version would take up to a minute or even longer for the application to launch from the time you clicked the icon. Now the new 1.5.2 version loaded in a matter of few seconds.

    Speaking of load times, I timed how long Firefox took to launch. Much to my surprise it was up and running in about 4 seconds from when I clicked the icon in the Quick Launch Bar. Not bad considering I am using 27 add-ons (25 extensions and 2 themes). I would test how long it would take without SuperFetch, but I don’t quite recall all the steps to disable this feature and from what I recall it is a pain.

    Saturday, February 9, 2008

    Mobile Firefox coming on 2008?

    adg


    Finally, Mozilla is working on providing a mobile version of its popular open-source web browser, Firefox. No word as to when this will actually be available, but it should be sometime around 2008. The delay is obviously due to the amount of different versions that have to be created so as to cover most of the major cellphone brands.



    Since I have a WiFi enabled cellphone, I actually use it quite often to access the internet, especially to read some feeds on the mobile version of Google Reader. I'm also a big fan of Firefox and its extensions and I can't wait to have a mobile version of it running on my cellphone.

    Thursday, February 7, 2008

    Adjust mouse scroll speed for Firefox in Fedora Core 6

    Running some distribution of Fedora Core 6 (or really any Linux distro for that matter) and Firefox 2.0 and notice that your pages scroll very slow? Well this might not be the answer but it worked for me.

    Go to your about:config page from Firefox (type: about:config in the address bar) and then look for the mousewheel.withshiftkey.numlines field. By default, mine was set to 1. I set it to 7 and now pages scroll must faster.

    Wednesday, February 6, 2008

    Happy lunar new year

    Image


    Happy lunar new year, to everyone whom it corncern ;)


    Gong Xi Fa Cai! Xin Nian Kuai Le! Wan Shi Ru Yi! Xin Xiang Shi Cheng! Ying Chun Jie Fu!

    New browser for children on its way

    Have you ever seen a 12 year old behind a computer? It is amazing what the youngsters do and how they communicate. Ten different chat screens open, chatting and sharing pictures at the speed of light, while playing a game and browsing through their friends’ photos on their social network. Beep-beep… text message number 351 of this month just came in.


    Photo by hiestand24Most of the times the chats and websites visited are harmless, but kids have access to some things you, as a parent, don’t want them to see. Enters Glubble. Glubble is a free add-on to Firefox that keeps your children away from all ‘unsafe sites’. I have been playing around with it, and after I finally decided that my future son should be named Beppe (don’t ask me why), I got started.


    Basically, you have a Firefox browser where you can make multiple identities for your children (and maybe your wife). As a parent you can make full use of the web and if you’re on a site that may be seen by your children you can ‘glubble’ it. When a child tries to visit a site that it not approved, they are blocked and instead the parent gets a message asking them to approve the site. I can already see a new weekend to-do thing for couples, instead of accepting ‘friends’ on Facebook, you’re approving websites your son and daughter want to see…


    To speed up things you can team up with other trusted parents, this is the social aspect of Glubble, and then all trusted websites are shared. Search engine results are filtered as well.


    It will be interesting to see how this will evolve. Their target market will probably be Internet Explorer users who don’t have a clue how their kids are using the web let alone how to install and use Glubble. Another problem I can foresee is that children might not accept that they are limited in their browsing behavior and this might end up in big discussions during dinner. They will have their share of challenges to face, but a good team and a fair amount of money could do the trick.


    GlubbleGlubble is backed by Morton Lund and Soren Kenner and word goes around that Dutch multi millionaire Marcel Boekhoorn invested in the company as well. It is founded by Ian Hayward and Willem Jan Schutte. Ian worked at Firefox and is the brain behind the hugely successful Spread Firefox campaign. They have a development team in Costa Rica, Birmingham and Amsterdam and offices in San Francisco and soon New York.


    If you don’t have children, but do want to get rid of your online gambling addiction and other adult stuff you always deny watching at, Glubble might be of help.


    They are now in closed-beta, if you want to be one of the first beta testers once they’ll go in private beta, leave a ‘child friendly’ comment and Heleen (Glubble Biz Dev) will make sure we can give them to you.

    Monday, February 4, 2008

    some lesser known Firefox about:config parameters!

    Here's some lesser known firefox configuration of about:config and I think this will help you in tweaking your firefox browser and let it run smoothly.

    INSTRUCTION:

    Type about:config in the address bar then find

    * plugin.expose_full_path - The default display for about:plugins mentions the name but not the path of the plugin. Setting this to True changes this behavior.

    * accessibility.tabfocus - pressing tab on a website switches through various elements on that website. This setting defines which elements will be considered. 1=Forms, 2=other Elements and 4=Links. Elements can be combined, the default setting is 7 for instance which means that tab recognizes all elements. If you wanted it to only work with forms you would change it to 1.

    * browser.chrome.favicons - displays those little icons next to the site url and in tabs by default. Changing this to false displays a standard icon for all websites.

    * browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone - is by default set to false which means that the download manager will remain open even after the download finished. Setting this to false closes the window automatically

    * browser.download.manager.retention - Defines how Firefox handles finished downloads. The default value 2 means that Firefox will never clear the downloaded files list automatically. Settings this to 0 clears finished downloads automatically from the list while 1 clears them after restarting Firefox.

    * browser.preferences.instantApply - Changing this setting to true will apply changes immediately without having to press OK.

    * layout.spellcheckDefault - defines when the spell checker becomes active. By default it is only active in forms with at least two rows. Changing this setting to 2 enables it for all forms and setting it to 0 disables the spell checker.

    * editor.singleLine.pasteNewlines - Defines how Firefox handles if a user pastes text that consists of more than one line. The default setting in Windows (1) pastes only the first line of text while everything will be pasted with carriage returns in Linux. (0). Other possibilities are (2) which replaces carriage returns with spaces, (3) which pastes everything in one line and (4) which replaces carriage returns with “,”.

    * layout.word_select.eat_space_to_next_word - if you double-click a word in Firefox it will be marked automatically. The default marks a space behind the word as well. If you set this to false only the word will be selected and not the space behind.

    * browser.fixup.alternate.suffix - Firefox tries to automatically add a suffix to the domain name entered if none has. So, entering www.mozilla would add .com to it because .com is the default suffix that will be added. You might prefer to add a country code like .fr or .de if you live in those countries. Simply change the setting to your country domain.

    Sunday, February 3, 2008

    15 Undocumented Firefox Tips

    The increasingly popular Firefox browser offers much more customizability than Internet Explorer does. Here are some tweaks you might not know about.

    (PCWorld)

    Optimize for Broadband


    Believe it or not, Firefox is optimized for dial-up connections by default. You need to change some settings to get the browser's best performance over DSL, cable, or other broadband links.


    Before you change anything, back up Firefox's configuration file;


    Next, open Firefox and press Ctrl-L to place the cursor in the address bar. Type about:config and press Enter. Then enter network.http in the filter field. Now make the following changes:



    Click for full-size image.


    In the field of 'Preference Name' choices (clicking on the thumbnail at right will show the full screen), double-click network.http.pipelining to set it to 'true'.


    Next, double-click network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to bring up the 'Enter integer value' dialog box. Enter a higher number than the default 4; 15 works for me (illustrated in the screen below). Press Enter.



    Click for full-size image.


    Double-click network.http.proxy.pipelining to set it to 'true'. (Again, click on the first thumbnail of this page to see the full screen.)



    Click for full-size image.


    Right-click anywhere on the page and select New, Integer (see the screen at left; click on it for the full image).


    Now, enter the following text string: nglayout.initialpaint.delay



    Click for full-size image.


    (as illustrated on the accompanying screen) and press Enter. Set its value to 0 (zero), and press Enter again.


    Move Your Bookmarks and Settings to a New PC


    Amazingly enough, Firefox doesn't include an obvious, intuitive way to migrate the program's settings to a new PC. (I guess it's my job to tell you how to do it.)


    On the old PC, close Firefox, select Start, Run (Start in Vista), type %appdata%\mozilla, and press Enter. The resulting Windows Explorer window will contain a folder named Firefox. Using a network or external drive, copy that folder to the new PC.


    On the new PC, install, open, and then close Firefox. If reopening it doesn't bring up the import wizard, close Firefox and open it again. When the wizard (which is useless in this situation) comes up, just press Cancel, and close Firefox.


    Next, select Start, Run (Start in Vista), type %appdata%\mozilla, and press Enter. Rename the Firefox folder something like frominstall, and then copy the Firefox folder from the old PC to this location. Finally, open Firefox and relish your old, familiar settings.



    Friday, February 1, 2008

    Firefox Users against Boredom

    (netzpolitik.org) “Firefox Users against Boredom” ist eine neue Kampagnenseite, die anscheinend zum Ziel hat, neue Zielgruppen für den Firefox-Browser zu erschliessen. Man versucht es mit etwas Parodie. Die kommt allerdings ziemlich US-amerikanisch dahin. Das ist ja noch einigermassen lustig:

    Statistics show that Firefox Users are more inclined to have rich, exciting experiences on the web and in everyday life. Others, however, find themselves paralyzed by the death grip of boredom. It’s not their fault. Many are good people who simply got off to a bad start. It’s our duty to show them that the numbers can be in their favor. So spread the word because hope of a more interesting life is only a download away.



    Statistiken machen sich auch immer gut bei einer Kampagne. So findet man hier Zahlen, die Internet-Explorer-Nutzer mit Firefox-Nutzern vergleichen. Firefox-Nutzer haben demnach:

    * 14% more likely to rent a residence.
    * 30% less likely to be retired.
    * 12% less likely to have eaten lunch at McDonald’s within the last 7 days. […]



    Höhepunkt der Kampagne ist ein, zugegeben gut produzierter, aber trotzdem nicht hörbarer Song. Dieser klingt nach einer Mischung aus Weihnachten und MIchael Jackson, mit dem passenden Chor für den Refrain dazu. Man kann aber auch sagen, dass die kleinen Kampagnenseite dadurch viral funktionieren kann. Frühere Massnahmen zur Promotion von Firefox fand ich aber ansprechender und spannender.

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