MOZIILLA FIREFOX HISTORY
What is Firefox?
Mozilla Firefox is the very latest web browser. This award-winning software is the fastest growing browser in the internet world. Firefox is extremely quick and it comes with pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, and privacy and security features. It makes surfing the web faster and safer.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Firefox visual identity
Firefox visual identity
Firefox’s logo has been changed over time. In October 13, Steven Garrity criticized Firefox's logo in an article which got lots and lots of attention . But in the same time Garrity’s article was reasonably criticized mainly in the sense of “where’s the patch?”, which mean “if you don't like it, you can fix it yourself” in the open source world.
After that, Mozilla Foundation invited Garrity to lead the viaual identity team they had.
Shortly afterwards, Garrity was invited by the Mozilla Foundation to head up the new visual identity team.
IE vs. Firefox Security stats
IE vs. Firefox Security stats
According to washingtonpost , the most used web browser – Internet Explorer – was unsafe to use for 284 days during 2006, and users were at risk .All because of the delays in patching serious known flaws. You can also see all IE’s valanurabilities during the year 2006 here
On the other hand , Mozilla Firefox - the rival – suffered from the same case, but for only nine days during the whole year.
For more detail click here
To be fare, we will have to wait and see how IE 7 will do. Microsoft did put a lot of effort into it, and made many significant changes adding many new features ,not to mention, the security updates.
The bright side of this war goes directly to the end user, as the compitition goes on , the service gets better and better from both sides. One might say that IE7 is a (product) of Firefox!
Firefox for Dummies review
Articles > Firefox for Dummies review
Firefox for dummies is an excellent book about the world's best and free browser, written by Firefox creator Blake Ross it covers every topic that a person who's considering switching to FireFox would need and beyond.
It begins by firing you up by explaining why a person should use this browser and how to download and install it. Then it moves to cover the essentials of Firefox in Chapter like bookmarking Tabbed browsing, Filling forms quickly, emailing with thunderbird printing WebPages and more. Chapter 14 and 15 cover security while showing you how to clear your tracks and stay safe online. The book ends up by showing you how to fit Firefox with your lifestyle and customize it your own way with the themes and extensions available
What’s really interesting about this book even for power users. It covers the history of Firefox, name changes and digs beyond talking about some technical issues like explaining why certain designs were chosen. This book may not be very useful for an alpha geek but it’s certainly very helpful for beginner and intermediate users. It continues to receive five stars reviews from the readers for it's easy to understand yet very help natural language.
Firefox for dummies is an excellent book about the world's best and free browser, written by Firefox creator Blake Ross it covers every topic that a person who's considering switching to FireFox would need and beyond.
It begins by firing you up by explaining why a person should use this browser and how to download and install it. Then it moves to cover the essentials of Firefox in Chapter like bookmarking Tabbed browsing, Filling forms quickly, emailing with thunderbird printing WebPages and more. Chapter 14 and 15 cover security while showing you how to clear your tracks and stay safe online. The book ends up by showing you how to fit Firefox with your lifestyle and customize it your own way with the themes and extensions available
What’s really interesting about this book even for power users. It covers the history of Firefox, name changes and digs beyond talking about some technical issues like explaining why certain designs were chosen. This book may not be very useful for an alpha geek but it’s certainly very helpful for beginner and intermediate users. It continues to receive five stars reviews from the readers for it's easy to understand yet very help natural language.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Why are people switching to Firefox?
Why are people switching to Firefox?
I have found a very interesting survey on SpreadFirefox which aims why are the people currently switching to Mozilla Firefox. The survey aims to know what is important for the users in Mozilla Firefox, thus helping Mozilla to build a more user oriented browser in the future.
Different people use Firefox for different reasons. Me myself, I use Firefox because it is more secure, has useful extensions and because I want to support the open-source community. On the other hand, am sure that there are people who are influenced by Microsoft's monopoly and generally dislike it. You can find the Questionnaire here
I have found a very interesting survey on SpreadFirefox which aims why are the people currently switching to Mozilla Firefox. The survey aims to know what is important for the users in Mozilla Firefox, thus helping Mozilla to build a more user oriented browser in the future.
Different people use Firefox for different reasons. Me myself, I use Firefox because it is more secure, has useful extensions and because I want to support the open-source community. On the other hand, am sure that there are people who are influenced by Microsoft's monopoly and generally dislike it. You can find the Questionnaire here
Who is going to be on top? IE8 or Firefox 3
Microsoft has released the beta version of internet explorer 8. The version is now open for public. The new version of Internet explorer has new features like crash restore "a Feature which Firefox 2 already has", in addition to a new feature called activities which allows you to send links, text, images to social bookmarking websites and others
I think the competition is tough and rough now between the two big players in the browsers market, yet I think that Firefox 3 will have more brand new features that any other browser.
I think the competition is tough and rough now between the two big players in the browsers market, yet I think that Firefox 3 will have more brand new features that any other browser.
Mozilla Firefox Overview of A Decade
Mozilla Firefox Overview of A Decade
by Adel Achouba
Without a doubt Mozilla Firefox is the most favorite browser in the world at this moment, but this was not always the case, there were times when there were not a lot of options in terms of web browsers and the choices were limited to Netscape navigator and Internet explorer but that has all changed in the last decade with Mozilla gaining quick ground and fast becoming the most user-friendly and technically advanced web browser.
Not many realize but on 31st march 2008 Mozilla completed its 10th anniversary, 31/3/1998 the date of official release of Mozilla, on this date the first code of Mozilla became available as an open source to general public, 10 years ago this was a huge step, when most of the corporate giants were looking for monopolizing the market with their products, here was a new organization that one day hoped to make it big with their open source code product. It was not that this was the first such idea to come about, there were success stories of Linux and BSD OS to count on and that was perhaps the inspiration for Mozilla Firefox. What's so great about Mozilla is that it granted an open license, so that people could use or modify the code as required to create something new, this at the very inception was thought to be a suicidal step but in hindsight perhaps it turned out to be the biggest plus point of this browser. Many inputs and modifications were made to the original code to achieve what we know of Mozilla today, what started out as an idea 10 years ago, has shown the world the power of small ideas and how everything great is just an idea at its very inception. During its first decade Mozilla not only broke many notions like an open source cannot work, or doubts on quality of an open source product versus a closed source code product kept under legal wraps, limited popularity of something developed using such a code. It has today become the choice of over 170 million netizens laying to death any doubts and apprehensions that were associated with open source products, It is the biggest most comprehensive and technologically advanced project that's open source. It has time and again set in newer standards in the technology of web browsers be it proxy settings or tabbed browsing etc to name a few. It has set the standards for what a web browser should have, and how to make it more user friendly, in terms of customization of looks or integrated search box, what Mozilla Firefox has done today the so called major corporations have followed tomorrow. Mozilla has been more secure than its nearest rival, not to mention the various plug-ins and other enhancements that have been developed by coders and programmers to make Mozilla the most customizable web browser ever, and all this has become possible because of its open source license! Incase you still do not have Mozilla Firefox I strongly suggest you download Firefox right now it will make a world of difference to your browsing experience. Mozilla has always been about transparency and it has always stood by people coaxing them to think and visualize big for visions do come true.
by Adel Achouba
Without a doubt Mozilla Firefox is the most favorite browser in the world at this moment, but this was not always the case, there were times when there were not a lot of options in terms of web browsers and the choices were limited to Netscape navigator and Internet explorer but that has all changed in the last decade with Mozilla gaining quick ground and fast becoming the most user-friendly and technically advanced web browser.
Not many realize but on 31st march 2008 Mozilla completed its 10th anniversary, 31/3/1998 the date of official release of Mozilla, on this date the first code of Mozilla became available as an open source to general public, 10 years ago this was a huge step, when most of the corporate giants were looking for monopolizing the market with their products, here was a new organization that one day hoped to make it big with their open source code product. It was not that this was the first such idea to come about, there were success stories of Linux and BSD OS to count on and that was perhaps the inspiration for Mozilla Firefox. What's so great about Mozilla is that it granted an open license, so that people could use or modify the code as required to create something new, this at the very inception was thought to be a suicidal step but in hindsight perhaps it turned out to be the biggest plus point of this browser. Many inputs and modifications were made to the original code to achieve what we know of Mozilla today, what started out as an idea 10 years ago, has shown the world the power of small ideas and how everything great is just an idea at its very inception. During its first decade Mozilla not only broke many notions like an open source cannot work, or doubts on quality of an open source product versus a closed source code product kept under legal wraps, limited popularity of something developed using such a code. It has today become the choice of over 170 million netizens laying to death any doubts and apprehensions that were associated with open source products, It is the biggest most comprehensive and technologically advanced project that's open source. It has time and again set in newer standards in the technology of web browsers be it proxy settings or tabbed browsing etc to name a few. It has set the standards for what a web browser should have, and how to make it more user friendly, in terms of customization of looks or integrated search box, what Mozilla Firefox has done today the so called major corporations have followed tomorrow. Mozilla has been more secure than its nearest rival, not to mention the various plug-ins and other enhancements that have been developed by coders and programmers to make Mozilla the most customizable web browser ever, and all this has become possible because of its open source license! Incase you still do not have Mozilla Firefox I strongly suggest you download Firefox right now it will make a world of difference to your browsing experience. Mozilla has always been about transparency and it has always stood by people coaxing them to think and visualize big for visions do come true.
An Introduction to Web Browser And Some of The Popular Browsers.
An Introduction to Web Browser And Some of The Popular Browsers.
by Mehmet Onatli
A software application that allows for the browsing of the World Wide Web it is a window to world wide web.
A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network. Text and images on a Web page can contain hyperlinks to other Web pages at the same or different website. Web browsers allow a user to quickly and easily access information provided on many Web pages at many websites by traversing these links. Web browsers format HTML information for display, so the appearance of a Web page may differ between browsers.
Web browsers communicate with Web servers primarily using hypertext transfer protocol to fetch WebPages. HTTP allows Web browsers to submit information to Web servers as well as fetch Web pages from them. The most commonly used HTTP is HTTP/1.1, has its own required standards that Internet Explorer does not fully support, but most other current-generation Web browsers do.
Another type of browser is mobile browser designed for use on a mobile device such as a mobile phone or PDA. Mobile browsers are optimized so as to display Web content most effectively for small screens on portable devices. Mobile browser software must be small and efficient to accommodate the low memory capacity and low-bandwidth of wireless handheld devices.
Following is the list of some popular browsers.
Opera
Opera Software ASA develops the Opera Web browser and is an industry leader in the development of Web browsers for the desktop and device markets. Opera offers a combination of features unlike any other Internet browser that will allow you to experience the web a new way. For example, through voice commands you can navigate the web and even have Opera read the text to you. Other convenient browsing features include an integrated search function, customizable toolbars and thumbnail previews.
Internet Explorer
Microsoft has announced that Internet Explorer 8 will interpret web pages according to strict W3C standards by default. Internet Explorer 7 provides improved navigation through tabbed browsing, web search from the toolbar, advanced printing, easy discovery, reading and subscription to RSS feeds.
New features: Advanced printing automatically scales a webpage for printing Instant Search box Favorites Center RSS feeds automatically detects RSS feeds Tabbed browsing view multiple sites in a single browser window Quick Tabs Tab Groups Page zoom
Netscape
The another popular browser is Netscape. The Netscape is having following feature.
Mozilla Features Since Navigator 9 is based on Mozilla, it has all the latest Mozilla features.
URL Correction Navigator 9 will automatically correct common typos in URLs.
Link Pad A new sidebar feature that allows you to save links/URLs that you want to visit later without cluttering your bookmarks.
Extension Compatibility Navigator 9 will let you install extensions that are compatible with Firefox 2.
Sidebar Mini Browser Bookmarks and links can be open in the sidebar.
Resizable Textarea Drag the bottom-right corners of text fields in forms to add more typing space.
Tab History Opening a link in a new tab will give the new tab the same history as the source tab.
OPML Support Navigator 9 supports importing and exporting your bookmarks in OPML format.
Combined Stop/Reload button To save space in your toolbar, the stop and reload buttons are combined.
Mozilla FireFox
Mozilla Firefox has 22 categories of add-ons to customize and enhance your web browsing experience. Categories include blogging, tools, entertainment, humor, news, privacy and security and more. You can add style to your browser with skins and themes. Or, equip your browser bar with a dictionary or add a media toolbar with games and other forms of entertainment. Some of features are as below:
Improved Tabbed Browsing Spell Checking Search Suggestions Session Restore Live Titles Integrated Search Live Bookmarks Pop-up Blocker Phishing Protection Protection from Spyware Clear Private Data An Add-on for Everyone Add-ons Manager for Extensions and Themes Search Engine Manager
by Mehmet Onatli
A software application that allows for the browsing of the World Wide Web it is a window to world wide web.
A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network. Text and images on a Web page can contain hyperlinks to other Web pages at the same or different website. Web browsers allow a user to quickly and easily access information provided on many Web pages at many websites by traversing these links. Web browsers format HTML information for display, so the appearance of a Web page may differ between browsers.
Web browsers communicate with Web servers primarily using hypertext transfer protocol to fetch WebPages. HTTP allows Web browsers to submit information to Web servers as well as fetch Web pages from them. The most commonly used HTTP is HTTP/1.1, has its own required standards that Internet Explorer does not fully support, but most other current-generation Web browsers do.
Another type of browser is mobile browser designed for use on a mobile device such as a mobile phone or PDA. Mobile browsers are optimized so as to display Web content most effectively for small screens on portable devices. Mobile browser software must be small and efficient to accommodate the low memory capacity and low-bandwidth of wireless handheld devices.
Following is the list of some popular browsers.
Opera
Opera Software ASA develops the Opera Web browser and is an industry leader in the development of Web browsers for the desktop and device markets. Opera offers a combination of features unlike any other Internet browser that will allow you to experience the web a new way. For example, through voice commands you can navigate the web and even have Opera read the text to you. Other convenient browsing features include an integrated search function, customizable toolbars and thumbnail previews.
Internet Explorer
Microsoft has announced that Internet Explorer 8 will interpret web pages according to strict W3C standards by default. Internet Explorer 7 provides improved navigation through tabbed browsing, web search from the toolbar, advanced printing, easy discovery, reading and subscription to RSS feeds.
New features: Advanced printing automatically scales a webpage for printing Instant Search box Favorites Center RSS feeds automatically detects RSS feeds Tabbed browsing view multiple sites in a single browser window Quick Tabs Tab Groups Page zoom
Netscape
The another popular browser is Netscape. The Netscape is having following feature.
Mozilla Features Since Navigator 9 is based on Mozilla, it has all the latest Mozilla features.
URL Correction Navigator 9 will automatically correct common typos in URLs.
Link Pad A new sidebar feature that allows you to save links/URLs that you want to visit later without cluttering your bookmarks.
Extension Compatibility Navigator 9 will let you install extensions that are compatible with Firefox 2.
Sidebar Mini Browser Bookmarks and links can be open in the sidebar.
Resizable Textarea Drag the bottom-right corners of text fields in forms to add more typing space.
Tab History Opening a link in a new tab will give the new tab the same history as the source tab.
OPML Support Navigator 9 supports importing and exporting your bookmarks in OPML format.
Combined Stop/Reload button To save space in your toolbar, the stop and reload buttons are combined.
Mozilla FireFox
Mozilla Firefox has 22 categories of add-ons to customize and enhance your web browsing experience. Categories include blogging, tools, entertainment, humor, news, privacy and security and more. You can add style to your browser with skins and themes. Or, equip your browser bar with a dictionary or add a media toolbar with games and other forms of entertainment. Some of features are as below:
Improved Tabbed Browsing Spell Checking Search Suggestions Session Restore Live Titles Integrated Search Live Bookmarks Pop-up Blocker Phishing Protection Protection from Spyware Clear Private Data An Add-on for Everyone Add-ons Manager for Extensions and Themes Search Engine Manager
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Firefox Just Got Better
Firefox Just Got Better
by Computer Man
The safest most secure app for browsing the internet currently available just got better and has more improvements on the way. Are you ready for the latest Mozilla release? Firefox 3 Beta 4 is available for download, but before you go running off like some half cocked Microsoft groupie notice the "beta" tag.
Hello!! The internet is a dangerous place. The Remote Helpdesk 1 Team continues to be amused (we can no longer say amazed) at people who would not dare to venture into certain parts of a city but who seemingly rush into the internet's dark corners and dimly lighted streets ill prepared.
Before you sail into a storm baton down the hatches, and before you cruise into hacker, virus, trojan, and criminally infested areas of the world wide web at least darken the windows and arm yourself. Not to take appropriate precautions will assure your computer a visit to the infectious disease controls center if not the hard drive morgue.
Firefox developers have thus far proven themselves to the best at incorporating necessary safety features into their browser while preserving user options and cruise speeds. Online PC Repair folks feel they owe a lot of their success to getting their loyal users involved in the development and testing process. These folks, like The Tennessee Mountain Man, have helped keep the programs on track and the applications minimal. For instance, if a client wants twenty-five cents - give him a quarter like Mozilla tends to do rather that twenty-five pennies as Microsoft is famous for.
It takes a lot less resources to process one coin than it does to count twenty-five. Mozilla recognizing this has given the new "beta" release a lot of new features and improved compatibility while freeing up resources. The end result being a more nimble and faster overall browsing experience. At the same time they have enhanced Firefox's security.
Released to the public via the Mozilla website Monday, 10 March 2008, Firefox 3 Beta 4 is in the beta stage of any software's life cycle. Firefox 3 Beta 4 loudly proclaims that it is "for testing purposes only" therefore it is not for everyone. It you are a newbie or maybe even an intermediate internet user, the suggestion of the Computer Man would be that you use Firefox 2.0.0.12, the latest most stable full release until Firefox 3 is out of beta.
If you just can't wait for a better browsing experience Mozilla reports "the new release includes more than 900 enhancements from beta 3, including drastic improvements to performance and memory usage, as well as fixes for stability, platform enhancements and user interface".
But that is not the half of it... not by a long shot. "Firefox 3 is based on the Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 31 months. Building on the previous release, Gecko 1.9 has more than 12,000 updates including some major re-architecting to provide improved performance, stability, rendering correctness, and code simplification and sustainability. Firefox 3 has been built on top of this new platform resulting in a more secure, easier to use, more personal product with a lot more under the hood to offer website and Firefox add-on developers improvements.", according to Mozilla.
Enhancements like these reported on the Mozilla website:
"More Secure
* One-click site info: Click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site and to check if your connection is protected from eavesdropping. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand. When a site uses Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates, the site favicon button will turn green and show the name of the company you're connected to. (Try it here!) * Malware Protection: malware protection warns users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware. (Try it here!) * New Web Forgery Protection page: the content of pages suspected as web forgeries is no longer shown. (Try it here!) * New SSL error pages: clearer and stricter error pages are used when Firefox encounters an invalid SSL certificate. (Try it here!) * Add-ons and Plugin version check: Firefox now automatically checks add-on and plugin versions and will disable older,insecure versions. * Secure add-on updates: to improve add-on update security, add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled. * Anti-virus integration: Firefox will inform anti-virus software when downloading executables. * Vista Parental Controls: Firefox now respects the Vista system-wide parental control setting for disabling file downloads. * Effective top-level domain (eTLD) service better restricts cookies and other restricted content to a single domain. * Better protection against cross-site JSON data leaks.
Easier to Use
* Easier password management: an information bar replaces the old password dialog so you can now save passwords after a successful login. * Simplified add-on installation: the add-ons whitelist has been removed making it possible to install extensions from third-party sites in fewer clicks. * [Improved in Beta 4!] New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files, and you can see and search on the name of the website where a file came from. Your active downloads and time remaining are always shown in the status bar as your files download. * Resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting your network connection. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Full page zoom: from the View menu and via keyboard shortcuts, the new zooming feature lets you zoom in and out of entire pages, scaling the layout, text and images, or optionally only the text size. Your settings will be remembered whenever you return to the site. * Podcasts and Videocasts can be associated with your media playback tools. * Tab scrolling and quickmenu: tabs are easier to locate with the new tab scrolling and tab quickmenu. * Save what you were doing: Firefox will prompt users to save tabs on exit. * Optimized Open in Tabs behavior: opening a folder of bookmarks in tabs now appends the new tabs rather than overwriting. * Location and Search bar size can now be customized with a simple resizer item. * Text selection improvements: multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; double-click drag selects in "word-by-word" mode; triple-clicking selects a paragraph. * Find toolbar: the Find toolbar now opens with the current selection. * Plugin management: users can disable individual plugins in the Add-on Manager. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with Vista: Firefox now has Vista-specific icons, and uses native user interface widgets in the browser and in web forms. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with the Mac: the new Firefox theme makes toolbars, icons, and other user interface elements look like a native OS X application. Firefox also uses OS X widgets and spell-checker in web forms and supports Growl for notifications of completed downloads and available updates. A combined back and forward control make it even easier to move between web pages. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with Linux: Firefox's default icons, buttons, and menu styles now use the native GTK theme.
More Personal
* Star button: quickly add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click; a second click lets you file and tag them. * Tags: associate keywords with your bookmarks to sort them by topic. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Location bar & auto-complete: type in all or part of the title, tag or address of a page to see a list of matches from your history and bookmarks; a new display makes it easier to scan through the matching results and find that page you're looking for. Results are returned according to their frecency (a combination of frequency and recency of visits to that page) ensuring that you're seeing the most relevant matches. An adaptive learning algorithm further tunes the results to your patterns! * Smart Bookmarks Folder: quickly access your recently bookmarked and tagged pages, as well as your more frequently visited pages with the new smart bookmarks folder on your bookmark toolbar. * Places Organizer: view, organize and search through all of your bookmarks, tags, and browsing history with multiple views and smart folders to store your frequent searches. * Web-based protocol handlers: web applications, such as your favorite webmail provider, can now be used instead of desktop applications for handling mailto: links from other sites. Similar support is available for other protocols (Web applications will have to first enable this by registering as handlers with Firefox). * Download & Install Add-ons: the Add-ons Manager (Tools > Add-ons) can now be used to download and install a Firefox customization from the thousands of Add-ons available from our community add-ons website. When you first open the Add-ons Manager, a list of recommended Add-ons is shown. * Easy to use Download Actions: a new Applications preferences pane provides a better UI for configuring handlers for various file types and protocol schemes.
Improved Platform for Developers
* New graphics and font handling: new graphics and text rendering architectures in Gecko 1.9 provides rendering improvements in CSS, SVG as well as improved display of fonts with ligatures and complex scripts. * Color management: (set gfx.color_management.enabled on in about:config and restart the browser to enable.) Firefox can now adjust images with embedded color profiles. * Offline support: enables web applications to provide offline functionality (website authors must add support for offline browsing to their site for this feature to be available to users). * A more complete overview of Firefox 3 for developers is available for website and add-on developers.
Improved Performance
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Speed: improvements to our JavaScript engine as well as profile guided optimizations have resulted in significant improvements in performance. Compared to Firefox 2, web applications like Google Mail and Zoho Office run twice as fast in Firefox 3 Beta 4, and the popular SunSpider test from Apple shows improvements over previous releases. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Memory usage: Several new technologies work together to reduce the amount of memory used by Firefox 3 Beta 4 over a web browsing session. Memory cycles are broken and collected by an automated cycle collector, a new memory allocator reduces fragmentation, hundreds of leaks have been fixed, and caching strategies have been tuned. * Reliability: A user's bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences are now stored in a transactionally secure database format which will prevent data loss even if their system crashes."
Mozilla provides Firefox 3 Beta 4 for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X in forty different languages, and reports it can be removed without losing your bookmarks, web browsing history, extensions and other add-ons. Best of all - it is FREE ! Just download, install, and enjoy a whole new faster browsing experience if your computer meets one of the following system requirements.
Windows Operating Systems
* Windows 2000 * Windows XP * Windows Server 2003 * Windows Vista
Minimum Hardware
* Pentium 233 MHz (Recommended: Pentium 500MHz or greater) * 64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater) * 52 MB hard drive space
Mac Operating Systems
* Mac OS X 10.4 and later
Minimum Hardware
* Macintosh computer with an Intel x86 or PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor * 128 MB RAM (Recommended: 256 MB RAM or greater) * 200 MB hard drive space
Linux Software Requirements Please note that Linux distributors may provide packages for your distribution which have different requirements.
* Linux kernel - 2.2.14 or higher with the following libraries or packages: o glibc 2.3.2 or higher o XFree86-3.3.6 or higher o gtk+2.0 or higher o fontconfig (also known as xft) o libstdc++5
Minimum Hardware
* Intel Pentium II or AMD K6-III+ 233 MHz CPU (Recommended: 500MHz or greater) * 64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater) * 52 MB hard drive space
And, if you still have not tried Mozilla Thunderbird,
get ready to kick Outlook Express to the curb!
by Computer Man
The safest most secure app for browsing the internet currently available just got better and has more improvements on the way. Are you ready for the latest Mozilla release? Firefox 3 Beta 4 is available for download, but before you go running off like some half cocked Microsoft groupie notice the "beta" tag.
Hello!! The internet is a dangerous place. The Remote Helpdesk 1 Team continues to be amused (we can no longer say amazed) at people who would not dare to venture into certain parts of a city but who seemingly rush into the internet's dark corners and dimly lighted streets ill prepared.
Before you sail into a storm baton down the hatches, and before you cruise into hacker, virus, trojan, and criminally infested areas of the world wide web at least darken the windows and arm yourself. Not to take appropriate precautions will assure your computer a visit to the infectious disease controls center if not the hard drive morgue.
Firefox developers have thus far proven themselves to the best at incorporating necessary safety features into their browser while preserving user options and cruise speeds. Online PC Repair folks feel they owe a lot of their success to getting their loyal users involved in the development and testing process. These folks, like The Tennessee Mountain Man, have helped keep the programs on track and the applications minimal. For instance, if a client wants twenty-five cents - give him a quarter like Mozilla tends to do rather that twenty-five pennies as Microsoft is famous for.
It takes a lot less resources to process one coin than it does to count twenty-five. Mozilla recognizing this has given the new "beta" release a lot of new features and improved compatibility while freeing up resources. The end result being a more nimble and faster overall browsing experience. At the same time they have enhanced Firefox's security.
Released to the public via the Mozilla website Monday, 10 March 2008, Firefox 3 Beta 4 is in the beta stage of any software's life cycle. Firefox 3 Beta 4 loudly proclaims that it is "for testing purposes only" therefore it is not for everyone. It you are a newbie or maybe even an intermediate internet user, the suggestion of the Computer Man would be that you use Firefox 2.0.0.12, the latest most stable full release until Firefox 3 is out of beta.
If you just can't wait for a better browsing experience Mozilla reports "the new release includes more than 900 enhancements from beta 3, including drastic improvements to performance and memory usage, as well as fixes for stability, platform enhancements and user interface".
But that is not the half of it... not by a long shot. "Firefox 3 is based on the Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 31 months. Building on the previous release, Gecko 1.9 has more than 12,000 updates including some major re-architecting to provide improved performance, stability, rendering correctness, and code simplification and sustainability. Firefox 3 has been built on top of this new platform resulting in a more secure, easier to use, more personal product with a lot more under the hood to offer website and Firefox add-on developers improvements.", according to Mozilla.
Enhancements like these reported on the Mozilla website:
"More Secure
* One-click site info: Click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site and to check if your connection is protected from eavesdropping. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand. When a site uses Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates, the site favicon button will turn green and show the name of the company you're connected to. (Try it here!) * Malware Protection: malware protection warns users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware. (Try it here!) * New Web Forgery Protection page: the content of pages suspected as web forgeries is no longer shown. (Try it here!) * New SSL error pages: clearer and stricter error pages are used when Firefox encounters an invalid SSL certificate. (Try it here!) * Add-ons and Plugin version check: Firefox now automatically checks add-on and plugin versions and will disable older,insecure versions. * Secure add-on updates: to improve add-on update security, add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled. * Anti-virus integration: Firefox will inform anti-virus software when downloading executables. * Vista Parental Controls: Firefox now respects the Vista system-wide parental control setting for disabling file downloads. * Effective top-level domain (eTLD) service better restricts cookies and other restricted content to a single domain. * Better protection against cross-site JSON data leaks.
Easier to Use
* Easier password management: an information bar replaces the old password dialog so you can now save passwords after a successful login. * Simplified add-on installation: the add-ons whitelist has been removed making it possible to install extensions from third-party sites in fewer clicks. * [Improved in Beta 4!] New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files, and you can see and search on the name of the website where a file came from. Your active downloads and time remaining are always shown in the status bar as your files download. * Resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting your network connection. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Full page zoom: from the View menu and via keyboard shortcuts, the new zooming feature lets you zoom in and out of entire pages, scaling the layout, text and images, or optionally only the text size. Your settings will be remembered whenever you return to the site. * Podcasts and Videocasts can be associated with your media playback tools. * Tab scrolling and quickmenu: tabs are easier to locate with the new tab scrolling and tab quickmenu. * Save what you were doing: Firefox will prompt users to save tabs on exit. * Optimized Open in Tabs behavior: opening a folder of bookmarks in tabs now appends the new tabs rather than overwriting. * Location and Search bar size can now be customized with a simple resizer item. * Text selection improvements: multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; double-click drag selects in "word-by-word" mode; triple-clicking selects a paragraph. * Find toolbar: the Find toolbar now opens with the current selection. * Plugin management: users can disable individual plugins in the Add-on Manager. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with Vista: Firefox now has Vista-specific icons, and uses native user interface widgets in the browser and in web forms. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with the Mac: the new Firefox theme makes toolbars, icons, and other user interface elements look like a native OS X application. Firefox also uses OS X widgets and spell-checker in web forms and supports Growl for notifications of completed downloads and available updates. A combined back and forward control make it even easier to move between web pages. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with Linux: Firefox's default icons, buttons, and menu styles now use the native GTK theme.
More Personal
* Star button: quickly add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click; a second click lets you file and tag them. * Tags: associate keywords with your bookmarks to sort them by topic. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Location bar & auto-complete: type in all or part of the title, tag or address of a page to see a list of matches from your history and bookmarks; a new display makes it easier to scan through the matching results and find that page you're looking for. Results are returned according to their frecency (a combination of frequency and recency of visits to that page) ensuring that you're seeing the most relevant matches. An adaptive learning algorithm further tunes the results to your patterns! * Smart Bookmarks Folder: quickly access your recently bookmarked and tagged pages, as well as your more frequently visited pages with the new smart bookmarks folder on your bookmark toolbar. * Places Organizer: view, organize and search through all of your bookmarks, tags, and browsing history with multiple views and smart folders to store your frequent searches. * Web-based protocol handlers: web applications, such as your favorite webmail provider, can now be used instead of desktop applications for handling mailto: links from other sites. Similar support is available for other protocols (Web applications will have to first enable this by registering as handlers with Firefox). * Download & Install Add-ons: the Add-ons Manager (Tools > Add-ons) can now be used to download and install a Firefox customization from the thousands of Add-ons available from our community add-ons website. When you first open the Add-ons Manager, a list of recommended Add-ons is shown. * Easy to use Download Actions: a new Applications preferences pane provides a better UI for configuring handlers for various file types and protocol schemes.
Improved Platform for Developers
* New graphics and font handling: new graphics and text rendering architectures in Gecko 1.9 provides rendering improvements in CSS, SVG as well as improved display of fonts with ligatures and complex scripts. * Color management: (set gfx.color_management.enabled on in about:config and restart the browser to enable.) Firefox can now adjust images with embedded color profiles. * Offline support: enables web applications to provide offline functionality (website authors must add support for offline browsing to their site for this feature to be available to users). * A more complete overview of Firefox 3 for developers is available for website and add-on developers.
Improved Performance
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Speed: improvements to our JavaScript engine as well as profile guided optimizations have resulted in significant improvements in performance. Compared to Firefox 2, web applications like Google Mail and Zoho Office run twice as fast in Firefox 3 Beta 4, and the popular SunSpider test from Apple shows improvements over previous releases. * [Improved in Beta 4!] Memory usage: Several new technologies work together to reduce the amount of memory used by Firefox 3 Beta 4 over a web browsing session. Memory cycles are broken and collected by an automated cycle collector, a new memory allocator reduces fragmentation, hundreds of leaks have been fixed, and caching strategies have been tuned. * Reliability: A user's bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences are now stored in a transactionally secure database format which will prevent data loss even if their system crashes."
Mozilla provides Firefox 3 Beta 4 for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X in forty different languages, and reports it can be removed without losing your bookmarks, web browsing history, extensions and other add-ons. Best of all - it is FREE ! Just download, install, and enjoy a whole new faster browsing experience if your computer meets one of the following system requirements.
Windows Operating Systems
* Windows 2000 * Windows XP * Windows Server 2003 * Windows Vista
Minimum Hardware
* Pentium 233 MHz (Recommended: Pentium 500MHz or greater) * 64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater) * 52 MB hard drive space
Mac Operating Systems
* Mac OS X 10.4 and later
Minimum Hardware
* Macintosh computer with an Intel x86 or PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor * 128 MB RAM (Recommended: 256 MB RAM or greater) * 200 MB hard drive space
Linux Software Requirements Please note that Linux distributors may provide packages for your distribution which have different requirements.
* Linux kernel - 2.2.14 or higher with the following libraries or packages: o glibc 2.3.2 or higher o XFree86-3.3.6 or higher o gtk+2.0 or higher o fontconfig (also known as xft) o libstdc++5
Minimum Hardware
* Intel Pentium II or AMD K6-III+ 233 MHz CPU (Recommended: 500MHz or greater) * 64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater) * 52 MB hard drive space
And, if you still have not tried Mozilla Thunderbird,
get ready to kick Outlook Express to the curb!
The FireFox Evolution
The FireFox Evolution
by Miachel Tang
Like most modern Web browsers, Firefox includes a handy Web search box in its default UI (though, unlike with IE 7, you can actually remove it if you don't want it). In Firefox 2, Mozilla added search suggestions, which appear in a drop-down box as you type. (And isn't that a curiously Microsoft-like feature?)
So how does it work? Pretty well, actually (Figure). If you type in "xbox," for example, you'll see suggestions like xbox cheats, xbox live, xbox games, and xbox.com. Type in "apple" and you'll get applebees, apple ipod, apple.com, and apple store, among others. Note, however, that search suggestions only work when you're using the Google, Yahoo, or Answers.com search engines.
Firefox also includes a new Manage Search Engines List dialog, which features Google, Yahoo, Answers.com, Creative Commons, and eBay by default, but not Microsoft. Given Microsoft's relative success with Live.com and MSN Search, this is a bit disingenuous. And if you visit Mozilla's Add-ons site, you can add MSN Search, but not Live search. OK, we get it: You hate Microsoft.
While Firefox 2 doesn't include any truly innovative tabbed browsing features like IE 7's Quick Tabs, it does include a few useful enhancements to an admittedly mature technology. First up is tab reordering: Using standard drag and drop skills, you can now rearrange tabs in Firefox 2 as you wish. Even more useful is Firefox 2's default behavior of opening links in new tabs instead of new windows. That's right: Anytime a link is configured to pop-up a new window, a new tab will display instead. I think that's a killer option, frankly. (It's optional in IE 7.) Finally, tabs in Firefox 2 now all include their own close window button; in Firefox 1.x, there was a single close window button in the far right of the browser's UI. I like the new arrangement better.
If you're a blogger like me, you'll really appreciate this feature: Firefox 2 includes inline spell checking for Web forms, allowing you to find misspellings as you go (Figure). This is a truly nifty feature, and given Microsoft's ownership of both IE and Word, you'd think there'd be some kind of killer functionality like this in IE by now. But there isn't. Recapping my issues with Firefox 2
With the possible exceptions of the new Options dialog and the Add-ons manager, virtually all of the new features in this release could have been added to Firefox 1.5.x via Extensions. And that, ultimately, is why Firefox 2 doesn't qualify as a major upgrade. (Why isn't it called Firefox 1.6?) What this browser needs is a major overhaul of its Bookmarks system and some truly innovative features, such as the Quick Tabs feature Microsoft added to IE 7. I don't see anything like that in Firefox 2.
by Miachel Tang
Like most modern Web browsers, Firefox includes a handy Web search box in its default UI (though, unlike with IE 7, you can actually remove it if you don't want it). In Firefox 2, Mozilla added search suggestions, which appear in a drop-down box as you type. (And isn't that a curiously Microsoft-like feature?)
So how does it work? Pretty well, actually (Figure). If you type in "xbox," for example, you'll see suggestions like xbox cheats, xbox live, xbox games, and xbox.com. Type in "apple" and you'll get applebees, apple ipod, apple.com, and apple store, among others. Note, however, that search suggestions only work when you're using the Google, Yahoo, or Answers.com search engines.
Firefox also includes a new Manage Search Engines List dialog, which features Google, Yahoo, Answers.com, Creative Commons, and eBay by default, but not Microsoft. Given Microsoft's relative success with Live.com and MSN Search, this is a bit disingenuous. And if you visit Mozilla's Add-ons site, you can add MSN Search, but not Live search. OK, we get it: You hate Microsoft.
While Firefox 2 doesn't include any truly innovative tabbed browsing features like IE 7's Quick Tabs, it does include a few useful enhancements to an admittedly mature technology. First up is tab reordering: Using standard drag and drop skills, you can now rearrange tabs in Firefox 2 as you wish. Even more useful is Firefox 2's default behavior of opening links in new tabs instead of new windows. That's right: Anytime a link is configured to pop-up a new window, a new tab will display instead. I think that's a killer option, frankly. (It's optional in IE 7.) Finally, tabs in Firefox 2 now all include their own close window button; in Firefox 1.x, there was a single close window button in the far right of the browser's UI. I like the new arrangement better.
If you're a blogger like me, you'll really appreciate this feature: Firefox 2 includes inline spell checking for Web forms, allowing you to find misspellings as you go (Figure). This is a truly nifty feature, and given Microsoft's ownership of both IE and Word, you'd think there'd be some kind of killer functionality like this in IE by now. But there isn't. Recapping my issues with Firefox 2
With the possible exceptions of the new Options dialog and the Add-ons manager, virtually all of the new features in this release could have been added to Firefox 1.5.x via Extensions. And that, ultimately, is why Firefox 2 doesn't qualify as a major upgrade. (Why isn't it called Firefox 1.6?) What this browser needs is a major overhaul of its Bookmarks system and some truly innovative features, such as the Quick Tabs feature Microsoft added to IE 7. I don't see anything like that in Firefox 2.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Early Thoughts on FireFox 3.0
Early Thoughts on FireFox 3.0
by Miachel Tang
Firefox 3.0 release date targeted at Bug list broken down into two sections: Those with high complexity/risk and localization impact, and those with less risk and no/low localization impact. Bugs in the former category targeted to be fixed by 2004-09-20 for Firefox 1.0 RC1.
There is a new bugzilla nomination flag - blocking-aviary1.0RC1. We are now going to be fairly tight fisted about approvals here since we prefer to hit our target dates than become sidetracked. We would like to keep the bug list as similar in length to or shorter than what it is now. Basically we are trying to maintain feasibility. This may mean that your pet bug may be minused. This is an unfortunate consequence of project management, but if you can produce a patch and make a case for your fix, it may be allowed in.
Also note that a class of fixes may be approved for RC1 but not for RC2, etc - we want to have a localization freeze at some point between RC1 and RC2 so are targeting RC1 as preliminary localization freeze, also we may be willing to take some bugs now, further from the 1.0 date that are riskier, but we may be less interested in taking them closer to the release date.
I suspect that the setup is so that the DLLs are preloaded when Windows starts up. It appears that this builder is using custom CRT DLLs optimized for specific platforms which is pretty slick. I did this on some of my older builds using inline code but it resulted in maintenance issues so I dropped it. But the approach of doing it in DLLs is very, very nice. I don't have time to try the build out right now (and they probably wouldn't run on my Mac anyways) but some BenchJS comparisons with the usual builders might be interesting on the 1.0.7 builds given that not everyone does trunk builds.
I have found a very interesting survey on SpreadFirefox which aims why are the people currently switching to Mozilla Firefox. The survey aims to know what is important for the users in Mozilla Firefox, thus helping Mozilla to build a more user oriented browser in the future.
Different people use Firefox for different reasons. Me myself, I use Firefox because it is more secure, has useful extensions and because I want to support the open-source community. On the other hand, am sure that there are people who are influenced by Microsoft's monopoly and generally dislike it.
by Miachel Tang
Firefox 3.0 release date targeted at Bug list broken down into two sections: Those with high complexity/risk and localization impact, and those with less risk and no/low localization impact. Bugs in the former category targeted to be fixed by 2004-09-20 for Firefox 1.0 RC1.
There is a new bugzilla nomination flag - blocking-aviary1.0RC1. We are now going to be fairly tight fisted about approvals here since we prefer to hit our target dates than become sidetracked. We would like to keep the bug list as similar in length to or shorter than what it is now. Basically we are trying to maintain feasibility. This may mean that your pet bug may be minused. This is an unfortunate consequence of project management, but if you can produce a patch and make a case for your fix, it may be allowed in.
Also note that a class of fixes may be approved for RC1 but not for RC2, etc - we want to have a localization freeze at some point between RC1 and RC2 so are targeting RC1 as preliminary localization freeze, also we may be willing to take some bugs now, further from the 1.0 date that are riskier, but we may be less interested in taking them closer to the release date.
I suspect that the setup is so that the DLLs are preloaded when Windows starts up. It appears that this builder is using custom CRT DLLs optimized for specific platforms which is pretty slick. I did this on some of my older builds using inline code but it resulted in maintenance issues so I dropped it. But the approach of doing it in DLLs is very, very nice. I don't have time to try the build out right now (and they probably wouldn't run on my Mac anyways) but some BenchJS comparisons with the usual builders might be interesting on the 1.0.7 builds given that not everyone does trunk builds.
I have found a very interesting survey on SpreadFirefox which aims why are the people currently switching to Mozilla Firefox. The survey aims to know what is important for the users in Mozilla Firefox, thus helping Mozilla to build a more user oriented browser in the future.
Different people use Firefox for different reasons. Me myself, I use Firefox because it is more secure, has useful extensions and because I want to support the open-source community. On the other hand, am sure that there are people who are influenced by Microsoft's monopoly and generally dislike it.
FireFox 2.0 a brand new world
FireFox 2.0 a brand new world
by Miachel Tang
In just a few years, Firefox has taken the previously dormant browsing market by storm and woken the slumbering giant Microsoft. The Mozilla browser now owns 12-14% of the browser market (the number varies depending on the source - see Wikipedia for more). The Firefox brand is also making an impact, thanks in part to the Spread Firefox campaign. For example, last year Firefox was voted the #7 global brand by brandchannel.com. But the question is still up in the air: will Firefox ever get close to Internet Explorer�s market share?
A recent post about IE7 on TechCrunch generated a lot of comments complaining about the lack of innovation in the Microsoft product. The timeline between IE6 and IE7 has been unusually long by software standards, so it was reasonable to expect a decent amount of innovation. But despite major improvements and work towards standards support, IE7 looks like a Firefox wannabe.
So one would expect that Firefox has a chance to further cut down IE�s lead in the browser market, by introducing further innovation and continuing to improve the browsing user experience. Let�s look and see� User interface improvements
The first thing that stands out in the new Firefox is the more modern, snappier look and feel. Everything is more shinny, more playful and more clickable. Tabbed browsing was a major browser innovation that Firefox popularized - and in version 2.0 there are further improvements to this. By default, the links now open in a new tab instead of a new window and each tab has its own close button. There is also a new handy way of switching between the tabs, via a pulldown list of all open tabs.
All these improvements are subtle, but good productivity boosters for the user. Search improvements Search is probably the most fundamental thing we do online and Firefox excels at integrating search engines in a very smart way. With this new release, Firefox adds the search completion mechanism, which works just like Google complete. As soon as the user starts typing, potential search phrases show up.
This feature has been also added to the Firefox search engine format, allowing each search engine to support it. Perhaps the most interesting new thing in Firefox 2.0 is the integration of RSS Readers. Since its early days, Firefox has made a commitment to usability and ease of use, which implies integrating all things web right into the browser. Wiring search engines into the browser is one example. In Firefox 2.0 we now see similar integration done with RSS readers.
by Miachel Tang
In just a few years, Firefox has taken the previously dormant browsing market by storm and woken the slumbering giant Microsoft. The Mozilla browser now owns 12-14% of the browser market (the number varies depending on the source - see Wikipedia for more). The Firefox brand is also making an impact, thanks in part to the Spread Firefox campaign. For example, last year Firefox was voted the #7 global brand by brandchannel.com. But the question is still up in the air: will Firefox ever get close to Internet Explorer�s market share?
A recent post about IE7 on TechCrunch generated a lot of comments complaining about the lack of innovation in the Microsoft product. The timeline between IE6 and IE7 has been unusually long by software standards, so it was reasonable to expect a decent amount of innovation. But despite major improvements and work towards standards support, IE7 looks like a Firefox wannabe.
So one would expect that Firefox has a chance to further cut down IE�s lead in the browser market, by introducing further innovation and continuing to improve the browsing user experience. Let�s look and see� User interface improvements
The first thing that stands out in the new Firefox is the more modern, snappier look and feel. Everything is more shinny, more playful and more clickable. Tabbed browsing was a major browser innovation that Firefox popularized - and in version 2.0 there are further improvements to this. By default, the links now open in a new tab instead of a new window and each tab has its own close button. There is also a new handy way of switching between the tabs, via a pulldown list of all open tabs.
All these improvements are subtle, but good productivity boosters for the user. Search improvements Search is probably the most fundamental thing we do online and Firefox excels at integrating search engines in a very smart way. With this new release, Firefox adds the search completion mechanism, which works just like Google complete. As soon as the user starts typing, potential search phrases show up.
This feature has been also added to the Firefox search engine format, allowing each search engine to support it. Perhaps the most interesting new thing in Firefox 2.0 is the integration of RSS Readers. Since its early days, Firefox has made a commitment to usability and ease of use, which implies integrating all things web right into the browser. Wiring search engines into the browser is one example. In Firefox 2.0 we now see similar integration done with RSS readers.
FireFox 3 Less Is More
FireFox 3 Less Is More
by Miachel Tang
while the popularity of Firefox is due to a number of elements, including its vast array of add-ons that enable you to perform almost whatever task you can imagine, and its open source development, the predominant reason it grabbed so many people's attention was its tabbed browsing. Ok, it wasn't actually the first to market with tabbed browsing - that honour goes to Opera - but many people had been put off by Opera simply because you had to pay for it, even though that was no longer the case.
However, just in the nick of time the Mozilla Foundation has pulled its finger out and released beta versions of Firefox 3, with a view to officially unveiling its latest and greatest in the next few months. So, with beta version 2 now available for Mac and PC, I thought I'd take you on a trip round what in my opinion is going to be the best browser available in the foreseeable future.
I am impressed with this latest beta version of Firefox. It may be late, but I think it was worth the wait. Seems to be faster all around in loading web pages and starting up. I haven't encountered any bugs yet, either. I actually like the idea of having a close button in each tab. Firefox's implementation doesn't really make sense, though. Inactive tabs do not display the close button, unless you hover over where the button should be. In that case, the invisible button suddenly becomes visible. Buttons should not catch you by surprise.
It's not a huge change from version 1.5. In fact, firefox hasn really changed all that much since I first started using it back when it was still called firebird (verison 0.6 or something?). Every new version has added a few little things (like being able to move tabs around, the new spell check, the highlight/righ-click/search web for option, etc.) that make my browsing experience a little more enjoyable, but the basic idea is the same.
by Miachel Tang
while the popularity of Firefox is due to a number of elements, including its vast array of add-ons that enable you to perform almost whatever task you can imagine, and its open source development, the predominant reason it grabbed so many people's attention was its tabbed browsing. Ok, it wasn't actually the first to market with tabbed browsing - that honour goes to Opera - but many people had been put off by Opera simply because you had to pay for it, even though that was no longer the case.
However, just in the nick of time the Mozilla Foundation has pulled its finger out and released beta versions of Firefox 3, with a view to officially unveiling its latest and greatest in the next few months. So, with beta version 2 now available for Mac and PC, I thought I'd take you on a trip round what in my opinion is going to be the best browser available in the foreseeable future.
I am impressed with this latest beta version of Firefox. It may be late, but I think it was worth the wait. Seems to be faster all around in loading web pages and starting up. I haven't encountered any bugs yet, either. I actually like the idea of having a close button in each tab. Firefox's implementation doesn't really make sense, though. Inactive tabs do not display the close button, unless you hover over where the button should be. In that case, the invisible button suddenly becomes visible. Buttons should not catch you by surprise.
It's not a huge change from version 1.5. In fact, firefox hasn really changed all that much since I first started using it back when it was still called firebird (verison 0.6 or something?). Every new version has added a few little things (like being able to move tabs around, the new spell check, the highlight/righ-click/search web for option, etc.) that make my browsing experience a little more enjoyable, but the basic idea is the same.
FireFox 3 Will Dominiate Web Browsers
FireFox 3 Will Dominiate Web Browsers
by Miachel Tang
Firefox 3 will include some significant changes. It uses version 1.9 of the Gecko rendering engine�which itself hasn�t been released yet and which includes the Cairo graphics layer.There are also a wide range of improvements to performance, stability, and security, and it�s also going to present several new user facing features.
Here is a quick recap of design work that�s been going on in the Mozilla community over the past few weeks for Firefox 3. Places is our new infrastructure for storing bookmarks, history, and other information about Web pages. The current implementation of the Places system is still a work in progress, but the final version will support features like bookmark tagging, full-text indexing, extended metadata search, built-in syncing functionality, and support for exporting bookmarks in a broader number of formats.
these interfaces will allow users to organize bookmarks in the ways that work best for them, ranging from constructing traditional folder hierarchies to quickly searching a Web 2.0-esque tagspace. Places will also enable a lot of really innovative bookmarking, history and annotation extensions. Similar to how Firefox 2 blocks Web sites that are potentially going to try to steal your personal information, Firefox 3 will block Web sites that we believe are going to try to install malicious programs on your computer. Mozilla is coordinating with Google on this feature.
Firefox currently has different dialog boxes for dealing with content depending on if it has a MIME type, is a protocol, is being delivered through RSS, or is an application being downloaded. In addition to unifying our internal architecture for content handling we are also working on a unified content handling user interface. The user will have a consistent UI for selecting the actions they would like associated with content, regardless of if the content is a file being download or is a microformat embedded in a Web page.
by Miachel Tang
Firefox 3 will include some significant changes. It uses version 1.9 of the Gecko rendering engine�which itself hasn�t been released yet and which includes the Cairo graphics layer.There are also a wide range of improvements to performance, stability, and security, and it�s also going to present several new user facing features.
Here is a quick recap of design work that�s been going on in the Mozilla community over the past few weeks for Firefox 3. Places is our new infrastructure for storing bookmarks, history, and other information about Web pages. The current implementation of the Places system is still a work in progress, but the final version will support features like bookmark tagging, full-text indexing, extended metadata search, built-in syncing functionality, and support for exporting bookmarks in a broader number of formats.
these interfaces will allow users to organize bookmarks in the ways that work best for them, ranging from constructing traditional folder hierarchies to quickly searching a Web 2.0-esque tagspace. Places will also enable a lot of really innovative bookmarking, history and annotation extensions. Similar to how Firefox 2 blocks Web sites that are potentially going to try to steal your personal information, Firefox 3 will block Web sites that we believe are going to try to install malicious programs on your computer. Mozilla is coordinating with Google on this feature.
Firefox currently has different dialog boxes for dealing with content depending on if it has a MIME type, is a protocol, is being delivered through RSS, or is an application being downloaded. In addition to unifying our internal architecture for content handling we are also working on a unified content handling user interface. The user will have a consistent UI for selecting the actions they would like associated with content, regardless of if the content is a file being download or is a microformat embedded in a Web page.
Mozilla Firefox Overview of A Decade
Mozilla Firefox Overview of A Decade
by Adel Achouba
Without a doubt Mozilla Firefox is the most favorite browser in the world at this moment, but this was not always the case, there were times when there were not a lot of options in terms of web browsers and the choices were limited to Netscape navigator and Internet explorer but that has all changed in the last decade with Mozilla gaining quick ground and fast becoming the most user-friendly and technically advanced web browser.
Not many realize but on 31st march 2008 Mozilla completed its 10th anniversary, 31/3/1998 the date of official release of Mozilla, on this date the first code of Mozilla became available as an open source to general public, 10 years ago this was a huge step, when most of the corporate giants were looking for monopolizing the market with their products, here was a new organization that one day hoped to make it big with their open source code product. It was not that this was the first such idea to come about, there were success stories of Linux and BSD OS to count on and that was perhaps the inspiration for Mozilla Firefox. What's so great about Mozilla is that it granted an open license, so that people could use or modify the code as required to create something new, this at the very inception was thought to be a suicidal step but in hindsight perhaps it turned out to be the biggest plus point of this browser. Many inputs and modifications were made to the original code to achieve what we know of Mozilla today, what started out as an idea 10 years ago, has shown the world the power of small ideas and how everything great is just an idea at its very inception. During its first decade Mozilla not only broke many notions like an open source cannot work, or doubts on quality of an open source product versus a closed source code product kept under legal wraps, limited popularity of something developed using such a code. It has today become the choice of over 170 million netizens laying to death any doubts and apprehensions that were associated with open source products, It is the biggest most comprehensive and technologically advanced project that's open source. It has time and again set in newer standards in the technology of web browsers be it proxy settings or tabbed browsing etc to name a few. It has set the standards for what a web browser should have, and how to make it more user friendly, in terms of customization of looks or integrated search box, what Mozilla Firefox has done today the so called major corporations have followed tomorrow. Mozilla has been more secure than its nearest rival, not to mention the various plug-ins and other enhancements that have been developed by coders and programmers to make Mozilla the most customizable web browser ever, and all this has become possible because of its open source license! Incase you still do not have Mozilla Firefox I strongly suggest you download Firefox right now it will make a world of difference to your browsing experience. Mozilla has always been about transparency and it has always stood by people coaxing them to think and visualize big for visions do come true.
by Adel Achouba
Without a doubt Mozilla Firefox is the most favorite browser in the world at this moment, but this was not always the case, there were times when there were not a lot of options in terms of web browsers and the choices were limited to Netscape navigator and Internet explorer but that has all changed in the last decade with Mozilla gaining quick ground and fast becoming the most user-friendly and technically advanced web browser.
Not many realize but on 31st march 2008 Mozilla completed its 10th anniversary, 31/3/1998 the date of official release of Mozilla, on this date the first code of Mozilla became available as an open source to general public, 10 years ago this was a huge step, when most of the corporate giants were looking for monopolizing the market with their products, here was a new organization that one day hoped to make it big with their open source code product. It was not that this was the first such idea to come about, there were success stories of Linux and BSD OS to count on and that was perhaps the inspiration for Mozilla Firefox. What's so great about Mozilla is that it granted an open license, so that people could use or modify the code as required to create something new, this at the very inception was thought to be a suicidal step but in hindsight perhaps it turned out to be the biggest plus point of this browser. Many inputs and modifications were made to the original code to achieve what we know of Mozilla today, what started out as an idea 10 years ago, has shown the world the power of small ideas and how everything great is just an idea at its very inception. During its first decade Mozilla not only broke many notions like an open source cannot work, or doubts on quality of an open source product versus a closed source code product kept under legal wraps, limited popularity of something developed using such a code. It has today become the choice of over 170 million netizens laying to death any doubts and apprehensions that were associated with open source products, It is the biggest most comprehensive and technologically advanced project that's open source. It has time and again set in newer standards in the technology of web browsers be it proxy settings or tabbed browsing etc to name a few. It has set the standards for what a web browser should have, and how to make it more user friendly, in terms of customization of looks or integrated search box, what Mozilla Firefox has done today the so called major corporations have followed tomorrow. Mozilla has been more secure than its nearest rival, not to mention the various plug-ins and other enhancements that have been developed by coders and programmers to make Mozilla the most customizable web browser ever, and all this has become possible because of its open source license! Incase you still do not have Mozilla Firefox I strongly suggest you download Firefox right now it will make a world of difference to your browsing experience. Mozilla has always been about transparency and it has always stood by people coaxing them to think and visualize big for visions do come true.
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