February 10, 2004
Firefox rocks!
Firefox 0.8, the latest version of the web browser formerly known as Mozilla Firebird (and code-named Phoenix before that) was released yesterday. I've used this browser since version 0.4 and it just keeps getting better. So far I've installed 0.8 on my Linux machine at home but have not yet tried it on Windows at work. It looks like a good release, with the exception of one glitch which I'll discuss later.
For those of you still stuck using Internet Explorer, let me extol the joys of Firefox.
- Popup blocking is built into the browser. The truth is that I'm now so used to this feature that I've almost forgotten it's there and am jolted back to reality on the rare occasion that I use a browser which doesn't support it. Oh, and if you need popups for a specific site, you can allow popups for that site.
- You can open pages in tabs, so that you can easily flip back and forth between pages. This is so much nicer than having to open a whole new browser window. This feature doesn't sound exciting but once you try it you will never go back.
- A search box is included right in the main toolbar, so that you can do a Google search directly from the browser. You can also download search plugins for many other sites.
- Many extensions are available which add even more functionality to the browser.
The main glitch with this release is that some of the existing extensions don't yet work with the new version. The good news is that new versions of those extensions are coming out. If you are upgrading from a previous version you will need to disable your extensions before installing and then check for the latest versions. The most notable problem is unfortunately with Tabbrowser Extensions, a very popular extension (it provides loads of extra tab features) that I can't live without. If you try to run Firefox with an older version of this extension you will get an "XBL binding" error and Firefox will not work. Fortunately, the author has fixed Tabbrowser Extensions and a good version is available at http://white.sakura.ne.jp/~piro/xul/xpi/tabextensions_en.xpi.
Okay, I'll stop blubbering about how great this browser is (how geeky do I sound :)). Just download it!
Posted by sarah at February 10, 2004 09:48 PM in Software
I've been playing around with Firefox. A few questions: What is the difference between this and Mozilla?
One of the things I miss from IE is the Google Toolbar. Is there any way to get this in Firefox? What I really need is the highlighting of search terms. I really found that useful. I know about type-ahead find, but I like the highlighting.
Also, I made a search plugin for Blogdigger, in case your interested. You can download it from the blogdigger blog at http://www.blogdigger.com/blog/2004/02/11.html#a79
Posted by: Greg at February 12, 2004 12:06 AMI never really used Mozilla, so I'm not sure of the differences. My understanding is that Firefox is a leaner, meaner, stripped-down version of Mozilla based on different underpinnings (XUL instead of X-something-else, not that I really know what that means.) which allows for custom extensions to add functionality. I also think that Mozilla is supposed to be transitioning to using Firefox as the main browser in the Mozilla suite.
I think that there is a Google Toolbar extension for Firefox. Unfortunately extensionroom.mozdev.org is down at the moment--that would be the best place to look for the project.
Update: I think I've sorted out the problems I was having with Tabbrowser Extensions. I had to uninstall the extension (Tools->Options->Extensions->Tabbrowser Extensions options->Click the About button->Uninstall), remove the jar file (the uninstall will specify where) and install the new version. More information at http://white.sakura.ne.jp/~piro/xul/_tabextensions.html.en
Posted by: sarah at February 12, 2004 12:51 PM