Firefox: The Best Browser out there ?

[ajt976]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_mocok i just upgraded from 1.03 to 1.04 no problem. What I did was just downloading the 1.04 version and installed straight away without removing the older one first.

I did the same thing on all 4 of my computers, I guess it must be a case by case basis.

Majid, I'm another who also thoroughly enjoys the keywords feature. I too use it daily for searches in eBay and Google. Very handy. I don't know why but I also really like the simplicity of being able to bookmark all the tabs in your browser window in their own bookmark folder, I found this SO helpful when researching something because I often find myself looking through like 10-12 tabs at a time. Man firefox is great!

One thing though, does anyone know how to jump to the URL bar with a keyboard shortcut? The answer is probably somewhere but I haven't found it yet. I keep ctrl+Tab'ing to get to the URL box like in IE but that's to cycle through tabs (yet another great feature). I absolutely hate using the mouse when not necessary.

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by majid Opera is actually the innovator - they came out with tabbed browsing and user JavaScript (Greasemonkey on Firefox). That said Firefox is my primary browser on Windows since 0.6. On the Mac I use Camino (Firefox on the Mac feels like an afterthought), and on Solaris I use Mozilla 1.7.x. Tabbed browsing is great, but another excellent feature across all Mozilla-derived browsers is keywords. You can associate a bookmark with a keyword. For instance, to search books on Amazon, I just type "amazon da vinci" in the URL bar, because the keyword "amazon" is associated with a bookmark that has the Amazon search URL with the search keywords you typed in the URL bar (in this case "da vinci") inserted in the URL where you put the placeholder %s. I have keywords for Google News and Maps, Epinions, B&H Photo, IMDB, Merriam-Webster, Roget's, eBay and so on. It's amazing how much time that feature can save.

how do i automaticall add the "http:/www. .com" to URLs? in Firefox and IE, it's Ctrl+enter once i've got the site typed in (for example, i simply have to type "google" then hit ctrl+enter and it does the rest, no waiting. sometimes if you simply type in google it takes it a while to redirect and figure out the real URL)
but on Opera i can't figure out the keyboard shortcut to do this. closest i've found only add the http:/

 

[MadDog5145]

Quote:

Originally Posted by majid Tabbed browsing is great, but another excellent feature across all Mozilla-derived browsers is keywords. You can associate a bookmark with a keyword. For instance, to search books on Amazon, I just type "amazon da vinci" in the URL bar, because the keyword "amazon" is associated with a bookmark that has the Amazon search URL with the search keywords you typed in the URL bar (in this case "da vinci") inserted in the URL where you put the placeholder %s. I have keywords for Google News and Maps, Epinions, B&H Photo, IMDB, Merriam-Webster, Roget's, eBay and so on. It's amazing how much time that feature can save.

You know that the google bar next to the url bar can be changed to many different search engines (google, amazon, ebay, imdb, allmusic).......

 

[Welly Wu]

People, FireFox is the only browser that I use and I have access to them all on both my RHFC3 SELinux and Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP-2 machines. Everybody is urged to update to FireFox 1.0.4 for security and stability reasons: http://www.mozillazine.org . Scroll down and read the information about the new 1.0.4 patches. Anyway, the procedure for updating is different for Windows than Linux:

On Microsoft Windows:
1. Uninstall any previous versions of Mozilla FireFox completely: a. backup your data files and extensions, b. delete the Mozilla FireFox directories, c. delete your custom user chrome directories, d. do a registry / HDD cleanup
2. Install the latest version of Mozilla FireFox 1.0.4: follow the directions
3. Create a new custom user chrome directory
4. Import your backup data: bookmarks, extensions, themes, etc.

The reason why you should really be disciplined and follow these 4 steps is due to the complexity of the Microsoft Windows registry and architecture. Updating newer versions of FireFox upon older ones can cause innumerable and unpredictable results. Following these procedures ensures that you get a clean installation of FireFox each time you update or upgrade on Microsoft Windows that functions correctly.

On Linux, all you have to do is do an update through YUM, APT, or YAST and point yourself to a good, reliable, and current repository. There is really no need to do all of that uninstallation, clean up, or re-installation because the update process and packages take care of all that for you securely. You can keep your custom chrome profile as well. No problems with updating as it is bulletproof and seamless.

Try to avoid tweaking the about:config unless you know what you are doing (say, buying the book FireFox Hacks: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...96009283&itm=1 ). However, you should always make a backup of your data files regardless of whether your run Microsoft Windows or a Linux distribution and it would be helpful to have a notepad and pencil to document each "hack" that you implement in sequential order so you know what you're doing and how to reverse the inevitable mistakes that you'll make along the way.

 

[majid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajt976 One thing though, does anyone know how to jump to the URL bar with a keyboard shortcut? The answer is probably somewhere but I haven't found it yet. I keep ctrl+Tab'ing to get to the URL box like in IE but that's to cycle through tabs (yet another great feature). I absolutely hate using the mouse when not necessary.

On Windows, F6. And this works in IE as well, by the way.

Control-L also works, but for Mozilla-based browsers only (on the Mac, it is command-L).

 

[majid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadDog5145 You know that the google bar next to the url bar can be changed to many different search engines (google, amazon, ebay, imdb, allmusic).......

Yes, but I got rid of it, as I prefer to have a single bar for everything. By default, Firefox will do a Google "I'm feeling lucky" search if you type two words or more in the URL bar and the first one does not match a bookmark keyword (I almost always use several words in my Google searches for higher relevance), but you can set a preference by hand in the Mozilla profile directory user.js file so it uses whatever search engine you want by default. The requisite line to use the normal Google mode is:

user_pref("keyword.URL", "http://google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=");

 

[Enverxis]

theres a 3rd party patch for Firefox that changes the number of TCP/IP connections to a site from 1 to unlimited, to speed up page loading.

I click Home, Headfi loads instantly after the site has been reached by the first packet

 

[ajt976]

Quote:

Originally Posted by majid On Windows, F6. And this works in IE as well, by the way. Control-L also works, but for Mozilla-based browsers only (on the Mac, it is command-L).

Ah hah! Gotcha, thanks my man. I've really been missing that function from IE but tell me, is there any way to change that? Usually when I'm needing that function the most I'm on the phone with the right hand and left is on the keyboard. Is there any way I could change that to "ctrl+ something-else-on-the-left-side-of-the-keyboard"? It would be more convenient for me.

Also, I would just use the F6 button but mine broke off somehow!!! Any other suggestions besides "get a new keyboard you lazy moron!"?

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enverxis theres a 3rd party patch for Firefox that changes the number of TCP/IP connections to a site from 1 to unlimited, to speed up page loading. I click Home, Headfi loads instantly after the site has been reached by the first packet

Oh wow. That's reason enough to change back to Firefox!

Can you provide a link?


Oh and BTW, your Home is HeadFi? That's just sad.

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu People, FireFox is the only browser that I use and I have access to them all on both my RHFC3 SELinux and Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP-2 machines. Everybody is urged to update to FireFox 1.0.4 for security and stability reasons: http://www.mozillazine.org . Scroll down and read the information about the new 1.0.4 patches. Anyway, the procedure for updating is different for Windows than Linux: On Microsoft Windows: 1. Uninstall any previous versions of Mozilla FireFox completely: a. backup your data files and extensions, b. delete the Mozilla FireFox directories, c. delete your custom user chrome directories, d. do a registry / HDD cleanup 2. Install the latest version of Mozilla FireFox 1.0.4: follow the directions 3. Create a new custom user chrome directory 4. Import your backup data: bookmarks, extensions, themes, etc. The reason why you should really be disciplined and follow these 4 steps is due to the complexity of the Microsoft Windows registry and architecture. Updating newer versions of FireFox upon older ones can cause innumerable and unpredictable results. Following these procedures ensures that you get a clean installation of FireFox each time you update or upgrade on Microsoft Windows that functions correctly. On Linux, all you have to do is do an update through YUM, APT, or YAST and point yourself to a good, reliable, and current repository. There is really no need to do all of that uninstallation, clean up, or re-installation because the update process and packages take care of all that for you securely. You can keep your custom chrome profile as well. No problems with updating as it is bulletproof and seamless. Try to avoid tweaking the about:config unless you know what you are doing (say, buying the book FireFox Hacks: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...96009283&itm=1 ). However, you should always make a backup of your data files regardless of whether your run Microsoft Windows or a Linux distribution and it would be helpful to have a notepad and pencil to document each "hack" that you implement in sequential order so you know what you're doing and how to reverse the inevitable mistakes that you'll make along the way.

Thanks for the tip(s). This pretty much applies to most apps on Microsoft Windows, unfortunately. You also should follow the "format every 3-6 months" rule, IMHO. Helps things stay nice and clean.

Do you ever use the daily builds of FireFox, or do you stick to the major/proven/stable releases? thanks.

EDIT: Hmm thinking of giving FireFox a second chance. What are the absolute essential Extensions/Plugins? thanks again everybody

 

[Welly Wu]

I stay with the major releases. I am already running Red Hat Fedora CORE 3 SELinux and that is an experimental operating system per se. I don't need bleeding edge technologies and I just don't have enough Linux knowledge to do that right now. Upgrading to RHFC4 SELinux will be an adventure. I wouldn't advise anyone who relies upon FireFox or ThunderBird for enterprise business to go to nightly builds either. Stick to the major releases and try not to modify the chrome code.

 

[mightyacorn]

Here is a neat little backup program for Firefox/Thunderbird (sorry Windows only):
MozBackup

An article on MozBackup at Mozillazine:
MozBackup Article

 

[Kram Sacul]

IE hasn't given me any problems in the last year and I can't think of anything more I need. Skins? Nah. I'm not sold.

 

[Distroyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kram Sacul IE hasn't given me any problems in the last year and I can't think of anything more I need. Skins? Nah. I'm not sold.

Even Firefox, which isnt an incredibly fast browser when compared to the likes of Opera, is still several times faster than IE. I can't stand having a 64-bit processor and waiting a dozen seconds for a browser to launch. That's unacceptable.

 

[ajt976]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kram Sacul IE hasn't given me any problems in the last year and I can't think of anything more I need. Skins? Nah. I'm not sold.

Yea other than the fact that IE just lets any joe blow website on the freakin net load up your machine with cookies and what not with no regard for the user? I don't know how many times I ran with IE on my moms comp and every month I would have to reformat to clean that crap off, even with Spybot etc. Now I use firefox on all 4 of my computers and I run Spybot once or twice a week, every time coming up squeaky clean. I'm surprised you haven't had problems so far. IMO...IE=no good, period.