BOOT CAMP 418 (04/04/06)

MOZILLA FIREFOX TOP TIPS part 1

Internet Explorer has had a virtual monopoly on web browsing for more than ten years but back in 2004 its dominance came under threat from a new Open Source program called Mozilla Firefox. It took a while for the bugs to get sorted out but since the release of version 1.5 in November 2005 it has gone from strength to strength. Worldwide more than 10 percent of PC owners now use it and for some bizarre reason it has been a huge hit in Finland where it now has a staggering 40 percent market share.

It is easy to see why Firefox has become so popular so quickly, and not just with the Finns. In a word it’s security; IE has been under concerted attack from a small army or virus writers and hackers eager to uncover and exploit the many and varied loopholes in the program. Switching to Firefox instantly reduces the threat to your PC’s security. That’s not to say Firefox doesn’t have security issues, it does, and as its popularity increases they may get worse but the ones we know about tend to be resolved quickly and at the moment the chances of catching something nasty are much lower than with IE. 

Firefox’s other key virtues are that it is free, it is very easy to use and the ‘tabbed’ browser windows are often a revelation for those that use them for the first time. Being Open Source is also a major advantage because it means that users are encouraged to help improve the program by developing add-ons and tweak performance settings. 

We will begin, as we did with Internet Explorer last week, with some simple tips to increase the size of your browser window. To make changes to Firefox toolbars or layout right-click onto an empty area of a toolbar and select Customize. Click the ‘Show’ drop-down menu and select Icons to get rid of the labels (it’s pretty obvious what they all do) then check the item ‘Use Small Icons’ and already the toolbars are starting to shrink.

The empty space to the right of the menu items is a perfect spot for Address and Google Search boxes onto the menu bar; just drag them into their new home. The Bookmarks toolbar fit snugly it into the empty space on the right of the Navigation toolbar. You can remove the now empty Bookmark toolbar from the View menu.

To delete unwanted icons just click and drag them into the Customize window. That will also help make room for a couple of new icons. Try New Tab and New Window they can be very useful. If you don’t like the new look you can reset Firefox to its factory fresh condition by clicking the Restore Default button.

This next tip can save you a lot of time if you routinely open more than two or three pages after launching Firefox. You can nominate multiple home pages, just open them in their own separate tabs then go to Tools > Options, click the General icon and click the ‘Use Current Pages button.

There are still some websites that refuse to display properly in Firefox. Unfortunately we are just going to have to live with that but there is a way to open IE from within Firefox using an ‘extension’ called IE View. If you are having problems with a web page just right click into an empty area and select View this page IE’ and Internet Explorer opens and loads the page.

To install an extension click the download link and the Extensions dialogue box opens. Most extensions are small and only take a few seconds to load and install. To uninstall or configure an extension go to Tools > Extensions and right click on the Extension bar to see the options.

Now you’ve got the hang of installing extensions here’s some more for you to try. Dictionary Tooltip provides Firefox with a dictionary facility; just highlight or double-click a word for an instant definition. The next one is Forecastfox Enhanced and it places a small toolbar at the bottom of the browser window that displays your local weather now and for the next two days as well as up to the minute weather reports and moving satellite and radar images.

This last Extension is a painless way of changing configuration settings that can make Firefox more responsive and open pages faster. Appropriately enough it’s called Fasterfox and once installed you can choose what sort of optimisations it will apply, according to your preferences and your PC’s resources.

NEXT WEEK - MORE FIREFOX TIPS

JARGON FILTER

EXTENSION

A small free add-on or program that enhances Firefox’s performance, adds extra functionality or compatibility with web services

OPEN SOURCE

Software with minimal licensing which users are encouraged to help develop

TABBED WINDOWS

Feature that allows a number of web pages to appear in a single browser window at the same time

TOP TIP

If you have a ‘wheel’ type mouse you might be interested in some unpublished shortcuts that can make Firefox easier to use, and do some unusual things…

Click the mouse wheel on a tab and it closes; do the same on the page backwards and forwards arrows and it opens the previous or next pages in a new tab. A mouse wheel click on a page link or the Home icon will open them in a new tab and wheel clicking on the right-click menu items View Image or View Background Image open images in new tabs.

To highlight a section of a page hold down the Ctrl key and left click. If you just type the name of a website in the address bar you can automatically add the http:// and .com parts of the address by pressing Ctrl + Enter. Shift + Enter adds the .net extension and Ctrl + Shift + Enter inserts .org. Don’t forget there’s a complete archive of previous Boot Camp Top Tips at www.rickmaybury.com

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© R. Maybury 2006, 2203

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