Click here if you would like the PDF version: Exploring Firefox
EXPLORING
FIREFOX
INSTRUCTOR: Rita
Gavelis
MMRLS
Fall 2005
Firefox: the beginning…
Mozilla was the original code name for Netscape Navigator during its development stages.
On January 23, 1998, Netscape Communications announced that it would provide Netscape products free of charge and that the source code for communicator would also be free. Using the free code supplied by Netscape, “Mozilla.org”, a group chartered to provide a central point of contact and community for those interested in using or improving the source code, wanted to build the most useful web browser for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
What does Firefox offer
Popup Blocking – Stop annoying popup ads with this built in blocker
Tabbed Browsing – view more than one web page at a time – have multiple “home” pages.
Privacy and Security – Firefox does not load “active X” controls – these are what spyware uses to download programs onto your pc.
Smarter Search = Google is built into Firefox. There are also quicksearch links to Dictionary.com. stock quotes, and Wikipedia.
Live Bookmarks – You can access the world’s leading headlines through your bookmarked RSS feeds.
Hassle-free downloading – Downloaded files are automatically saved to your desktop to make them easier to find.
Customized interface – Firefox allows you to customize toolbars, add buttons, install extensions, and add different themes.
Developer tools – Firefox comes with a standard set of developer tools including JavaScript and CSS error/warning consoles, and an optional document inspector that gives detailed insight about your pages.
Getting Mozilla Firefox
- To download Firefox, go to getfirefox.com and select "Free Download"
- When asked to 'Open the file' or 'Save it to your computer', select 'Open' to begin installation. If you save it to your computer, save the file to your desktop and double-click the Firefox Setup 1.0.6.exe to start the install.
Browser Plug-ins, Add-ons, and Toolbars
Many of the plug-ins, add-ons, and toolbars that you may have installed for Internet Explorer are also available for Mozilla Firefox, including:
- Macromedia Flash Player, Apple QuickTime, Real Networks RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and Sun Microsystems Java Plug-in
- Google Toolbar
There are also over 120 extensions that are available for Mozilla Firefox to extend the functionality of Firefox even more.
Firefox and Internet Explorer Terminology Differences
| Internet Explorer | Firefox |
| Internet Options | Options |
| Temporary Internet Files | Cache |
| Favorites | Bookmarks |
| Address Bar | Location Bar |
| Refresh | Reload |
| Links Bar | Bookmarks Toolbar |
| Explorer Bar | Sidebar |
| Copy Shortcut | Copy Link Location |
| Save Target As | Save Link As |
Tips From MozillaZine Knowledge Base
These tips are reprinted with permission from Firefox support. (http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopoic.php?t=170970)
To enable pop-up blocking:
Click the Edit menu.
Choose Preferences.
Double-click the category you want to configure in the left-hand pane. In this case, double-click Privacy and Security.
Click "Pop-up Blocking" in that same pane.
Check "Block Pop-up Windows".
Mouse Tips
Middle Click
Note: Two-button mouse
A Mouse Wheel Click can be used wherever a Middle Click is required in the tips below. For those without middle mouse buttons or mouse wheel, clicking both mouse buttons at the same time also mimics the Middle Click function. Many Laptops mimic the Middle Click function if you click the right and left pads at the same time.
Opening Tabs
Middle Click on a link will open that link in a new tab. This principle will work in many other situations, such as on bookmarks, bookmark folders, history items, page images, and also on toolbar buttons such as Home, the Back and Forward buttons, Personal Toolbar items, and the Throbber [the 'busy' icon at the top-right]. Moreover, you can even Middle Click on menu items which represent web page (such as items from the Back, Forward, Bookmarks and Go menus) to open them in a new tab.
Closing Tabs
Middle Click on a tab marker will close that tab.
Note that user preference "middlemouse.contentLoadURL" must be set to false for this to work. To verify that the preference is set to false, enter "about:config" in the Firefox address bar, enter the preference "middlemouse.contentLoadURL" in the filter, and verify the setting appears as 'false' in the 'value' column. If it is set to 'true', double-click anywhere along the row and it will revert to 'false'. Middle-clicking on a tab to close it will now work.
Double Click
Opening Tabs on theTab Bar
Double Clicking empty space on the Tab Bar will open a 'New Tab.
Download Manager
Double Clicking a file entry in the Downloads Manager will open/launch the file (provided you haven't moved it yet).
Right Click
Customize the toolbars
You can adjust your toolbars to your liking. Right click on any toolbar, and select 'Customize'. While this dialogue is up, you can move buttons around on your toolbars by click-and-drag to the new location. The window that pops up when you do this is a holding area for unused icons. You can drag any item from it onto your toolbars to have it made available, and you can drag any icon from your toolbars onto this box to hide that icon completely.
Tip
Some toolbar items, such as the Location bar, will expand to take up all available space.
Create a keyword bookmark
Right clicking in a search box (such as the search box on the left of this page) and selecting 'Add a Keyword for this Search' lets you make an interactive keyword bookmark.
Here is how it works
Give it a name, such as 'mozillaZine Knowledge Base search'
Now, assign a keyword to it, such as 'mozkb'
Click 'OK'
From now on, you can search mozillaZine Knowledge Base (or any other search box you used for this) from your address bar like this
Enter 'mozkb search topic' in your address bar and click Go!
View selection source
Right-click on a highlighted area of a page (obtained by click-and-dragging the mouse, for example) and choose 'View selection source' to display the source code for the selected part of the page only.
Drag and Drop
Moving bookmarks and folders
You can change a bookmark's position in a folder or move it from one folder to another or move it to another position on the toolbar by dragging it to your desired position. A folder can be moved the same way but you must hold down the Shift key while dragging. To copy a folder, hold the Ctrl key while dragging.
Icons
You can bookmark the current page by dragging the icon from the location bar to your Bookmarks folder. You can also drag it to the desktop to make an icon for that page. Drag a text file, a link, a picture, etcetera... from your folders or your desktop to Firefox and it will open in Firefox!
Links
"Click-and-drag" a bookmark to the main content window (which is the biggest on the Firefox user interface), so you can open it in a new tab! Dragging a link onto a new tab will open the link in the new tab.
Downloading links
Drag any link to the Download Manager Window to add and download the link. You can also directly download anything from a page by drag and dropping it onto the "Downloads" icon in your toolbar (provided you put it there through Customize).
Tabs
Navigate through tabs
Ctrl+TAB or Ctrl+PageUp lets you navigate in the tabs to the right.
Ctrl+Shift+Tab or Ctrl+PageDown lets you navigate in the tabs to the left
Tip
These wrap.
Ctrl and a number key will go to the tab indicated by the number.
(e.g. Ctrl+3 will go to the third tab from the left)
Opening and closing tabs
CTRL+T opens a new tab
CTRL+W closes current tab
Font Size
Hold Ctrl AND press + or - to change font size.
(the font changing on IE is 5 sizes. FF has dozens of size settings)
Bookmark or save multiple tabs
Bookmark all open tabs
You can bookmark all open tabs into a new bookmark folder. Open the Add Bookmark dialog (Ctrl+D or "Bookmarks -> Bookmark This Page" or "Bookmark this page" in context menu). Check the "bookmark all tabs in a folder" checkbox. Change the name to be the name of the new bookmark folder you wish to create, and then select a parent folder. Finally, click OK.
A folder with bookmarks to all open tabs will be created. You can later reopen the tabs you saved by middle-clicking the folder or selecting the "Open in Tabs" menu item.
Import bookmarks
Firefox has Import Wizard ("File -> Import") which is capable of importing bookmarks automatically. Only use these instructions if Import Wizard doesn't work.
From Internet Explorer
On Windows, Firefox automatically imports IE Favorites when you install the program or create a new profile.
You can install Plain Old Favorites extension to use your IE favorites directly in Firefox.
To manually import your IE Favorites into Firefox or Mozilla Suite, first you have to export them from within IE, then import them using Firefox.
To export from IE:
1. Run Internet Explorer.
2. Go to "File > Import and Export...", then click Next.
3. Select "Export Favorites", click Next, click Next again (unless you only want to export a subfolder of your Favorites, in which case, select that subfolder now).
4. Click "Export to a File or Address", then click Browse and save the bookmarks onto your desktop. (Any file name and location will work, as long as you remember where you saved it.)
5. Click Next, then Finish, and you're done.
To import them into Firefox/Mozilla Suite:
1. Run Firefox or Mozilla Suite.
2. Go to "Bookmarks -> Manage Bookmarks".
3. Once inside the Bookmark Manager, go to the "File -> Import -> From File" (Mozilla Suite users select "Tools -> Import...").
4. Browse to the file you saved your IE Favorites in, click Open. Then rearrange everything to your heart's content.
From Safari
You need third-party software to export Safari bookmarks. Here's a tool, called Safari Bookmark Exporter: Versiontracker.com mirror Macupdate.com mirror
This does now work with Tiger.
Sorting bookmarks alphabetically
(Redirected from Sorting Bookmarks Alphabetically (Firefox))
There are several ways to sort your bookmarks.
- In recent Firefox versions you can also use built-in solution (only alphabetizes the files in the one folder):
- Method 1
1. Click on the Bookmarks menu option
2. Right click any file or folder in the folder you want to alphabetize
3. Select "Sort by Name"
- Method 2
1. Bring up the Bookmarks Manager ("Bookmarks -> Manage Bookmarks")
2. Highlight any file or folder in the folder you want to alphabetize
3. Right-click the highlighted folder and select "Sort by Name".
- Mozilla Bookmark Sorter is a Java program which alphabetically sorts Firefox/Mozilla Suite/Netscape bookmark files (usually called "bookmarks.html").
- Another option is to use Sort Bookmarks, a Firefox-only extension.