Linux(R) Desktop Garage

Program Info

Terminal command

firefox

Program URL

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

I always loved Mozilla for its great features, but there were little details that I had to look past. With so many components and accompanying programs, I felt like I was loading up a troop of drunken circus elephants every time I started the program. The themes were a great thing to have, but I had to use a theme. That clashed with my carefully matched set of desktop environment themes. The Search button was great, but it was too easy to type search terms into the address bar and press Enter instead of clicking on the Search button, resulting in error messages. I stayed loyal: After all, Mozilla was still my favorite browser for Linux. Then Mozilla heard my unuttered annoyances and answered with the Firefox browser (see Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2. Mozilla Firefox with the Noia Light theme.

Firefox is Mozilla Jr.like Donkey Kong Jr., except that it would make for a boring video game. The program is much lighter and reduces to a more basic set of features. You still have pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, and a download manager, but there is no mail or composer. The Search button has been replaced with a small search bar next to the address bar that can search a search engine or the current page. There are themes, but they don't take over your whole browser window. The themes are for the toolbar buttons and other icons, leaving the window color and widgets to be controlled by your desktop environment theme. You can also rearrange the toolbar buttons to place them wherever you like and customize which buttons appear.

The layout of Firefox is much like that of Mozilla and other browsers, but it rids itself of the remaining Netscape baggage that Mozilla carries. The interface strikes a good balance between the usability of Mozilla and the familiarity for so many users of Internet Explorer. That makes Firefox not only a good browser, but also a good browser to help users transition away from IE. The menus and toolbar buttons are similar to Mozilla's, with a few exceptions for you to explore and poke at. The preferences are again accessible in Edit > Preferences. If you have a slightly older version (before 1.0), the prefs were in Tools > Options. The Preferences dialog box in Firefox is much more usable than Mozilla's. Categories are accessed with five side icons instead of the mouse-clicking frenzy of an expandable tree view. Each category's options are intelligently laid out and are easy to decipher.

Firefox isn't just a small, simple browser. Extensions are small add-on programs that you can download to install or install from right inside the browser. An available extension was written for almost anything you can think of, including blogging tools, Web development tools, more complex ad blockers and cookie managers, games, mouse gestures, and extensions to change how pages are displayed. You can open the Extensions dialog box by going to Tools > Extensions. Click Get More Extensions to go to the Web site where all available Firefox extensions are listed. Using extensions is a terrific way to allow users to make their browser as simple or complex as they want to.

TOOL KIT 5.2

Find and Install Extensions in Firefox

Blogger.com is a popular blogging site. You can get a whole blog started for yourself at Blogger in less than five minutes. With so many people using their service, a user wrote a Mozilla Firefox extension to provide easy access to Blogger.

1.

Open the Extensions dialog box at Tools > Extensions. There is nothing listed right now, so let's install one.

2.

Click the Get More Extensions link. Firefox opens a separate browser window at the extensions Web site.

3.

Find the extension named BlogThis, either by going to the blogging category or by finding it alphabetically in the list of all extensions. Click it to get to the description page for that extension. Click the Install Now link.

4.

You see a pop-up warning about installing software. Calm Firefox down and click OK.

5.

The Extensions dialog box comes to the front again. The BlogThis extension is listed, but there is a message telling you that the extension needs you to restart the browser.

6.

Close Firefox and reopen it.

7.

On any Web page, right-click in an empty space. There is now a BlogThis option in your right-click menu.

8.

You see a pop-up window with fields to enter your Blogger username and password. Log in and use Blogger's BlogThis interface to send an entry to your blog.

UNDER THE HOOD

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

I think that Mozilla's Firefox browser might be in the witness protection program. The program started out as Mozilla Phoenix, and then some other program claimed a previous use of the name. The name was changed to Firebird, and then that name was also found to be too close to another program's name. We now have Firefox. So, if you are looking up information about this browser online, don't ignore mentions of Phoenix and Firebird, but keep in mind that those are older versions of the browser.

FRIDGE

Why Are We Banning Books?

I was so angry when I read a blog article recently that I could have choked a Barbie. The American Library Association came out with the list of most banned books in school and public libraries last year. I don't get it. Some of the books on the list are so harmless and also so good. What's wrong with The Color Purple? Maya Angelou? Where's Waldo? And Judy Blume is all over that thing. These must be the same people who burn books.

Even if someone disagrees with some parts of these books or thinks they are not appropriate for children, these books shouldn't be banned. Just separate them out. Just pay attention to what your children read and do. I would even argue that some of those books with disturbing parts are things that children should read and discuss with adults instead of being kept kids in a perceived bubble of innocence. To Kill a Mockingbird is on there. Why not discuss the issues in that case with kids instead of banning the book?

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