The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Firefox References - for the bookshelf Major Keary |
Firefox can claim to be the best-built and most powerful Web browser currently available. The last time I saw a book about a Web browser was over ten years ago — remember Mosaic? The current version of Firefox is attracting its own body of literature, which means it is going places. It is fast, compact, secure, can be configured it to look and feel the way the user would like, and runs on all platforms.
Firefox is the browser component of Mozilla, but significantly enhanced; it was first released in September 2002 as Phoenix, became Firebird in May 2003, and was renamed Firefox in its February 2004 release. The name changes were required because of clashes with other products (Phoenix
Technologies makes the BIOS for computer manufacturers, and Firebird is the name of another open source browser project).
Because it is an open source project Firefox is both free and supported by an army of developers, innovators, and testers. Updates are the result of work that fixes bugs, improves code, and introduces new features — all without regard to market forces. The developers are not locked into some timetable dictated by a new version of an operating system. The next version of Internet Explorer won't be released until at least 2006 — or until Windows Longhorn (what was in Bill's mind?) is ready for market; according to Brian Countryman (Microsoft's IE Program Manager) "...
there will be no more standalone installations. 1E6 SPI is the final standalone installation" [quoted in Granneman: Don't Click on the Blue e!. In short, if you want 1E7 (or whatever it is called) you'll have to buy Longhorn (or whatever it is called.
Switching to Firefox
The title of this book is, Don't Click on the Blue e!, and it has a sub-title, switching to Firefox. Chapters deal with installation and configuration; Firefox features (sidebars, managers, and so on); plug-ins; and advanced topics (searching, live bookmarks, security). The information is well presented and includes plenty of screen shots to help the new user, and there are plenty of boxed items that contain useful hints and warnings.
One of the features that caught my eye was an extension, NukeAnything, which enables the user to get rid of extraneous stuff from a Web page before printing: ads, banners, logos, and other items that use up printer resources. Even pages that offer 'printer-friendly' options can send unwanted material to the printer; NukeAnything gives the user full control by enabling the temporary removal of selected elements.
Computer novices should find the book easy to follow; if some of the topics seem a bit difficult to grasp you can always turn to more advanced users, but after some hands-on experience and experimentation with Firefox you should soon get the hang of it. Remember, it won't break, and it's free (without any proprietary strings attached). Firefox is the way to go and it has an excellent manual: Don't Click on the Blue e!
Apart from documenting the many features and configuration options of Firefox the book describes the other leading browsers (including Lynx) and their respective pros and cons. It deserves a place in libraries as a manual for Firefox and for its overview of the browser market.
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Scott Granneman: Don't Click on the Blue e! ISBN 0-596-00939-9 Published by O'Reilly, 267 pp., RRP $39.95 incl GST |
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Firefox Hacks
For more advanced users who are familiar with configuration files and scripting
— and users who would like to learn about those things — Firefox Hacks contains
the regulation complement of a hundred "tips and tools for next-generation Web
browsing" (which is the book's sub-title).
The hacks are grouped under headings: Firefox Basics (includes a useful list of
keyboard shortcuts); Security (includes how to drop miscellaneous security
blocks that are part of the default settings, how to raise the security level,
work with Web proxies, fine-tune ports and sockets, restrict script behaviour,
and make yourself anonymous); Installation; Web Surfing Enhancements (there is a
most interesting discussion in Hack #42); Spider the Web with Firefox (shows how
to "save lots of things at once with Firefox", which is something that usually
requires deployment of a Web spider); there are URLs for Linux and Windows
software that does heavy-duty 'spidering', and directions for saving complete
Web pages and even "lots of pages"); Power Tools for Web Developers; Power XML
for Web Pages; Hack the Chrome Ugly (more about that below); Hack the Chrome
Cleanly; and Work More Closely with Firefox.
The Chrome is a group of files that can be edited to change the way that Firefox
works. "Hacking the chrome ... bears some resemblance to Web development. There
are XML JavaScript, and CSS files to manipulate ... [and] ... modifications to
the chrome are particularly easy for those with Web development skills". The two
chapters that deal with the chrome are particularly informative, even if you
think that such exploits are beyond your skill level.
Mozilla has its own Graphical User Interface XML dialect (XUL), the use of which
is described; the default browser window "is a single XML document written in
... XUL ...". Also explained is the use of MathML, which delivers "TeX-quality
math power" to Web pages and mentions a URL
http://www.mozzila.org/projects/mathml/fonts ) for information about the necessary fonts. Another topic that
illustrates the advanced state of Firefox is Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG),
which enables user to "create dynamically changing diagrams ased on vector
graphics instead of static images". It is a W3C XML standard.
The scope of the hacks is quite astounding and demonstrates the advantages of
open source over proprietary software. A browse through the book will show
readers why Firefox will become the leading Web browser.
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Nigel McFarlane: Firefox Hacks ISBN 0-596-00928-3 Published by O'Reilly, 377 pp., RRP $49.95 incl. GST |
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Reprinted from the August 2005 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
