Slashdot Mirror

• Fast IMAP performance (roughly twice as fast as OE, Kmail, Evo, and Sylpheed)
• Internationalisation (so that the rest of the world can also use it)
• Quick search bar (in both mail and address book)
• LDAP auto-completion (rocks for a (li|u)n(u|i)x-based mail server running something like OpenLDAP)
• Drag-and-drop of mail folders to and from an IMAP server
• The fact that it has sane operation in a network, for example, in windows you can have your mozilla profile on a network drive (home dir on a samba server for example), so that your mail client doens't put your mail in your windows profile to be dragged around the network if you log into different machines (OE sucks in this regard, it caches ALL your mail from IMAP servers in your message store, and you can't set it to put it's message store on a network drive).
• You can use it cross-platform. My dad runs Win2k/Mandrake 8.2 dual boot, and has his mail and address book accessible from both sides. How cool is that?
  

Mozilla can do that too:

http://uabar.mozdev.org/

Um, how about Mozilla with Google Toolbar? It's a multi-platform browser with tabbed browsing, the links (site navigation) toolbar, good privacy control, and hopefully no "Ooka ookas" (As it's spelled on United Virtualities' page). Works for me...

For an easy way to change the useragent in Mozilla, install a copy of uabar. It fits in with the other toolbars, provides a dropdown list of useragent strings and the ability to type in a new one. There are also plenty of other useful Mozilla related projects at mozdev and XulPlanet.

For an easy way to change the useragent in Mozilla, install a copy of uabar. It fits in with the other toolbars, provides a dropdown list of useragent strings and the ability to type in a new one. There are also plenty of other useful Mozilla related projects at mozdev and XulPlanet.

Try Protozilla. It basically allows you to (re)define handlers for protocols in the URI. (I used it to redirect mailto: to mutt in an xterm, since muttzilla doesn't work with mozilla).

This is the Mozilla spellchecker project.

The spellchecker here should land in the mozilla tree probably right after 1.0. It is living here as a refugee from Bug 56301.

After Mozilla subsumes this code, spellchecker.mozdev.org will live on as a testbed for the ideas being discussed in Bug 129704.

FYI, Mozilla can do gestural input:

http://optimoz.mozdev.org/gestures/

So that you know, mozilla is extremely extensible architecture, and you use javascript to write modules for it.
That makes it quite easy to write addons.
Like Optimoz.

In general, www.mozdev.org has alot of good apps already.

moz has come such a long way, and it's been fun to track it's progress. I've been running getmoz to dnld nightly builds of it constantly. It's a great way to help the QA of Mozilla builds as they move forward.

Check it out here: getmoz

Oh, and congrats to Mozilla devels, 0.9.9 is *so close* to perfect!

CB

No, Mozilla has a mouse gestures package, it's a toolbar you add and it drops a configure dialog in your Preferences dialog.

/me whistles.

http://optimoz.mozdev.org/gestures/

-inq

What I find most interesting about Mozilla is in how may ways it can be used. Just look at all the different projects using Moz engine, like text/programming editors, irc clients, media players, and others. A really interesting piece of work. You can find a lot of Moz-based projects at Mozdev.org

While doing this, I discovered that quite a few companies do support OpenPGP but it's our job to continue this effort in 2 ways:

1. Educating others about it
2. Participating in development efforts (and this also means bug reporting, translation and documentation, stuff that even I can do!)

For a sample of companies supporting OpenPGP "movement" as Salon calls it, see:
http://www.openpgp.org/members/

It's a shame that the Salon article totally ignored to mention at least two of the easier (although not easiest) ways to use OpenPGP: Enigmail (for Mozilla/Netscape) and WinPT (for Windows/clipboard-based), among others.

They also fail to mention that GnuPG really is the command line application/libraries, and then there's a layer of front end or integration to other products. A thourough visit of GnuPG.org will reveal this.

Finally, for the webmail-oriented crowd, there's also Hush Mail (which is, BTW, a company that PZ joined after leaving NAI). What's so technically difficult about using this ?

One great thing about it is that it is a cross-platform solution. I can use it under WinBlows and linux; both with GnuPG and the same keyring. <grin>

One thing I like the sound of is Herbivore. Putting transparent, seamless and automatic encryption and signing into MUA's is the best solution to problems like Carnivore.

I urge people in light of the recent "demise" of PGP to lend their time & support to projects like Enigmail and Ägypten. Even if all you do is report bugs or make suggestions for improvements you'll help with getting these products ready for non-geek end users.

Come on guys & gals! Pitch in!

Craig.

GnuPG functionality is available for Mozilla through the Enigmail plugin. It finally made it out of development and is apparently ready for production use. You'll need Mozilla 0.9.9.

Ah, enigmail does the trick for me.

Have you tried out the one at http://spellchecker.mozdev.org?

there are lots of email clients which will do this with pgp keys.

I personally use enigmail and it seems to work fairly well with mozilla and gpg for a complete open source solution.

However do you really want it to go out there and download keys without any verification that these are from the person you think it is. You'd have to already have a pretty large web of trust with everyone signing everything for it to work securly.

"...most used piece of freeware on my windows machine (IE doesn't count...I only use it because of the google toolbar.)"

That, and IE isn't freeware - contrary to popular belief, you paid for it when you paid for your O.S. Microsoft didn't make it for nothing, and where do you think their money came from?

It's just a thought.

Oh yeah, and download mozilla and then go here and then download this. Click on it in mozilla and it will install their plugin for you. Then, don't use IE, and smile.

*kudos* to the guy who posted this before me, and definately to the Mozilla programmers who wrote it, i just installed their pseudo-toolbar and it is definately cool.

"...most used piece of freeware on my windows machine (IE doesn't count...I only use it because of the google toolbar.)"

That, and IE isn't freeware - contrary to popular belief, you paid for it when you paid for your O.S. Microsoft didn't make it for nothing, and where do you think their money came from?

It's just a thought.

Oh yeah, and download mozilla and then go here and then download this. Click on it in mozilla and it will install their plugin for you. Then, don't use IE, and smile.

*kudos* to the guy who posted this before me, and definately to the Mozilla programmers who wrote it, i just installed their pseudo-toolbar and it is definately cool.

The Google toolbar is one of the biggest reasons I use IE. (Well, that and the fact that page developers, including myself, follow the rule of thumb "Design so that it looks good in IE and works in Netscape.") But anyway, I digress. If you're using IE, check out toolbar.google.com [google.com] and download it.

Andrea

It shouldn't be.

Therefore Mozilla really needs to have this feature added to Googlebar to level the field.

Mod the Parent up +1 Funny he just cannot be serious

Seeing as this is a story about Google Bombing this is actually on topic

Evil abusive, Monopoly

Tech News from people who know how to use a spellchecker

Learn aboutScientology

Join in its lots of fun

You can get an (alpha) spell-checker - it's one of the projects on Mozdev.

Gerv

What really sucks is that the lead developer of Multizilla has been gone and the newer builds of Mozilla have broken the plugin.

For those that don't know, the incomplete Tabbed Browser feature of Mozilla was copied from Multizilla...as a matter of fact, some code from Multizilla has actually made it into Mozilla...

When Mozilla hasn't broken its functionality, Multizilla is a much better interface than Mozilla's tabbed browser. Many of the features that are buggy or incomplete in Mozilla's implementation are working and have been enhanced in Multizilla.

But not to fear, we should start to see alot more reliability with the 1.0 release...

What really sucks is that the lead developer of Multizilla has been gone and the newer builds of Mozilla have broken the plugin.

For those that don't know, the incomplete Tabbed Browser feature of Mozilla was copied from Multizilla...as a matter of fact, some code from Multizilla has actually made it into Mozilla...

When Mozilla hasn't broken its functionality, Multizilla is a much better interface than Mozilla's tabbed browser. Many of the features that are buggy or incomplete in Mozilla's implementation are working and have been enhanced in Multizilla.

But not to fear, we should start to see alot more reliability with the 1.0 release...

Wave no more:
mouse gestures are available for mozilla. A bit buggy but still pretty cool. I eventually had to move the gesture to the right mouse button because Mozilla still picked up gestures while tinkering with stuff like scroll bars (extremely annoying).

For those wondering, yes, there is a spellchecker for Mozilla (bug 56301). Or, if you're in a hurry, the installer is right here.

I've been using David Einstein's spellchecker for week's now without problem. Of course, it has its own quirks (such as there being no way to dismiss the spellchecker and avoid sending the message) but it's still a tremendous effort.

For those wondering, yes, there is a spellchecker for Mozilla (bug 56301). Or, if you're in a hurry, the installer is right here.

I've been using David Einstein's spellchecker for week's now without problem. Of course, it has its own quirks (such as there being no way to dismiss the spellchecker and avoid sending the message) but it's still a tremendous effort.

For mozilla news, I generally read Mozillazine, the major mozilla news site, as well as Mozillanews, a somewhat more community-driven site. For downloads, try XULPlanet, which has a good collection of themes and a good tutorial, and Mozdev (I usually follow projects like Optimoz- gestures- and Googlebar, a mozilla Google Toolbar. Most community development projects wind up here.) Mozillaquest is reserved for cheap laughs, though they have a few article templates to choose from....

I don't use the search bar to search- there are several search-related projects for mozilla on mozdev, such as easysearch, a general search-engine toolbar, and Googlebar (not made by google, but has much of the same functionality as the Google Toolbar for IE does). Both are toolbars that you can expand or collapse at will and work quite well for convenient searching, without sending any extra information out.

I don't use the search bar to search- there are several search-related projects for mozilla on mozdev, such as easysearch, a general search-engine toolbar, and Googlebar (not made by google, but has much of the same functionality as the Google Toolbar for IE does). Both are toolbars that you can expand or collapse at will and work quite well for convenient searching, without sending any extra information out.

Ran through the OSX registration procedure

He complains about being forced to register... this has already been commented on. But having no true option is stupid.

Big dialogue box came up: "You need an Administrator password to install the software." Below this, icon of a padlock: "Click the lock to make changes." Totally baffled. What do I do now? No clue how to enter administrator password.

Yeah, that can be confusing. You don't know that your password is an administrator password (it never tells you about the concept of administrators, or that you're it).

Just so you know, he actually took three days to finish Alice (and that was in Easy mode and with a couple of hints on how to beat the bosses. Plus liberal use of cheat keys in final battle.)

I'm better at Alice than he is.

Getting more experience working with new Finder. No longer feel totally mummified, but still not comfortable. Column view -- bleah. (Remember using NeXT boxes in college. Didn't like column view then either.)

Bah, column view was something I always wanted in the Finder. It's good, get used to it :P It's better if you have more folders than files (it's good at finding files deeply nested, and makes it more convenient to have your files deeply nested).

Hit cmd-F to search partition. Oh, no. Sherlock. Forgot how awful Sherlock has become

Sherlock is a bane on the Mac's usefulness. Stupid Steve.

[Dock:] Can click app icon, wait for window list pop-up -- but this is slow and confusing. All Terminal windows have same name anyway

You can Get Info on a Terminal window and change the name. Very useful. Otherwise they have the ttyp# in the name.

Only missing UI element: configurable Apple menu. Or some way to do pop-up menu with hierarchical structure showing a directory tree. Needed for One True Way MacOS structure.

Well, get used to column view, and you've got it. Try this:

1. Click Finder icon in the Dock.
2. Hit Command-opt-F. This brings up Favorites. Set it to Column View.
3. Close window now.
4. Hit Command-opt-F. The finder should remember that that folder should be in Column View (it will also remember the window size, for when you open up a new window, instead of navigating from an existing window).

This animation takes approximately 0.75 seconds. After approximately 0.375 seconds, I am banging on computer top, screaming "Get move on!!"

Yup, there's too much stupid animation in OS X. A lot of it is warranted and doesn't get in your way, a lot of it (like hitting Command-S(ave), return) takes too damn long as the sheets come and go.

How hard would it be to write a freeware Dock item which navigates folder tree, without delays?

Dock menus pop up instantly if you control-click. Or if you have a two button mouse and right click. He finds that out later, but not the two-button thing. I'm happy with one button... I use two at work because I got one there.

Spent more time selecting fonts. Font selection is annoying.

Font selection is pretty awesome, the Font panel resizes. When the panel is small you get popup menus for your fonts. At a bigger size you get scrollable lists. You can organize fonts into your favorite groups (like Monospace fonts, it doesn't do it for you). And you can set your Favorite fonts, and while you're browsing your favs you get a nice little custom UI for it (favs include bold/point size in one click).

More generally: Carbon and Cocoa apps have different font-rendering.

Actually, CoreGraphics (Quartz 2D) and QuickDraw have different font rendering. The Finder is a Carbon app. Some (many) Carbon apps don't want to jump to Quartz because (a) the developers know QuickDraw and (b) Quartz 2D isn't on OS 9, so the app won't run on both platforms.

(Five minutes later: Selected "Get Mac OS X Software..." from Apple menu. Nothing happened. The hell? I've got menu option eating space in Apple menu, can't get rid of it, and it doesn't work? Stupid Steve!)

He deleted IE, and has not set his default web browser (IE is always the fallback browser if it can't find the preferred web browser). Until he goes to Internet prefs and sets his browser of choice, it (and anything else that wants to launch an http url) won't work.

I've deleted IE, the OS X version is an amazing pile of do-do; absolutely busted functionality. OmniWeb, Mozilla, and Chimera rulez.

On the other hand, have sworn off using Help system anyhow, due to annoying animations.

And it takes about 30 seconds to load.

"If they could just finish the JS and CSS support, OmniWeb could also make a great default browser."

I'm sorry, but that ain't going to happen any time soon. OminWeb has some great end-user features, but their HTML engine is essentially roughly at the Netscape 3.0 level. The _only_ thing it has going for it in the page rendering department is the Fuzzy Text. Considering it took Netscape, a much larger company, many years to develop a renderer that meets modern specs, I don't think we will see anything mindblowing out of Omni soon.

A much more interesting project is Chimera, which is a Mozilla fork to (really) support Aqua. Personally, I would have liked to see the smart folks at Omni get involved something like this under the NPL, but instead their shareware plans will probably be obliviated.

(And while all of these browsers are great, I doubt IE is going away anytime soon, because it's defaultness was pretty much the cornerstone of the Apple-MS deal.)

IE5 fast, I don't think so. It is slow as molasses compared to Opera. That's what Mozilla should be aiming for.

I installed mozgest the other day. It's just not as usefull as it could be because the pages don't render fast enough. When I mouse gesture for the previous page in history, I need the previous page *now* to let me know that my mouse gesture was succesful.

But on the bug front, Mozilla gets better with every nightly build.

Mouse Gestures for Mozilla are available here:
http://optimoz.mozdev.org/gestures/
(It's about a 2 second download).

http://getmoz.mozdev.org/

"get bleeding edge Mozilla easily with getmoz"

Mozilla has gestures, too!

I'm anxious to start using a galeon-ish OS X browser as soon as I hear about one.

It appears that one is just on its way -- Chimera

To save everyone some time in common questions and answers, there's a FAQ on Mozilla's spellchecker (or lack thereof).

However, there's a new development. As you may know, bug 56301 tracks the progress on the Mozilla spellchecker. And, for a while, progress had become stagnant. Then, David Einstein stepped up to the plate and started working on a spellchecker for Mozilla. His latest work is available at spellchecker.mozdev.org.

Plucker uses a completely different, server-independant solution to gather content. It is de-centralized, and does not rely on a single point of failure. It is client-driven, not server driven. Here's some other reasons why Plucker exceeds AvantGo:

• Plucker has two forms of compression (zlib/doc), AvantGo does not.
• Plucker supports 12 languages, AvantGo does not.
• Plucker supports local files (file://tmp/foo.txt) and intranet (including https://) content, AvantGo does not.
• Plucker supports runtime image scaling, panning, zooming via the parser ([alt]maxwidth, [alt]maxheight), AvantGo does not.
• Plucker allows runtime bit-depth changes in the viewer. AvantGo does not.
• Plucker is an 85k footprint on the Palm, AvantGo 4.0 is 399k, without content.
• Plucker supports Gestures, Autoscroll, Tap Navigation, and Hardware button configuration options, AvantGo does not.
• Plucker is free and open source, under the GNU General Public License, AvantGo is not.
• Plucker does not require that you have your Palm with you in the cradle to gather, sync, and create content. AvantGo does.
• Plucker uses an openly-documented data structure format, and integrates with other parsers and gathering applications like SiteScooper. AvantGo does not.
• Plucker works on 11 platforms, 5 operating systems (with varying degrees of difficulty), AvantGo supports 1.5 OS' (Windows, and "almost" Macintosh).
• Plucker does not "restrict" what websites can do with their own content, AvantGo does.
• Plucker supports multiple instances of the same content (NYTimes with images, NYTimes with color, NYTimes without images) loaded at the same time, AvantGo does not.
• You can beam your Plucker content to another Plucker user, with AvantGo you cannot.
• Plucker offers 5 font choices, AvantGo offers 2.
• Plucker does not have a maximum file size limitation; spider 20 meg databases if you want, AvantGo limits you to 200-300k.
• Plucker does not "block" content. AvantGo does.
• Plucker does not "charge" for usage of Plucker, nor "fine" people for using it too much. AvantGo does (and steeply, at $6,000 per year if you exceed "contract" usage rates.

Also, if AvantGo was the leader in this space, why are dozens of other companies moving to using Plucker instead?

• Fling-It (geared for classroom settings, direct "fling" of webpages from browser to Palm)
• BrowserG!
• streetbeam (infrared "beaming kiosk" stations, now interested in moving to Plucker)
• And let's not forget our friends at Bluefish who are in clear violation of the GNU GPL by taking Plucker source, closing it off, and distributing binaries made from it, without source, with Plucker attribution removed, and their names replacing it.

• Plucker has two forms of compression (zlib/doc), AvantGo does not.
• Plucker supports 12 languages, AvantGo does not.
• Plucker supports local files (file://tmp/foo.txt) and intranet (including https://) content, AvantGo does not.
• Plucker supports runtime image scaling, panning, zooming via the parser ([alt]maxwidth, [alt]maxheight), AvantGo does not.
• Plucker allows runtime bit-depth changes in the viewer. AvantGo does not.
• Plucker is an 85k footprint on the Palm, AvantGo 4.0 is 399k, without content.
• Plucker supports Gestures, Autoscroll, Tap Navigation, and Hardware button configuration options, AvantGo does not.
• Plucker is free and open source, under the GNU General Public License, AvantGo is not.
• Plucker does not require that you have your Palm with you in the cradle to gather, sync, and create content. AvantGo does.
• Plucker uses an openly-documented data structure format, and integrates with other parsers and gathering applications like SiteScooper. AvantGo does not.
• Plucker works on 11 platforms, 5 operating systems (with varying degrees of difficulty), AvantGo supports 1.5 OS' (Windows, and "almost" Macintosh).
• Plucker does not "restrict" what websites can do with their own content, AvantGo does.
• Plucker supports multiple instances of the same content (NYTimes with images, NYTimes with color, NYTimes without images) loaded at the same time, AvantGo does not.
• You can beam your Plucker content to another Plucker user, with AvantGo you cannot.
• Plucker offers 5 font choices, AvantGo offers 2.
• Plucker does not have a maximum file size limitation; spider 20 meg databases if you want, AvantGo limits you to 200-300k.
• Plucker does not "block" content. AvantGo does.
• Plucker does not "charge" for usage of Plucker, nor "fine" people for using it too much. AvantGo does (and steeply, at $6,000 per year if you exceed "contract" usage rates.

Also, if AvantGo was the leader in this space, why are dozens of other companies moving to using Plucker instead?

• Fling-It (geared for classroom settings, direct "fling" of webpages from browser to Palm)
• BrowserG!
• streetbeam (infrared "beaming kiosk" stations, now interested in moving to Plucker)
• And let's not forget our friends at Bluefish who are in clear violation of the GNU GPL by taking Plucker source, closing it off, and distributing binaries made from it, without source, with Plucker attribution removed, and their names replacing it.

Since I don't want to give up either tabbed browsing or crash recovery, back to Opera for now.

Since I don't want to give up either tabbed browsing or crash recovery, back to Opera for now.

Whilst I agree with other comments that point out that Mozilla really is pretty crash-proof already, you might like to follow the Total Recall project on mozdev...

On a (slightly) related note, here's a link to Banner Blind (for Mozilla only). It's a little XPI that merely hides images of particular sizes.

Good for blocking banners, as the name would imply. ;)

Honestly, I want the core frozen absolutely solid. Then declare 1.0. While I love all the features that have been put in to the UI, what really needs to happen for 1.0 in my opinion is to stabilize that API so people can start coding around the platform.

The original vision is still critical, and I want to see more projects like the fantastic pubmed. These things are going to be what really kicks mozilla in to high gear. I really believe that third party stuff like this will make mozilla worth having.

1.0 is all about stability. The browser itself is certainly stable enough to go 1.0. You can add the UI enhancements for 1.1, but make the core solid so people have the platform. Then we'll start to get the plugins that we so desperately need too.

Mozilla has gestures as well.