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If I search directly on Wikipedia, the lack of a Wikipedia article means I'll have to repeat that search on Google, or elsewhere -- plus, the Wikipedia search is slower. If I search on Google first, if there's a Wikipedia article, great, it's one click away -- and if there isn't, I've still got a page full of useful results.

Let me introduce you to the Googlepedia Firefox Add-on, which solves this in one step.

I'd also rather write much less code. prototype scriptaculous have greatly shortened my development time, because instead of spending 8hrs fighting browser incompatibilities, I write 10 lines of code and it just works...

You write a runtime patch once and you're done. Meanwhile, you upgrade your Prototype and Scriptalicious libs and then spend an ungodly amount of time troubleshooting incompatibilities between versions.

Sounds like a winning proposition to me. ;-)

Frameworks are almost most often more trouble than they are worth. Once you understand Javascript, you realize how stupidly simple most of the tasks are, and how much time you've been wasting on the framework. If you don't understand Javascript, you probably have wasted dozens (if not hundred!) of hours fighting with issues that are actually very avoidable to begin with.

e.g. Most folks don't understand Javascript scoping. So they'll be surprised when they accidently change a variable that they're using elsewhere in the code. A very simple mistake to avoid if you've read the documentation. But as Douglas Crockford of JSON fame has pointed out, most programmers start trying to hack the language without first understanding it. Which is a huge mistake considering that Javascript is only superficially similar to C/C++/Java-type languages.

You might also like Link Alert Firefox extension. It basically changes your mouse cursor to indicate the target of a link - particularly useful for "new window" links, https sites, PDFs, and javascript window.open()-style links.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4287
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/3275

Not perfect, but better than nothing. I only wish I could name them and redirect links between them.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4287
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/3275

Not perfect, but better than nothing. I only wish I could name them and redirect links between them.

That Split Browser addon is exactly what I wanted! It works nearly perfectly, with only a few minor (workaroundable) bugs that target only one frame with some of the main browser functions, like "browser default homepage" and "Find". But it's really fullfeatured, and is just a presentation layer rendition alternate to tabs, interoperating with tabs and their GUI, that even mixes split frames and tabs together. Fantastic!

Your response just paid for hundreds of useless Slashdot flamewars :). Thanks.

Now, since you're so smart, can you tell me where to find an addon that turns the Firefox URL bar into a local commandline that outputs to the tabs/frames?

And if you can pull that off, how about an addon that sends those commandlines to a Perl interpreter, not just bash?

I still find Firefox unusable on some sites, because redrawing or scrolling halts the CPU at 100% usage for several seconds. However, this is on Linux, which isn't the majority platform, and not the most bleeding edge version of all libraries, with the result that nobody seems likely to fix it. (I reported the Firefox 3 version of the problem in March. Firefox 2 had problems on a different set of sites.)

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=415488 but I don't think they let you link from Slashdot.

It is still working on killing the Microsoft monopoly. With the 1.9 Gecko rendering engine XUL is really reaching maturity. The only part which truly is lacking a great deal is the documentation, and really mostly with XPCOM, not the XUL markup itself (everything else is SUPERB). There are also some controls which I feel would be a good addition to XUL however you can write your own in place of these.

Speaking as someone who develops apps with XUL and XPCOM on the Mozilla platform...I am simply just waiting for it to gain more momentum (which it is, and has been for some time). It truly is a great cross-platform method of developing real applications, standalone or integrated with Firefox/Thunderbird/etc.

Yes, I *heart* XUL/XPCOM/Mozilla. I am not a fan-boy, I just love it when tools enable me to develop full-featured applications quickly and easily.

There really should be no reason in this day and age we as developers tie ourselves to a certain platform because of binary incompatibility (unless of course you are talking apps which need specialized operating environments/conditions/speed/etc, there are exceptions of course)...the Mozilla platform (Gecko specifically) can break us from that headache...giving us freedom to move our applications to whatever platform we (or the user) wish.

My $.02...

What OS are you using? Can you provide a screenshot? I've never noticed this on Ubuntu or Kubuntu. In any case, the Mozilla bugzilla is here:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi

His take on Safari might have had an ounce of credibility if Firefox wasn't such a dog on OS X. (What's worse, they shipped Firefox 3 with some ridiculous performance regressions). But as it stands, his comment is complete nonsense. I've sensed a little hostility towards WebKit in a few of the Mozilla blogs lately. Perhaps there's still some bitterness over the whole ACID3 fiasco?

I find changing proxies annoying too, but there is an add-on that can help you handle this more easily: SwitchProxy Tool.

The writing in the description is poorly constructed.

And by the way, they are confusing
- Mobile Firefox which is a 3rd party (not Mozilla-made) version of FireFox 1.5/2.0 repackaged in a way that make it executable from whatever computer you want, without installation, from a simple USB stick.
It's mobile as in "movable between desktops", not as in "small protable device".

(which is globally similar to Portable FireFox.)

and the Mozilla projects :

- MiniMo Mozilla's browser engine (Gecko) ported to portable devices running Linux or Windows CE

- Fennec - Mozilla's effort to create a FireFox for mobile device.
Given releases are announced very soon, I think, Fennec is the project the description was referring to.

The writing in the description is poorly constructed.

And by the way, they are confusing
- Mobile Firefox which is a 3rd party (not Mozilla-made) version of FireFox 1.5/2.0 repackaged in a way that make it executable from whatever computer you want, without installation, from a simple USB stick.
It's mobile as in "movable between desktops", not as in "small protable device".

(which is globally similar to Portable FireFox.)

and the Mozilla projects :

- MiniMo Mozilla's browser engine (Gecko) ported to portable devices running Linux or Windows CE

- Fennec - Mozilla's effort to create a FireFox for mobile device.
Given releases are announced very soon, I think, Fennec is the project the description was referring to.

Suggestions have also been made to inform users that their browser is out of date.

Why? I know I run an out-of-date browser (FF1.5), and just don't care.

Well, you should.
Most of those issues are present in earlier versions as well, as stated on the vulnerabilities page for 1.5
Have a look at http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/ - and have fun browsing on with your sieve.

Suggestions have also been made to inform users that their browser is out of date.

Why? I know I run an out-of-date browser (FF1.5), and just don't care.

Well, you should.
Most of those issues are present in earlier versions as well, as stated on the vulnerabilities page for 1.5
Have a look at http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/ - and have fun browsing on with your sieve.

You find the overhead of Linkification is small enough to make its one trick worthwhile? I have used the DragAndGo family of extensions for years. Just highlight a text URL, drag, and go straight there. But drag plenty of other things and get instant sensible actions. I nearly went insane until they updated for FF3.

From the QuickDrag website:

If you are satisfied with the basic feature set and want something with the smallest possible footprint, then QuickDrag is for you.

If you want lots of features, such as directional dragging options [Ed: ie more choices], QuickDrag is not for you. You should try Drag de Go, Easy DragToGo (which appears to based off of Drag de Go), or other similar extensions.

You find the overhead of Linkification is small enough to make its one trick worthwhile? I have used the DragAndGo family of extensions for years. Just highlight a text URL, drag, and go straight there. But drag plenty of other things and get instant sensible actions. I nearly went insane until they updated for FF3.

From the QuickDrag website:

If you are satisfied with the basic feature set and want something with the smallest possible footprint, then QuickDrag is for you.

If you want lots of features, such as directional dragging options [Ed: ie more choices], QuickDrag is not for you. You should try Drag de Go, Easy DragToGo (which appears to based off of Drag de Go), or other similar extensions.

"I don't really like Firefox-3.x .. which is starting to look like feature creep"

Try Gran Paradiso, supposed to be at the bleeding edge of development ..

how about a link to the firefox extension that autolinkifies plain text urls?

That would be Linkification, now at version 1.3.5 and Firefox 3.0.x compatible.

None, if you not only use this story's extension, but also Adblock Plus.

It looks like someone has already started the process for Firefox, at least.

StartCom is free and already supported by Firefox.

Mozilla just wants CAs to offer some level of accountability and identity verification. Their CA certificate policy is explicit in its requirements.

I don't see the point in having Verisign certificates eveywhere, but I also don't see why you should blindly trust a Robot Certificate Authority like CACert, without further assurances.

you, sir, are a fucking idiot. there is no way launching another browser (and typing the URL in or copy\pasting it) is faster than clicking the rendering icon to change from firefox -> IE and back. also a great way to convert people to firefox as they quickly realise how lagged IE is on all operations.

btw you can find the IE tab addon here

I had to giggle at the workaround. To prevent a Firefox flaw from biting you, you need to have Firefox open. Phew, I'm so glad I'm safe.

I imagine on Windows the bug you mention could be pretty serious. Especially if you are the one that told your Windows friend to install Firefox. And when said friend uses IE, and since Firefox is not running when he uses IE , the bug bites him.

Moving on to Linux, i wonder if chkrootkit ( or similar ) will, in the future, start checking for things like this.

Which still doesn't fix it. Like the person below me said, type "co" in and watch it match every site you've typed that ends in ".com".

Unfortunately, it seems that the Mozilla developers don't care if people dislike it.

http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox20.html 2 of the 3 mentioned bugs were fixed in the 2.0.0.16 release as well, so you weren't protecting yourself from much.

So... reported that yet?

http://www.bugmenot.com/view/pcworld.idg.com.au

also available : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6349

The Firebug version from July 14 seems to work fine on Firefox 3.0.1 for me.

(released the day before yesterday)
http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox20.html
Fixed in Firefox 2.0.0.16
MFSA 2008-35 Command-line URLs launch multiple tabs when Firefox not running
MFSA 2008-34 Remote code execution by overflowing CSS reference counter

(released yesterday)
http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox30.html
Fixed in Firefox 3.0.1
MFSA 2008-36 Crash with malformed GIF file on Mac OS X
MFSA 2008-35 Command-line URLs launch multiple tabs when Firefox not running
MFSA 2008-34 Remote code execution by overflowing CSS reference counter

Whew! Good thing you didn't upgrade! You might have been vulnerable for a whole extra day! (Wait, you did take the 2.0.0.16 update already, right?)

(released the day before yesterday)
http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox20.html
Fixed in Firefox 2.0.0.16
MFSA 2008-35 Command-line URLs launch multiple tabs when Firefox not running
MFSA 2008-34 Remote code execution by overflowing CSS reference counter

(released yesterday)
http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox30.html
Fixed in Firefox 3.0.1
MFSA 2008-36 Crash with malformed GIF file on Mac OS X
MFSA 2008-35 Command-line URLs launch multiple tabs when Firefox not running
MFSA 2008-34 Remote code execution by overflowing CSS reference counter

Whew! Good thing you didn't upgrade! You might have been vulnerable for a whole extra day! (Wait, you did take the 2.0.0.16 update already, right?)

Workaround
This attack only works if the user is using another internet-connected application with Firefox not running. Using Firefox, or making sure it is at least running, prevents this attack.

I had to giggle at the workaround. To prevent a firefox flaw from biting you, you need to have firefox open. Phew, I'm so glad I'm safe.

Here the malware author clearly won

No more than the RIAA has "won" by imposing or using DRM on their music downloads and on iTunes. In that case it only takes one cracked version to leak out before everyone else gets the benefit of the original cracker's behavior ad-infinitum. Likewise, once the detection is worked into a Javascript blocking and filtering tool, such as no-script, everyone using no-script benefits from the original analysis (it doesn't have to be cracked afresh each time it comes up). So the malware author is really only inconveniencing the really uninformed users and not those who understand and take steps to protect their hosts from attack.

Many sites won't work without it, mainly to prevent "hotlinking".

That is about as effective as User-Agent sniffing.

This Firefox addon gives you arbitrary Referer headers on a per-site basis.

Is it just me, or does the score filter stop working for everybody when you turn on D2? Hard to understand that they can track what posts I've read, but not which ones are beneath my threshold. D2 is nice, but having to sort though hundreds of trolls and AC snipers is not worth it. Especially now that Slashdotter has caught up with latest HTML changes.

Obviously, it's Javascript implemented in Java.

What, you mean like this?

Shrug. Mozilla Rhino is javascript implemented in java. It's handy if you want to embed a friendly interpreter in your java app, sort of like the way TCL used to be used for C apps, and the way GNU intended Guile to be used (but screwed up because apparently 90% of everyone hates Scheme).

Some java people prefer beanshell or jruby, but I like rhino because, well, it's standard javascript instead of completely made up (beanshell) or obnoxiously line-noisy (ruby).

Firefox users can get a head start on learning through the use of this extension:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/507

Was this AVG thing deemed evil? Bad for the internet? Fasterfox it's a very popular Firefox extension that's even worse. Fasterfox downloads every link, not only from a Google search, but from every page you visit. And this thing is offered by Mozilla addons site at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1269 (though it still hasn't bee updated for Firefox 3). I hope someone follows this article's example and remove this thing from the Mozilla's site.

As long as it's not FireFox 3 (Keep scrolling down) https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=423507

Pft... wake me up when it can play free music.

I have no shame.

The more mainstream the web becomes, the more bullshit we have to sort through... the more useless it becomes. There used to be a banner ad. Now there's a banner, links on the left, links on the right, popups, flash over the actual text, sound, video, and 10x as many pages all with the same shit to click through just to get the same content. And, we're already hearing about ISPs adding their own shit to our shitty internet experience.

Firefox + AdBlock Plus + NoScript + Flashblock = Freedom from ads, fluff, and marketing bull.

The more mainstream the web becomes, the more bullshit we have to sort through... the more useless it becomes. There used to be a banner ad. Now there's a banner, links on the left, links on the right, popups, flash over the actual text, sound, video, and 10x as many pages all with the same shit to click through just to get the same content. And, we're already hearing about ISPs adding their own shit to our shitty internet experience.

Firefox + AdBlock Plus + NoScript + Flashblock = Freedom from ads, fluff, and marketing bull.

The more mainstream the web becomes, the more bullshit we have to sort through... the more useless it becomes. There used to be a banner ad. Now there's a banner, links on the left, links on the right, popups, flash over the actual text, sound, video, and 10x as many pages all with the same shit to click through just to get the same content. And, we're already hearing about ISPs adding their own shit to our shitty internet experience.

Firefox + AdBlock Plus + NoScript + Flashblock = Freedom from ads, fluff, and marketing bull.

why adblocking and flash-disabling and noscripting are still just niches

Ok, no offense here, but I'm going to guess you're an IE user right? Because guess what are the #1, #6, and #14 most popular plugins for Firefox 3 right now?

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=&cat=all&as=true&vfuz=true&appid=1&lver=3.0&hver=3.1&atype=1&pid=0&lup=&pp=20&sort=weeklydownloads/

Yep, Adblock Plus (almost half a million downloads!), Noscript, and FlashBlock, all on the first page. The first two are 'recommended' addons by Mozilla, so anyone going to the addon menu within FF will see them listed. Oh yea, all these addons can be gotten from within FF, from the Mozilla website. Download and Installation is done automatically.

Secondly, I don't know what stuff you've tried, but setting these things up is just a matter of pointing and clicking. Adblock has an addon plugin called Filterset.G Updater, that will automatically get you a community-maintained blacklist, no need for you to edit anything yourself, and when you come across something not already in the blacklist, its just a right-click for the context menu, and select "adblock this image" (or whatever) to have it added to the blacklist. Noscript works either from an icon on the toolbar or the statusbar, and prints its messages to the statusbar, so turning on/off scripting for each site you visit, is just a matter of answering the message on the statusbar, or clicking on its icon at any other time. All of these settings are remembered, and can edited later from within FF, if necessary.

Because you make it sound so hard and/or hopeless to do these things, I'm guessing maybe you haven't tried Firefox lately?

Disclaimer: I haven't used Windows or IE in nearly a decade now, and for the last 3-5 years of running Windows, I was using FF anyway, so I can't even remember anymore what IE looks like (if only I could say the same about Window's BSOD... sigh). I never bothered with a Flash player as I've never found it necessary for the parts of the Net that I use. I also know nothing of the other major browsers like Opera, etc, so I'm not saying FF 'rulez' and everyone else's browser sucks (except MS's IE, because no offense, it does suck, massively).

In fact, for some simple websites, I would often use KDE's browser simply because it was (and still is a little) faster, but, FF 3 is *noticably* faster than 2.x, FWIW, and now they've got the zoom feature working well, and FF remembers your zoom setting for each site now, so its a lot easier to use - no more constantly fiddling with text/image size on Linux. FF 3 may become my default/only browser now.

Firefox users can alternatively use the WOT extension (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3456), which rates links from google, yahoo, msn, and other search page results. Note that the link rating is typically done only for selected pages (usually search results), and not all pages, but there's also an icon/button that displays the rating of the current website. The link ratings appear to be done by querying mywot.com's servers, and so there shouldn't be any unnecessary spamming (but see the privacy notice attached to the extension).

Site ratings are done (partially) via a community voting system, and so it is open to abuse. However, I've generally found them to be useful.

No registration is required, unless you want to rate sites.

Have you tried installing the IE tab for FF and then tried using mlb.com by opening it in FF using the IE tab?

Ive found the majority of sites that work "only" in IE can work in FF using the IE tab.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

RTFM? http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Link_prefetching_FAQ

Firefox's prefetch only loads stuff explicitly marked as prefetchable. AVG just loads everything.
I hope you can see the difference there.

While all other /.ers are complaining that ClamWin is useless I want to bring some points :
- ClamWin has a built-in plug-in to scan incoming mail in outlook.
- ClamWin is easy to call from scripts and is a nice thing to add to the commands that are launched by your favourite bit-torrent client once a file is completed (I use this on my linux based torrent downloading/file server machine)
- ClamWin has plug-ins for FireFox : SafeDownload, Download Scan, Download Statusbar all let you launch the scanner of your choosing once a download finishes. ClamWin Antivirus Glue is another solution, but one has to manually update the minimal supported version (the plugin is set to support up to 1.5 although it works with more modern versions).

So, although ClamWin isn't continuously scanning in background, it can cover most of the usual entry points. (Although I don't know about plugins for Thunderbird and Microsoft file server).

For those who like to test newer bleeding edge software : WinPooch software can launch a scan when ever an executable is opened - it's almost as good as an on demand scanner.

While all other /.ers are complaining that ClamWin is useless I want to bring some points :
- ClamWin has a built-in plug-in to scan incoming mail in outlook.
- ClamWin is easy to call from scripts and is a nice thing to add to the commands that are launched by your favourite bit-torrent client once a file is completed (I use this on my linux based torrent downloading/file server machine)
- ClamWin has plug-ins for FireFox : SafeDownload, Download Scan, Download Statusbar all let you launch the scanner of your choosing once a download finishes. ClamWin Antivirus Glue is another solution, but one has to manually update the minimal supported version (the plugin is set to support up to 1.5 although it works with more modern versions).

So, although ClamWin isn't continuously scanning in background, it can cover most of the usual entry points. (Although I don't know about plugins for Thunderbird and Microsoft file server).

For those who like to test newer bleeding edge software : WinPooch software can launch a scan when ever an executable is opened - it's almost as good as an on demand scanner.