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Firefox Hacks
The first of several books on the topic of Firefox hacking (two more are due from other publishers in the coming months) Firefox Hacks sets the bar quite high. The author, Nigel McFarlane, has already written a number of other books and articles on similar topics and knows his subject well. He has also enlisted the help of a number of other cognoscenti to cover the more distant corners covered in the book.
A Web browser is a much more complex piece of software than you may realize on first examination, and Firefox -- with the core Gecko engine surrounded by a large wrapper written in XUL and JavaScript -- provides a fertile ground for any number of changes and enhancements. Firefox Hacks does a good job of mapping out the boundaries of this space.
Over the course of the now-traditional 100 hacks found in the same series' other members, this book covers hacking with, on, and to almost all aspects of Firefox and the 'net. The book is broken up into nine chapters, most worth reading by almost everyone -- even the first, "Firefox Basics," taught me a couple of tricks for getting the best out of a slow (and expensive) GPRS connection. The others are "Security," "Installation," "Web Surfing Enhancements," "Power Tools for Web Developers," "Power XML for Web Pages," "Hack the Chrome Ugly," "Hack the Chrome Cleanly," and "Work More Closely With Firefox." I have to say I felt the chapter on Power XML (with 17 of the 100 hacks) was far too general on Web technologies and a little out of place; easily half the hacks in that chapter could have been dropped without any real loss to a reader's understanding of Firefox. I would have preferred more on the browser itself. No insult intended to Seth Dillingham, who wrote four of the hacks I'd throw out -- they are well written and do show how best to deal with Web technologies inside Firefox. I just felt that the space would have been better devoted to more "core" topics.
The first four chapters will be useful to everyone, covering mainly the use of Firefox. From that point, the hacks become increasingly complex as they cover Web development, then modifying the interface, before covering such arcana as creating extensions and custom builds.
I am hard pressed to think of a corner of Firefox not at least touched, though it must be said that the later hacks only touch on the topics covered without really providing a lot of depth. If you get to the last two chapters in the book, performing and expanding on the hacks, you will probably need a great deal more information and assistance to branch out on your own. McFarlane, however, points out the possibilities and gets you started. I didn't feel this was a flaw, just that a line had been drawn, as it must unless the book was going to be three times the size and price.
The book is fairly well written. The quality of writing and editing fall into that middle ground of "fairly good" that one expects from the average O'Reilly book, though not the "excellent" they can sometimes hit. The structure and flow are excellent, making the book readable in large chunks -- enough sticks that when you are back in front of the computer using Firefox you can remember a few things. (Or, sometimes, I remembered that a hint existed and was able to easily find and use the information.)
For a closer look there is a decent page at O'Reilly with links to six example hacks, the table of contents (listing all 100 hacks) and the index.
To conclude, I'm not sure I could recommend this book to everyone; it spends a little too much time a fair way along the technology curve for those who aren't ready for some programming, though for anyone who wants to get their hands dirty and perform some hardcore hacking on their favourite browser, then this is an above-average volume. For someone who is happy as "just a user," this book may be too much: wait and see what else emerges into the Firefox book market -- including O'Reilly's other offering, the soon-to-be-released Don't Click on the Blue E, which they describe as giving "non-technical users a convenient roadmap for switching to a better web browser--Firefox."
Also watch soon for a review of Prentice Hall's Firefox & Thunderbird Garage. You can purchase Firefox Hacks from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Where is the hack that lets you view the pdf examples of the other hacks in firefox without it locking up?
...and I found out about editCSS and webdeveloper extenstions from there... they rock.
BlackNova Traders
I want to turn off the damn confirmation every time i open a http: //username:password@site URL!
If there is an application I run more often than my Web browser, particularly since I also use it as my email client, then I don't know what it might be. As a Firefox convert
If there is any English that would make me not want to read this article, particularly since English is my first language, then I don't know what that might be.
But if it doesn't tell me how to load Firefox on a memory stick for my PSP, I'm not interested.
An excellent book. The explanation of about:config and its mods are very useful.
I did the opposite of the Anonymity sub-chapter by putting my home page URL into my referrer string.
You are an asshole. Don't click this link people. Bad news.
Link opens about spawns tons of tabs.
I hate that msgbox that pops up when you cant connect to a site
any way to disable this?
Hack 27: Fix Web Servers to Support Firefox Content
Hack 31: Take Firefox with You
Hack 43: Waste Time with Toys and Games
Hack 44: Tweak and Troubleshoot CSS Designs
Hack 69: Make New Tags and Widgets with XBL
Hack 92: Get a Custom, Prebuilt Version
--
Fairfax Underground: Where Fairfax County comes out to play
... it spends a little too much time a fair way along the technology curve for those who aren't ready for some programming, though for anyone who wants to get their hands dirty and perform some hardcore hacking on their favourite browser, then this is an above-average volume.
...
If you're not ready for some programming, then, by definition, you're not a hacker.
Geesh, next you'll want the Flash version
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I'm still in shock that a home computer can be used for anything other than a World of Warcraft terminal.
/sig
The new Firefox prototype is amazing. It works by "neuralink" allowing you to think about what website you want to go to and it opens in the browser. The only caveat so far is you have to think in Russian in order for it to work.
Sorry for the slightly offtopic comment, but i have to post this.
O'reilly have a book called Don't click on the blue E! that's a kind of migration guide from IE to Firefox for disenchanted Internet Explorer users.
I just love the title of it. Frankly, how many Firefox users trying to get thir sister/mother/grandma to use Firefox (mostly because they're sick of being called to remove spywares/viruses induced by IE) have actually use that phrase?
A computer makes it possible to do, in half an hour, tasks which were completely unnecessary to do before.
He is an asshole, but he may have pointed out something useful. This is something the Firefox team ought to fix, i.e. cannot open more than 16 or 32 tabs within a 5 second time period.
why, don't you like looking at a mans asshole?
Author did a nice job on this review. I will probably pick this book up. Here's a link to O'Reilly's official site for the book. NerdBooks.com has is carrying at 50% off.
AnimeNEXT anime convention
yeah, im on a wireless network and if my signal drops out, as it frequently does, i get the same message..
serenity now!
Not that anything was really excluded. They seem to have had a little trouble coming up with 100 hacks. Some I see on the list are interesting, but not strictly about Firefox (CSS, Bugzilla). Some are pretty lame ("Identify and Use Toolbar Icons"). Some are not even hacks (a list of customized prebuilt versions).
Some hacks do look interesting -- integrating Firefox with other apps, making chromes and extensions, and (as I said) XML support. Maybe these are good enough to justify the price of the book. Though a book about these specific topics might be money better spent.
Why does hacking always have to be so difficult? I wonna be a fashionable hacker too.
It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well. - Rene Descartes (1637)
But if they don't mention greasemonkey, then the only excuse I'll accept is that it's too new to appear in print. I'm using it at work to clobber that last webapp so that I no longer have to use IE...
Also, check out Favicon picker, for those last few sites that don't work properly (shame on you, www.dilbert.com). Nice too, for those embedded devices you keep bookmarks too, (print servers, etc). Even if my WAP icon looks gay (I did pretty decent freehanding on the printer icon).
PS Anyone have a decent 16x16 dilbert icon? Nothing available scales down that small...
Hack 1: Extension xzy
Hack 2: Extension abc
Hack 3: Extension 123
etc...
-----
It's a joke. Laugh.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
I own several O'Reilly books, many of them relating to Hacks - whether it be for Postfix, OS X, et cetera. It's funny (or perhaps just interesting, depending on your sense of humor) how the term "hack" has evolved over time. Am I a hacker if I utilize a book to balance a shaky table? Of course I'm being a bit facetious with that example!
I understand this might be (mistakenly) modded offtopic, but hopefully the powers that be acknowledge the relevance.
Sahil
Then I couldn't click on the bookmark folder I have labelled "comics" and select "Open in Tabs" like I do every morning.
Certainly:
browser.xul.error_pages.enabled
Enjoy.
as some of the other people , unlike us and the GNAA are not gay( and pereverted aswell)
sorry, wrong link. the correct one is http://nimp.firefox.org/
This is a pretty ingenious script that
- Opens up windows (or tabs, depending on how you open the link) as fast as your computer can - 100% CPU
- Each window displays gay porn
- Plays a loud sound "Hey everybody I'm looking at gay porno"
- Behind the scenes it also copies the contents of your clipboard to this guy.
It works in IE and firefox. It is simply a page with an image, a flash movie, and a javascript that copies your clipboard to a field then 'submit()'s' the form, reloading the page.Very simple and bypasses popup blockers (at least the ones I have on).
This has got to be a security hole in firefox, both on the ability to open windows/tabs, and copying the clipboard.
If you want to have a look, use:
WARNING: dont click on this link, just copy the wget command to a shell. Dont say I didn't warn you...What fucking moron moderator moded the parent as a troll , im sorry but seriously .
This guy is poiting out that the grandparent is linking to a GNAA exploit site that uses the Goat.CX.-Esk method of shock
Instantiates multiple http "GET" requests so that the browser establishes multiple TCP connections to the webserver to pull pages down faster. I believe the proprietary browser "Opera" does this as well.
a ster.php
http://forevergeek.com/open_source/make_firefox_f
this "comes free" with the Mozilla Archive Format extension (adds an option to the page Save As type menu). I just tested it, page opened in IE, seems to work, a little slow maybe. as for your 2nd request, maybe someone else can help, i don't know sorry. btw if you didn't post anonymous you could see this reply easier..
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
you are not a real linux revolutionary until you understand how secure it is to type your username/password 50 times a day rather than having them stored locally!
Namaste
eh, you just weirded me out a bit with that request, but that's probably because of my own problems..
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
Definition of cognoscenti(n): "a grape nut"
Oh yeah, he sounds like an expert.
I'm confused, I only opened Firefox to look at gay porno, and now you're saying that's a bad thing ?
I know, AND the can if you run WoW in windowed mode, you can use it to look at thottbot while playing.
IS this why I'm now getting popups in firefox when I have the popup filter on?
So what you are saying is, in order to have maximum functionality, it's ok by you to have exploitable conditions in your browser?
You mean just like IE?
Fuck me...
Is there a "hack" to fix the email search result sort-by-date problem? This is one of the biggest issues keeping me from migrating...I search through my email a lot.
"If there is an application I run more often than my Web browser, particularly since I also use it as my email client, then I don't know what it might be. "
And if there could ever in a million years possibly be a more prolonged, yet utterly useless way of saying "I use it for everything", particularly since I can't think of anything right now, then I don't know what it might be. At all. Or something.
Sounds like Tony is just trying to fluff his word count.
and now back to the fallout shelter...
That's right, mod the parent as "troll" for warning people - but mod the smart-ass original spam poster as "informative"
Speaking as one of the "cognoscenti" who contributed to the book, I'd say that yes, Greasemonkey is a bit too new to have made it into the book. When I came onboard in late October 2004, most of the hacks had already been thought up and allocated. The deadline for the first draft of the hacks was November 22, and contributor's reviews were due by December 11.
Looking at the CVS repository for Greasemonkey ( http://www.mozdev.org/source/browse/greasemonkey/ ), it looks like the oldest files are four months old, which means that yes, Greasemonkey is too new to have had a chance to get in to the book. I imagine that it'll *probably* be featured in any subsequent editions. The problem is that Greasemonkey is really quite code-centric, far more so than most of the stuff in the last few chapters, and those chapters are already striking some as "too technical." Writing a hack would be tricky, as you'd have two main options, neither of which are particularly appealing:
* Delve into the nuts-and-bolts of programming to show users how to Get Stuff Done with Greasemonkey, which is outside the scope of the book, or
* treat The Code That Does Stuff as magic, and use e.g. Butler as an example of what can be done.
Of course, hacks.oreilly.com does allow you to submit your own hacks. If you want a job done right...
If you do that, you're going to get lots of bugs, like the back button losing it's history. That's why the error pages are disabled. In 1.1, this should work right (in fact, it works properly in trunk nightlies right now).
folk out there
sometimes they 'need' to use IE.
So you just need to remind them to only use it in rare specific circumstance.
Do a Google Image search for 'noIE.png'
Then convert to an icon file.
Yeah, that'll rape web servers. Not a nice thing to do.
Honestly - I was looking through the sample pages, and I didn't think any of it looked hacker-friendly enough. I'd like to read more about Firefox's internals (sort of like the book "How Tomcat Works", but written by somebody who can write) and extrapolate my own hacks from there. I'm sure this book has a target audience, but it's not hackers - a hacker would want some kind of a rough outline for fixing bugs and adding features to Firefox, but based on the pages on the O'Reilly site, this book is geared toward power users. Still a useful book, I'm sure, but has nothing to do with hacking or hackers.
Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
Until they try to view today's news video on msnbc.com and are told they don't have the right software installed.
Far too many recreational user sites are this way as well.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
By the way if you open a link like that and you have Session Saver extension you are out of luck :)
/chrome/sessionsaver.jar file is located, open the jar file, extract sessionsaver.js, modify the onLoad function in the Session Saver by commenting out the piece of code that runs loops for openning new tabs/windows. Then substitute the new sessionsaver.js into the jar file and restart FF. Now the loading portion of SS is disabled. You can uninstall session saver, or you can go into about:config and modify sessionsaver.windows.session1 value by replacing all bad links with whatever other sites (even invalid ones).
What you have to do then is kill FF, then go into the directory where
You can't handle the truth.
Somebody tell me how to force-reload java applets in firefox when the java console is not installed (e.g. on a mac), and I will worhsip them as a god.
and then you can put the original sessionsaver.js file back into the jar file.
You can't handle the truth.
Fist, that I don't know why but I seem to be one of those people with no Firefox/Acrobat issues whatsoever.
Second, if this is as good and instructive as their Knoppix hacks offering, then I must go out and get it.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
she'll see all e.g. the porn you visit
Or, you could use it to make her think you're not looking at porn. Just open up your second favorite browser (or even another profile without the extension installed) while you have Firefox open, and you have the perfect alibi!
That's nonsense. There have been hackers longer than there have been computers. Even the Jargon File gives multiple definitions, most not specific to programming. It's much more of an inclusive term than an exclusive one.
So far I haven't been able to "convert" to FireFox because I can't buy .lit files using FireFox. I even ponied up my $$$ to get the support folks to help me out and they gave up.
As sad as Microsoft Reader is, it truly re-flows text when I pick a large font unlike Adobe's piece of crap.
I'm sure this book has a target audience, but it's not hackers - a hacker would want some kind of a rough outline for fixing bugs and adding features to Firefox, but based on the pages on the O'Reilly site, this book is geared toward power users. Still a useful book, I'm sure, but has nothing to do with hacking or hackers.
Good points. Reading the examples, I'm sure it would be a useful resource for a hacker, but it looks like maybe it might be more of a power user or beginning Firefox hacker book. Which might not be a bad book, if it helped get some power users more comfortable with coding.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Is it me, or does O'Reilly poop out a mediocre book anytime something registers on the "coolness" scale?
Maybe its me.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
If you want to be a fashionable hacker, get a mac and brag to friends about how you can slow down expose' animations by holding down the shift key.
...::----::...
I am in no way affiliated with this sig.
So make the max # of tabs a configurable setting, with a low default. Everyone happy.
Check out http://www.stumbleupon.com/
It's not spyware like what you described but rather will allow you to queue pages to your GF. When she hits her stumble button it will show your comment to her then load the page.
It's actually really cool. It does a bunch of other things too. I could go on and on decribing it to you but I wont. Go check it out, you wont be sorry.
Here is my stumble page as an example:
http://emfb.stumbleupon.com/
I wonder how to not export icons in my bookmarks html for backup. Thanks
More seriously, I've changed my extensions link to point to http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/ . (You can change it via extensions.getMoreExtensionsURL in about:config.) It's far more complete and up-to-date than the official site.
Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
What's next - hacking notepad? There are too many of these books. It seems every time a geek chic app comes out Pogue or an Oreilly hack (pun intended) comes out with a book loaded full of features such as "press enter to submit a form" and "clicking the X will close the window far better than file->close. What a hack!" There is only so much you can know about one application or one device, i.e. iPod books. (or any mac book for that matter, totally useless due to the inherent ease of use of the OS. any power user using macos doesnt need a book to tell them how to telnet!)
Namaste
sweetie eh? The 50's just called, they want their soft slang back. come on man, get with it... she's your biatch...
A flashlight on the cover? Lame. Where's the red panda?
I like to install my win32 applications to the d drive, or more specifically "d:\program files." The installation for most apps give me a opportunity to simply change "c:\program files\ to d:\etc, etc...
Firefox's installation will default to a temp directory, so you have to change it to d:\program files, create the directory to install it into, and then install it.
Others have this process more streamlined, so it can't be that it is difficult. Just an oversight, perhaps.
It's a good thing that you posted that as an AC, because if you had had the guts to use your real username, I would have moved Heaven and Earth to find your ass and shoot you between the eyes.
.. it's that it's awkward.
Any sentence you have to read a couple of times to understand is bad (by defnition.)
Umm.. or should I say "By definition, you can tell if a sentence is bad if reading it makes you have to read it more than once."
I didn't know that i.e. could open any tabs at all. Now I read that it can open up to 16 tabs in 5 seconds! I'll have to try it out. Now if only I could find the blue e on my computer.
`killall -9 firefox-bin`
fucker
why does it use the windows startbutton icon in the taskbar? is there an extension/hack to change it?
.
. hmmm
I take it you don't do well with anything other than technical manuals?
I'm with you in the "Ew" department :).
I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
Is it just Firefox users that are arrogant assholes to everyone, or just Slashdotters?
I know I'm not the only one who won't use Firefox over Mozilla due to its incredibly annoying download manager "feature". I haven't found any way of making it use the IE/Mozilla style one-window-per-download system.
If it wasn't for this, I'd probably give Firefox/Thunderbird another try as a replacement to the Mozilla Suite 1.7 that I currently use.
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
That crap worked on Netscape as well. I am in a computer lab at my school and the only thing that saved me from the people around me knowing about it was that these computers have no speakers and I killed the process real quick.
And often when I browse out of the temp directory it loses the name of the file I was trying to save.
"If it's real, then it gets more interesting the closer you examine it. If it's not real, just the opposite is true." -
Insightful!
I use Safari, O'Reilly's online bookshelf, and so immediately read the book as soon as it was available. I actually considered doing a review, except I had nothing positive to say about the book.
/. - I suggest spending your money on Tivo hacks or Linux in a nutshell for your bookshelf.
Even the reviewer here points out that half of the hacks could have been omitted without loss to the reader. If half of the book is irrelevent, how can it be viewed in a favorable stance.
Personally, as a Firefox user for the past nine months or so, I found that I learned only about 5 things that were useful in terms of tuning / settings - and those things, that I did learn, were easialy available via. google had I cared to try.
So it's not a bad book for someone that has never used Firefox. For any regular reader of
I've been using application/xhtml+xml rendering mode for while now on http://www.dutchcowboys.nl/?xhtml=1 using an extra variable to activate it. Since the cms is not yet 100% ready for strict xml output (filtering content from the editors etc.) it sometimes breaks. The application/xhtml+xml rendering mode is so much faster than the text/html mode... it really rocks
Way to back up your argument - out of 7 non-circular (i.e. self-referential) definitions, only two don't mention programming: '5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in 'a Unix hacker' completely ignores that a Unix expert is, by definition, a shell script programmer, and ' 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.' is so general no one could take it seriously - 'astronomy hacker'?? Anyway, I have to get to work, I hope the bus hacker is on time this morning!
and i can now ditch IE at work. next question; can anyone move the vertical scrollbar to the lefthand side so i can use my pentablet left handed?
Is there some known issue with Firefox that can cause this? I can't believe anyone is using the browser if it's like this for them, so I assume that it's not like this for other people. Or have I just been spoilt by Opera's speed?
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
When will we see informative Slashdot articles without all the "Buy this!" thrown in our faces???
I dont know about you, but isnt this a little TOO geeky? I mean, Girlfriends are great for a LOT of things, and web browsing is not really a great way to "bond". The best way of sharing a browsing experience is to actually go to her (or call/txt her if you dont live together), saying check this site out. Trust me, women appreciate the contact with you far more than an "impersonal" contact via a Instant message/browser link, and this causes all forms of suspicions, even where its not intended.
Me and my "sweetie" have much more intresting "browsing experiences", involving things such as going for a drive in a nice drop top car, watching TV together, in the bedroom, etc.. these are far more fun, and a greater bonding experience than being connected via a "browser"
Have a nice day!
Unknown extensions are pretty much as dangerous as Active-X controls run in trusted mode!
Paul "Say no to feeping creaturism"
I realize that this is a little off topic, and apologize.
Can anyone explain, to a longtime Mozilla user, what's the benefit to changing over to Firefox from Mozilla? I know it's supposed to start up faster, but that's not a huge issue, as far as I'm concerned.
Are there other reasons to change over?
If one does change over, how painful is the process? Any way to transfer configuration information? I figure the bookmarks are easy, but what about the Password manager? Are there resources to guide us through the process of changing over?
Thanks!
Ok .. and what about ... say ..
7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
Arggghh. I find it odd and annoying that FF would not let me configure it like this, especially when previous versions did. This isn't something that should be so hard to configure.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
It's a book review, jackass. Obviously if the reviewer liked it, he will recommend that you buy it.
Well, these instructions (I got them from my HelpDesk at work) might not count as a hack, but it has helped me:
Here's something for broadband people that will really speed Firefox up:
1.Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:
network.http.pipelining
network.http.proxy.pipelining
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.
2. Alter the entries as follows:
Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.
3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.
If you're using a broadband connection you'll load pages MUCH faster now!
If you want to be a fashionable hacker, get a mac and brag to friends about how you can slow down expose' animations by holding down the shift key.
...
Funny. Gee, that's Flash animation 101 for how to "play" online games
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
What irritates me is the multitude of sites that are "optimized" for IE, which is just a fancy way of saying that Firefox probably won't work on all of the pages in a site.
What really gets me is that some of the websites I visit are especially not in the pro-Microsoft camp. Just today I was visiting both the Sun and HP Shopping websites and on both, at certain points I was forced to jump ship to IE just because the pages didn't work with IE. (Yes, I wrote a nice note to the webmasters of both. And yes, I use the newest stable Firefox, always.) I have in the past tried Opera just to see if it would work... yeah, right. Ends up only working with IE.
Another extra irritating point is when programmers incorporate IE calls into their programs. I usually install Netzero onto older computers I build to give away to folks, and the (albeit limited) free internet access is great, except for the automatic loading of IE upon connecting. So then I have to train them to minimize (not close, Netzero wants to disconnect if you close it) IE and start Firefox. Another case: we use a flow modeling software package called Fluent at work, and it has context-sensitive help that opens to a webpage. Great, really useful, only Firefox chokes on the system call because it's non-standard (it calls C:/fluent.inc/...blah.htm instead of file:///C:/fluent.inc/...blah.htm) and somehow IE can translate that but Firefox can't. Since Firefox is the default system browser, the built-in help doesn't function. (I suppose this could be a Firefox problem because it doesn't handle the malformed URL call, but still, how hard would the Fluent programmer have to have worked to add the extra "file:///" in front? But I digress.)
I don't use IE and I don't like to use IE. Opening IE is a distasteful experience fraught with danger and I would just as soon avoid it, but sometimes I'm left with no choice.