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Posts with tag Firefox 3

Filed under: Utilities, Productivity, Troubleshooting, Browsers

Inline PDF viewing for Firefox 3? There's a plugin for that



If you've recently switched to Firefox for Mac, you're probably getting used to hearing all your problems answered with "there's a plugin for that." Well, here's one more problem plugins can solve: inline PDF viewing. Safari does it automatically, and you might be missing it if you've switched recently.

You could always download the PDFs and open them with the notoriously slow Acrobat Reader or a faster 3rd-party app, but if you want them to open right in your browser, just grab this plugin. No frills here, the description on Google Code simply says it, "uses PDFKit to display PDFs in the browser." We tested it out on some huge PDF magazines, and it handles them just as well as Safari can.

[via Daring Fireball]

Don't think the Firefox 3 "awesome bar" is awesome? Here's how to disable it.



With Firefox 3's Download Day upon us, a lot of folks are getting their first peek at the newest version of the popular browser. One of the first things you'll notice is the "Awesome Bar," a new feature that drops down a list of sites from your history and bookmarks as you type. For example, you could type "d," and your bookmark for Download Squad would pop up, along with downforeveryoneorjustme.com, if you've recently visited it.

For some people, this is going to be handy, but others are going to hate it. We have mixed opinions about the Awesome Bar here at Download Squad, so we're going to show you how to turn it off. First, go to your Firefox settings by putting "about:config" into the location bar. Click past the warning message, and scroll down to browser.urlbar.maxRichResults. This sets how many recommendations the Awesome Bar will display -- it's 12 by default, but you want to change it to 0.

Now your location bar should act more the one you're used to from Firefox 2. It'll still autocomplete addresses of sites you've been to, but the behavior that's been annoying some people so much will be gone. Alternately, an extension called Oldbar will give you back Firefox 2's dropdown behavior.

[via Josh at Webware]

Filed under: Mozilla, Open Source

Firefox 3 launches today; Five reasons you can't live without it


After a long wait, version 3 of the popular Firefox browser is officially available today -- get yours here. It's likely the most anticipated Firefox release ever, poised to break a world record for the most downloads in a single day but, does it live up to its lofty expectations?

Frankly, without the browser in widespread circulation it's hard judge it an unmitigated success. Mozilla's new baby contains a claimed 15,000 improvements. With a list that long, there are bound to be a few new features you'll love, a few you'll hate -- and -- maybe a few you'll wonder how you ever lived without.

After putting the betas through their paces and having a nice long chat with Mike Beltzner -- one of the user experience gurus from Mozilla -- here are five of our favorite things about the newest member of the Firefox family.

Read more →

Filed under: Design, Internet, Productivity, Mozilla

Take a peek at Firefox 3's new download manager



Mozilla Links has posted details and a few screenshots of how Firefox 3's new download manager will look and function. In general, users will gain more control over their downloads, actions such as opening a file have been changed from text links to icons to comply with the rest of Firefox's design paradigm of buttons for actions, words for website links. Users will also be able to click an (i) icon on completed downloads to view details such as the website the download came from, the location of the downloaded file on local computer and when the download finished. Chronic downloaders will also appreciate a new search box, and an option to show the download manager in the status bar or sidebar is also being considered.

Overall these look like some strong features for a much-needed upgrade to the download manager, but we would still like to see a little more innovation here. For example: the download manager in Camino, a Mac OS X browser that uses the same Gecko rendering engine as Firefox, can not only clear the download manager's list of files, but also move those files to the trash. And what about actual download file management features, such as moving files to specified folders or importing into apps based on file type (ZIP, audio, video, etc.)?

If you're itching to try out these new features, Mozilla Links says this new download manager should be available in tonight's nightly build.

Filed under: Developer, Mozilla

Test nightly builds of Firefox 3 without installing

This is a neat trick. If you're one of those bleeding edge people who want to try out Firefox 3 while it's still undergoing major changes, but don't want the hassle involved in installing, uninstalling, and repeating daily, this script could be a major time saver.

The nifty script downloads the nightly build and installs it as a portable configuration, allowing you to keep the use of your trusty mainline Firefox, and still play around with the nightly build like the cool kids.

Filed under: Design, Developer, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Mozilla

Firefox 3.0's user interface discussed

Firefox 3.0 screenshotWe're all serious Firefox nerds here at Download Squad. Okay, maybe not all of us, but enough of us to make the spirit of that statement true. Anyhow, for any true Firefox nut out there, there is a post on Alex Faaborg's blog discussing some of the design decisions that are being made for Firefox 3.0. Even more tantalizingly, there is some great geek porn, otherwise known as screenshots galore.

Get your Firefox groove on, and check out what's coming in version 3.0 of our favorite browser.

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Mozilla, Social Software, Unix

Mozilla opens up Firefox 3 brainstorming to the public, as well as alpha builds

Mozilla opens up Firefox 3 brainstorming to the public, as well as alpha buildsFirefox 2 isn't even officially out the door yet, but if y'all aren't partying too hard, why not toss in your two cents on how Firefox 3 is going to turn out? Mozilla has decided to offer up a a public brainstorming wiki to solicit ideas and feature requests for the next major release of Firefox. The page is already impressively organized, offering fine-grained categories for things like software update, tabs, profiles, printing and even mobile and enterprise support. There's already quite a bit on the menu, and Mozilla will obviously have to draw at least a few lines to keep Firefox 3 on track, but swing on by if you think you can lend a hand to shape the future of one of the best darn browsers on the Internets.

In addition, they've also unleashed alpha builds of Firefox 3 (aka - Minefield), though from a quick run-through on Mac OS X, I can't see anything mind-blowingly new just yet. Of course, YMMV.

[via Ars Technica]

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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