Firefox : Java Glossary

Benefits

• It automatically downloads and installs updates.
• It works under XP/W2003/Vista/W2008/W7-32/W7-64.
• It does spell checking when you enter data into a webform.
• Though earlier versions were ponderous, version 4 has very fast rendering.
• It supports user-written add-ons. One that impressed me is called FireBug, not to be confused with DOM (Document Object Model) Inspector. It lets you instantly view the source of the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), Java and JavaScript on the web page, using an expanding outline. Unfortunately it does not automatically upgrade. You must install it via the link above. It also lets you edit and see the effect of changes, but not permanently save changes. Most useful is the inspect element command that lets you see the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS used to generate an effect in somebody else’s website without having to wade through all kinds of extraneous HTML. It does not have a built-in form filler, but you can select one of several add-ons. It shows you how the various CSS rules combine. This alone is reason enough to install a copy of Firefox/Firebug. Another add-on that is fun and mildly mind-blowing is CoolIris, aka PicLens, that lets you rapidly browse hundreds of images and search for images in Google, Yahoo, Flickr, Deviant Art etc. You can get CoolIris to index the images on your website. You can get CoolIris to index your own website if you have both thumbnail and full size versions of images named in a consistent way. Another useful plug-in lets you fill in forms. It is not as automatic as Gator, or simple as Opera. It is aimed at the techie with regex patterns which lets you fine tune it.
• It supports user-written themes called personas. The themes can do major overhaul of the look and feel. I like each of my browsers to look distinctly different so I can easily tell which one I am using. There are also a number of elegant new themes marked experimental, i.e. beta. Unlike Opera, Firefox does not let you configure the toolbar colour scheme. It is fixed by your choice of add-on theme. You have to find a theme with a colour scheme you like. Unfortunately, designers seem overly fond of grey and blue. You will have best luck with a theme recently updated. The theme API (Application Programming Interface) is constantly upgraded, and the older themes won’t fully support the current one. Don’t be afraid to try out half a dozen. You can’t really judge them without installing them. When searching for themes, use the advanced search feature to select just themes for Firefox for the latest version. Most of the themes are completely impractical. They are either too dark or too busy. You can’t see the buttons clearly against such a distracting background. You need something mostly light without too much detail on the left end.
• The Google toolbar works in Firefox. It does many useful things. Try it out.
• It is more robust connecting to a shared printer than Opera.
• Firefox plugins allow Firefox to be extended in many ways. Updating them can be done with a couple of clicks
  
• Firefox has an unusually large number of root certificates pre-installed. This means you can browse the net without having to manually install root certificates for code signing or SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).

Annoyances

There may be work arounds to these problems.

• Firefox is a RAM (Random Access Memory) pig. You need a machine with abundance RAM for it to work properly.
• If you want to look at a HTML file on your local hard disk, you must type the cryptic URL (Uniform Resource Locator) file:///E:/mindprod/jgloss/jgloss.html rather than the more familiar file name E:\mindprod\jgloss\jgloss.html or E:/mindprod/jgloss/jgloss.html forms that Google Chrome allows.
• When you hover over a link, it will display where the link is about to go to, but it displays at the bottom of the screen, so it is easy to miss.
• When you hit Ctrl-F to search, the box where you fill in the target displays at the bottom of the screen, so it is easy to miss.
• You can configure the source code editor/viewer, but only in rather geeky way. Enter about:config in the address bar as if it were an URL. Then double click view_source.editor.external to toggle it to true. Then double click view_source.editor.path and enter the fully qualified path of your text editor e.g. f:\Program Files\Vslick\win\vs.exe. From then on, if you click view page source you will invoke your favourite editor to edit the current page. There is a separate mechanism that works independent of Firefox. Configure Windows to associate the extension *.html with edit and your favourite editor using a utility such as Creative Element Power Tools.
• Sometimes Firefox won’t run Java programs. This sounds like I am pulling your leg, but if the Applet writes a little on the console it works.
• It won’t let you close the last tab. I find this infuriating. When I am finished with a window, I want it out of my view. There is an add-in that adds close X to the last tab. There is also an add-on that puts a big X on the right to close all tabs.
• The import bookmarks from Opera did not work. It picked up the wrong file. However, I was able to import bookmarks by importing them into Internet Explorer and from there into Firefox.
• Firefox ignores <col, both the class and the alignment attribute.
• You can write add-ons to Firefox, little programs that run inside Firefox and interact with it. You write them in XUL (XML (extensible Markup Language)) and JavaScript. It is one of the ugliest coding languages I have ever seen, but it is multiplatform and there are over 5000 add-ons written in it. Learn more about how to do it.
• The Firefox help site makes you do a verification typing test before you can post on the forum to ask a question. No matter what you type, it claims you failed the test. A serious case of tantalising. It makes you wonder if there really is a help forum.

• Browser Colgroup Support
  browser	version	col class supported	col align supported	HTML5 entities supported
  Firefox	20.0
  Chrome	23.0.1271.97
  Opera	12.15
  SeaMonkey	2.17.1
  Safari	5.1.7
  Avant	2013:22
  IE 10	10.02.9200.16521
  IE 9	9.0.8112.16421
  IE 8	8.0.7601.17514
  IE 7	7.0.6000

  Those browsers marked with an x all have a bug. They will not render <col class="xxxx">s correctly. The ones with a tick render it correctly. The Opera people say this is a feature not a bug. The language lawyers claim the W3 spec says that the browser is supposed to ignore the color attribute from the <col class. Logically, I think the <col styles should apply to the entire column, but not to <th rows. In addition Firefox, SeaMonkey, Safari and Flock also ignore the <col align attribute. Opera and IE render it properly.

  Firefox, SeaMonkey and Opera support almost all the HTML5 entities. Chrome and Safari support many of them.

  Colgroup Test
  	Style Test	Alignment Test
  On Every row	style	alignment
  Using Colgroup	style	alignment

  If both cells in the left hand Style Test column are the same colour, then your browser (the one you are using now to view this page) supports <col class=.

  If both cells in the right hand Alignment Test column right-align, then your browser supports <col align= correctly.

  Dreamweaver lets you apply a css style to all rows individually. Last revised/verified: 2013-04-14

• If you change your master style sheet, the effects won’t show up until you both clear all history and reload the page.

Tips

• If you change your Java JRE (Java Runtime Environment), you may have to completely uninstall Firefox and reinstall it to get Java working again.
• If you right click customise the home icon, you can drag it to the conventional left end of the navigation bar.
• You can import/export (restore/backup) bookmarks in JSON (Java Script Object Notation) format with Bookmarks ⇒ Show All Bookmarks ⇒ Import and Backup