#1
/ December 8, 2008 / 1:54 min.
Firefox rose from the ashes of the browser wars of old and has since amassed quite a following. As it stands,
Firefox has over 15 percent of the browser share, according to the
Wikipedia article. It even set a
Guinness World Record for the most downloads in a 24hr period with over 8 million.
It's time to find out what the fuss is about...
#2
/ December 9, 2008 / 2:20 min.
The address bar in
Firefox is more than just an address bar. It's not called the
"smart location bar" for nothing, you know. In this second installment of our
Firefox 101 series, we'll break down just what makes this address bar with benefits special while also looking at the integrated search bar and bookmarks toolbars.
#3
/ December 10, 2008 / 2:50 min.
If you have some
favorite sites that you like to check daily,
Firefox will allow you to save a link as a bookmark for one-click access to local news, weather or your favorite
online video shows and tutorials site (hint, hint).
Today, we'll discuss how to use the
Bookmarks within Firefox.
#4
/ December 11, 2008 / 2:51 min.
As it stands,
Firefox is a good web browser and a viable alternative to the browsers that are bundled on Mac and Windows PCs. What really sets Firefox apart from other browsers though is the huge
library of Add-ons. These are free "extensions" that
change Firefox's behavior to better suit individual wants and needs in a web browser.
Permit us to demonstrate.
#5
/ December 12, 2008 / 1:43 min.
Back in the day, having more than one web site open at a time meant having more than one web browser window open.
Firefox popularized "
tabbed browsing," having more than one website open in a single web browser session
Since Firefox came on the scene, both Internet Explorer and Safari have added this feature. It's now standard equipment in a web browser.
#6
/ December 15, 2008 / 1:19 min.
On a text-heavy page, the Find feature in
Firefox (plus other browsers and desktop applications) is worth its weight in gold. With this feature you can quickly
scan a long document for the terms that are relevant to you. Think of it as a much more powerful version of the index you'd find in a research book.
#7
/ December 16, 2008 / 2:47 min.
Firefox allows you to take control of your
privacy and security settings. Using the installed default settings gives a fair balance of privacy and security and ease of use. However, it's a good idea to
change the settings so they're more in line with your own needs and preferences.
#8
/ December 17, 2008 / 3:02 min.
Digging into
Firefox's settings a little, we can tell the browser how we want it to behave; this includes
which applications Firefox uses to display content as well as how we want websites to appear within
Firefox. We can set the default download location for files, change our home page and much more using the Options window in Firefox.
#9
/ December 18, 2008 / 2:16 min.
From a user perspective, one of the biggest improvements in
Firefox 3 over previous versions of the browser is its
download manager. Now, you can
pause and resume downloads and even pick up downloads where you left off should a power outage or computer crash cut them off prematurely. Another welcome feature is the built in spell checker that catches comon mispellings... usually.
#10
/ December 19, 2008 / 2:01 min.
Firefox offers a good balance of
security and convenience. When visiting a web site, for example, your banking site, you can
view the security certificate and other information associated with that site.
For sites that don't contain quite such personal and personally identifying information, you can opt to have
Firefox remember passwords for you. This is convenient but not recommended for things like online banking, sensitive email accounts and so on.