gHacks technology news » mozilla-firefox

Firefox Cache Viewer Gui Frontend

Martin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:42:21 +0000

There are two ways to access the Firefox web browser cache. The cache can either be accessed from within the web browser by entering about:cache into the Firefox address bar or by opening the cache directory located in the Firefox user profile on the hard drive. The in-browser solution displays a bare-bone file browser with little comfort while the solution to browse the cache on the hard drive requires to locate the Firefox profile folder to access it. Data is still not presented in a comfortable way.

The Firefox add-on Cache Viewer offers a third option. It is basically a gui frontend for the browser cache viewer. Its advantage over the two original solutions to view the cache are numerous. This includes a visual preview of the cached item which is extremely helpful to identify images that have been placed in the cache.

It is possible to sort by url, size, mime type, cache location or date. Another handy option is the ability to use the search form to locate specific files or file types.

Additional information about a selected cache item are displayed next to the visual preview area including the expiration date and connection headers. A right-click on one or multiple images will open a context menu with options to save the selected items to the local hard drive, to delete them or to open them in the web browser.

Cache Viewer is available for Firefox 3 and can be downloaded from the Mozilla website.

Tags: cache viewer, firefox, firefox cache, firefox-add on, mozilla-firefox, web browser

Firefox 3.5.3

Martin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:08:37 +0000

The Mozilla Firefox have already started spreading the latest Firefox version with the version number of 3.5.3 to the official mirror servers. This usually means that the next Firefox update is imminent which would go along well with the official schedule which suggests a release tomorrow.

The beta release notes which are currently publicly available mention several security and stability fixes making the update a recommended update for every Firefox user currently working with the 3.5x branch. The bug list lists 43 bugs that have been fixed in this version of Firefox with nine bugs being rated as critical.

Firefox users who do not want to wait for the official release announcement can download the Us version of Firefox 3.5.3. from a file host where we have uploaded the installers to. Firefox 3.5.3 installers for all supported operating systems – that is Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Macintosh – have been added to the file host.

Interested users can check the bug list that was fixed in Firefox 3.5.3. Most software portals will soon host this version of Firefox as well on their pages. Cautious users might want to wait until the official release announcement has been made.

A reboot was required after the installation on a Windows system, cannot remember that this ever happened before.

Tags: firefox, firefox 3.5.3, firefox security, firefox-update, mozilla-firefox, web browser

Prioritize Tabs In Firefox

Martin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:28:56 +0000

It is possible to load several websites in different tabs or windows at once in Firefox. This can happen after a session restore for example where all websites that had been open before are loaded again, while opening a bookmark folder with all its bookmarks, using add-ons like Snap Links to open multiple websites at once or by loading multiple links manually in new tabs or windows.

Firefox by default will not prioritize any of the links. The Firefox developer’s now thought that it might make sense to prioritize certain tabs in Firefox. Why would that make sense? The active tab for example is the tab that the user is currently looking at. Should not that active tab load faster than tabs that are not in the focus of the user?

That’s basically what the experimental Firefox add-on mozNetworkPrioritizer tries to accomplish. It prioritizes tabs based on their status based on the following order:

Selected Tab in a Focused Window
Background Tab in a Focused Window & Selected Tab in a Background Window
Background Tab in a Background Window
Any Tab in a Minimized Window

The add-on will speed up the loading of websites from top to bottom. The developer of the extension shared his experience at his website.

Initial results showed some improvement when loading large groups of tabs. It was most noticeable when loading many tabs from the same site (e.g. the default BBC livemarks). It was somewhat noticeable during a typical (for me) session restore. There was no difference during normal browsing

The Firefox add-on is available at the Mozilla website if you want to give it a try.

Tags: firefox, firefox add-ons, firefox priority, firefox tips, mozilla-firefox, web browser

Mozilla Checks Flash Version After Firefox Updates

Martin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:10:05 +0000

Web browser attacks are an increasing threat these days. Attackers not only expoit web browser vulnerabilities but also those of plugins and add-ons that are installed in the web browser. The Adobe Flash plugin is one of the high priority targets of attackers due to its distribution percentage. A recent article at H-Online estimates that about 80% of web surfers use an outdated version of Adobe Flash which can have a severe impact on system stability and security.

That’s where the Mozilla developers began thinking about solutions for this problem. They quickly came up with the solution to test the version of the Adobe Flash plugin after Firefox updates. Regular Firefox users know that Firefox will open a what’s new page after an update. This what’s new page will contain the Adobe Flash version check.

Firefox users with an outdated version of Adobe Flash will receive the notification that it is outdated. This information contains a link that is directly pointing to the latest version of Adobe Flash at the Adobe website. Hopes are that many users who are running an outdated version of Flash will visit the Adobe website after a Firefox update to download the latest version of Adobe Flash to install it on their computer system.

Users who want to try the Flash check right now can visit the upcoming what’s new page for Firefox 3.5.3.

Tags: adobe flash, firefox, firefox security, firefox-update, flash, flash security, flash update, mozilla-firefox

Firefox: Edit Forms On Websites In External Editors

Martin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:33:12 +0000

t’s All Text is an interesting add-on for the firefox web browser that allows Firefox users to fill out web forms in an external text editor. External text editors have many advantages over the build in way of adding text to web forms in Internet browsers. They usually provide a deeper functionality that includes macros, additional text manipulation options and a customizable interface. The Firefox add-on has been primarily been designed to have a text backup if the sending of the text on the website fails. This core functionality has changed since Firefox began to save browser sessions every ten seconds. It’s All Text is now a way of editing text in web forms more comfortably in a known environment.

The Firefox extension will automatically display an Edit button in the lower right corner of every text form on websites. A click on the Edit button will launch the external text editor which can then be used to write the text. Saving the text in the text editor will send it over to the web form in the web browser. It is then possible to continue editing the text in the text editor or to send the web form in Firefox. A backup copy is always at hand as long as the text editor window remains open.

The default text editor will have to be selected at first use. A few other options are available in the add-on’s settings including moving the Edit button to a different location, the character set or defining a hotkey for the process.

It’s all text is available for Firefox 3.x at the Mozilla Firefox website.

Tags: firefox, firefox text, firefox-add on, firefox-extension, its all text, mozilla-firefox, web browser

Optimize Firefox Databases With Vacuum Places

Martin — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:19:12 +0000

The Mozilla Firefox development team switched to SQlite databases for data storage in Firefox 3. One problem that arose because of this switch was an increasing Firefox profile folder size as there was no build in way to optimize the SQlite databases regularly. We reviewed a solution to this problem a while ago (read: optimize sqlite databases in Firefox) which involved running a batch file in the Firefox profile directory to optimize the databases and reduce their file sizes. The process can be best described as a defragmentation to close gaps that contain no data which will free the disk space.

The Firefox add-on Vacuum Places makes this process more comfortable by providing the means to run the database optimization right from within Firefox. The experimental add-on will optimize the SQLite databases of the active Firefox profile whenever its button in the Firefox status bar is pressed.

The database size reduction depends largely on the amount of data in the database, the time it has been in use and the last cleanup. A run on a test system (using the batch file) reduced the size of the profile folder from 64.8 Megabytes to 53.4 Megabytes.

Vacuum Places can be downloaded from the official Mozilla Firefox website. It is advised to create a backup of the Firefox profile folder before running it for the first time.

Tags: firefox, firefox database, mozilla-firefox, optimize firefox, sqlite, sqlite database, vacuum places

Firefox Tab Navigator

Martin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:03:19 +0000

Firefox users who want to use the computer keyboard to navigate their open tabs are left with the CTRL 1-9 shortcuts that allow them to switch to the first eight tabs that are open in the web browser. There is no other way of accessing tabs beyond that count by default.

Tab Navigator introduces an ingenious method that should remind Windows users of the Alt Tab navigation in their operating system. The Firefox add-on enables the keyboard shortcuts [ALT W] and [ALT R] which can be used to open a small window and navigate to all tabs pressing the W or R keys repeatedly. The keys that are used to power this new function can be changed in the add-on’s options. It is possible to use a combination of CTRL, ALT, Shift plus one other key on the keyboard for each function.

This is important for users who make use of other add-ons that use these keyboard shortcuts (the Last Pass password manager for example uses [ALT W] to open the site search window. Another interesting option that is provided by the add-on is the ability to enable thumbnail previews of open tabs. The thumbnail preview size is set to 400 pixel with the option to decrease or increase the size in the options.

The main benefit of tab navigator is the use of only one hand to switch to another tab. Tab Navigator is an experimental add-on for the Firefox web browser. It can be download from the official Mozilla Firefox website.

Tags: firefox, firefox navigation, firefox-add on, firefox-extension, mozilla-firefox, tab navigator

Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1

Martin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:57:24 +0000

The Firefox developers have released the first alpha version of the upcoming Firefox 3.6 web browser.The new version is clearly marked as a developer and test version which means it is not recommended to use this version as the main web browser on a computer system. The development milestone of Firefox 3.6 is build on the Gecko 1.9.2 platform and introduces some new features in the web browser which are all included in the 3299 entries long bug list over at Bugzilla.

A speed increase in the JavaScript Tracemonkey engine is probably the most noteworthy change in Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1. A quick test at the Sunspider JavaScript benchmark confirmed that the new alpha version renders the test in about 300ms faster than the latest official release Firefox 3.5.2 (800ms compared to 1100ms).

Other new features include the addition of several CSS3 attributes including background-size, CSS gradients, multiple background images and support for the rem unit from CSS3 values and units. Most add-ons were disabled upon first startup of Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1 with the possibility to force them into compatibility. The Nightly Tester Tools are unfortunately not compatible with this new release which means the easiest way to force add-on compatibility is to disable the compatibility checks.

To do that enter [about:config] in the Firefox address bar and filter for the term [extensions.checkCompatibility]. Double-clicking that value will set it to false which will disable the compatibility checks in Firefox. Interested users can download Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1 for Windows [link], Linux [link] or Apple Mac [link]

Tags: firefox, firefox 3.6, firefox 3.6 alpha, firefox developer, mozilla-firefox, web browser

Firefox 3.7 and 4.0 Design Mockups

Martin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:52:48 +0000

How could version 3.7 and version 4.0 of the Firefox web browser look like? That’s something that the Mozilla development team tried to answer by posting design mockups of Firefox 4 and Firefox 3.7 at the Mozilla Wiki website. Firefox 3.7 is obviously the next major release in the Firefox 3 branch while Firefox 4 will be the next big release at the end of the lifecycle of version 3. A new design can be source of all sorts of problems including usability issues which is probably one of the biggest concerns of Firefox users at this point in time.

Firefox 3.7 Design Mockups:

The design mockups of Firefox 3.7 look like they are making use of Aero Glass in Windows Vista and Windows 7. The RSS and bookmark icons have been moved out of the Firefox address bar and the two new entries Page and Tools have been added to the header. Page apparently contains functions and options that are directly related to the active page while Tools will be used for changing the UI of the web browser. Tabs are now rounded as well.

The design for Windows XP is basically the same as for Windows Vista sans the Aero Glass effects.

Firefox 4.0 Design Mockups:

Two different design mockups have been posted for Firefox 4. The main difference lies in the location of the tabbar. Firefox 4 version a comes with the tabbar in the usual place while version b moves the tabs to the top of the web browser similar to the tabs in Google Chrome.

Some of the most obvious changes include the absence of the status bar, the unifcation of the address bar with the search bar and a big new bookmarks button. Version b seems to have drawn several design inspirations from the Google browser. It does not come with a title bar anymore which could be a problem for long page titles. The bookmarks button is gone in this release and the page and tools buttons are placed in the tabbar next to each other.

The Mozilla team added a pro and con list to the second design mockup which is addressing all these concerns.

Verdict: Many of the changes proposed can already be done with add-ons which is probably a better way of handling changes. Add-ons allow users to remove the status or title bar, move the tabs on top or combine the address field with the search field. The biggest risk will be design changes that most Firefox users do not like or do not want to cope with. It is possible that the Firefox community will create add-ons that address these problems. It could also be that Firefox users decided to look at alternative browsers instead.

Tags: firefox, firefox 3.7, firefox 4, firefox design, firefox design mockups, mozilla, mozilla-firefox

Firefox Bookmarks Archiver

Martin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:36:29 +0000

Most Firefox users make use of the bookmarking feature of the web browser to store interesting or important websites so that they can be visited at a later time again. Many of them do add bookmarks regularly while only a few delete unneeded bookmarks regularly which has the effect that the bookmarks folder grow with time. It also means that bookmarks that are no longer needed are still stored in the bookmark’s database file.

The Bookmarks Archiver add-on has been created as a semi-automatic option to delete or archive bookmarks that have not been visited for a certain time. The default days are set to 90 but it is possible to change that figure according to the specific needs of the individual user.

The add-on will show a prompt when the first bookmark expires that allows the user to archive or delete the bookmark. Archived bookmarks will be moved into the Archived folder that is created by the add-on automatically. It is furthermore possible to make the add-on perform the archiving or deletion automatically from then on. A click on cancel will leave the bookmark unchanged.

The add-on will automatically run on Firefox shutdown.

Bookmarks Archiver currently has a few limitations that prevent the add-on from working properly in some cases. The History function in Firefox needs to be enabled for the add-on to work at all. Visits to bookmarks will not be recognized by the add-on if the user is surfing in private mode. Finally only bookmarks that are stored in the root folder or in level 1 folders can be archived and bookmarks that are created in the Organize Bookmarks menu need to be visited once before they are being tracked by the add-on.

Tags: bookmarks, bookmarks archiver, firefox, firefox bookmarks, firefox-add on, mozilla-firefox

Another Critical Firefox Vulnerability Emerges

Martin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:49:10 +0000

It has been only a few days ago that the Mozilla Firefox team released an update for Firefox 3.5 to Firefox 3.5.1 that would close a recently disclosed critical security vulnerability that allowed attackers to execute arbitrary code on the attacked computer system. Earlier today another Firefox vulnerability was disclosed to the public that affects the latest version of Firefox. The vulnerability can be remotely exploited and uses an stack based buffer overflow that is triggered by an overly long string of Unicode data. It can lead to remote code execution or to crashes, freezes or the allocation of a lot of computer memory.

A proof of concept has already been created that demonstrates the vulnerability. No patch has been made available yet. Firefox users are encouraged to disable JavaScript until a patch is issued to avoid leaving their computer system vulnerable for the attack.

Users working with security add-ons like NoScript might consider their Firefox installation safe without disabling JavaScript. It is however theoretically possible to compromise websites that are in the whitelist of the add-on (if the whitelist is used) which would make the system vulnerable to this kind of attack.

JavaScript can be disabled in the Firefox options in the content tab.

Tags: firefox 3.5, firefox security, firefox vulnerability, javascript, mozilla-firefox, web browser

Firefox Computer Alarm Clock And Timer

Martin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:16:40 +0000

Running Firefox with a hidden system taskbar provides more space for the web browser. It does however remove access to the system clock which can be problematic if the system clock is needed in the user’s daily routine. The Firefox add-on Simple Timer can place a clock in the Firefox status bar. Displaying a clock is only a small part of the functionality that is provided by the add-on. It can also act as a computer alarm clock, countdown or notify the user of specific events.

One interesting option is the support for different time zones that can be combined with the notifications. It is for example possible to add the New York, Tokyo and London timezones to the application and receive notifications using the time in these timezones.

Multiple locations – each with their distinct timezone – can be added in the options of the add-on for the Firefox web browser. It is a bit unfortunate that only the local timezone can be displayed in the status bar while the other timezones become only visible when hovering the mouse over the icon and only if that feature has been enabled in the options. Notifications can be added easily in the options as well.

They can be created by selecting a time, timezone and description for the notification. Configuring it to recur and the addition of an url are optional. Simple Timer is an excellent Firefox add-on for users who would like to have access to a system clock on their screen. The notifications, countdowns and timezones are an added bonus that might be interesting for some users as well.

Tags: clock, computer alarm, firefox, firefox time, firefox timer, mozilla-firefox, simple timer

Save Firefox Bookmark Searches

Martin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:38:30 +0000

If you open the menu to organize (some would call it manage) the Firefox bookmarks you are presented not only with an interface to sort, delete or add bookmarks but also with the possibility to search them. All you need to do is to enter a search term and perform a search in the bookmark’s interface. Firefox will return all bookmarks that match that search term either in the url or title (and probably additional information like tags or descriptions if they exist)

One interesting option that is provided by Firefox is the option to save a search in the Firefox bookmarks. This will create a new dynamic folder in the Firefox bookmark’s menu that will contain all the bookmarks matching the entered search term.

What’s probably even more interesting is the fact that it will automatically display new bookmarks that have been added after performing the search in Firefox if they match the search term. This way it is possible to create a dynamic bookmark folder that will always contain all matching bookmarks of the entered search term. The dynamic folder can be moved into a Firefox toolbar for quick access or to any other location that can display Firefox bookmarks folders.

Tags: bookmark search, firefox, firefox bookmarks, firefox tips, mozilla-firefox, save bookmark search, web browser

Critical Security Vulnerability In Firefox 3.5

Martin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:01:02 +0000

A critical security vulnerability affecting Firefox 3.5 has been discovered and published on the security portal Milw0rm entitled Firefox 3.5 Heap Spray Vulnerability. A proof of concept exploit has been provided. In short, the vulnerability can lead to remote code execution. The good news is that a security patch has already been published by Mozilla Links.

The security vulnerability can be fixed the following way. Type in about:config in the Firefox address bar and hit enter. Now filter for the term javascript.options.jit.content and double-click it afterwards to set it to false which disables the Tracemonkey JavaScript engine. This in turn could (and most likely will) reduce the JavaScript performance of the Firefox 3.5 web browser until an official security patch is provided by the Mozilla Firefox team.

The security patch is expected to be released soon by the Firefox development team. Stay tuned, we keep you updated.

Tags: firefox, firefox exploit, firefox patch, firefox vulnerability, mozilla-firefox, security patch, web browser

Internet Explorer New Tab Page In Firefox

Martin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:31:44 +0000

You are presented with several choices if you open a new tab in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8. Internet Explorer users have the option to open recently opened websites, start an inPrivate session (that’s the equivalent to Private Browsing in Firefox) or to use an accelerator. The Firefox web browser on the other hand displays a blank page unless an add-on is installed that changes this.

One add-on that has been recently uploaded to the Mozilla website is New Tab Page. New Tab Page mimics the way Internet Explorer displays blank tabs. It offers three options in its current stage of development:

Display selected bookmarks
A Google search form
The option to start a Private Browsing session

The user can select the websites that are displayed as bookmarks in every new tab page which is different from Internet Explorer 8 which displays tabs that had been recently open in the web browser. The Google search form makes it easy to perform a Google search right away although that functionality might be covered already either by the Firefox address bar or a search form in one of the toolbars in the Internet browser.

The option to start a private browsing session is welcome although it is again possible to start one by simply using the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl Shift P] as well. The add-on is currently in experimental stage which could mean that the developer has the intention to add new features to it. It would for example be nice to be able to select the elements that are displayed on that page. Some elements that could be made available are a list of recent downloads or pages that have been closed recently.

Tags: firefox, firefox tabs, firefox-add on, internet-explorer, mozilla-firefox, web browser

Speed Up Firefox By Limiting The History

Martin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:09:17 +0000

The Firefox web browser will save visited websites for a minimum of 90 days and a maximum of 180 days in the Firefox history by default. The hard limit is set to 40000 websites that are stored in the History. When that limit is reached old history entries will be deleted from the database that contains all the visited websites. Some users have experienced massive startup problems if their Firefox history database contains lots of entries.

Some users, especially those with the Google Toolbar installed, experienced a huge history database that had a size of several hundreds Megabytes. A good way of speeding up the Firefox web browser is to limit the history that it records.

Most users know that it is possible to change the minimum days the history is stored in the Firefox options. What only a few know is that there are additional settings in the about:config dialog that make it possible to change the hard limit and the maximum days a website is kept in the history.

To speed up Firefox by limiting the history do the following: Open a new web browser tab and load the page [about:config]. Now filter for the term [browser.history] and locate the following three parameters:

browser.history_expire_days: The maximum days that Firefox stores websites in the history database. (default 180)
browser.history_expire_days_min: The minimum days that Firefox stores websites in the history database (default 90)
browser.history_expire_sites: Defines the hard limit (that is the maximum) of websites that are stored in the Firefox history. Reducing the amount from 40000 to a lower value can help a lot.

Reducing both the minimum and maximum values to a lower number can improve the performance of the web browser especially during startup. There are no perfect values which means that the user has to experiment a bit to find the values best suited for the browsing situation. Suggested values are 7,14,28 or 56 days for both settings. Users who want to get rid of the history completely need to use 0 as the value in both parameters.

Restarting the web browser after changing the parameters should get rid of the websites that exceed the maximum that has been set by the user. It might be needed to optimize the SQLite database after the procedure to ensure that the database is not fragmented because of this change.

Tags: firefox, firefox history, firefox speed up, firefox tips, history, limit history, mozilla-firefox, speed up firefox, web browser

Optimize SQLite Databases In Firefox

Martin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:36:32 +0000

The Mozilla Firefox development team has changed the way the web browser is storing information to SQLite databases in Firefox 3. Cookies, Bookmarks, RSS feeds and many other information are now stored in SQLite databases that are stored in the Firefox profile. A problem that can arise is that the databases can get fragmented over time which inflates their size and has the consequence that the performance drops especially in the time the web browser is loading but also when information are pulled from the databases.

It is possible to optimized SQLite databases which defragments them so that their size decreases and performance is gained. The website Web Upd8 explains how to optimize the SQLite databases of Firefox running under Windows, Linux or Mac OS. Windows users for example need to download a batch file and place them into the Firefox profile that they want to optimize.

The batch file will run the vacuum command on all SQlite databases that are located in the profile folder. The effect of the optimization depends largely on the fragmentation of the SQLite databases. Optimization on a test system reduced the size of the Firefox profile folder from 64.8 Megabytes to 53.4 Megabytes. Users with many bookmarks and RSS feeds will most likely see a large size reduction of the profile folder while users who use Firefox only occasionally will see little to no improvement.

Tags: databases, firefox, mozilla-firefox, optimize sqlite, opzimize firefox, sqlite, sqlite databases, web browser

Add Software Links To Firefox

Martin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:46:59 +0000

Many users who work in a web browser need to occasionally open another application on their computer system. Webmasters might need to use a screenshot taking tool or sftp client to manage their websites. Other users might want to launch a music player, news reader or email client. The usual way of accomplishing this is to go to the start menu or computer desktop and launch the application from there.

The Firefox add-on External Application Buttons mod changes this as it allows Firefox users to add software links right in the web browser. Using the add-on is unfortunately a bit complicated, at least at the beginning. There is no visual sign of the add-on after installation.

What the Firefox user needs to do is to right-click on empty space in the Firefox toolbar and select customize. There should be a new item called applications in there which has to be dragged to one of the Firefox toolbars. There is apparently no icon for that item which means that it will show up as blank space in the toolbar at first.

A right-click on that blank space will open a context menu with the option to add a button to the toolbar. This will open a file browser giving the user the option to select any executable file from the computer system. The icon of that software program will then be displayed in the location in the toolbar. It is possible to add multiple icons (one after the other) until all program icons that should be launched from within the Firefox web browser are displayed there.

A click on a software icon in the toolbar will launch the application on the computer system. The add-on is working with all Firefox 3.x versions and can be downloaded from the Mozilla website.

Update: Forgot to mention that some advanced properties become available after adding a link to the Firefox toolbar. It is for instance possible to change the icon size, create a keyboard shortcut or set arguments for the application launch.

Tags: firefox, firefox software, firefox software links, firefox-add on, firefox-extension, mozilla-firefox, software

Force Firefox To Open Links In Same Tab

Martin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:03:15 +0000

One of the great annoyances on the Internet are links that are configured to open in new links or tabs. Outbound links, which means links that point to another domain, are usually prime targets for this method of linking but there are also cases that links on the same domain open up in new tabs or windows. The Firefox web browser comes with a set of options to open links in new tabs or windows but no obvious ones to prevent that from happening.

To open a link in a new window or tab one would simply right-click the link and select the appropriate option from the context menu. Users who like keyboard shortcuts can press the Ctrl key for opening links in new tabs or the Shift key to open them in new windows.

Thankfully though there is a parameter in the Firefox configuration that allows Firefox users to force the web browser to open links in the same tab unless one of the previously mentioned ways of opening links in new tabs or windows is selected.

Users who want to change this behavior need to type in [about:config] in a tab in the Firefox web browser. This should open the Firefox configuration. First time users need to accept a disclaimer. They then need to filter for the term [browser.link.open_newwindow]. The default value of that entry is [3] which opens links that would normally open in a new window in a new tab.

To force Firefox to open links (no matter if they have been designed to open in a new tab or window) in the same tab one would need to change the value to [1] which will open all links that would normally open in a new window in the same tab. Changing the value to [2] would open new windows in a new window (duh).

Update:

Just noticed that changing the value to 1 does affect links that are opened in external applications as well. These links will now open in the active tab and not a new tab.

Tags: firefox, firefox links, firefox tips, mozilla-firefox, web browser

Firefox 3.5 Final

Martin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:05:17 +0000

The Mozilla Firefox development team has finished the final version of Firefox 3.5. The new version is currently distributed to all official mirror websites with the official announcement expected to hit the web later today. No download portal is currently offering the new version for download which is surely going to change in the next hours once they get notice of the new release.

Once the release has been officially announced it can be downloaded from the Mozilla website or by using the built in update checker in the web browser. Considering that the release of the third release candidate of Firefox 3.5 is just a few days ago it is likely that there are not many considerable changes in this version compared to the release candidate.

No changelog has been posted yet to verify this statement. We took the liberty to upload Firefox 3.5 final US for Windows users to a free file host from where it can be downloaded. Users who need other language or operating system installers of the web browser might need to wait until the release becomes officially announced or uploaded to download sites.

You might be interested in the Firefox 3.5 feature set if you have not been using Firefox 3.5 yet (as you might have been waiting for a final release before doing so). You can take a look at the features at the Mozilla Wiki.

Tags: firefox 3.5, firefox release, firefox-update, mozilla firefox 3.5, mozilla-firefox, web browser

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