Fast and Fabulous Firefox

Firefox is currently my browser of choice for several reasons, foremost being speed, personalization, and compatibility with various Web 2.0 tools. Sometimes Google Apps doesn’t play well with Internet Explorer resulting in jiggling/jumping screens or buttons that don’t work. I also like that I can personalize this browser and have some settings sync across multiple devices. I spend hours in my browser each day, so these two features are a real time saver and increase my efficiency quotient.

Default Browser

You can use more than one web browser on your computer at the same time. So you can easily give Firefox and try and still have Internet Explorer available. When you install Firefox it will ask if you want it to be your default browser. I would recommend choosing NO at first. Once you’ve used it long enough to know that it will work for you, then you can choose to make it your default browser (Options>Advanced>General>Click the Check Now button in System Defaults).

Setting Your Homepage

You can set multiple tabs to open on start up by first opening all the tabs you wish to open when you start Firefox and then following these steps:

Using Pinned App Tabs

I prefer to open four sites (Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, and Tasks) as App Tabs. Every time I start Firefox, each of these tabs opens with a small footprint having only an icon displayed. I like that you can’t accidentally close these tabs as there is no close button on the tabs. If I get a new email message, the Gmail icon glows. When you click a link in one of these sites it will open in a new window so that your App Tab remains available. To set a site to open as an App Tab, right click on the tab and choose Pin as App Tab.

Load Your Toolbars

You can choose to hide/show most of the toolbars. You can also choose which buttons to display and in what order by using the Customize Toolbar window. I view only the Navigation and Bookmarks Toolbar to keep the interface clean. In the Navigation toolbar I’ve added the buttons for some of my Extensions (Evernote, LastPass). The Bookmarks Toolbar has those websites that I access on daily as well as some bookmarklets (Diigolet, Pin it!, and Convert with Zamzar).

Sync Between Your Devices

I use Firefox Sync to sync my links in the Bookmarks toolbar with the Firefox browsers that I run on my desktop, laptop and phone. This means if I add a link to the Bookmarks toolbar on my desktop computer, that same link will appear in the Bookmarks toolbar on my phone.  Firefox Sync can automatically sync book​mark​s, history, pass​word​s and ​open​ tabs. I choose to sync just bookmarks. For an iPhone or iPad you can install the free Firefox Home app to access your synced bookmarks, history, and open tabs.

Customize for Your Work Flow

Add-ons can be installed to add additional features to your browser. Two types of Add-ons are Extensions and Plugins. Extensions add new features or modify existing ones (block ads, download videos). Plugins provide support for Internet content (Flash, Quicktime, Silverlight). The more Add-ons you have the slower Firefox may start. Because of this, I’m careful to keep my Add-ons to a minimum.

The Extensions I use are: Last Pass, Boomerang for Gmail, Evernote Web Clipper, Google Shortcuts (I especially like that I can open Google Tasks in a full browser window. I have a lot of tasks.), and IE Tab 2. IE Tab 2 allows me to open SISK12 and DESE’s Web Applications in an Internet Explorer tab within Firefox. It’s been my experience that these 2 sites don’t fully function in Firefox, but will work fine for what I do using the IE Tab 2 extension. I don’t do grades in SISK12, so I can’t speak to the functionality of that component. After you install IE Tab 2, in the Add-ons Manager, click its Options button. Paste in the web addresses for the sites that you want to open with Internet Explorer. You will need Internet Explorer installed on your station for this to work extension to work. If this extension doesn’t allow you to do all that you need to in SISK12, then you should continue to access SISK12 in Internet Explorer.

For security and functionality you need to keep your Add-ons updated. Usually Extensions do a good job of updating automatically. Plugins do not always update automatically (even though I’ve indicated in the settings that I want them to) so I occasionally click the link in the Add-ons Manager to check for updates. Also, when installing or updating plugins or add-ons, watch for additional software that it may offer to install. Usually the box to install the additional software is checked by default and you should uncheck it.

Find It Quick

• Awesome Bar: I like that I can start typing a website title or address in the location bar, and the autocomplete drop-down will show matching sites from my browsing history.
• Search Bar: Enter keywords here to use a variety of search engines without accessing their websites. Of course you can customize the search bar choosing a default search engine, adding additional search engines, and more.

Choose Your Flavor

Click the Appearance link in the Add-on Manager to change the colors, buttons, and images by choosing a Personas or a Themes.

• Personas: Change the color scheme and add background image to the toolbars.
• Themes: more customizable than Personas, as it changes the look of buttons and menus.

Additional Settings

• Security Settings: You can several security options including remembering passwords and setting a master password. Since I use LastPass, I do not use the password features.
• Do Not Track: Tracking refers to the methods used by various sites to learn about your web browsing behavior and use that information to show you ads. You can turn on the Do Not Track feature to notify sites that you do not want your browsing behavior tracked. However, they are not required to honor this request.
• Site Identity Button: In the Location bar, the left of the web address is the Site Identity Button. The color of this button indicates the level of available security information (Gray= none, Blue=Basic, Green=Complete.) Click to display security information about a site.

Side Notes

• SpeedyFox: Every couple of weeks I run SpeedyFox, a free little program that keeps my Firefox fast.
• Chrome: Yes, I’ve tried it and yes it’s fast. However, when using Chrome it’s been my experience that if you visit a secure page that isn’t trusted by Chrome, but that you know is trustworthy, Chrome will display an error page with no options to access the webpage. It also lacks some of the customization features that Firefox offers.
• A “Firefox” is another name for the red panda.

Willard Teacher is an App Developer

That’s right! One of our own Willard teachers had developed an App which has been approved by the Apple Store. Chip Gann, a 5th grade teacher a Willard Intermediate School, has published the Rounding Whole Numbers App.

Students have the opportunity to practice rounding whole numbers in a fun way with Rounding Whole Numbers. There are six levels that include rounding whole numbers to the nearest tens, hundreds, and thousands place. The goal is to round as many numbers correctly in under 30 seconds. High scores are saved and the user even has the opportunity to visit a short tutor section to learn how to round whole numbers.

Great work Mr. Gann!

I’ve Sold My Soul to Google

Since I live in Google, (my browser’s homepage is set to opens tabs for Google Calendar, GMail, and Google Docs), it occurred to me that using Google’s Chrome browser might have its advantages. I decided to just try Chrome, confident that I would not like it better than Firefox with all my procured extensions. As a result, after one day of playing, I’ve set Chrome as my default browser.

• Speed: Immediately I noticed how quickly the browser loaded on startup and the speed at which web pages were displayed. Yes, those 13 add-ons I have installed in Firefox affect the speed of startup.  But even after installing kindred extensions in Chrome, the improvement in speed is still evident.
• Simplicity: I prefer clean, uncluttered design. The browser has all the features I use, without the fluff or bulk.
  • No more separate Google Search field in the toolbar, just use the address field.
  • There is no text Menu Toolbar, which cleans up the header of the browser. All the features are accessable via the Customize and Control buttons on the right.
  • I used the Bookmarks Bar to imitate the Delicious toolbar that I used in Firefox to display my top 15, used nearly everyday, sites. The icing on this cake is the sync feature, which syncs the bookmarks I created on this station, with my netbook and school desktop stations. Once I log into my Google account, Chrome will sync my bookmarks.
  • I often like to use Firefox’s Recent Pages button to navigate a few pages back with 1 click. This same feature is available with a right click on Chrome’s back button.

• Style: I like to have a few customization features.
  • Themes: About 125 options to choose from with 1 click to apply.
  • Extensions: I was able to find corresponding extensions for all my vital Firefox extensions. I must have a Delicious button to tag sites and an Evernote button to archive web content. I need to be able to choose Gmail as my default email program and have 1 click access to all my Google Tools (Handy Google Shortcuts). Some Firefox extensions I no longer needed. I discovered some bonus Chrome extensions that I didn’t have in Firefox: Select to Get Maps, Google Similar Pages, Google Calendar Checker, Google Tasks, Send by GMail). At this point, the scale tipped heavily to the Chrome side. Some Firefox Extensions that I haven’t found yet, or that aren’t available, include: Norton Internet Security Toolbar and DragDropUpload. I may replace Norton with WOT. The DragDropUpload is not a deal breaker.

Click to view larger.

• Security: Now that adware and spyware is so prevalent, and we move more into the cloud every day, browser security is key. I recently happened upon a blog post about a security show that hosts a contest for hackers and experts.
  • The Pwn2Own 2010 Contest at the CanSec West security show gives hackers and security experts a chance to demonstrate their ability and try to breach the security of various devices and software. “Safari was the first to fall, followed by Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7. Firefox on Windows 7 x64 was also taken down, as was the iPhone’s mobile Safari. Google Chrome, however, has yet to succumb.” -Download Squad March 25, 2010
  • Pop Up Blocker: To enable popups for particular sites, you just click the Customize button>Options>Under the  Hood>Content Settings>Pop-ups>Exceptions and use the Add button to enter the web address (without the http://www.)
• Compatability: Nearly every site that I’ve visited has functioned well in Chrome. SISK12 and DESE’s ePeGS are not compatible with Chrome. I tried installing some Internet Explorer extensions for Chrome, but the sites still don’t function properly. I’m already accustomed to using IE for these 2 sites, so not a problem.

Now, if only I could get Chrome on my iphone.