OLLI Workshop: Browser Tips And Plug Ins May 2009
- 1. Browser Tips and Plugins (with a focus on Firefox) Sheila Lafferty UConn Libraries-Torrington Campus Rev. May 2009
- 2. Browser Wars • Netscape- the first but now forgotten • Internet Explorer 7 or 8 (Microsoft) • Firefox 3.0 • Opera • Safari (Mac users) • Google Chrome
- 3. Internet Explorer • Preinstalled in OS • Approximately 75-80% share • More vulnerable to viruses, spyware, etc. • Microsoft slower to introduce improvements
- 4. Mozilla Firefox • Open source-open to innovation • Est. 20% share • Part of a suite of products by Mozilla- email, chat, browser • Entered the market in 2004
- 5. Firefox Features • Smart Location Bar • Add-ons • Customized Toolbars • Tabbed browsing without opening multiple windows (now in IE7+) • Session Restore • Live Bookmarks • Integrated searching • Search boxes for search engines included in browser (now in IE7+) • More secure, built-in popup blockers
- 6. Installing • Download from http://getfirefox.com • If updating to a new version of Firefox, close Firefox before installing the new version
- 7. Migration to Firefox -Easy The Import Wizard imports all your Internet Explorer items (bookmarks/favorites, history, cookies, saved passwords, etc) to Firefox.
- 8. Firefox Settings ToolsOptions • Main • Tabs • Content • Applications • Privacy • Security • Advanced
- 9. Firefox Settings:Main • Firefox start page • Homepage: select current page or paste in the url of your choice. • Downloads: Select “Show the Downloads window when downloading a file”
- 10. Firefox Settings: Tabs • New pages should be opened in: TABS • Warn me when closing multiple tabs: ? • Warn me when opening multiple tabs may slow down Firefox: ? • When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately: ? • Add-on :Tab Mix Plus
- 11. Firefox Settings: Content • Block pop-up windows: • Load images automatically: • Enable Javascript: • Enable Java: • Fonts & Colors: • Languages
- 12. Firefox Settings: Applications • How Firefox should handle different filetypes e.g. PDF documents or audio files
- 13. Firefox Settings: Privacy • Remember pages visited for the last # days • Remember what I enter in forms and the search bar: NO • Remember what I've downloaded: No • Accept cookies from sites: OK • Private Data: On a personal machine which you don't share with others, or if you have your own separate account, check items you genuinely feel you need to clear
- 15. Firefox Settings: Security • Warn me when sites try to install add-ons: yes • Tell me if the site I'm visiting is a suspected forgery • Tell me if the site I'm visiting is a suspected attack site • Passwords: a security threat if you share the computer; to view the actual passwords for each username, click „Saved Passwords' Show Passwords • Warning messages: optional
- 16. Firefox Settings: Advanced • General: Always use the cursor keys to navigate within pages, Search for text when I start typing, Use auto scrolling, Use smooth scrolling, Check my spelling as I type • Network: Connection (how do you connect to the internet), Cache ( store webpages, speeds up browsing) • Update: Automatically Check for Updates • Encryption : Protocols, Certificates
- 17. Customize the Toolbar ViewToolbarCustomize Toolbar Add (or remove) items by dragging to or from the toolbar; Rearrange items while this window is open Add print icon, new tab and IE TAB
- 18. Smart Location Bar • Aka location bar, address bar, URL bar, Awesome Bar • Words entered will match against your history or bookmarks • Favicon- site info by clicking on the icon, blue indicates info, green indicates validated verification • Malware protection (e.g. ianfette.org)
- 19. Predefined smart keywords • Firefox predefined smart keywords : google - Google Search dict - Dictionary look up quote - Google Search with stocks: operator wp - Wikipedia slang - Urban (slang) dictionary look up • Stored as bookmarks in the Quick Searches folder.
- 20. Create smart keyword searches • Right click on the search field. • Choose Add a Keyword for this Search • Give the bookmark a name and create a keyword e.g. imdb • File in Quick Searches e.g. imdb star trek
- 21. Bookmarks (Favorites) • Bookmark single pages or bookmark multiple tabs • Bookmark the page by clicking on the star. Double click to give the bookmark a name and file it in a folder
- 22. Custom keywords-bookmarks • Add Bookmark • Go to BookmarksOrganize bookmarks • Right click Properties • Enter keyword for the URL • Enter your keyword in the location bar and quickly go to your favorite site e.g. silas bronson library, sbl
- 23. Live bookmarks • Live Bookmark – this is a dynamic bookmark that utilizes a web technology called RSS Feed. dynamically update when the RSS feed changes • When you are on a web site that support an RSS Feed you will see an icon in the address bar. Click on this icon and a menu will appear to add it to your reader or to the bookmarks toolbar
- 24. Tabbed Browsing • One of the most well known features of Firefox • Faster loadup times for pages opened as tabs, less overall system memory usage
- 25. Tabbed Browsing (cont.) • Tabs in Firefox allows multiple web sites open at the same time all in one instance of Firefox. To activate another tab in Firefox: • Press and hold the Ctrl and press T (Ctrl + T) • Add “New Tab” icon to Toolbar
- 26. Tabbed Browsing (cont.) Move through the tabs: • Ctrl+PgUp (or Ctrl+Tab) and Ctrl+PgDn (or Shift+Ctrl+Tab). • Ctrl+1, and so on up to the 9th tab with Ctrl+9 ***Optional Add-on: Colorful tabs
- 27. Tabbed Browsing (cont.) • Right-Click on link and Choose Open Link in New Tab • To close tabs, right click on the tab you want to keep open and select “close other tabs” • To close a tab, click on the close button
- 28. Pop up blocker Firefox is famous for its pop up blocker feature. Go to Tools Options Content and check off “Block popup windows”. Exceptions can be selected.
- 29. Session Restore • Firefox can be configured to restore all windows and tabs that were open when the application is closed or terminated unexpectedly. • Software crash, after installing an add- on, after installing an update
- 30. Integrated Search Engines: the Firefox Search Bar In the top right hand corner is a link to several top search engines including, – Google – Yahoo – Amazon – eBay – Dictionary.com
- 31. Manage Search Engines: Get More Manage Search EnginesFileGet More Search Engines
- 32. Searching Tips with Firefox • Address/Location Bar Search: F6 or CTRL L type words in the location box and it will execute an “I‟m Feeling Lucky” Google search • Drag and Drop Search – URLs or text • To search for information related to some text on a web page, select the text, right-click, and choose Search Web for (???) from the context menu.
- 33. History • View SidebarHistory or CTRL H • View results by date, site, last visited, most visited and date& site. Search history • History is maintained for ? Days. To change, go to Tools, Options, Privacy, History. • History is of the URLs, not of the page viewed at that time. • Options to delete sites from the list
- 34. Firefox shortcuts • Backspace to reverse one page in your browser history • F11 to expand to Full Screen view • CTRL-K jump to search bar to search • CTRL-L or F6 to jump to the location bar • CTRL-F5 refresh-reload the web page • CTRL-D to bookmark the current page • CTRL-SHIFT T- open the last closed tab
- 35. Firefox shortcuts • CTRL-Enter to type "www...com" quickly in the address bar with the keyword you use. • CTRL-”Mouse wheel spin” to enlarge or shrink page font size • SHIFT-Click a link to open a new window with the link.
- 36. Firefox shortcuts • ALT-D or CTRL-L or F6 Moves the cursor the address bar/location bar and waits for you to overtype with a new url.
- 37. Firefox shortcuts search for words in the page • Quick find: Search for text when I start typing: (setting in options ) • CTRL F- find in the webpage you are viewing . More useful in Firefox because it can find the words as you type them. Extras: next, previous, Match case, Highlight All
- 38. Extensions, Themes, plugins http://update.mozilla.org • Extensions, Themes, plugins • ToolsAdd-onsGet extensionsSearch
- 39. Installing Themes • Customize the look of the Firefox Browser by selecting a new theme or skin.
- 41. Installing Add-ons (Extensions) Click on „Install Now‟ to bring up the software installation dialog box Click on Install after the timer has elapsed Click the options button to setup and configure the Extension Restart Firefox To remove, go to ToolsAdd-ons. Right Click to uninstall or click on uninstall button.
- 42. Add-ons: Adblock Plus An add-on/extension primary goal of removing advertisements Right-click on a banner and choose “Adblock” from the context menu Or choose a filter subscription More information: http://adblockplus.org/en/
- 43. Add-ons: Add to Search Bar • Add any search on any page to the Search Bar • Install and then right click in the search box of a website and name to add to your Search Bar List • To uninstall, go to manage search engines in search bar menu http://maltekraus.de/Firefox/search-tools/
- 44. Add-ons: Book Burro • When it senses your are looking at a page that contains a book, it will overlay a small panel which when opened lists prices at online bookstores such as Amazon, Buy, Half (and many more) and whether the book is available at your library. • Install, Restart and customize (add your zip code) http://bookburro.org
- 45. Add-ons: Bugmenot Bypass compulsory web registration with the context menu via www.bugmenot.com. Reload if necessary.
- 46. Add-ons: Colorful tabs • Colorful Tabs colors every tab in a different color and makes them easy to distinguish while beautifying the overall appeal of the interface. http://binaryturf.com/
- 47. Add-ons: Cooliris • “The plugin that transforms your browser into a lightning fast, cinematic way to enjoy photos and videos from the Web or your desktop.” • http://www.cooliris.com/
- 48. Add-ons: Fireshot • Fireshot Adds the ability to take a screenshot of the page, edit it and save, copy to clipboard, send to external editor or e-mail it. • Additional annotation tools (text, freeform drawing, highlights) provide quick and easy way of documenting of captures. http://screenshot-program.com/fireshot/
- 49. Add-ons: Forecastfox • Get international weather forecasts and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable extension.
- 50. Add-ons: IE Tab & IE View • IE Tab: view webpages in IE in a Mozilla/Firefox tab • IE View IE View Lite: Lets you load pages in IE with a single right-click, or mark certain sites to *always* load in IE.
- 51. Add-ons: Organize Search Engines • For power users using dozens of installed search engines; sort, separate, edit and more
- 52. Add-ons: PDF Download • Allows you to choose what to do with a PDF file: create, download it, view it with an external viewer, email it or view it as HTML. http://www.pdfdownload.org to access the bookmarklet
- 53. Add ons: Xmarks •Bookmarks sync: Synchronizes your regular Firefox bookmarks between multiple computers or profiles. •Site Suggestions in your search results •Smarter Search: site icon with Google search results (sites people have bookmarked) and info about the sites •Online access to your bookmarks via myxmarks.com
- 54. Add-ons: Extension List Dumper • Are you an add-on fan? This extension adds a button ("Dump list") to the Add-ons window. When this button is pressed, a new window is opened with the list of installed extensions, themes or plugins (as plain text, as HTML or as CSV). http://sogame.awardspace.com/
- 55. Google Toolbar: available for both Firefox and IE • http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/index.html • Enhanced Search Box Search smarter with instant suggestions, spelling corrections, and history as you type Safe Browsing Get warnings about web pages that may be unsafe SpellCheck Check your spelling whenever you type in web forms AutoFill Automatically fill out forms for faster online shopping
- 56. Resources • https://wiki.mozilla.org/About:mozilla • http://www.mozillazine.org/ • http://kb.mozillazine.org/Knowledge_Base
- 57. Happy Browsing! Sheila A Lafferty- UConn Torrington Sheila@uconn.edu 860.626.6841