There are few sites which we don’t want to access due the reason: viruses or porn related content and in same case the system slows down when entering specific sites, and necessary to keep away the kids who are always before the systems from the unwanted sites. Obviously there are many installation which helps us to secured from this sites and monitors the list of sites which have been visited as well..,read more>>

Firefox UI=Fail.

Originally uploaded by paulswansen

One of the reasons I make use of Safari more and more.

Firefox 3

Opera 9

This is the default browser that comes with Ubuntu Intrepid and since I have been using it in WinXP for a while I have been quite familiar with it and know that it’s an excellent browser with good customisation and plugins.

I wanted to check what my blog looks like in another browser and as IE does not run on Ubuntu (well it might under WINE but I have not tested it).

I was pretty impressed with the simple install as the download page recognised I was running Ubuntu Intrepid and offered me the correct download.   The file was opened via GDebi Package installer by default so getting it installed could not have been easier.

I like my browser set up with as little “clutter” as possible, and with Firefox it’s easy to have Menu, Buttons & URL bar all in a single row.   Opera wanted to have the menu on a separate row so the answer was to hit ALT+F11 to hide the menu.   Firefox seems to come out first here.

Another annoyance with Opera was that I had to double click the URL bar to select all of the text, but Firefox can be configured with about:config to only require a single click.

I have not got many plugins yet on Firefox but I quite like “stylish” which has some good styles which strip out the ugly colours & backgrounds that some websites use.   I hate having to read white text on a dark background so when I encounter such a site stylish comes into action.

I have also got the Search Status plugin which displays the Alexa Rank and I can see that my blog ranks 3,316,815 compared with 23 for google.co.uk!

Opera is “closed source” which is possibly not quite as good as having an open source browser.  I like the idea of open source as do no doubt a lot of Ubuntu and WordPress users.

I think I’ll probably stick with Firefox as my main browser but keep Opera as an good alternative browser.

Did you know that you can use the location bar of your browser for more than just web addresses?

The sections below provide instructions on increasing the utility of the Firefox location bar.

Goal: Simplified Searching and Browsing

Merge your Firefox location bar and quick search box into one powerful, customized location bar (sometimes called the “awesome bar” in Firefox 3).

Here is the Firefox location bar, search engine box, and toolbar customization menu, all shown as default in Firefox 3. This post describes how to consolidate these two boxes.

Firefox allows users to create and perform highly tailored keyword searches from the address/location bar (no, not the search engine box in the top right, but the location bar containing “http://…”).  I prefer to use just the location bar, since I get a little distracted with too many text boxes.  With a little effort, you can consolidate search and location entry.

Higher Web Productivity

The “awesome bar” will allow you to zip through the web using personal keyboards.  Just jump to the location bar, type in a location or any number of quick searches you add (see below), and you may be impressed just how quickly you can pull up on-demand info using this approach.  Teach your fingers at least one shortcut to get to the location bar; the following keyboard shortcuts will work (within Firefox):

• F6
• Ctrl/Cmd+L
• Alt+D
• Ctrl/Cmd+T, which opens a new tab and places your cursor at the location bar
• (See Lifehacker for more Firefox keyboard shortcuts.)

Remove the Search Engine Box

The first thing I do to simplify my browsing experience in Firefox is get rid of the search engine box next to the location bar, so that I can focus on my own searches which use the location bar.  To remove it, right-click on the menu bar, click “Customize …,” then drag the search engine box into the newly opened window.

Import Useful Quick Searches

I used a Lifehacker post (Geek to Live: Fifteen Firefox Quick Searches) to help get me started.  I tailored it to my taste; you should do the same.  You can check out the Lifehacker post for their version, or continue here with my version.  Open the target bookmark files in your browser to see the difference.

1. Right-click on the link (here) my quick search bookmarks file, choose “Save Link As…,” and make a note of where you save the file on your computer.
2. Go to the Firefox Bookmarks menu, and choose “Organize Bookmarks…” or “Manage Bookmarks…” (depending on your version of Firefox).
3. From the Library or Bookmarks Manager menu, choose import from either the “Import and Backup” menu or the file menu (depending on your version).  Import the HTML file you saved in step 1.  You can safely delete this file after import.

Note that if you already have keyword searches defined, you may need to check that no two bookmarks expect the same keyword; this may cause conflict.

Quick Google Searches

By default, Firefox performs a Google search if you type into the location bar terms which are not possible web locations (e.g. “example.com”) and do not match your keyword searches (e.g. “lh firefox”).  You can rely on that, but you will get more consistent results if you explicitly define a Google quick search with a keyword (I use “go” or “google”).

Easily Add Any Search

You can easily expand your keyword searching while you browse the web.  Whenever you see a search box on a web page,

• right-click within the search box, select “Add a Keyword for this Search …”
• add a name and a keyword
• designate the “Create in” folder to be Quick Searches -> Personal or your favorite folder for personal quick searches.
• (See Mozilla’s explanation for more details.)

Video Tutorial

Video Source: www.mob3.co.uk

Version Details

I have used these tips with both Firefox version 2 and version 3.

Further Reading

• Many of the links in this post will have more details on managing keyword searches in Firefox.
• Lifehacker: Four Extensions That Tweak Firefox 3’s “AwesomeBar”