A Critique of the Proposed National Education Policy Reform
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.
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
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
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
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
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
