Archive for August, 2009
August 21st, 2009
Today the Mozilla mobile team announced the release of Fennec 1.0 Beta 3 for Maemo! Stuart Parmenter, Mozilla’s director of mobile engineering, explains more about the exciting new features and improvements to performance in his blog post, excerpted below.
We’ve made big improvements to kinetic panning and added the ability to scroll iframes. A lot of work has been done to make our theme more robust, taking advantage of things like media queries to support various devices, orientations, and platforms which you’ll see more of in the next Windows Mobile release. Overall, this beta is a major improvement to previous Fennec betas.
Moving forward, we’re going to focus on fixing polish bugs, rough edges, and taking advantage of things like our new tile system to help avoid the user seeing a checkerboard while panning.
For more information, check out the developer release notes.
August 21st, 2009
Jetpack is an experiment in using open Web technologies to enhance the browser, with the goal of allowing anyone who can build a Web site to participate in making the Web a better place to work, communicate and play.
We are currently hard at work on Jetpack 0.5 which will have a number of great new features, from the ability to handle streaming audio, to being able to play the music already on your computer, to a much improved Twitter library. This is in addition to a whole slew of bug fixes. You can see exactly what’s changed here.
If you’re impatient, you can download the beta of Jetpack 0.5.
The Contest
In preparation for the release we are launching a Jetpack contest. For making the coolest or most interesting Jetpack, we are offering a brand new netbook (the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE). For the runner-up, we’ll send you a big package of Mozilla swag. Special kudos for Jetpacks that use the latest features in Jetpack 0.5.
- The contest starts today, the 20th of August and lasts until the 15th of October.
- Win a netbook!
- See the contest details
- Submit your Jetpack
Get Involved
Mozilla Labs is a virtual lab where people come together online to create, experiment and play with Web innovations for the public benefit. The Jetpack experiment is still in its infancy and just getting started. There are many ways to join the team and get involved:
- Install and play around with the initial Jetpack API and demos
- Write a JEP
- Report a bug
- Grab the source code and fix a bug or add a feature
- Discuss, debate and add to the design in the Jetpack discussion group
- Join us in #jetpack on irc.mozilla.org
We’re also looking for a full-time product manager and software engineers to join Labs and work on Jetpack! What title is better than Jetpack PM? Check out the career opportunities available.
— Aza Raskin, on behalf of the Jetpack team
August 21st, 2009
Haven’t you always wanted to give back to those Firefox add-on developers that have made your life easier? Well, even if the thought hadn’t crossed your mind – you do have the ability to do so thanks to the new contributions feature on the Firefox Add-ons site.
How it works is a small widget gets shown on the specific add-on’s page and says something like, “The developer of this add-on asks that you help support its continued development by making a small contribution” then you can donate the suggested price or a different amount.
Nothing wrong with giving back a little to those out there who have made your browsing experience even better.
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© Mitch Keeler 2008 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
August 21st, 2009
To get to the Applications menu, you’ll want to go to Tools in the menu toolbar, then Options, then click on the Applications tab.
From here you can change just about any way that Firefox relates to any other file, application or task out there. Here are a few things I did to speed up my browser usage.
ARCHIVES: For archives (like .zip, .rar, ect) I set the action to “Save File”, that way I can skip Firefox asking me if I would like to open or save that type of file when I download it.
FEEDS: Since I am a Google Reader user when it comes to subscribing to feeds, I changed the Web Feed option from “Preview in Firefox” to “Use Google”.
MP3S: Another fix I like to do here is to set MP3 Format Found from the hijacking QuickTime (which like to take control of everything you do) to “Always Ask” cause sometimes I might want to stream it right there and other times, I might like to download it.
MAILTO: If you use Gmail a lot, you can also setup the mailto links to Use Gmail anytime you click a link that is formatted in that way.
I hope that handful of Application handling in Firefox is handy. Just one more way Firefox lets you have the ultimate customized web browsing experience, if you you know where to look.
Add me on Twitter! Come follow my daily antics, links, tips and more @mitchkeeler on Twitter!
© Mitch Keeler 2008 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
August 20th, 2009
Having seen the phase of toolbar upon toolbar come our way in this browsing generation, many have been labeled as evil space wasters that must be done away with. However, I do have to say not ever toolbar out there is evil. Now I don’t think you should ever become this crazy, but used in the right way they can be handy.
Look at these handy toolbars you can add to Firefox:
- Forecastfox – Get international weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com, and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable and unobtrusive extension.
- Google Toolbar – Ok, I haven’t really used the Google Toolbar in half a decade, however it does still have a few handy things about it.
- Fire.fm – It gives you access to the extensive music library on Last.fm. Last.fm gives free radio to the US, UK, and Germany, plus subscriber-based service to the rest of the world. Listen to your favorite music and discover new artists in the process.
- Web Developer Toolbar – The Web Developer extension adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.
So see – not every toolbar is bad. Are there any more toolbars you really enjoy? Don’t be afraid, share with the rest of us in the comments.
Add me on Twitter! Come follow my daily antics, links, tips and more @mitchkeeler on Twitter!
© Mitch Keeler 2008 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
August 20th, 2009
As you know, we launched the Mozilla Creative Collective today! To kick things off we’re hosting a mini design challenge around Mozilla Service Week. We’re hoping your creativity and artistic skills can help inspire action and ultimately better the Web experience for people and organizations around the world.
Here are some ideas:
- Craft a flyer, poster or banner (the offline kind!) to get the word out.
- Design new site badges, Twitter backgrounds or blog themes.
- Create a new Persona for Mozilla Service Week. Check out the current one.
- Dream up a new t-shirt design for the community store.
- Create an avatar for Facebook or other social networks.
As inspiration check out The Royal Order’s blog post about the design direction of the Mozilla Service Week site. In a nutshell:
- The Mozilla Service Week site aims to be inspirational and make participants feel part of a bigger movement that has the ability to affect change and better the Web for people all the world.
- The site strives to reflect the organic, participatory and people-driven nature of the Mozilla project.
- We drew from the humanistic style of 1930’s WPA murals which evoked people working together and helping each other for the sake of the greater good.
You’re encouraged to use existing Mozilla Service Week elements (such as the logo) to create your own unique interpretation of the “take action” theme. In other words, your designs can look entirely different from the other Service Week materials…it’s up to you. As
inspiration, check out:
- Mozilla Service Week Website Design Graphic (Photoshop file)
- Website Design Elements (PNG files)
Please submit your designs to the Mozilla Creative Collective tagged with “mozservice09″ by September 14th. We’ll be sending t-shirts to our favorites!
Lastly, you can make a difference by helping an organization with their design needs as part of Mozilla Service Week. There are opportunities for both Web design and graphic design. Social Actions for instance can use some help with a new Twitter background and more!
Let’s use our creativity to make a difference this Mozilla Service Week!
August 20th, 2009
I’m excited to announce the initial beta release of the Mozilla Creative Collective, the official new home and hub of activity for our visual design community. The goal of the Creative Collective is to use art as a means for spreading Firefox and sharing the Mozilla story in new ways.
Building communities is a big part of what Mozilla is all about, and key to our success as an organization. We have dedicated communities that contribute to nearly every aspect of Mozilla – from software development, to extensions, to localization, to marketing, and more – but an area that’s traditionally lacked an organized community is visual design. And because art is such a powerful form of communication, we’re harnessing that with the Creative Collective.
Mozilla actually has a long history with community design. Successful past projects such as the Firefox 3 t-shirt, Mozilla Mexico logo design contest and Personas are just a sampling of our community’s creative energy – and demonstrate the growing level of interest among people who are eager to contribute.
On the Creative Collective site, artists can create personal profiles, share their work in a public gallery, connect and collaborate with others from around the world, and much more. There’s also a variety of social features, such as a system of achievement badges, to make the experience more fun for everyone.
An important feature that’s not yet available (but will be added soon) is the Design Challenge, which will prompt members to submit design solutions based around a particular theme. Although the feature hasn’t been formally introduced to the site, we’re already reaching out to artists to help support Mozilla Service Week with creative designs that inspire action. If you’re looking for an initial way to get involved, be sure to check that out.
As noted earlier, the site is still in beta so we’re eager to hear your feedback. If you have suggestions on how to improve the site, please don’t hesitate to share them with us. We’ll be making tweaks and adding new features over time, and are counting on the community to help guide the project’s future direction. So, make sure to check back often, or follow our tweets, for updates. Looking forward to seeing you on the Creative Collective!
August 20th, 2009
Ever needed to see your Firefox status bar when browsing in full screen mode (you can get into full screen mode by hitting the F11 key on your keyboard). If you answered, “Yes, tell me more!” do I ever have that add-on of your dreams.
Simply called Full Screen Status Bar, this add-on for Firefox shows the status bar in full screen mode. It is a very simple tweak that should make many full screen web browser users very happy.
Pick it up for yourself, and give it a shot at the Mozilla add-ons web site.
Add me on Twitter! Come follow my daily antics, links, tips and more @mitchkeeler on Twitter!
© Mitch Keeler 2008 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
August 19th, 2009
Editor’s note: Mozilla released a major update for Firefox 3.0.x users on Thursday, August 13th, 2009. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement, reposted below, for more details.
Users with the latest version of Firefox 3 will be getting an offer to update to Firefox 3.5. If you’re running Firefox 3.0.13 you will see the offer in the next couple of days, though if you’re eager you can always “Check for Updates” in the “Help” menu. This is what the offer will look like:
Clicking the “Upgrade to Firefox 3.5″ link will open a new tab with more information about Firefox 3.5 to help you make your decision about upgrading. From there, you have a choice:
- select Later if you don’t want to decide now; Firefox will ask again in 24 hours
- select Never if you don’t want to accept this upgrade offer; we might send you another offer again in the future, but it won’t be for several weeks or months
- select Get the new version to continue on with the upgrade process!
Once you’ve accepted that, Firefox will download and install the update, then offer to restart the browser. When you restart, you’ll be rolling with Firefox 3.5!
Now, although over 90% of Firefox add-ons have been updated to be compatible with Firefox 3.5, in some cases the authors have created entirely new versions. If that happens with your favorite add-on, you might see the following screen:
You can see exactly which add-ons are being flagged as potentially incompatible by clicking on Show List. As mentioned above, for most popular add-ons, there probably is an update available, but you’ll need to install Firefox 3.5 first in order to check. If you continue with the update process, when Firefox 3.5 starts up for the first time you’ll see the following screen:
By all means, Check Now to see if there’s a version of that add-on which works with Firefox 3.5. If there is, you’ll see the following:
You’ll want to Install Now which will fetch the update and then continue loading Firefox 3.5.
If an update isn’t available, Firefox will check every day and let you know once the add-on author has created one. If you’ve come this far and decide that you can’t live without your favorite add-on, you can always go to www.firefox.com and click on “Other Languages and Systems”, and click on the link to download an older version of Firefox.
August 19th, 2009
Mozilla Service Week is coming up in just one month – September 14 to 21, 2009! The driving force behind service week is our strong belief that everyone should know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a great experience when they’re online. You can have a hand in helping organizations and people all over the world experience the joy of using the Web too!
Here’s how to help:
- Choose from a list of service opportunities: Search our partner sites (Idealist & betterplace.org) for a volunteer opportunity near you or anywhere around the world! Our site is now available in Spanish, Italian, French and German as well!
- Take part in “Earth Day for the Web”: We’ve partnered with OneWebDay on September 22nd, which aims to celebrate and preserve the Web as an important commons accessible to everyone. This year’s theme is “Digital Inclusion” and there will be local service events that you can join!
- Create your own: Reach out to a local school, organization or people near you to find out what sort of technology help they need. Here are some examples:
- William Reynolds of the University of Virginia is going to teach his student council how to use social media to better communicate with students.
- Tim Hogan and The Royal Order design firm are helping the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago rearchitect and redesign their current site.
- William D. of the UK is creating a guide on how the Internet can benefit people of different age groups, different career paths and different levels of technical knowledge.
- Follow our lead: If you need an idea of how to help we’re providing a series of simple activities that can help make the Web better. First up is an “Internet Health Check” with easy steps on how to keep people safe on the Web. We’ll roll out more in the coming weeks!
Mozilla Service Week wouldn’t be possible without the incredible community and our wonderful partners who are supporting the program. Idealist.org and betterplace.org have stepped up to help organizations list service needs and help volunteers find them. Major names in non-profit technology, service and social entrepreneurship spaces have joined on as as “Friends” of the program to help promote Mozilla Service Week to the various communities that they serve which include schools, NPOs, NGOs and more. “Friends” of the project include:
- Aspiration
- ChristianVolunteering.org
- CiviCRM
- Community Technology Network
- Convio
- DemocracyInAction
- DonorsChoose.org
- The Extraordinaries
- GiveIndia
- IfPeople
- Innovation for People
- JustGiving
- Live Earth
- Ned
- NPower
- NTEN
- PopTech
- Social Actions
- Social Edge
- SocialBrite
- TakingITGlobal
- TechSoup Global
- The Transmission Project
- Zazengo
We hope you’ll join us in Mozilla Service Week and make a difference by helping people and organizations use something you love – the Web! If you’re an organization in need of help, learn more here. For more details on how to volunteer visit here or join our online workshop tomorrow, August 19th at 9 a.m. PDT. And, remember to register, pledge your hours and share your stories on mozillasevice.org!