Easy Firefox

Archive for December, 2009

Once upon a time there was a tiny Twiter tool called, TinyTweet.

This littlest add-on of them all spread joy a harmony throughout the Internets by allowing all those in Twitter land to send tweets to their friend, families and that guy who keeps spamming affiliate deals.  It didn’t do this by any normal means.  Oh no.  It did it’s work by simply highlighting text on any page.

Ok, that is all the fairy tail talk I can handle.  TinyTweet is another one of those, small extensions that simply gets the job done.  All you have to do is highlight any text inside of any web page, and a “Tweet This” button will magically appear.  Click it, and an automatically generated bit.ly link is created and the text you highlighted is ready to be shared to all your Twitter followers.

You can pick up the TinyTweet add-on from the Firefox Add-ons web site.

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© Mitch Keeler 2009 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!

 
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Want to hide all the stuff you do not really need on your personalized iGoogle homepage?  Thanks Super iGoogle, a handy Greasemonkey script, you can simplify iGoogle to only show you the content you need to see.

Why hide iGoogle content?

I really didn’t want to hide everything you see in the screenshot, I mainly needed a way to hide the left sidebar, because I really only use one page on iGoogle for my calendar, RSS links and e-mail.  Once you get Super iGoogle installed into Greasemonkey, the tool itself is pretty self explanatory.

What about other Google links, settings and more?

You get a drop down menu added to the iGoogle web page, where you can choose to hide or show the header, the sidebar, the footer and the mini search the script adds to the very top of your iGoogle page.  Other menu items include:

• Advanced Search
• Search Preferences
• Language Tools
• iGoogle Settings
• Change Theme
• Get artistic themes
• Themes for Causes
• Add Stuff
• Classic Home
• My Account
• Sign Out

So all the usual iGoogle settings are there, they are just tucked away so they are not a visual distraction to you.

Download the Super iGoogle user script on UserScripts.org.

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© Mitch Keeler 2009 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!

 
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Editor’s note: Today, Mozilla released 3.6 beta (revision 5) early this morning. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement reposted below.

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This morning the Mozilla community released Firefox 3.6 Beta 4, making it available for free download and issuing an automatic update to all Firefox 3.6 beta users. This update contains over 100 fixes from the last Firefox 3.6 beta, containing many improvements for web developers, Add-on developers, and users. Over 70% of the thousands of Firefox Add-ons have now been upgraded by their authors to be compatible with Firefox 3.6 Beta. If your favorite Add-on isn’t yet compatible, you can also download and install the Add-on Compatibility Reporter – your favorite Add-on author will appreciate it!

The Mozilla community appreciates your feedback and assistance in testing this preview of the next version of Firefox. Your beta software will update itself periodically, and eventually will be updated to the final release itself.

The Beta of Firefox 3.6 / Gecko 1.9.2 introduces several new features for users to evaluate:

• Support for the HTML5 File API
• A change to how third-party software integrates with Firefox to increase stability.
• The ability to run scripts asynchronously to speed up page load times.
• Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
• Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

Web developers and Add-on developers should read more detail about the many new features in Firefox 3.6 for developers on the Mozilla Developer Center. For the full list of changes since the alpha release of Firefox 3.6 see this list (it’s big).

If you already have Firefox 3.6 Beta, you should be automatically updated to the latest version in the next 24 to 48 hours. You can also choose to manually “Check for Updates” from the Help menu.

If you’d like to download Firefox 3.6 Beta, please use the following links or visit the beta download page:

• Windows: Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 Setup.exe
• Mac OS X: Firefox 3.6 Beta 5.dmg
• Linux: firefox-3.6b5.tar.bz2

As always, the Mozilla community would appreciate hearing about any feedback you have about this release, or any bugs you may find.

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The master password in Firefox is used to add another layer of security to your password system.  What would happen though if you setup a master password, got in an accident, were in a coma for six months, and then once you awoke you couldn’t remember what your master password was set to?  I’ll help you reset or recover your Firefox master password with one simple tool.

Recover the Firefox Master Password with FireMaster

FireMaster claims to be the first ever tool built to recover the lost master password in Firefox.  In all honesty, you are really hacking yourself – because the tool uses a combination of techniques such as dictionary, hybrid and brute force to recover the master password from the Firefox key database file.  Desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.

You can pick up your own version of the digital download here.

Resetting the Master Password in Firefox

When you reset the master password in Firefox, you will remove all the stored password information – so that is not a very good route to go, if you really need that login information back. 

With that warning said – point your browser towards:

chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul

Copy and paste that into your address bar, then hit the Enter key. upon doing so you will be asked if you really want to reset the master password, and remove your stored information, passwords, private keys and more.  Click the Reset button to reset the Firefox master password for good.

So there you have two route to take next time you awake from your own six month coma. The best route of all to take would be do not forget your password, but if your finding this from a Google search – it might be too late for sage words.

Add me on Twitter! Come follow my daily antics, links, tips and more @mitchkeeler on Twitter!

© Mitch Keeler 2009 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!

 
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Mozilla has a long tradition of code naming Firefox versions after parks (i.e. Firefox 3.5 = Shiretoko).  The next version of Firefox happens to be named after Namoroka, a park in Madagascar.  Namoroka is also home to adorable lemurs – almost as cute as the Red Panda.   We’re celebrating the release of Firefox 3.6, by raising funds to make a gift to the namesake park. Support Namoroka is up and ready to accept donations.

Image courtesy of the Madagascar Fauna Group

Why are we doing this? Parks are a part of an important ecosystem for collaboration, recreation and commerce, much like the digital ecosystems we build through the Mozilla project. While we work to make the web better through products like Firefox, we can make the world a bit better by supporting parks like Namoroka.

How can you help?

• Donate! We’re hoping to raise $10,000 to give to the Madagascar Fauna Group to help them improve their website and online fundraising, as well as support programs for protecting lemur habitats and stopping illegal lemur trapping.

• Spread the word! Get your own Support Namoroka button and put it on your blog or website, tweet it and sing it from the rooftops and street corners while you’re at it.

We’ll be raising funds until the end of January 2010. More updates to come!  Many thanks to Ned Schwartz, Chelsea Novak, Brain Warren, Jamey Boje and David Boswell for making this happen.

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Editor’s note: The Labs team at Mozilla released Personas 2.0 early this morning. Check out the Mozilla Labs announcement reposted below.

Personas 2.0 offers a cleaner look, clearer navigation, and easier ways to discover and engage new art. Check out the new site here.

The Mozilla Labs team launched Personas 1.0 in March with the idea that it shouldn’t be hard to make your internet browser more fun and personal. Over the past eight months, with your feedback and support, we iterated on the Personas experience fifteen times (10 times on the website, 5 times on the extension) and are now pleased to introduce Personas 2.0.

Here is a screencast by Ryan Doherty, who led development work on the redesign:

Introducing Personas 2.0 from Mozilla Labs on Vimeo.

What’s New?

1. Enhanced look: Thanks to the creative vision and guidance of Chris Howse, the site now has a cleaner look and feel, and also customizes an experience based on whether you are currently using the Personas add-on. The site also suggests more you might enjoy based on what you choose to wear.

2. New features: With your feedback and support, we integrated features like search, and favorites. We also added features to the Personas add-on itself to make it easier for you to discover and manage your persona designs directly from the little fox in the lower left corner of your browser chrome. (see 1.4 announcement and video).

3. More designs: Personas 1.0 launched with less than 150 designs. Thanks to a growing community of contributors and artists, the Personas gallery will likely welcome its 40,000th design by the end of this year. The gallery also includes affinity art from Harry Potter, Vans, Bob Marley, Lilly Pulitzer, and Greenpeace.

4. Easier discovery: To let you discover new artists and designs, we sorted the Personas gallery by “up and coming” designs. This allows you to quickly view personas designs that are gaining popularity in the Personas community. You can also easily switch your view to sort by “popular” or “just added”.

5. Localization underway: the localization and web development teams have worked to make the site localizeable. If you want to join the effort, you can do so here. Thanks to our community of volunteers, many localization efforts are underway, with some nearly complete.

Thanks!

Like all Mozilla projects, Personas is a collaboration between people who develop the product and people who use it. The following people (and many more) have been commited to this product’s success:

• NinaBella, Digital Blasphemy, MaDonna, and thousands of other artists around the globe that give millions of Firefox browsers a personalized look and feel. They are the heroes of this project.
• Shae Rivard, who has supported the resolution of over 250 issues on the Personas discussion forum, as well as over 500 other members, whose feedback, testing, and contributions continuously make the product better.
• Chris Howse for developing a creative vision for the Personas 2.0 site, and Ryan Doherty for implementing and for developing the screencast above.
• Myk Melez, Toby Elliot, and Zandr Milewski, with the support of Erik van Eykelen, and Jose Bolanos, for collaborating with community feedback to constantly improve on the product. Collaboratively, the development team has fixed over 300 issues since launch.
• Carsten Book (a.k.a. Tomcat), Stephen Donner, Tony Chung, Krupa Raj, and Vishal Kamdar, for assuring quality releases, and for doing so within incredibly tight deadlines.
• Amy Zehren, Sean Martell, Catherine Brady, and Julie Martin, with the support of Monique Johnson, who have reached out to countless brands around the globe to share the Mozilla story, and offer them the opportunity to participate in a growing movement.
• Tara Shahian, Mary Colvig, Melissa Shapiro, John Slater, Sarah Doherty, Jay Patel, and all the other members of the marketing community that helped build awareness around Personas.
• Seth Bindernagel, Staś Małolepszy, Pascal Chevrel, and all the Persona localizers on Babelzilla (AtteL, dogi, drry, Ersen Yoldac, fernph, Funkin2x, funTomas, Joergen, jojaba, jooliaan, kkemenczy, kustodian, Lisman, lois, loveleeyoungae, moZes, pia, SiiiE, spjutster, steekid, stoyan, Wareczek, and wtspout), who worked diligently to ensure that Personas is accessible in as many languages as possible.


What’s Next?

As Personas crosses 10.5 million downloads and prepares to welcome its 40,000th community design, we will continue make the product even better and easier to use. To continue to evolve Personas quickly, and in the right direction, we need your feedback and participation. Join the conversation in the discussion forum and add helpful hints to the support wiki. And stay tuned to this blog for updates!

- Ryan Doherty and Suneel Gupta on behalf of the Personas development team

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The Mozilla Labs team launched Personas 1.0 with the idea that it shouldn’t be hard to make your internet browser more fun and personal. Over the past eight months, with your feedback and support, we iterated on the Personas experience fifteen times (10 times on the website, 5 times on the extension) and are now pleased to introduce Personas 2.0.

Read more here and check out the new site.

Introducing Personas 2.0 from Mozilla Labs on Vimeo.

- Ryan Doherty and Suneel Gupta on behalf of the Personas development team

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Today the European Commission adopted a decision that represents a settlement in its current tying case against Microsoft. The settlement is similar to the version made available for comment some time back, with some changes resulting from the comment period.

The settlement articulates a number of principles relating to Microsoft protecting the choice of a different browser after a user has switched. (In the past it has been very difficult to avoid using IE, or to avoid repeated instances where IE keeps opening for certain tasks, or what appeared to be repeated efforts on Microsoft’s part to push people away from their choice and back to IE.) The settlement also requires Microsoft to include a “Choice Screen” offering users a choice of browsers in specified circumstances.

While the ballot mechanism represented by the choice screen has received the most attention, Mozilla is most pleased with the core principles Microsoft will be adopting that protect the choices a person has already made. These principles won’t be obvious to a person using Windows. That’s the point — once a person has chosen an alternative browser, IE should not keep reappearing. These principles are expressed in several components of the commitments and together should result in a greater respect for individual human decisions.

Mozilla’s non-profit mission is focused on self-determination and individual empowerment; we are gratified to see these principles appear in the settlement.

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File this add-on under awesome.  The Places’ Tooltip add-on for Firefox adds more detailed information about the bookmarks and links you have saved to your browser. 

It shows you more than your standard name and address, as Firefox does by default.  Once installed, you can see:

the last visited date, the tags associated with the link, the description and the keywords

It shows the tooltip for and in:

all links, folders, bookmarks, RSS items in the bookmarks toolbar, bookmarks menu, history menu and sidebars

This is a great simple extension for those who just need to have a little more information handy about the links they have saved to the browser.  You can pick up the Places’ Tooltip add-on on the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Add me on Twitter! Come follow my daily antics, links, tips and more @mitchkeeler on Twitter!

© Mitch Keeler 2009 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!

 
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