Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on May 14, 2006 by CyberNet.

Mozilla is known for how quickly they update their software. Firefox has become one of Mozilla’s most popular applications and their newest version, Firefox 2.0, is very much anticipated. Everyone loves to see the new features that they implement from build-to-build but many people don’t realize that you don’t have to wait for an official release in order to do some testing.

Testing definitely isn’t for everyone but it does give you that special feeling to know that you are using the latest and greatest software. Testing software, like Firefox, means that there could be some stability issues and you could even lose some important information (like your bookmarks). If you decide that you want to test the software anyways then make sure to backup some of the information that you do not want to lose.

Terminology
First, we need to make sure that you are familiar with the terms that we are going to talk about in this article. These terms are very important and will help you understand some important details.

• Trunk: A trunk is the name for a build that has the most current developments in it. This is for those people that want the latest and greatest software, but you must understand that a trunk will have the most bugs.
• Branch: A branch is a split off of the trunk and will eventually make it to a release. This may not be the latest and greatest but it will be more stable than the trunk.
• Nightly: A nightly is a daily compilation of Firefox that implements all patches and updates that were fixed that day.

The current Firefox example of a branch is Firefox 2.0 (currently in the alpha stage) while the current trunk is Firefox 3.0 (not even in the alpha stage). This means that Firefox 2.0 is not the most current version but it is far more stable than Firefox 3.0. When certain features get removed from the branch, such as Places getting pulled from Firefox 2.0, it will normally remain in the trunk build.

Using The Forums
Where do you get these builds from? You could constantly download the new builds from the Mozilla FTP server but you may not realize what they have fixed in each nightly build. The other way that I find to be the most effective is to watch the Firefox Builds forum. In the forum you will see posts like:

Those screenshots were taken on May 3, 2006 which means that the May 3 branch has been released but the May 4 branch has not. By viewing the topics you will see a list of fixes (Green), things they are currently working on (Yellow), and things they need to start working on (Red).

The next thing you will want to do is download the branch or trunk build. Enter into the thread for the build you wish to download (it can be a thread for a branch or a trunk). Locate the section that says “IRC channels” on the page which is normally in the first 5-10 lines. Immediately underneath that you will notice a link that says “The Official Win32 20060503 [Branch] build is out”. This is a hyperlink that you can click on to download the nightly build. If the nightly build is not yet available that link will read “The Official Win32 20060503 [Branch] build is not yet out”.

WINDOWS USERS:
If you would like to get the installation version then download the file that says win32.installer.exe in it. However, I test these versions in a different way so that I can keep my normal Firefox installation separate from the Firefox build I am testing. To do this you simply follow these steps:

1. Download this version of Portable Firefox.
2. Download the desired Firefox branch/trunk in ZIP format (not the win32.installer.exe version)
3. Extract both the Portable Firefox download and the Firefox branch/trunk.
4. Copy the “firefox” folder from the Firefox branch/trunk to the “PortableFirefox/App” directory (your Portable Firefox directory should now look similar to the image below).
5. Now execute the PortableFirefox.exe located in the PortableFirefox directory.

Testing The Build
The worst part about testing a new version of Firefox is extension incompatibility. You have the huge list of extensions and you know that it will take forever to change the max-version on each one of them. That is where the Nightly Tester Tools Extension comes into play. The Nightly Tester Tools Extension will allow you to install incompatible extensions or to re-enable your extensions that got disabled. When you go to install an extension you will see a window popup like the one to the right. All you have to do before you click “Install Now” is check the box that says “Install using Nightly Tester Tools to override compatibility”. This will allow you to install extensions that are not normally compatible.

There are a lot of people that use the Google Toolbar, but if you are using an incompatible version of Firefox then Google will not let you download the Toolbar. However, you can use this direct link to the Google Toolbar Firefox Extension which is still coming straight from Google but you are getting around them checking for Firefox incompatibilities. The installation should popup immediately after clicking that link. Now you just need to follow the Nightly Tester Tools instructions listed above to override the compatibility.

The last thing I will talk about is your bookmarks. Some Firefox builds have been known to cause your bookmarks to disappear for one reason or another. The best thing that you can do to prevent losing your bookmarks is make sure you use a service like Google Bookmarks or Del.icio.us! If you don’t want to use Del.icio.us then you can get a recently released extension for Firefox that will allow you to have a button for your Google Bookmarks right on the Firefox toolbar. This is very similar to the button that Google has already implemented in the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer.

Okay, I think that is everything that I have come across since I started being a nightly tester for Firefox about two months ago. It is very exciting to see new features and to see the browser development process. If anyone knows any tips that I have not placed here please feel free to let me know.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on May 29, 2008 by CyberNet.

Foxmarks is one of the most used Firefox add-ons raking in nearly 70,000 downloads every week, and up until now it has well over 5 million total downloads. With it you can synchronize your bookmarks between multiple computers, or in my case use it as a backup. The popularity of this extension shows just how important a user’s bookmarks are.

On Tuesday the developers publicly released Foxmarks 2.0.46.9, and this version is capable of running on Firefox 1.5 and up (including Firefox 3). According to the Foxmarks Blog 20,000 users participated in the Beta, and have verified that it works as expected:

We should note that until Firefox 3 ships (expected in about two weeks, according to what we hear), we’ll be continuing to refine Foxmarks’ support for that browser. There are still some rarely experienced problems, but having validated the core functionality with nearly 20,000 users in beta test, we felt sufficiently confident to make it available to anyone who has already made the early jump to Firefox 3.

Once you have Foxmarks up and running you’ll be able to access your bookmarks from any computer either through synchronization, or with the web interface. Hopefully having Foxmarks on the Firefox 3 Bandwagon will ease the transition for many of you.

Get Foxmarks for Firefox

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on February 28, 2007 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

There is so much information all over the web that keeping up with it all can become a tedious task. Most sites have feeds that can be subscribed to so that all of your news is aggregated into one location, but sometimes it is nice to actually visit your favorite sites.

If you’re like me then you probably have some a handful of sites that you actually like to view each day. In the morning when I wake up I typically visit a few sites like Slashdot, Google News (Technology), Yahoo! News, and of course our own Site/Forum. This gets the ball rolling for me and gets my news juices flowing.

There are actually several different ways that I use to keep up on my favorite sites. Three of the ways that I know of I’m going to mention here, and the last one is probably going to be the one that a majority of you don’t already know about.

The first way is with the GMarks Firefox extension. It allows me to create a group of bookmarks by assigning labels, and then lets me right-click on that group to open the sites in new tabs. This is really convenient, but is not something unique to this extension. Many other bookmarking extensions also have this feature, and even the built-in Firefox bookmark system will let you do this.

Another way that you can open multiple sites simultaneously in tabs is by setting your homepage to be more than one site. You can easily do this by specifying multiple sites in the Options like this:

http://www.searchmash.com/|http://cybernetnews.com

Notice the “|” that divides the two sites, which is what makes Firefox recognize that there are multiple sites tied to the homepage. Then every time you click on the homepage button it will pull up all of the sites that you have set as your homepage. You can also Ctrl+Click on the homepage button to open all of the sites in new tabs instead of overwriting your existing ones.

Okay, now for the last way that many of you were probably waiting for. You can actually create a desktop shortcut that will open a new window with all of your favorite sites. The easiest thing to do would be to copy your existing Firefox shortcut and just append a string similar to this onto the end of the “Target” field:

-new-window google.com|cybernetnews.com

which means the entire Target field would look something like this:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -new-window google.com|cybernetnews.com

This is a screenshot of what it should look like when editing the shortcut:

Then each time you click on that shortcut it will open a new window and each of the sites listed will be open in new tabs. I find myself using these shortcuts a little more than the other two methods mentioned above because I want the sites open in a new window. This keeps my current window a little more tidy and prevents unneeded clutter. Heck, I have a whole folder of Firefox shortcuts that I use depending on what kind of news I’m looking to read.

More command line arguments for Firefox can be found here.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on February 12, 2008 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

I remember when online stores first started popping up everyone was wondering how in the world such a marketplace would continue to exist. At the time online prices were about the same as they were in the retail stores, but shipping costs killed any savings that you would have received. Now things are not only cheaper online, but a lot of stores offer free shipping on purchases.

Now the problem that I encounter the most is keeping track of all the packages that are supposed to be coming to me. Just a few weeks ago I had a package who’s status said that it was delivered, but I never actually received it. Luckily the company that I ordered it from quickly refunded my money, but if I was not tracking the package a lot of time could have passed before I realized that there was an issue.

You can always track packages through the carrier’s website, but there are alternate methods available that make staying on top of multiple orders extremely simple. Here are my four favorite ways to track packages…

–TrackThePack (Homepage)–

This is one of my favorite package tracking services because it sports a clean interface, and is powered by AJAX. To get started you enter in a tracking number, hit the submit button, and you’ll instantly see the results. If you decide against creating an account the tracking numbers will still be stored in their database using your IP address.

–TrackMyShipments (Homepage)–

Works with UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS.

TrackMyShipments is a unique service that makes package tracking a piece of cake. All you have to do is signup for the free service with the email address that you use when ordering your items. Then just forward any emails containing tracking numbers to track@trackmyshipments.com, and the tracking information will magically start appearing in your account.

One of the reasons that I like this service is that all of your information is available from any computer, thereby making it easy to track your packages even when you’re on-the-go. You’ll also get quick access to the email that you forwarded to the service in case you need to grab additional order information.

[via Lifehacker]

–iSnoop (Homepage)–

Works with UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS.

When you track packages with iSnoop you’re provided with an easily bookmarkable URL so that you can jump back to see your tracking status at anytime. You’ll also see how your package has moved from one point to another via Google Maps.

The most notable feature, in my opinion, is the RSS tracking option. Each item that you track on iSnoop will have an RSS feed available so that you can receive tracking updates right in your feed reader. If you’re always buried in your feed reader I think this is a great way to keep up-to-date on your packages’ progress.

Tip: If you’re running Vista there’s also a sidebar gadget available using the data from iSnoop.

–Track Package Extension (Homepage)–

Firefox users get the pleasure of having this extension available at their fingertips. You can use it to recognize tracking numbers on a website or in an email, and then have it take you to the carrier’s official site to see the progress. The extension will also keep a list of the packages you’ve tracked in the past to provide an efficient way of tracking your existing packages:

–Overview–

There are likely dozens if not hundreds of different ways to track your packages, and now we would like to hear what your favorite tools are! Hit us up in the comments below with the different ways you stay on top of your online orders.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on February 27, 2007 by CyberNet.

I have always been a huge fan of using the default Firefox theme because I think it is nice and simple. On several occasions I have actually gone out and scrounged around looking for a nice Firefox theme, but each time I have come up empty handed. I have installed many of the popular themes that Mozilla lists, but none of them seemed to fit what I like…not even the Noia which everyone seems to love.

Today I was going around DeviantArt just for the fun of it, and I came across a guy who has made several Firefox themes that all look pretty amazing in Firefox. There was this theme modeled after Windows Media Player 11 that really caught my attention:

There are a few things that I would like to say about the theme though. First off you’ll notice that I have two sets of tabs in the screenshot above. The top set is from the Tab Groups that I just mentioned yesterday. The extension appears to be missing the “New Group” button normally located to the left side, but the empty black space is actually the button…the theme obviously conflicts with the extension. I, however, like having just the small area to click instead of showing a big “New Group” button that takes up too much room.

The next thing that I would like to say about it is that there is a lot of black in this theme. Honestly, I never thought that I would be using a black theme, but there is something about this one that looks nice and helps my eyes to focus on the content contained on the site. I also love how bright the currently selected tab looks because I can quickly find it when I have 20 to 30 tabs open. If it is too much black for you then you should look at two other themes offered by the same person:

• Firefox 2 Vista Black
• Vista Firefox 2

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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