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New to Firebird 0.6


brucekrymow

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brucekrymow

I am trying out 0.6 and am curious about a few features I would enable that I use now w/ Avant:

  • How do I get the tabs for multiple windows across the bottom similar to task bar buttons in Windows
  • How do I enable clicking on links on a page so that pages open in the background while remaining on the current page
  • Save groups of pages to be opened all at once
  • Open certain groups of pages upon initial browser launch

TIA for any assistance. ;)

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I am trying out 0.6 and am curious about a few features I would enable that I use now w/ Avant:
  • How do I get the tabs for multiple windows across the bottom similar to task bar buttons in Windows
  • How do I enable clicking on links on a page so that pages open in the background while remaining on the current page
  • Save groups of pages to be opened all at once
  • Open certain groups of pages upon initial  browser launch

TIA for any assistance.  ;)

I use Mozilla 1.4, but I can do 3 of the 4 things you want. I can't do the first one (move tabs to bottom of screen). but there might be a setting i just dont know of in about:config screen.for loading pages in background, simply right click on a link and go "open in new tab" launches that site in a new tab, but does not switch to the tab automatically. there is a setting in EDIT/PREFERENCES/NAVIGATOR/TABBED BROWSING that has a "load links in background" option. for more advanced tabbing options, such as NEVER open a new window (as some web links force a new window sometimes), I recommend a plug-in extensions called Tabbrowser extensions (here are all Firebird Extensions. another good one is Mouse Gestures that simplifies back and forward browsing ala Opera style)for third question, click Bookmarks/ Bookmark This Groups of Tabsfor final question, EDIT/PREFERENCES/NAVIGATOR/and for Home Page, set USE CURRENT GROUPhope i helped ya some. Phoenix should identical/very similar to Mozilla's settings. cheers.p.s. - Avant Browser is nice. since i still sometimes HAVE to use IE for certain websites (like browsing 3D Solidworks files for design parts that is all enabled thru IE ActiveX plugins), i at least have a nice looking and powerful IE when i do have to use it. thanks for recommending it
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How do I get the tabs for multiple windows across the bottom similar to task bar buttons in Windows
You should be able to drag the tab-bar to the bottom of the screen where it will stay if you want it there. ;) Or, if you installed the Tabbrowser Exensions, go to Tools -> Options -> Extenions, select Tabbrowser Extensions -> settings button -> Advanced Tab-bar, and there's a check box to make it apppear at the bottom.
How do I enable clicking on links on a page so that pages open in the background while remaining on the current page
Under the Tools -> Options -> General Tab, there's a check box to make all new windows/tabs open in the background. :D
Save groups of pages to be opened all at once
I think there's a better way to do this (will look it up later), but you can save a group into a folder and then at the bottom of the list (inside the folder), will be a button that says "Open in Tabs", which will open the entire group at once... You can also right click the folder and select "Open in Tabs."
Open certain groups of pages upon initial browser launch
Two ways to do this: First, Open up the pages (in tabs) that you'd like to have start together, then go Tools -> Options -> General Tab, and hit the "Use Current Pages" button in the homepage section... This will set all the current pages to open at startup...Second, you can enter the pages manually to the homepage line by adding a vertical bar | between pages... (Ex. You want Yahoo and ebay to both appear at startup. You'd enter
http://www.yahoo.com|http://www.ebay.com

in the homepage line) That's all there is to it! If you haven't checked out http://www.texturizer.net/firebird yet, it's a great site with all sorts of info about the browser. :)

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Guest LilBambi

Ryan --Finally installed firebird in my local /home dir on my Linux box too ... using it even more in Linux than Galeon now ... although I like the look of pages a little better in Galeon, Firebird is a bit faster loading.Now I have Firebird on both my Windows and Linux ;)

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Sweet! Good to hear Fran! ;) Don't worry, I'm all for Galeon too... it's a very nice browser, and I'm cool with anyone using it. :) I do sometimes in Linux too! :D

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Guest LilBambi

Ryan --Thanks!Yes, Galeon is a great browser too...just a bit hoggy ... but not as bad as some others ... I have to say, since I have enjoyed Firebird so much in Windows it was well worth the additional download via dialup to get the Linux verison too ;)

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brucekrymow

Hi, Prelude & Ryan ~Besides the 'right-click and open in new tab' ;) , thank you both for a bunch of great help. I am going to pal around with this thing here for awhile but will be back with more questions - don't wanna overwhelm anyone. I hope you gentlemen have patience to spare, but I want to give this a full, honest run for the money. I have such a bad taste in my mouth from past experience with Moz that I hope this will help get me over that.

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I've got all sorts of patience... and happy to help! :D If you want your bookmarks to open in new tabs (or any other links for that matter), the Tabbrowser Extensions Settings have options to do so.Ask away with anything you need to know. :) I'm going to be gone from Friday afternoon until Sunday, but ask away anyway... If I'm not around, somebody else will step in. :)

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brucekrymow

Greets ~Ok, Firebird looks clean and pretty stoked about using it, but now am already becoming increasingly frustrated:

  • Some pages are met with a 'Javascript Application' message box stating page can only be viewed in IE - I thought this was solved?
  • There is no 'EDIT/PREFERENCES/NAVIGATOR' per the above directions
  • There is a blank space spanning the browser between address bar and tabs bar - how is this removed?
  • Tabs will not move to the bottom
  • Double-clicking tabs does not close them
  • Downloaded extensions - some are zips, some are '.XPI' - how are these installed locally?
  • Status bar constantly reporting "Transferring data from database.moz.dev.org" & "...database.moz.dev.org"- I did not authorize such - What is it transferring and why? Is this spyware?
  • Clicking on links does not open in background despite proper settings in 'Tools -> Options -> General Tab'
  • 'Bookmarks Toolbar Folder' is empty and thus useless, yet it won't let me delete it
  • Under 'Themes', is shows 'Modern' and 'Mozilla Firebird', yet no graphic display for the former and the wrong graphic display for the latter
  • I am aware of the turn-off feature in 'Options', but is there a toggle to block/unblock pop-ups as needed?
  • Can the nag screen every time Firebird fired up be disabled?

Sorry if this seems much, but after relying on certain features and nursing from the nipple of the "other", this weaning is accompanied by some angst. :D

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brucekrymow

Hi, Me again ~Scratch relative from the above, please as I got this much figured out with link opening: 'Shift+Click' link opens new window in background and 'Shift+Ctrl' link opens new tab in background. I'm diggin' it. I like the multiple window instances each with their own tabs capability. :D

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Some pages are met with a 'Javascript Application' message box stating page can only be viewed in IE - I thought this was solved?
Can you give an example of a page that does so? I'll investigate from there.
There is no 'EDIT/PREFERENCES/NAVIGATOR' per the above directions
Prelude's instructions were for the Mozilla Browser, which in this case, doesn't work in Firebird... All the options are under Tools -> Options
There is a blank space spanning the browser between address bar and tabs bar - how is this removed?
The View -> Toolbars menu controls all the toolbars... You can remove the different bars to see which one solves your problem (either Navigation bar or bookmarks toolbar)
Tabs will not move to the bottom
Can you click and drag the tabbar to the bottom of the screen?
Double-clicking tabs does not close them
Check Tools->Options-> Extensions -> Tabbrowser Extensions Settings -> Advanced Tabs menu to make sure the Close tab is set to double click. It works for me this way
Downloaded extensions - some are zips, some are '.XPI' - how are these installed locally?
If you click on an .xpi file from Firebird, it should automatically install... Otherwise if you've got the .xpi downloaded, you can drag and drop it into the firebird window to have it install.I've never seen an extension as a zip file... Again, could you provide an example?
Status bar constantly reporting "Transferring data from database.moz.dev.org" & "...database.moz.dev.org"- I did not authorize such - What is it transferring and why? Is this spyware?
To be honest, I've never seen this. Might be the result of an extension? Also could be the page you're on... Let me know what extensions you've installed, and I'll check on this... Mine always shows "done" when the page is done loading.
Clicking on links does not open in background despite proper settings in 'Tools -> Options -> General Tab'
This might be getting overridden by Tabbrowser Extensions, check Tabbrowser extension settings -> Focus of Tabs menu and check the ones you want opened in the background.
Under 'Themes', is shows 'Modern' and 'Mozilla Firebird', yet no graphic display for the former and the wrong graphic display for the latter
Known bug... they're trying to fix it... You can download other themes from http://texturizer.net/firebird/themes.html They install like extensions, just click on them and it'll ask to install them. It may not switch to the new theme even if you check "use this theme"... you'll have to go to the themes page, select the theme and hit ok.
'Bookmarks Toolbar Folder' is empty and thus useless, yet it won't let me delete it
View -> Toolbars can turn off the Folder from being displayed in the browser... can't remove it from the bookmarks menu though. :(
I am aware of the turn-off feature in 'Options', but is there a toggle to block/unblock pop-ups as needed?
If a site does block a popup, there will be a little icon appear in the lower left of the status bar, you can click on it and tell it to allow the popup... You can also "whitelist" sites to have the popup appear always from that site.
Can the nag screen every time Firebird fired up be disabled?
I assume you're talking about the profile manager? If you only have one profile, it will not show up, if you have more than one, it will always be there (known bug)... just delete any profiles you're not using and it will stop appearing. :)Hope this helps! :lol:
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Hi, Me again ~Scratch relative from the above, please as I got this much figured out with link opening: 'Shift+Click' link opens new window in background and 'Shift+Ctrl' link opens new tab in background. I'm diggin' it.  I like the multiple window instances each with their own tabs capability. :(
Glad you figured that out! :lol: I forgot about that ability... don't use it myself, so didn't think about it. :(
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brucekrymow
Can you give an example of a page that does so? I'll investigate from there.
Javascript problem is http://www.faganfinder.com/google.htmland Java problem at http://www.maylin.net/Fireworks.html - I've loaded the plug-in successfully now 5 times, rebooted and it still says I need to download the plug-in.
Can you click and drag the tabbar to the bottom of the screen?
I have left-clicked and right-clicked the tabs, the top/side/middle of the bar - no drag.
I've never seen an extension as a zip file... Again, could you provide an example?
Tabbrowser Preferences' 'tabprefs.xpi.zip' - shows as '.XPI', but downloads as '.ZIP' containing 'tabprefs.jar' & 'install.js'.
To be honest, I've never seen this. Might be the result of an extension? Also could be the page you're on... Let me know what extensions you've installed, and I'll check on this... Mine always shows "done" when the page is done loading.
Don't have extensions installed yet. Shows actively loading data by "Transferring data from database.moz.dev.org" & "...database.moz.dev.org", switching back and forth between the two, then eventually finishing after some indeterminite time - on this page, on blank pages, all pages - shows 'Done' when it does finally stop transmitting data. I'm suspicious. :lol:
Double-clicking tabs does not close them
Check Tools->Options-> Extensions -> Tabbrowser Extensions Settings -> Advanced Tabs menu to make sure the Close tab is set to double click.It works for me this way
Don't have extensions.
Clicking on links does not open in background despite proper settings in 'Tools -> Options -> General Tab'
This might be getting overridden by Tabbrowser Extensions, check Tabbrowser extension settings -> Focus of Tabs menu and check the ones you want opened in the background.
Don't have extensions.What is the 'Bookmarks Toolbar Folder' for?Got rid of the blank bar. yougo.gifGot rid of the nag screen. yougo.gifThanks, Ryan, for being a SuperTrooper! :(
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That's strange that TBE downloads as a Zip file... It shouldn't do that... Here's the direct link. Just left-click on it and it should automatically ask to install... (DON"T right click-> Save As)http://white.sakura.ne.jp/~piro/xul/xpi/ta...tensions_en.xpiBookmarks toolbar is similar to "Links" from IE (don't remember if Avant used them or not)... It's that toolbar with instant access to your bookmarks. :)Getting TBE installed will answer the rest of your questions

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Guest LilBambi
Firebird Extension Page has all .xpi ones and they say to install you do it from within Firebird:
How to install and use an extensionTo install an extension from this page, click on the install link. When the installation is complete, restart the browser (all opened windows!). After that, the instructions are different depending on the installed extension. Some extensions add a toolbar button, which requires you to manually add that button by choosing View > Toolbars > Customize... from the menu and then drag-and-drop the button on your toolbar. Other extensions add new settings to the Options window. Select Tools > Options... > Extensions, select the extension and then click Settings to access that window.
Did you get some from somewhere else?If so, they usually have instructions on the page about unzipping them and putting them in a particular place within the firebird directory structure.
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brucekrymow

Lil Bam & Ry ~ I got them from the Firebird extensions page. The only way they would install is by dragging into Firebird. The one with the '.ZIP' extension I just changed and it installed.Excellent features!!! Lots of nice ones I shan't bother to list. So far, so good - ;) - Thanks, Ryan! The data transfer to/from "database.moz.dev.org" & "...database.moz.dev.org" seems to have ceased.Solved link click, tab link, tab focus, tab bar bottom placement. Even installed the Orbit 4 theme. A few more things and I think I am sold!You single-handedly help me knock this out in one afternoon. This seems to be going way too smooth, way too fast - I'm suspicious laugh3.gif Keep this up and I just might be tempted to T-bird it!All that is left is the javascript issue and the Java issue - any ideas?Finally, How would you recommend the best way to create/handle a group? I don't want to put a folder in the favorites as I have to scroll through the jetsam. In Avant, I had a folder drop down from 'Groups' in the menubar that held 5 or 6 URLs that I could open in tabs simultaneously. (Look at me....already speaking of Avant in the past tense).

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Okay...the Javascript thing has me boggled... I'll pose the question to the Mozilla forums and see what I come up with... As far as Java goes, I would try using Sun's Java 1.4.1_03, that can be downloaded here: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jspGlad to hear you're enjoying it! Happy to help! :DI'll look up some more info on the groups thing... will reply when I find out more. ;)

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brucekrymow

Thanks, Ryan!I downloaded 1.4.2 for literally the sixth time, but nothing changed. I am trying the link you posted for 1.4.1 and will see if that makes a difference.Everything is unsettlingliy great with this. I must admit, though, I am concerned with the ability to properly render some pages. Seems some flash files will not work right, some animated graphics are sluggish (might be my system, but same page in other browsers don't exhibit same behavior - the Bird require more RAM or cycles?) and inability to play midis, wavs, or other sound files.We'll hammer it out. :D

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Okay... as far as FaganFinder goes, it's the webmaster of that site that's got problems... He needs to make that finder standards compliant (like his main site is), and needs to drop the "If you're not using IE" crap... Firebird should handle the site properly, but the webmaster isn't helping that... It won't work in any non-IE based browser...not even Netscape or Mozilla... Might want to shoot the guy an email and let him know. Nothing that can be done on this end... I even tried using the User-agent switcher to try to fool it into thinking I was running IE, but that didn't work.

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There have been a lot of issues with Java 1.4.2 for all browsers, so Sun has suggest to the Mozilla people to use 1.4.1. As far as the rendering issues go, it has a lot to do with the fact that the gecko rendering engine (used in all Mozilla-based browsers), requires fairly standards-compliant code. IE uses many "tricks" to get pages to work even if the coding is bad, so a lot of people just code the page until it looks good in IE and then stop. Besides, many compliant web-pages do not render correctly in IE (due to the fact that IE's rendering engine is little changed since IE4). You can find out more about code validation and how to check pages at http://www.w3c.orgAs far as the sound goes, it's due to the use of a now outdated code... If you code your midi's like this

<embed HIDDEN=true SRC="/images/music/kot214.mid" LOOP=True AUTOSTART=True></embed>

It should work... the embed code is the correct code to use. The way you have it still works in IE (see: outdated rendering engine), but Firebird (or Mozilla) won't recognize it.Edit: one more thing, if you try the new code and it still doesn't work, try adding this plugin: http://cgi29.plala.or.jp/mozzarel/plugins/...lugin030529.xpi

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Guest LilBambi

Lest we all forget ...Firebird is still only in the development stage and does very well for where it is in its development.Another stop regarding plugins might be here on the Firebird Forums: FAQ: Plugins and Firebird. The have a lot of very good information on these forums on the capabilities and known bugs with certain types of plugins.

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brucekrymow

Hi, Ryan ~Yep, using that embed code didn't work at first, but coupled with the plug-in it works now on this end. If you get a chance, see if it does on your end.Is there a plug-in for other sounds such as WAVs?And does the Moz require different language for the 'ALT' tags to work?

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The midi file now works fine. :)Here's a wav one.... http://cgi29.plala.or.jp/mozzarel/plugins/...lugin030529.xpiMp3 (although I don't see the need for this): http://cgi29.plala.or.jp/mozzarel/plugins/...lugin030529.xpiI know there's some "ALT" issues in Firebird, but I think this extension will solve your issues. :Dhttp://texturizer.net/firebird/extensions....LT%20AttributesI know it's all about extensions and plugins and such, but they do this to keep the build size down and reduce "bloat" for people who don't want all the extra features. :D

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brucekrymow

Hi, Ry ~Yep, it was the JVM...the older version works just fine. I think I have toyed enough with this today and I am sure you have, too. Thanks for being such a stand up guy and being patient. You have washed the taste out of my mouth. I may soon implement F-bird as my default browser once I do some tweaking and gain a little more familiarity. I surely am happy with it thus far and have you and 'Lude to thank for beating my bias back.You have a great weekend! goodmate.gif

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Thanks Bruce! Always glad to help someone out! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!Glad you like Firebird! It's not quite perfect (yet), but it's pretty darn close! B) )

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brucekrymow

I just noticed this topic is sticky. I don't think I did that and if I had, I didn't mean to - it probably shouldn't be. B)

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I did it... wanted anybody new to Firebird to notice this... might start a FAQ out of it... you had very good questions. B)

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Besides the 'right-click and open in new tab'  B)
B) sorry, Bruce. got into habit of posting some answers to lowest common denominators, in case some newbies were reading the post ;) did you get your 'page wont load; need IE - javascript errors' sorted out? i know some site would work good, but they put a "dont load to non-IE browser" java codes. there is an extension i use sometimes, called Preferences Toolbar.http://www.mozilla.org/projects/phoenix/ex...ons/prefbar.xpiThere is one feature that is nice that sets the UA of the browser, so you can 'trick' a poorly coded website into thinking you are using IE6. it works like a charm for most sites.is that along the lines you were looking for?
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brucekrymow

Hi, 'Lude ~No need to apologize - I understood the post and was ribbing you ;) . Got the Java code issue worked out perfectly w/ v1.4.1 and the javascripting was an issue of that particular site, but I downloaded the extension you recommended and will incorporate it.Initially, I was adverse to the idea of all the extensions, but after consideration realize it not only makes sense, but is prudent to avoid bloat for features one may not desire or never use and thus preferable - I can dig it. B) I am glad my questions were good - I thought I might irritate the Moz purists. At this point, I think you may have slow played your poker hand as it seems F-bird contains all and more than Avant.I do have another question - I noticed if I load a page that is unable to be reached or not found, for whatever reason, F-bird simply displays a blank 'about' page with no indicator of what really occurred upon execution of action. Is there a way to invoke a 404/403/action canceled or other error page?

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You guys are super! I've been using FBird as my default for about two weeks now, and had already decided I liked it better than Moz (deleted) and Avant (deleted)[when I'm not using something, I delete it...my notebook diskspace is valuable]. IE I have access to, but that's it. It's now FBird and Opera as a novelty. But after tweaking a few settings, as you suggested, I like it even better. For instance, I hadn't explored all the settings in the tab extensions. And the tab bar dragged nicely to the bottom of the screen. It's mean, clean, and fast. Pretty decent screen space as well. Yup, I'm sold. Now if they just don't overdo it. B)

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