Thursday, August 21, 2008

Firefox questions


As some of you know, I am a Mac user. Safari is Apple's browser, so that is what I have used for a long time. I have never tried to use Safari on a PC, so I don't know how well the PC version of Safari works. I suspect not as well as it does natively on a Mac. (I do own a PC, but I only need turn it on to raise my blood pressure. And actually trying to do my work on a PC is simply too frustrating. Different strokes for different folks. So I have never tried Safari for PC.)

The other day I was trying to find out why my Mac was running slowly under certain circumstances. Since a virus is hardly the first thing one checks when troubleshooting a Mac, I began to examine the applications I frequently use, and when I slapped an Activity Monitor on Safari, I quickly saw it was hemorrhaging RAM. Big time memory leak. And so I blew the dust off Firefox, the only other browser I have chosen to use, and cranked it up.

As you might surmise, I am not fluent in FirefoxSpeak. Safari has always done all I want and much more, so I never have learned to speak the Firefox language. But until Apple gets up off their arse and fixes Safari (as usual, they are simply stonewalling and trying to pretend there is no problem with Safari for Mac) I will be using Firefox.

I should explain that I have tried to use Firefox in the past, and found it to be a good sturdy little bugger, but clunkier than an old Model-T Ford. (Version 2) It is so obviously PC-oriented, that I quickly went back to Safari. Now that I am sort of forced to use Firefox, for a while at least, I want to learn a few things about it. Hence this post. If you don't mind. I am assuming most of you are PC users, and therefore are in love with Firefox. So, won't you please give me a hand here with a couple of questions?

Let me limit it to two specific questions right now and leave the rest for later.

1. When you type an address into Firefox, it doesn't "self-complete" like Safari does. Instead it acts like the terrible Bill Gates creation called "Internet Explorer" - it only gives you a list of choices from its memory or places that start with those letters, and you have to stop what you are typing and go down and perform the extra step of selecting an item from the list. I hate that. If I want to perform extra steps or constantly interact with dialog windows, I will simply use a PC. So...is there a Firefox preference I haven't yet been able to find which will allow the address to simply self-complete in the address field of the browser? Or is it something I will simply have to knuckle down and do it the PC way?

[Here I should interject that I have since "upgraded" to version 3 of Firefox, and am really not finding a difference in interface intuitivity.]

2. The use of tabs. In Firefox, you seem to only have a preference choice between things opening in a new window or opening in a tab in one window. Is this correct? - I mean, you truly can't simply command it to open a list of selected items in tabs all at once? I really miss this feature that I used a lot in Safari. For example, I have a core list of maybe 25 good friends that I want to "drop" on, for sure, every single day, and that I want to comment on their blogs. In Safari, I simply put all these friends URLs into one "Good Friends" bookmarks folder and then, at will, I could simply right-click on that folder and be presented with an option to "open all these items in tabs". Can't seem to work that out in Firefox - I am having to go down the list of bookmarks and do it one at a time. With Safari, I could visit all the sites one by one in order and drop and comment, and by simply closing the tab, the next site window would automatically appear for me to drop on. Help!

Thanks, guys.

16 comments:

  1. I have no advice to offer... sorry

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  2. Thanks C. I appreciate you stopping by though. :) I am going to assume that what I didn't want to believe is correct. I think I will probably go back to using Safari for certain things and then just closing and reopening it every once in a while to dump the memory. Sigh. It's a PC world in more ways than one! :)

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  3. Download the latest Firefox for the bookmark things man, I can open all mine up in tabs if I have them in a folder in my bookmark list. I prefer Firefox, but that's only because IE is shit, and I don't have a mac. I've tried Oprah or something like that, it's a browser, and I didn't care for it at all.

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  4. Opera. No. And can't use IE on a Mac anymore anyway since they stopped supporting Mac at about version 5. Just as well. Piece of shit as you say. Not to offend you, but so is Firefox, and version 3 IS the latest version, Chica. See, but you can't open them up all at once, can you? That is my question? But you said you can, so help me out - HOW? Is there a secret magic spell you use? In Safari, all you have to do is right-click on said folder, and you get an option that says, "open all these dirtbags in tabs" or something like that. Not so if you right click on Firefox. Nor can I find such a thing in the menu.

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  5. Yeah, it sure is. Piss poor design. But right there as the last item on the URL list. Thanks Chica. That was really nice of you. Now, if you figure out a way for me to have to only type in the first couple of letters in the address... :)

    See, in Safari, all I have to do is type "chica" and, bam! the rest is printed immediately and my little pinky just hits enter, and there I am, staring at your very mature-looking profile.

    I'm so spoiled. I admire you for being tough enough to withstand the rigors of windoze. It just beats me down when I try it.

    Thanks two times, lady. :)

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  6. Eh, no problemo. I wish I had auto complete too, but alas, I don't. Oh well. :)

    Why a Mac? you think your superior against PC users? I know you've seen those PC and Mac commercials, and you comprehend their message, would you agree to it though.. lol

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  7. No, not really. I got started on a Mac when I worked at an ad agency when I was a young tad and back then (1996) Macs seemed to be able to handle graphics better. Nor sure why, but all the agencies ran Macs, so that's what I learned on. This is not true today of course - PCs run even the most involved graphics with ease now. It's just something you get used to, you know? I don't buy Macs because I love to spend a lot of money particularly, I am just used to them (and have a lot of Mac software. :) So, now when I get on a PC it just seems weird, like things not in the same place or not working quite the same. Stuff like that. I'm just kidding about you being tough. You're a pansy. :)

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  8. You'd better be talking about a flower, in that case I'll take that as a compliment. If not, meet me in the ring buddy...lmao

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  9. Yes you can open a load of links all at once into tabs. You need to download the add-on called linky, then you will be able to select all the links you want, right-click and open links in tabs. Bingo!

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  10. I knew someone could help you. (a)
    Safari, I tried and did not like. windoz sucks and firefox 3 sucks. I only use firefox 2. By the max, my kitty does not sit quite that high.

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  11. Ettarose, thank you for your input.

    (a) I told you I suspected Safari would suck on a PC. Now we both know. Just as Firefox 3 sucks on a Mac in certain areas. But how would you know if windoze sucks? You've never used a Mac recently. Or are you just speaking generally? You should know that a lot of people who have never used anything else simply LOVE Windows. This fact has made Bill Gates very wealthy. But, those who compare tend to shitcan Windows, agreed. Don't know why. Windows is ever so user friendly, anticipating your every need, and hardly EVER interrupting your work. My personal favorite Windows dialog box? "Sorry. Must close now. Fuck you and all the work you just did and are about to lose." Yes, that one is my favorite love dialog from Windows. And Chica calls me elitist because I refuse to put up with that shit. Sigh.

    2 Thank you for sharing the information about the location of your kitty. And that is supposed to be an allegorical Firefox logo. The titties with the passed-out kitten, I mean.

    I will not agree with you that Firefox 3 sucks. If I ever get it to work, I will test it and see.

    How you doin' Suzy Q? Go home and get some shut eye. :)

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  12. when is the last time you downloaded Firefox?! 1982?! Geez - do you have it on casette. What I'm trying to say is that FF now has an 'awesome bar' that will self complete, you 'can' get tabs (I use 'colourful tabs' or something like that.) I haven't opened Safari for years - and am a die-hard Mac user. I have not read the whole article or any of the comments but if you need it - FF has it. We'll chat soon.

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  13. I told you how to open tabs, but you have chosen to ignore me. Is this a message?

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  14. @Canucklehead - When was the last time I downloaded Firefox? When was the last time you actually read one of my posts before you commented on it? I have Firefox 3. Do you know of a newer version? And thank you for giving me the answer to my question. Although it was imparted with your usual diplomacy and charm, I still appreciate what you just told me about the bar thingy. Even my expert adviser Chica didn't know about the self-completion feature. This is because Firefox doesn't tell you how to do these things in their documentation. It is a game to them: 2 years to develop the product, then spend 11 minutes producing documentation. But thanks again.

    Hows the baby doing? I miss you coming around. I know you are trying. Take care.
    --------
    @a. - Not ignoring your helpful information. It's just that Chica had already told me how to do this from within Firefox without having to get additional outside add-on software. But she told me by email because she had to show me in a picture, so you wouldn't have known this. I apologize to you, and I will tell you how you can do it from within Firefox itself. I will do this by email. Nobody else who loves Firefox deserves to know how to do it. :) I'll be there momentarily.

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  15. you know you just need to get off your lazy ass and type in the damned address instead of expecting FF to autofill it for you. Next thing you know, you are going to expect us girls to hold your willy while you take a leak.

    That aside, what they said. Firefox is da bomb cuz I have never had a mac . Besides, I am sure Bill Gates has bad breath.

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