Firefox Hacks

Tip 1: Modify tabbed browsing

Tabbed browsing is often touted as one of Firefox's killer features. Indeed, it's very useful, but the default preferences aren't perfect for everyone. That's OK, because Firefox offers plenty of preferences for customising your tabbed-browsing experience. If you can't find what you want in the preferences, you can go a step further by installing one of the many Firefox extensions that can make minor alterations to your tabs. Still not satisfied? The most aggressive of all the tab-related extensions, discussed at the end of this hack, completely replaces Firefox's tabs with its own.

Tabbed-browsing preferences
Firefox's preferences allow you to control how tabs respond to certain types of events. Some of the preferences are easily set in the Preferences window, while others require you to use the special About:config page in the browser. To find tabbed-browsing preferences in About:config, type tabs in the Search box at the top of the list.

Links from other applications
When a link is sent from another application, such as when you click a URL in an e-mail, what should the browser do? There are three options: open the page in a new window, open the page in a new tab in the front window, or replace the current page in the front window.

The options for this behaviour are shown at the top of the Tabbed Browsing panel in the Preferences window. If you ever feel the need to set this preference via About:config, look for browser.link.open_external. Setting this preference to 1 opens the link in the current tab and window, 2 opens it in a new window, and 3 opens it in a new tab in the front window.

Loading tabs in the foreground or background
There are three preferences that control whether new tabs load in front of the current tab or behind it. These preferences correspond to the three types of events that can open a new tab. Two can be set in the Preferences window (checked or true means "load in foreground"; unchecked or false means "load in background"), while the third requires the About:config page, described earlier in this hack:

• Control-clicking (or Command-clicking) a link in the browser to open a new tab
  Set this in the Preferences window with the check box labelled "Select new tabs opened from links" or in About:config by changing browser.tabs.loadInBackground.
• Opening a tab from a bookmark or the browser history panel
  In the Preferences window, this event is called "Select new tabs opened from bookmarks or history." In About:config, it's browser.tabs.opentabfor.bookmarks.
• Opening a tab from a link sent by another application
  There is no check box in the Preferences window for this setting. In About:config, this preference is browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground.
• Getting rid of tabs when there's only one
  This preference hides the tab bar at the top of the set of tabs when only one tab exists:

  browser.tabs.autoHide /* set to true to enable hiding */

• Single Window mode
  Do you hate it when links on Web pages open new windows (because they set a target attribute on the link)? You can force Firefox to open those links in a new tab instead of a new window. This is called Single Window mode. It doesn't prevent all new windows, but it catches most of them. The radio buttons for setting this preference are in the Preferences window, but only if Firefox knows you want to see them. Go to About:config and set browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs to true.

Extensions that alter tabbed browsing
There are a number of Firefox extensions that interact with tabbed browsing. Two are designed to make it easier to set the preferences exactly as you like, and one adds some useful new features via the creative use of tabs and keystrokes. New extensions are being written all the time, so check the Mozilla Updates Web site for the latest additions.

• Tabbrowser Preferences
  The Tabbrowser Preferences (TBP) extension, by Bradley Chapman, organises all of the preferences related to tabbed browsing into a single pane in the Preferences window. You can set all of the same preferences via the special About:config page, but by using TBP, you don't have to remember what the different preference names mean or what value to set in order to get the behaviour you want.
• Quick Tab Pref Toggle
  The Quick Tab Pref Toggle (QTPT) extension, by Jed Brown, allows you to maintain two sets of tabbed-browsing preferences. The idea is that you'll usually want to divert all new windows into new tabs, but occasionally you'll work with a page that really should pop up a separate window. This extension lets you put a small button (a toggle) in the toolbar to flip back and forth between two sets of preferences with a single click.
• Magpie
  Magpie, by lead Firefox developer Ben Goodger, is not a tabbed-browsing extension per se, but it has a related feature that demonstrates a completely different use for tabs. Magpie can save all of the tabs to the right of the one you're currently viewing to files on disk. (It's intended for media files, such as pictures.) For example, if you open a photo album Web page that contains thumbnails of a dozen pictures, you could Control-click (Command-click) each of them to open the full-size photos in separate tabs. Then, a single use of Magpie's Ctrl+Shift+S would save all of those images to disk in a single folder and close the tabs. This is much faster than saving each image to disk one at a time.

Tabbrowser Extension: a complete tabbing overhaul
The Tabbrowser Extension (TBE), by Shimoda "Piro" Hiroshi, is a power user's tool. It's the superultradeluxe tabbing system, with every feature you can imagine and a few you probably can't. TBE completely replaces the built-in browser tabs with TBE's own. Review the install notes and latest status, as TBE is still being polished and debugged as this goes to print.

TBE's tabs look just like the regular tabs in Firefox (by default, anyway) but offer lots of features you simply can't get any other way. In fact, TBE is so flexible that the Preferences window for tweaking its behaviour has almost as many options as Firefox's own Preferences window! TBE allows you to do the following things:

• Rearrange tabs by dragging them to the left or right
• Duplicate tabs in the same window or into a new window
• Colour your tabs
• Display tabs on any side of the browser window (not just the top)
• Automatically load the same group of tabs you were using when you last quit Firefox
• Undo a closed tab (reopen it to the same page)
• Lock a tab so that all links within it automatically open in a new tab
• Block the page in a specific tab from being listed in the Referer: header when you click a link
• Automatically reload a tab every n seconds, minutes, or days
• Add a Close button to every tab

Tip 2: Use keyboard shortcuts

This hack shows you which keyboard moves come standard with Firefox. There are many extensions that modify the available set of keystrokes and key chords.

Many Firefox keyboard combinations are the same as those of Internet Explorer. In particular, menu navigation uses the same combinations of arrow keys and Alt as most Windows applications, and navigation within text-editing fields supports the same keystrokes as most text editors (Ctrl+Left Arrow to move one word left, for example). Scrolling keys such as Page Up and Page Down work as you'd expect, too. The table below shows the major keys used by both browsers. (On the Macintosh, substitute Command for Ctrl and Option for Alt.)

Keyboard shortcuts common to Firefox and Internet Explorer

Key combination	Use
Ctrl+A	Select all content
Ctrl+C	Copy current selection
Ctrl+D	Add a bookmark
Ctrl+H	Display the History sidebar
Ctrl+I or Ctrl+B	Open Bookmarks sidebar
Ctrl+N	Open a new window
Ctrl+O	Open a file
Ctrl+P	Print current page
Ctrl+R or F5	Reload current page
Ctrl+Shift+R or Ctrl+F5	Reload current page from origin
Ctrl+V	Paste currently copied content
Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4	Close the current tab
Ctrl+X	Cut the current selection
Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo last operation
Ctrl+Z	Undo last operation
Alt	Begin menu navigation
Alt+D or F6	Focus and highlight the location bar
Alt+F4 or Ctrl+Shift+W	Close current window
Alt+Home	Go to home page
Alt+Left Arrow or Backspace	Go back one page
Alt+Right Arrow or Shift+Backspace	Go forward one page
Delete	Delete current item
End	Move to bottom of page
Esc	Stop current operation
F11	Display in full-screen mode
Home	Move to top of page

Firefox also has some unique keyboard combinations. The next table shows the common ones that don't match Internet Explorer.

Keyboard shortcuts available in Firefox only

Key combination	Use
Ctrl+hyphen	Decrease text size
Ctrl+Plus	Increase text size
Ctrl+0 (Ctrl+Zero)	Restore text to normal size
Ctrl+Down Arrow	Select next search engine in location bar
Ctrl+F or /	Find content by search string
Ctrl+G or F3	Repeat last Find operation forward
Ctrl+J (Ctrl+Y on Linux)	Open download manager window
Ctrl+K	Search the Web using the current search engine and keyword
Ctrl+n (where n is a number)	Go to the nth tab
Ctrl+S	Save current page as file
Ctrl+T	Open new tab
Ctrl+Tab or Ctrl+Page Down	Move to the next tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab or Ctrl+Page Up	Move to the previous tab
Ctrl+U	View page source
'	Find link by search term
Alt+Enter	Open URL in a new tab
F6	Move to next frame
F7	Toggle caret browsing
Shift+F3	Repeat last Find operation backward

Finally, here are some more detailed resources on Firefox keys. There's an up-to-the-minute list in the Firefox Help system, under Help > Help Contents, Keyboard Shortcuts. Otherwise, look here for recent changes. More technically, there's some newer discussion about key changes here. You might also want to look at this older URL. And finally, this page provides general accessibility information for Mozilla.

Tip 3: Make Firefox go fast

Here are a few steps you can perform to speed up Firefox. Back to performance basics first, though: the user is the slowest thing attached to the computer. Better use of Firefox's features will speed up the user, so be sure to read the rest of the hacks in this chapter.

Fix dial-up modem bottlenecks
Any dial-up modem you use is the slowest network hardware you have, so tune it wisely.

If you're using Windows, your modem driver and chipset should support the latest compression standards now available. Update the modem and the modem's Windows driver directly from the chipset manufacturer. Look on the modem card to see who made the chips; don't bother with who made the card. If you buy a cutoff switch that lets you isolate your answering machine, fax, and telephone gear while you're on the Internet, you won't strain the line voltage as much, and you'll have less noise causing error-correction delays.

If your connection is still slow, call your telephone provider and complain that their voltages and noise filters are all wrong; they can test and adjust from their end. Call Microsoft and complain that Windows hasn't tuned your PPP connection correctly. Call your ISP and complain that their modem bank isn't negotiating the best possible speed. None of that will do you much good, but it's nice to vent sometimes.

Move to broadband
If you're stuck on dial-up, the biggest performance plus you can get from Firefox without using caching is to turn images off. That's in the Options dialog box under Web Features. Turning off images might reduce your Web experience to an unacceptable low, so it's a dramatic step. You can also ensure that Web pages are checked for updates only once per browsing session, instead of every time you look at them. In About:config, find:

browser.cache.check_doc_frequency /* set it to 0, normally 3 */

This preference change shouldn't affect you much if you're just surfing idly. If you spend a lot of time with online message boards or similarly intensive Web-based applications, it might cause confusion, though, so avoid it in that case. One possible compromise is to create a separate "I'm not working" profile and turn the preference on in that profile. Use that profile for recreation only.

Some of the Firefox ad-blocking extensions prevent advertising images from being downloaded, which is a further performance-saving feature.

SyncBackSE backup and sync v4.1 review

Cast off the command line - a Windows backup program can do it for you after all.

List price:$25

• Pros: Two for the price of one – backup and synch; Encrypted compression option; fast; Backs up ‘open’ Office files
• Cons: Doesn’t work with backup services; Interface needs a little tidying up here and there

If this were a flower, though, it would be an orchid, which is to say it is tuned for the fussier ‘expert’ user. It could be used by lesser mortals but its appeal lies with the user looking after multiple workstations, and several backup destinations, including external, USB, LAN and remote FTP drives.

It is axiomatic that backup software is usually so slow and cumbersome that people end up not using it. Occasionally, you come across a small, blossoming software flower, and it restores some of your interest. Without wanting to get too carried away, SyncBackSE could be one such program.

The program opens on to a rather bare, functional window. As it happens, there is a reason for this. Since the people using this program will most likely be power users with multiple backup operations, the window will gradually fill up with each backup or synch profile they create. Managing these from a single window is by far the easiest approach.

Backup profiling

Creating a backup profile prompts the user to define the nature of backup operation being carried out. Is it being made to an FTP server, and will be in the form of a zip or multiple zip file? Since this is a “profile” and not just a simple backup job, there is also an option to describe the source and destination of the backup, useful when trying to separate one backup regime from another (say, another workstation). Finally, “fast backups” can be selected if the files being sent to the destination (i.e backup) path are not being changed by another application or person.

The software throws up a summary window making clear all the profile settings, schedule, and what the regime will and won’t be doing and - in the case of certain system and temp files – files it will and won’t be backing up. If necessary a filter can be added to the latter element of the profile to force the software to copy specific types of files it might otherwise ignore.

One thing that scores highly about this program’s design is the way it allows a high level of control over the way files are backed up and, if necessary, restored. For example, if the program encounters the same file on both backup source and destination, it can be told to overwrite on the basis of certain parameters – the file size or age for instance. If it encounters a file on the backup destination but not the source, it can be made to copy that back to the source PC so that the file in turn becomes part of subsequent backups in a regularised manner. With feature such as differential backup, and backup of open XP Office files, compressed/AES encryption, there is something here for every eventuality.

What happens if a backup can’t run because the destination is not available? Some programs will silently default to a local destination; SyncBackSE goes into a error mode and creates a log of the failure. This is preferable to having a backup that completes to a local drive without that being apparent, but it would still have been useful to have been able to specify a fall back drive, even a local one.

Synchronisation

Another strength is that the program includes synchronisation, a type of backup scheme many programs don’t bother with despite its immense usefulness. It works in much the same way as the backup, but careful attention has to be paid to which rules to set in the event of two files being present on both source and external drive.

The safest route is to specify that only new files copy back or forth, and tell the software to ignore files with the same filename. This negates part of the point of full synchronisation, but bear in mind that the files will be copied when the backup profile runs after all so in the longer run the files will still percolate from one place to another.

If the effects of applying a new rule are not easy to see, the program has a simulation mode that presents a report of what will happen for a chosen backup or sync profile had it been run on the actual files.

Conclusion

This program still has a few rough edges that betray its humble roots as a Windows utility. Setting up a schedule for a backup involves digging into the program’s hooks into the Windows Task Scheduler for instance, a minor hardship that means having to specify a login password if there is one. It doesn’t always look as slick as some of its better-known big-name rivals. Still, we prefer it, command line and all. It isn’t always pretty, but it is grown-up enough to do satisfy most demanding users.

Backup should be one of the simplest tasks to complete in the computing calendar. Programs like SyncbackSE keep appearing because branded software rarely turns out to be as simple as that.

2BrightSparks website.

Review: Are you ready for Windows Vista?

It's been five years since Microsoft put out its last operating system, Windows XP. Now, the next step, Windows Vista is finally here.

Windows is by far the world's most popular operating system, and Vista will eventually become what most people run, like XP is today. Like it or not, you'll probably be using it too in a few years time.

The operating system is the backbone of your PC. It boots up and shuts down your computer, launches software programs, and makes sure your speakers and other extras work properly. It's also the thing that gets infected by viruses and other nasties. Windows Vista is better than XP in many ways. It looks better and it's also easier to use and more secure. But you'll need a PC with enough grunt to handle its hefty requirements, so Vista won't be the best choice for everyone.

Vista looks slicker thanks to its "Aero" interface. If your computer can handle it, Vista uses your graphics card to power snazzy 3D extras, like Flip3D which uses a rolodex-type arrangement to show you what's going on in all open programs. You can also make windows more transparent, or change their colour.

Looking through Windows folders is also easier. There's a live preview that shows you a snippet of each file, and what's in each folder in a directory.

The menu bar at the top of each window is gone, though you can still get it by tapping the Alt key. You can quickly jump back to anywhere along the route you took to get there, and easily group and filter files within a folder by type, author or tag.

The Start menu in Vista has also been completely redesigned. There are no more branching menus, like you'll find in earlier versions. Instead the folders expand as you go through them, a bit like Windows Explorer in XP.

There's a handy search box right in the Start menu too. Just type a few letters in the box and it'll start bringing up matches. This is often the quickest way to find programs and documents.

The other big change from XP is Windows Sidebar. This sits on the right side of the screen as a place to put Microsoft's gadgets - little programs that sit on your desktop and grab information from the web, like weather or news, or show your other software like media players. Windows Sidebar doesn't offer anything beyond what Yahoo or Google already offer for XP though.

So far, most of this is just eye candy. The most important improvements in Vista are behind the scenes, particularly in its security.

As the most popular operating system on the planet, Windows is a natural target for hackers and other evil-doers. Vista beefs up Windows Firewall to shut down suspicious activity, like your PC sending out spam emails, before it occurs.

It also makes it harder for malware to install itself on your PC. Even if you're logged in as an administrator, most programs will run at restricted privilege, meaning installing new software requires you to manually enter your password.

Parents can also use Vista to look at where their kids have gone online, limit when they can use the computer, and control which websites and video games they use.

Vista comes with the next versions of Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player, both significant improvements. It also has speech recognition software that's worth trying out.

There are more features of Vista, ones we don't have space to mention. You can download Windows Vista from Microsoft's website and find out just what the system has to offer yourself.

WHICH VISTA IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

Vista Home Basic - If you use your PC for email, internet, and basic Office tasks, this is the one for you. It doesn't have the snazzy Aero graphics or multimedia features, but it has better design and parental controls than XP.

Vista Home Premium - The upscale version of Home Basic, this version runs the Aero graphics engine and Vista's multimedia tools, but leaves out the added business or gaming features.

Vista Business - No multimedia features, but it has programs for businesses to help faxing, scanning, backup and encryption.

Vista Ultimate - Includes all the functions of Home Premium and Business, and extras like a collection of games and programs specific to Ultimate users.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Vista's snazzy graphics put a heavy load on your hardware, and you'll need a PC with a lot of grunt to run it. A PC branded "Vista Capable" will run Vista Home Basic only, and needs at least an 800MHz processor, 512MB RAM and a graphics processor capable of playing DirectX 9.

A "Vista Premium Ready" PC will run all Vista versions and will have at least a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a beefed-up graphics card. Keep in mind these are the bare minimum requirements. Ideally you want more if you want your computer to run smoothly.

SHOULD I UPGRADE?

The short answer is not right away. All operating systems take a while to settle down and iron out the bugs, no matter how much testing goes into it. Using XP was a hassle until the service packs came out, when it became much more stable and secure. Wait until the first service pack comes out before buying it off the shelf.

If you're using your PC just to surf the web, do email and use office programs you really don't need the extra functionality of Vista. For a lot of people XP works just fine, and they should keep using it until it doesn't. If that's you, wait until you need a new PC, then get one with Vista on it.

If you do want to run the latest and greatest operating system on your machine, the best way to upgrade is to buy a new PC. That way it'll come pre-installed and you won't have the inevitable headaches that come with updating an operating system, and you'll be sure the hardware is up to scratch. If you buy a computer next year chances are it will come with Vista on it anyway.

Most people will need to buy a new PC anyway to take full advantage of Vista's features, since it puts a lot of demand on hardware. If you buy either a Vista Capable or Vista Premium Ready PC before Vista comes out, you'll get a coupon for a low-priced upgrade when the new operating system is released. It should cost you about $30 to upgrade.