Fire Fox

[glock17]

why is fire fox so popular? what is it? and where can i get it?

thx

[Cricket]

Firefox is an alternate web browser. It's much more secure than Internet Explorer and has tabbed browsing (among other things). You can get it here.

Cricket

[AaronG1980]

It's a web browser. It's so popular partly because it's free, but it does have a ton of features that IE doesn't have. It's also more secure. You can download it here.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

[kram 2.0]

MS Internet Explorer hasn't been a fantastic job with its security...though really, it's not that serious. Swtiching to Firefox for me, turned up less Spyware and Adware from Adaware/Spybot and it's layout I like. Try it from Mozilla's Website: Firefox

kram

[glock17]

something i should get?

btw how do u exactly get spyware and that good stuff on ur comp?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by glock17 something i should get?

It's not absolutely necessary, but since it's free and has better security then IE, why not? It won't hurt your computer if you have more than one browser on it either. And you can always uninstall it if you don't like it.

Originally Posted by glock17 btw how do u exactly get spyware and that good stuff on ur comp?

Basically you get spyware and stuff on your computer from going on the net and visiting web sites.

Cricket

[juicelooser]

Another pro about FireFox is that it's standards compliant. This means that it sticks to the rules created by the people that oversee HTML, XHTML, CSS, etc. Therefore, you will be seeing the page the way it's meant to be seen, not the garbled mess that IE can make of correct code.

[colecifer]

Originally Posted by juicelooser Another pro about FireFox is that it's standards compliant. This means that it sticks to the rules created by the people that oversee HTML, XHTML, CSS, etc. Therefore, you will be seeing the page the way it's meant to be seen, not the garbled mess that IE can make of correct code.

That is a good thing and a bad thing, a lot of web pages won't show up in Firefox of they will look different in firefox then IE becuase firefox doesn't tollerate sloppy coding. Also many websites out there often code their websites for IE and they won't work on firefox.

However i really like firefox and highly recomend it, i haven't had one single pop up since i got it over a year ago. I completely forget about pop ups until i go to a friends house and get 50 of them.

[juicelooser]

Originally Posted by colecifer That is a good thing and a bad thing, a lot of web pages won't show up in Firefox of they will look different in firefox then IE becuase firefox doesn't tollerate sloppy coding. Also many websites out there often code their websites for IE and they won't work on firefox.

This is exactly why people need to change. If enough people can change to force people to properly make websites, it is worthwhile. Also, by switching, it increases the pressure on Microsoft to update IE.

[Karnevil9]

I think Firefox is a much better browser, and it has a bunch of cool add ons for just about anything you want to do that IE does not. On the first download you can even save all your favorites from IE.

[rjfvillarosa]

Personaly I find it slower than IE and the fact that it doesn't support all web sites is a bit of a no no.

[Karnevil9]

I'll take better security, more options, and more configuration options over all web sites. I do a lot of surfing and I haven't found that to be a problem. Besides you can still keep IE installed like I do, if you need that to get to a particular web.

[colecifer]

Originally Posted by Karnevil9 I'll take better security, more options, and more configuration options over all web sites. I do a lot of surfing and I haven't found that to be a problem. Besides you can still keep IE installed like I do, if you need that to get to a particular web.

You can't unistall IE, its integrated into windows explorer so it can't be removed from your system. This is also why it loads so fast, its basically always running.

[rjfvillarosa]

FireFox loads fast enough it just doesn't load pages as fast as IE, as far as I am concerned anyway, also it displays frames in a different way which screws some pages up big time.
I like the user friendly top nav bar and some of the tabs are handy.
Just personal preference really, I am sure a lot of people like it and I know my son and his friends are all using it with Linux because the security is far superior.

[doctorgonzo]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa FireFox loads fast enough it just doesn't load pages as fast as IE, as far as I am concerned anyway, also it displays frames in a different way which screws some pages up big time.

Firefox loads pages faster than IE in my experience.

Also, Firefox shows frames in the correct way, not a different way, since Firefox actually adheres to standards. Too many websites use M$ as a crutch to avoid coding properly.

Besides, if you come across a page that doesn't work in Firefox, you can install an extension that adds an "Open in IE" command to the right-click menu. After you e-mail the webmaster and complain about the proprietary website, of course.

[kilgoretrout]

The tight integration of IE into the OS is one big reason for all of IE's security problems. It's a terrible design from a security standpoint and was done by MS to get around antitrust problems during the browser wars with netscape. Thus all the calims from MS that IE was an integral part of the OS and couldn't be unbundled. Another big reason is ActiveX which is a dubious IE feature. ActiveX allows arbitrary code to run automatically when you visit a web page; that's how a lot of spyware/malware gets on your computer. ActiveX is also used in a lot of online games.
Firefox does not support ActiveX and I believe that SP2 tries to limit ActiveX because it's such a security nightmare by not allowing the code to be run without warning you.

[Karnevil9]

"You can't unistall IE, its integrated into windows explorer so it can't be removed from your system. This is also why it loads so fast, its basically always running."

Yes, I was aware of that. It was a poor choice of phrasing. I keep the IE icon on the desktop. Like Docotrgonzo, I think Friefox is faster, or at least as fast.

[ghost2003]

I said it in a post not long ago, customization is whats best about firefox. There are hundreds of extentions and lots of themes. That way you have a browser made for you.

[rjfvillarosa]

OK OK already I give in, I have just spent a few hours playing with firefox and I must confess I like it, maybe my ISP was having a bad hair day when I tried it last time. It is fast and it is definately user friendly, my personal website and the sites of a few friends are screwed up in firefox but possibly that is because they were created using "Frontpage" I have got Dreamweaver but I have never had the chance to get to know it (always too busy), I will start making some alterations to my site and see what happens (I am not a web designer). Can somebody tell me how to remove the toolbar that has all the bookmark tabs on it or am I just going to have to make the folder smaller?.

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa Can somebody tell me how to remove the toolbar that has all the bookmark tabs on it or am I just going to have to make the folder smaller?.

Right click along the top, to the right of help, and unselect the Bookmarks options. You can also change the look through themes, and add extra toolbars using extensions.

[rjfvillarosa]

Thanx Box I will have a look now.

[Xayd]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa Personaly I find it slower than IE and the fact that it doesn't support all web sites is a bit of a no no.

Much as they would like to, Microsoft does not set web standards. Any site that works in IE and no other browser is a no-no on the developer of that site's behalf.

[juicelooser]

Originally Posted by Xayd Much as they would like to, Microsoft does not set web standards. Any site that works in IE and no other browser is a no-no on the developer of that site's behalf.

Well put. Any half-decent web developer should be making web sites that fit standards. IE is not the benchmark for a site, and nor should it be. It is browsers that are standards-compliant, such as Firefox, that should be used to measure a site.

[rjfvillarosa]

Juice are you saying I am less than half decent I am not a web site developer, I just put my site together quickly using the only tool I had (at that time) gonna go and beat my teddy up now

[juicelooser]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa Juice are you saying I am less than half decent I am not a web site developer, I just put my site together quickly using the only tool I had (at that time) gonna go and beat my teddy up now

No, I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that someone who calls themselves a web developer should be educated enough to know about problems with IE and standards. I don't blame anyone making a small site for themselves that are just starting. Most of the books I've seen written on HTML are designed somewhat for IE, and they do not include current technologies and ideas properly (i.e. CSS, XHTML). A lot of them tell people how to make websites using tables and frames, where those are pretty out-dated.

[glc]

Frontpage is great - if you are developing for IE. That's why I won't touch it with a 10 foot pole.