Firefox

Re: Why do I block ads?

Chris Ilias 14 Comments

Re: Why do I block ads?

I recently decided to block ads as well, but for different reasons. For the most part, advertising on the web is something I don’t mind. The deciding factor for me is whether or not it prevents me from seeing the content I want to see. This is what made pop-ups so annoying. They got in the way, and you had to close the pop-up just to see the page you came to see.

Unfortunately advertisers have been using Flash ads to provide the same experience.

It’s the same user experience, but different implementation. (In terms of Firefox development, this is bad because users are told that Firefox has a pop-up blocker, but it doesn’t block these pop-up ads.)

There are also cases where ads push the content out of the view area, forcing you to scroll down.

Sometimes just mousing over the content area of an ad will cause it to expand and prevent you from reading what you want.

Unfortunately, this has become way too common lately, and I finally decided to install Adblock Plus. I understand that many websites rely on ads for revenue, but so did netscape.com. That’s why the Mozilla pop-up blocker was disabled and hidden in Netscape 7. I’m sure something can be worked out, where advertisers are forced to use a technology that cannot get in the way of viewing other website content. If that were to happen, I would bet that a lot less users would have adblockers installed.

Making your bookmarks your home page

Chris Ilias 3 Comments

Some people like to set the Firefox home page to display their bookmarks. That was easy in Firefox 2, when bookmarks were stored in an HTML file, but it’s a little tougher to figure out for Firefox 3. Not only can it be done in Firefox 3, but it works even better.

Just set your home page to the following URL:

chrome://browser/content/bookmarks/bookmarksPanel.xul

That’s it! It doesn’t require you having to find your profile folder, and bookmark folders can be collapsed or expanded individually. Plus the search box at the top of the page will work.

iPhone apps – Fake Calls and Opera Mini

Chris Ilias 10 Comments

One of the things I love about product extendability is some of the great ideas people have. Today, I found out about a cool iPhone app called “Fake Calls“. The idea is this: You can make your iPhone simulate an incoming call. It’s great for socially awkward situations, like blind dates or bad party conversations, that you need to escape from. It works on a timer, and lets you customize the identity of the incoming caller.
It’s a free app until tomorrow.

Speaking of iPhone apps, it looks like Opera developed a version of Opera Mini for the iPhone and submitted it to the App Store. According to Opera Software CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, Apple blocked it due its competition with the built-in Safari browser. Shame on Apple. I hate monoplies. 🙁

Firefox product placements

Chris Ilias 3 Comments

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that I’ve developed a habbit: Whenever I see a browser in the media, be it television shows, commercials, screenshots on web sites, I automatically check to see what browser and OS is being used.

Very often, Firefox is the browser being used. Today, on CNN.com, I saw another instance.

It’s a little hard to tell, but there’s a Firefox icon in the bottom left of the dock, the tab has a favicon, and the search bar has a favicon. Ergo, that’s Firefox, not Safari. CNN used to use Netscape 7 in their screenshots. (Although, that could have been because of the AOL-Time Warner umbrella.)

Years ago, the Mozilla Suite was on the Simpsons:

If it hasn’t already been started, it would be cool if we had a log of all instances Firefox has appeared in the media.

Why I want a Support logo

Chris Ilias 4 Comments

As Tara bloggd, she and David are working on a logo for the Support project, and want input about how others define the Support project. Getting a Firefox Support logo is something I’ve wanted for a long while. Not necessarily to establish an identity for the web site, but because it lays the foundation for some cooler stuff. Namely, a Firefox Support search plugin.

Imagine this: A Firefox user is having a problem with Firefox, or just has a question about how to use Firefox. Instead of visiting support.mozilla.com, he/she just calls up the search plugin in the search bar, and types the question (or put it in the Help menu).

In order for that to happen, we need a favicon.
In order for that to happen, we need a logo.

For what it’s worth, there’s already an unofficial search plugin on mycroft.