Firefox 3.5 - Your Default browser?

Firefox 3.5 - Your Default browser?

Hey Now,

So today is the day, Firefox 3.5 is released & of course like many millions of people around the world I downloaded & installed it. Firefox has been my default browser for some time now. Browsers are the most used windows application & I use many all day everyday. 

Firefox 3.5 new features include:

Faster fox - the browser measured faster
Private Browsing just like all other browsers Ctrl + Shift + P I use this when shopping for diamonds for my wife.
Undo Tab Ctrl + Shift + T Similar to Ctrl + T for new tab
Video with HTML 5 - HTML 5 is around the corner & this will help everyone browse more efficently such as links within video.
TraceMonkey JavaScript engine - this is spuposed to be faster the the previous SpiderMonkey. 
Geo-Location - from my understanding it will know where your located
Tab Tearing - I'm not a fan I find myself not using this even in Chrome

Firefox Add-on's are my favorite feature still about Firefox including the latest version 3.5. They allow us to customize our browser. Listed below is a top 10 Catto Firefox add-ons that I like use all the time. 

1 Hide Menubar - provides more realastate & hides menubar it just works
2 Speed Dial - Stellar add-on. Easily open frequently used pages. Use Cntl+1 to 3 load your favorite page.
3 FoxTab - Super slick way to switch tabs Ctrl+Shift (similar to vista task switcher) 
4 Firebug - Very important dev tool F12 baby
5 Web Developer - many dev tools 
6 Google Preview - displays thumbnail of page on Google search
7 Cooliris - The best way to view pix
8 Coolpreviews - easily quickly view a link with out opening it$
9 Download Status Bar - places downloads on the status bar neatly
10 Personas for Firefox - Change look easily
11 Colorzilla - web dev tool to pick colors

This a just 10 of my favorite add-on's. Add-ons are easily still my favorite Firefox feature 

That is all there is .. there is no more!

Catto

Browser Hotkeys #4 Hotkey of all Time

Browser Hotkeys #4 Hotkey of all Time

The browser is the most used application, you viewing this post in a web browser such as IE right now. There are so many hotkeys that we can use when in a browser & that is why it's the #4 rated hotkey. Here is a list of my top browser hotkeys:

1. Alt + C - Favorites Center
2. Tab Navigation
3. Middle Click (Hot Click) - Open link in new tab
4. F5 - Refresh
5. Alt + D - Focus on Address bar
6. Ctrl + D - Add to favs
7. Backspace (= Stop button)
8. F11 - Full Screen
9. Ctrl + W - Close Tab
10. Esc (= Stop button)
11. Ctrl + E - Search
12. Alt + T - Tools menu
13. Alt + J - View Feeds
14. Ctrl + Shift + Del - (Delete browsing history IE8)
15. Ctrl + 0 restores Text Size

Whew! That is quite a few. Here is some more detail on them all

1. Alt + C - Favorites Center (IE7 & IE8)
I love this since I constanly use my favorites In Firefox it's Alt + B

2. Tab Navigation
Ctrl + Tab - Switch to next tab
Ctrl + Shift + Tab - Switch to previous tab
Ctrl + Q - Quick Tabs view
Ctrl + 1 Swich to 1st tab

3. Middle Click (Hot Click) - Open link in new tab
I really find this usefule say you are on search results & you middle click (click the scroll wheel down) while hovering a link & the page will open in a new tab (or window depending on you preference)

4. F5 - Refresh
I always am refreshing pages & this is how I prefer to do it.

5. Alt + D - Focus on Address bar
Quick way to navigate to the address bar

6. Ctrl + D - Add to favs
Adding to favorites couldn't be easier. I think of the D in aDD to remember this one.

7. Backspace (= Stop button)
Alt + <-- works too but I usually use Backspace since only one key beats to in my blog.

8. F11 - Full Screen
Streamlined browsing is so nice. Full screen I use so much & really love it. F11 also will restore the window to the previous size.

9. Ctrl + W - Close Tab
Closing tabs happens & this is efficent.

10. Esc - Stop
Frequenly use this when a page doesn't load quick or right so I just stop it.

11. Ctrl + E - Search
Use this to search in a search file in the top left of some browsers. In the future this box will not be there in my opinion since the address bar wil also search.

12. Alt + T - Tools menu
Tools menu is useful such as Internet Options (Alt + T, O)
Classic windows update is good too such as (Alt + T, U)

13. Alt + J - View Feeds
After viewing the feeds I useually press the up arrow & select the RSS one not ATOM, This works well.

14. Ctrl + Shift + Del - (Delete browsing history IE8)
In IE8 this is a nice new hotkey for getting to the delete browsing history with out the tools menu.

15. Ctrl + 0 restores Text Size
Sometimes the we may click & hold the Ctrl button & scroll the mouse wheel. The text will change size on the browser & to restore it you can choose this one. Browser Hotkeys more than you wanted to know I would think, however the are efficent & used everyday.

Bye for now,

Catto

IE8 RC1 Top Features & Adjustments

Hey Now Everybody,
I've wrote 7 easy steps to download & install IE8.
Here is a list of some items about IE8 that stand out.

1. Favorites Bar Toolbar
2. IE8 RC1 Memory Usage vs. IE7
3. Tabbed Grouping
4. Ad Blocker
5. Accelleraters
6. Find (Ctrl+F)
7. Mulitple Monitor Install
8. Search (Ctrl + E)
9. Webslices

After more UATing (user acceptance testing)

1. Favorites Bar Toolbar is the best feature of IE8 RC1. Especially in full screen streamlined view (F11) since the favorites bar is visable when a user uses auto hide checked.

2. IE8 RC1 Memory Usage vs. IE7

IMHO I think IE8 uses more memory. I always felt IE had a big memory useage advantage over other browsers, since IE was better at using less memory & providing good funtionality. IE8 RC1 Memory Usage has been adjusted similar to some browsers out there now like Chrome, which uses more memory, multithreaded & multiprocesses. There are multiple iexplorer.exe processes when there are mulitiple tabs. Tabbed Grouping is a great feature & is also a factor with memory useage since a group may have a new process. Please understand there are advantages of this such as when one tab crashes you don't have to burn the whole browser a user can just close the tab, however currently when people's have less then a Gig a RAM it could be a memory hog (personally I enjoy .5G ,2G, 4G & 8G depending on PC I'm using). Few sinerios to explain:

a. Close the tab & the process doesn't end - When the group is closed the memory is not always free & the process may not end quickly, not using mem efficently.

b IE8 RC1 uses Multiple processes Example 4 tabs in IE8 can have 4 iexplorer.exe processes running (Total 300meg = 50meg, 70meg, 80meg 100meg) & in IE7 it would only be one iexplorer.exe process. (120 meg 1 process)

c. IE8 Minimizing doesn't saves memory any longer - When minimizing the app in IE7 it free'd a good percent of memory (example IE7 is open using 100meg then window is minimized & the mem usage is only 20meg). In IE8 when minimized there is no memory free'd (example if there are 3 iexplorer.exe process are running 120meg, 70meg, 52meg them minimized the prcesses will have have the same mem useage 242meg)

3. Tabbed Grouping is nice feature that color codes groups of tabs (I think there is four colors then they repeat Green, Purple, Yellow & Blue).
4. Ad Blocker - IE8 has an add blocker similar to other browsers out there now. This will make a Google ad not dislay so the content on the screen is not going to be an ad.
5. Accelleraters are good. This is how I've been using them. a. Highlight text(example 123 main street ), b. Right click, click accelerator (ex. Google maps) c. View map of address
6. Find (Ctrl + F) is better similar to webkit with yellow highlight.

7. Multiple Monitors Restart install with multiple monitors for me required adjusting the display properties --> settings resolution. Not a big deal but I felt like mentioning it.
8. Search (Ctrl+E) is improved with images by the providers the user selects.
9. Webslices I haven't used much yet.

As Always All Comments Welcome
Bye for now,

Catto

Browsers Links/Bookmarks Toolbar

Internet Browsers you may use Links/Bookmarks Toolbar

Browsers - Important Program!

Links/Bookmarks Toolbar (One click browsing)

201 - Folders in Links/Bookmarks Toolbar

Hey Now Everybody!

Internet browsers such as IE & Firefox is the most used computer program. We have many preferences & options that are available to use. One is the links toolbar in IE or bookmarks toolbar in most other browsers. The reasons to use a link/bookmarks toolbar is to increase productivity, efficiency & user friendliness.

To use the links/bookmark toolbar once set up all you have to do is to click a favorite URL & the page will be loaded. This is more efficient than typing in an address. It's one click less that clicking the favorites menu then a favorite. A links/bookmarkbar is usually located under the address bar.

A preference is to have the address bar on the top then the links bar under it, no other toolbars are used such as Google or Yahoo Toolbar.

Since IE is the most popular browser let's inspect how to set up our links bar. First the links bar has to be displayed. This can be checked by going to the view menu (alt + V), right arrow, down arrow to links then enter. The links menu should have a check on the left of the word. The toolbars may be locked (checked) or unlocked (unchecked). By default IE has the links bar on the right side of the browser, what can be done is to click hold & drag the word links to the left of the browser window to give the user the maximum amount of space to store favorites.

To save a webpage URL/Address you may click hold & drag the shortcut icon (icon to the left of the http in the address bar) to the links toolbar. There is a black vertical I that will show & when you see that you may stop holding the mouse button & the favorite shortcut will be saved.

Toolbars 201 - Use of Folders in links/bookmarks toolbar is very efficient. This allows users to have many more favorites located on the links/bookmarks toolbar. To create your first folder in the links bar one way is to start by saving a current page to your favorites (Cntl+D, tab, L, tab, enter). In the create in choose 'Links' Then click the 'New Folder' button. Type in a short name such as Biz, press enter (or click create) & click OK (on add to favorites window).

The length of the names on my links/bookmarks toolbar is usually 1 or 2 characters. You may rename them by right clicking then rename (IE). For example you may rename Google to G.

That is all there is no more,
Bye for now!

Catto