It's rare that I have a problem with Firefox. But I can consistently make it fail when loading up a Java applet. I use the official Java distribution from Sun (version 5 with fix pack 6) to no avail. One particular applet that resides locally on my machine causes my browser to lock up instantly, every time. Perhaps the problem is with the applet itself. Or perhaps it's "just Java." But the applet works in (yuck) IE. Shouldn't Firefox yield the same results?

I have yet to poke around in Bugzilla to see if there are any bugs filed on this problem. I can't believe that I'm the only person who runs into this on a semi-regular basis. Granted, I do my best to avoid Java at all times. But every so often, I have to make use of this technology, regardless of my level of disdain.

I'm making this post from the Bon Echo Alpha 2 build of Firefox. The greatest new feature by far is the inline spell checking feature for textarea elements. It works exactly like the spell check feature in Thunderbird, and it makes blog posting that much easier.

The new tab UI is nice, but I haven't yet opened a ton of tabs to see how they handle overflow and the like. I also like the new "Addons" window, which is essentially the marriage of the "Themes" and "Extensions" windows from current Firefox releases. Other cool features include an improved default search box (although Googlebar Lite is still the greatest one around ... ;) ), session saver (in case of a browser crash), greatly improved feed discovery capabilities (I really like this), and more. All in all, Firefox 2 is starting to look really good. I can't wait to get my hands on a more mature release; I will definitely make the switch once the public betas arrive.

The only gripe I have is that the few extensions I have tried to install all fail (the maxVersion isn't set high enough), so I'm currently extension-less. :(

On an entirely unrelated note, I have added a new Extensions category here to this blog, and I have placed all Firefox extension related discussions under that category.

It looks as if Firefox Places will be disabled for Firefox 2.0. This is a disappointing turn of events, but the developers apparently feel it needs more polish before it can be let loose on the public. I've only briefly played with the latest implementation in recent trunk builds (it has since been disabled), and what I saw seemed pretty good. Live bookmarks need work, and accessing the Places window is still a little clunky. The feature set for 2.0 is still fairly interesting. Hopefully, 2.0 will be an exciting release.

Two more chapters have been added to the toolbar tutorial for Firefox 1.5: chapter 4, which covers dynamic extension development, and chapter 5, which covers skinning.

Enjoy.

Chapter 3 of my toolbar tutorial for Firefox 1.5 has been posted. A brand new chapter not available in the previous tutorial should hopefully appear before the weekend is out (so stay tuned).

I've been working a little bit on Googlebar Lite 4.0 this weekend, and I'm quite pleased so far with how things are turning out. Autocompletion is working wonderfully (even inline completion), and the search history can now be completely disabled for those who don't want that feature. Brand new icons are planned for the new release, giving the toolbar a much needed facelift. I'm quite close to switching to the 4.0 alpha as my permanent install (I'm still using 3.3 at the moment), and that's a very good development sign. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I can do a public beta test...

The first two sections of my brand new toolbar tutorial have been posted. This new version covers extension development in Firefox 1.5, so be sure to check it out if you want to get into extension development.

I've run across an interesting bug in Firefox recently, but it's unfortunately the kind of problem that is incredibly difficult to track down. The header image here at this website wasn't showing up in my main Firefox profile on my PC. Other profiles worked, Internet Explorer worked, and the installation on my laptop also worked without a hitch. Trying to view the actual file in the problematic install (by entering the exact URL to the image in the address bar) only resulted in a "File Not Found" error page.

Doing a Bugzilla bug search, I ran across bug #312908, which seems to reference a similar issue. The comment in the bug reports that clearing the cache manually, then reloading the page, causes the problem to go away. Sure enough, that worked like a charm for me. Is this simply a cache problem? A more subtle rendering engine problem? It's hard to tell. Trying to reproduce the problem should be interesting.

If you run into a website that all of a sudden doesn't render properly, and you know the site isn't at fault, clear your cache and try again. Hopefully this is a bug that will get squashed as we head towards Firefox 2.0.

The minutes from the latest Firefox team status meeting provide some interesting insights into what's being considered for the next release of Firefox. From Firefox Places, to tabbed browsing improvements, and a visual refresh; all kinds of things are on the table. There are a number of really exciting "potential" items that I hope make the cut: inline spell checking, a built-in session saver, and improved RSS support. And it looks like further extension manager updates are planned. Could extension development get even easier?

One of the hidden gems in Firefox is the live bookmarks feature. I have only recently begun using it, and I can't see how I ever lived without it. Keeping track of multiple blogs and websites has never been easier, and the integration right into the bookmarks system is so incredibly seamless. I don't doubt that there are more powerful feed aggregator applications, but this feature is just what the doctor ordered for my needs. Now to find more sites to add to my list...

I am finally taking the time to update my toolbar extension tutorial for Firefox. The new version will feature all of the great new development improvements featured in Firefox 1.5 (development has gotten a whole lot easier). In updating the tutorial, I've already learned a few things that I didn't already know. For example, extensions no longer need to make use of GUID's; the format extensionname@yoursite.com can be used instead. That change alone makes things so much easier to understand.

I have no idea when the updated tutorial will open up to you, the reader, but it will hopefully be sometime soon. I'm currently working on rewriting section 2 (Creating the Framework). It just so happens to be the section that requires the most revamping. As a result of the tutorial focusing on Firefox 1.5, I'll be throwing support for Firefox 1.0.x to the wind. My decision to do so is based on the new development features provided by 1.5. They alone outweigh the loss of 1.0.x support in my eyes; hopefully you agree on that point as well.

Now that Firefox 1.5 has been released, we can begin awaiting the next incarnation of our favorite little browser: Firefox 2. One of the more exciting features that will hopefully make it into 2.0 is known as Firefox Places. This unified approach to bookmarks and history is particularly interesting because all of the modern browsers I can think of treat them as separate entities. Not only will merging these two elements improve findability, but I think it will greatly improve bookmark usage. As websites are found through the traditional search or navigation methods, it should become remarkably easier to mark said websites for future reference.

The Mozilla wiki entry for Firefox Places is still rather lacking in information, but what is there is particularly interesting (especially the user interface documents). I've been seeing several pieces of the Places puzzle fall into place in the nightly trunk builds, so that provides some hope for this feature making it in to Firefox 2. It should be interesting to watch how this idea develops, and how it transforms our browsing future.

Firefox 1.5 has been released! If you haven't updated already, get to it!

To help celebrate this most excellent occasion, I've released a new version of Googlebar Lite. Version 3.2 adds a new Catalan (ca-ES) translation, the ability to remove individual items from the search history, a few usability tweaks, and several bug fixes. Next stop, some updates to the toolbar tutorial!

As Asa indicates, Firefox release candidate 2 is now available (at least through the auto-update feature in Firefox).

For those who don't already know, the JavaScript console is one of the greatest tools built in to Firefox. It makes finding JavaScript errors a breeze, and can be a life-saver for extension developers. Unfortunately, the console has become rather bloated in Firefox 1.5. Not only do JavaScript errors appear, but now CSS errors (which are way more likely to appear on various websites) are also logged. This results in a terribly cluttered console, making it hard to find what you're looking for.

Thankfully, I was recently pointed to the Console² extension (which only works in Firefox 1.5). This extension makes it possible to filter out CSS errors, in addition to a number of other great features. It smartly renames JavaScript Console to Error Console (CSS != JavaScript), and is an excellent light-weight solution to the bloat added in 1.5.

The first release candidate for Firefox 1.5 has just been released. Exciting times! I'm thinking about trashing my default profile (gasp!) and starting fresh for 1.5. Recreating my profile will take some time, but I think it will be worthwhile in the long run.

In semi-related news, I hope to have Googlebar Lite 3.1 available very soon (I'm only waiting on one more translation), so 1.5 RC 1 users can continue using GBL. CoLT should be upgraded soon as well.

According to Asa, this Wednesday might be "ship day" for the first Firefox 1.5 release candidate. Once it's released, I think I'm going to replace 1.0.7 with RC1 as my primary browser. The beta releases weren't nearly as stable as I wish they had been (I unsuccessfully tried switching to them shortly after their release), but the latest nightly builds have seemed very stable. All of the new features and bug fixes in 1.5 make it awfully hard to pass up.

Here's a small but handy Firefox tip for "safekeeping" your bookmarks. It also lets you share your bookmarks across multiple profiles!

1. Navigate to your Firefox profile directory. On Windows, this is usually located somewhere similar to the following: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
2. Copy your bookmarks.html file and paste it in a safe location elsewhere on your hard drive.
3. Back in your profile directory, create a text file called user.js (if one does not already exist). Open the file for editing in your favorite text editor (avoid word processors like Microsoft Word).
4. Add the following line of text to this file, changing the path to the appropriate location (wherever you copied your bookmarks to earlier): user_pref("browser.bookmarks.file", "C:\Path to Bookmarks File\bookmarks.html");
5. Save the file and restart your browser!

You can use this trick in multiple profiles, allowing them to all point to the same bookmarks file. Additionally, it helps to safeguard against possibly losing your bookmarks if your profile becomes corrupt.

Scott Berkun used to work for Microsoft on the Internet Explorer web browser. So if there is anyone around who can appreciate the machinery behind the web browsing experience, it's him. Scott recently switched to using Firefox as his primary web browser (his article explains why he made the change). But more interestingly, he provides several things he sees wrong with Firefox. Several of his points are right on target (there is some broken-ness in the Firefox world), and several of his points are a little off the mark (a few of his problems can be solved with extensions).

But Scott has class. He recently posted a followup article, clarifying a number of questions raised by the first one. In it, he admits that after he heard from a number of Firefox users, he saw that some of his views warranted another look. And he also (correctly) points out that there is still inherit broken-ness in the browsing world as a whole. Thanks for an insightful post, Scott. And here's to your switch to Firefox: you won't regret it.

A day or two ago, I replaced my primary Firefox install with the 1.5 Beta release. This afternoon, I went back to 1.0.6. As excited as I am about the upcoming 1.5 release, this beta simply has too many problems to switch to it full time. Too many errors crop up in the JavaScript console, too many extensions and themes do not yet work with it, and its overall stability is questionable (the beta crashed on me minutes after installing it for the first time). I think I might go back to running the nightly branch builds on my "nightly" profile. Had I been thinking clearly at the time, I would have used this profile with the beta install. Unfortunately, I contaminated my normal profile instead. So now I'm having to build a new one. sigh

Such is the price of progress.

Asa Dotzler reported yesterday that Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 is now available to download. Apparently, the beta has revved the maxVersion for extensions to 1.4. As such, I will no doubt need to check that Googlebar Lite still works and get a new version out the door (with updated version support).

This is an exciting time for Firefox users! The Beta release of 1.5 includes a host of new features and thousands of bug fixes, making the best browser in the world even better. Improved accessibility will also help those who make use of screen-readers, making their lives much easier.