Firefox downloaded 1 billion times

Firefox, the ultimate web browser, has reached an incredible milestone - 1 billion downloads since its launch in 2004.

See the PCWorld article about it, The Guesstimater, the official notes at One Billion plus You and the Spreadfirefox page.

Firefox addons revisited

Since the launch of Firefox 3, I haven't given much blogspace to rethink the addons I use. A post in TechRadar brought it to my attention, along with some more ideas for cool addons to use.

Some of you may recall that I've described the addons I think are reccomendable a few months ago. Back then, Firefox 2 was still around for another patch or two, before the announcement came that it will no longer be patched, and all users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.

I've tried myself some of the addons in the TechRadar post, such as Tab Mix Plus, IE view, Greasemonkey and more.

However, I am unsure at how much they add to the regular user. Since the TechRadar post is aimed at power users, I can understand why they would be there. I do not, however, think that I would recommend all of them to regular users, who might question whether they should have these or not.

The resolve in this matter to the techy person in all of us is quite simple - do not hesitate to try the addons, after you've read everything there is to know about them, just because you may not necessarily consider yourself a power user. That's part of the fun that firefox is - you can install addons and uninstall if they don't suit you. In fact, you can even install an addon for a while, and later when it no longer suits your need, you can disable it or uninstall it.

Firefox Addons

There are many good addons to use with Firefox. There have also been many lists containing the top 10/20 addons to use.

Over the past several years, I've come to appreciate several addons. Here is a list of some of the more useful addons I've found so far:

NoScript - prevents any scripts from running unless you okey the domain from which they originate.

DownloadThemAll - help to batch download elements from a webpage.

PDFDownload - helps dealing with PDF docs that you want to view/download while surfing the web.

DownloadStatusBar - an amazing feature, one that comes so natural you'll have a hard time thinking how things were before it. It displays the downloaded file and its information in the bottom part of the browser.

FlashBlock - prevents any flash content from downloading or running unless you okey the domain.

Noia 2.0 Extreme - a nice theme with great looking buttons.

Wizz RSS - an RSS extention.

FaviconizeTab - a usefull tool for the firefox poweruser that enables one to minimize the size of the tab in the tab bar to the size of the favicon.

RSS Ticker - an RSS ticker that runs your live bookmarks in the bottom part of the browser.

Coloful Tabs - colors each tab in a different color.

Bookmark Duplicate Detector - warns you when you are about to create a duplicate bookmark.


That's the list so far. I'll probably add a few later on.

Firefox 3 sets a new world record

Mozilla has set a new world record for largest number of software downloads in 24 hours with Firefox3 (see also debate at digg).

With so many people eager to try out Firefox, it's no wonder they were able to achieve so many downloads in just 24hours.

To be fair, I must admit that I, myself, have not yet made the move from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3. A few reasons exist, but beyond them all is a fear to abandon my beloved firefox 2 and advance to the great unknown of a new software. I am aware of all the debates that have been taken place, and that the official version is only out after all the kinks and quirks were dealt with and ridden of, but still there remains that back-of-your-throat feeling that perhaps holding on to the known and the familiar will ease the transfer, in the future, to the newer model.

New Firefox ad

A new Firefox ad has popped up on the "Social Daily News" website, be sure to grab a look.

One of the things I like about Firefox is the ingenuity of the advertisements for it. This is just one small example.

And don't forget, if you enjoy Firefox, pass it on :-).

400 million downloads for Firefox

Firefox has reached a great milestone of 400 million downloads. Though that number does not neccesarily mark 400 million users, it still is an important benchmark for the Firefox team and the Open Source community as a whole.

The official release about it can be found here and you can also read about it over at CNET.

Firefox at 25 percent

After seeing the link over at Digg I was really excited. Firefox usage around the world has risen to 25%. These numbers were calculated by the W3C counter found here, and go to show the extent of the current transfer rate of users from IE and other browsers to the Firefox.

This rise in users worldwide should go to show that internet websites today need more than ever to be cross-platform usable. Firefox along with other browsers serve an important role today in preserving one of the foundations of the internet - access for all, without discrimination on what type of browser you are using.

Passing the 25% benchmark in the overall traffic of the web should prove a beacon of the change to come. Things are going to become better, and the more open things are, the more cross-platform the web will get, the better.

Student starts Firefox campaign on campus

I've come across an interesting story about a student who decided he's going to switch all of the people on his university's campus to Firefox.

His name is James F. Beckner III and he is the representative of the Firefox campaign on his campus.

I wish him luck, and hope he'll convince people to try it out - and maybe even switch over.

Make Firefox look like IE

I never thought of it, but John Haller has - why not make Firefox look like IE and help non-tech folk enjoy Firefox?
In his great tutorial he describes what it takes to make the necessary conversions and advises on the various stages of the process.
Firefox users also get a look into all sorts of extensions you never knew existed. I, for one, was looking for an extension like the Menu Editor Extension for some time now.

2007 FireFox calendar

Check out this cool calendar for the new year, made around the FireFox theme by Percy Cabello.

More colanders are available here.

Make sure you note the different licenses of these creative works.

Virtualization tools and FireFox hacks

One of the ways to install and tryout a new OS is to use a virtualization software. It can simulate many types of enviroments and enable the avid user to install, for example, a Linux distrobution on an NTFS. One such option that has just become OpenSource (that's right!) is VirtualBox from InnoTek. This is a nice alternative to using the LiveCD option.




Another novel idea is adding a splash screen to your mozilla products. Using Firefox with this extention enables the splash screen as seen in the screenshots from the downloads page.

FireFox use is up to 50% in 2006

This is an interesting read about the boost FireFox has had in 2006, especially since the launch of FF2.

FireFox Ad

Check out this amazing FireFox ad:

ubuntu theme for FireFox

Two great things combined, a new theme for FireFox takes form in the default colors of ubuntu. Change the way FireFox looks to blend in with the whole ubuntu atmosphere.

Greasemonkey

As an avid FireFox user, I've come to love the various extensions available. I find them far superior to the add-ons available for the IE, and far more versatile. A great example of it is the Greasemonkey extension. Allowing me, the user, and not the webdeveloper to decide how the site will show up on my screen is a tremendous advantage.

One possible use that comes to mind is people who are vision-impaired and can use an enlargement of all the text on a page.

There are links on the main page of the Greasemonkey site, including ones that teach you what you can do and how to do it.

I'm off to learn the stuff ;-).

Extensions for FireFox and the Y! Widget Engine

Another tutorial for writing extensions for FireFox has surfaced. It is always nice to find another tutorial which would explain things from a different perspective.

I have seen some tutorials before, and this is the latest one I ran into.

This also raises the question I've been pondering about, to write a widget for the Yahoo!Widget engine, or to write an extension for FireFox. Both are compelling, but since the last two engine reforms Yahoo! have done to the engine, I find it less and less to my liking. It seems as if they are trying to take the good, nice, open-source/community development atmosphere that existed during the days for v.1 of the engine.

If I were to advise them on how to make it better now, I would suggest:
1. Remove the Y! logo from the engine and from any popup screen.
2. If step 1 is not available, at least minimize it and maximize the widget logo.
3. Spread word about the widget engine across the Y! domains, in form of ads and others.
4. Rally open-source supporters and other to contribute.
5. Support (how about a financial prize?) crossplatform widgets that incorporate the Y! Widgets and other systems.