Firefox problems
If you are still using Mozilla, consider switching to Firefox due to a security problem that exists in Mozilla. However, Firefox still has a few quirks. This page describes some solutions to common problems with the Linux version of Firefox.
Mouse events
Some versions of Mozilla and Firefox appear not to handle mouse events
correctly. Attempts to resize the Mozilla window frequently result in
the window getting uncontrollably bigger and bigger. This seems to be
fixed in Firefox 2.0.
Loading HTML page from command line
Mozilla and Firefox can load an HTML page from the command line
(for instance, by typing mozilla linuxsetup89.html).
However, Mozilla will not use the current working directory, but
tries to read the page from the last directory it was using in
the most recent session. Firefox sometimes appends "www" to the
filename and tries to open it as a Website.
Firefox scrolling is jerky.
When the "down" arrow key was pressed, the Firefox cursor would jump
to the next link on the page instead of scrolling, causing the screen
to jump randomly.
Solution Pressing F7 fixed this problem. There is also an option called "general.smoothScroll" in about:config that emulates the smooth scrolling in IE.
Firefox text fields are very slow.
The address bar text field freezes for 2-3 seconds when something is typed,
which messes up your typing. This is caused by the text autocompletion
function, because the more recent version pops up an annoying menu
(similar to that seen in IE) whenever you type something. This forces
you to stop typing for several seconds while you wait for the browser
to create the window and read, parse, and sort your history.dat file.
Solution: One way to prevent the menu from being created is to delete the history.dat file in the ~/.mozilla/firefox/*/ directory file before starting Firefox. The delay before autocompletion starts can be changed by changing the accessibility.typeaheadfind.timeout value in about:config, but this has no effect on the address bar.
Disabling autocomplete popup menu
There are two types of autocomplete in Firefox: the URL bar, and
text windows. Both of these open a small menu whenever you type something,
and it means you have to click a couple more times to prevent one of the
menu items from substituting what you're trying to type.
I could not find any way of disabling this feature within Firefox that actually worked. However, there are two add-ons that may be useful: rmannoy and Autocomplete Manager by Nikitas Liogkas . Once installed, Autocomplete Manager becomes an item in the "Tools" menu item. It can also be accessed from the "Add-Ons" item in the Tools menu. It has no effect on text fields.
Rmannoy works only on text fields, and eliminates the autocomplete list entirely. To configure it, select "Add-ons" from the Tools menu, select "Annoyance Remover" and click Preferences. Both of these tools seem to work well and are recommended. However, it should be noted that these programs can sometimes mess up your browser history: instead of recording just the websites you visit, the history menu contains a list of every single page you clicked on, making it practically useless. It's up to you to decide whether the trade-off is worth it. Or use Opera, which has a completely configurable autocomplete, instead. (Opera has its own annoyances; for example, it never seems to get the font size quite right.)
Firefox is slow when reading a Web page.
In version 2.0, the Firefox window freezes for about twenty seconds
when loading a page. This is much longer than other browsers; it's
even slower than Mozilla. The window does not redraw itself during
this time. Apparently, Firefox is waiting until the entire page is
downloaded before drawing anything. Even worse, if two Firefox windows
are open, both of them will freeze when one of the windows
begins loading a page.
On the other hand, Firefox seems to save much more information than other browsers, which makes the "back" button faster.
Solution: To make Firefox faster, type "about:config" in the address bar to get to the configuration screen. Set the following settings by double-clicking on the appropriate line in the configuration list:
| network.http.pipelining | true |
| network.http.proxy.pipelining | true |
| network.http.pipelining.maxrequests | 10 |
Then close Firefox and re-start it. Older versions of Firefox had an entry for nglayout.initialpaint.delay, but this is missing from v.2.0. A Wiki-based online help system is available in Firefox by typing "about config" (without the colon) in the address bar. If you type "about:config" (with the colon) in the address bar, it opens the configuration screen, which is a list of hundreds of configuration options. The user-modified settings can also be changed manually by editing the prefs.js file.
Improvements over earlier versions
Version 2.0 of Firefox has a new feature of automatically restoring the exact session, including the correct URL, location on the page, and number of windows, when you restart Firefox after the browser crashes. This feature is very convenient, and I find that it gets used frequently. Firefox is also superior to Mozilla in its ability to block Javascript animation, which Mozilla sometimes is unable to stop. Mozilla is unable to display Amazon's book viewer (it hangs at the "Loading..." screen). Opera and Firefox 2.0 are the only Linux browsers I have found that are able to display the book viewer.
Opera has one dangerous feature: it defaults to starting up on the page you were last viewing. Don't use Opera at work! Opera has a few odd quirks, like its propensity for jumping to a new page when you hit the backspace key; but unlike Firefox, with Opera it's possible to completely disable all forms of animation on a web page.
Disabling image animation and flash
In Firefox 2.x, disabling animated images is fairly easy.
Type about:config in the address bar and change the following
settings:
| image.animation_mode | none |
| privacy.popups.firstTime | false |
In Opera, you can disable plugins in the Preferences dialog box. In Firefox 2.x, disabling flash is more difficult. The old trick of setting privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins to 3 no longer works. Until a new anti-flash extension for Firefox becomes available, the only sure way to stop those annoying animated flash advertisements is to delete or rename the .mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so file. This causes flash to be replaced with a green puzzle piece icon.
Managing file types
Although you can use Firefox's "Preferences" dialog to specify how
to handle various files (e.g., PDF files), it can be cumbersome to
do so because the file browser is somewhat slow and awkward. It's
often easier to edit the .mozilla/firefox/*/mimeTypes.rdf file and
change the entries manually.
Realplayer and Helix Player
Here is the procedure for setting up realplayer:
- Install realplayer or helixplayer and make sure the realplay script is in your path, and make sure your sound card is working. (For helix player, you may need to execute the command "chmod a+x *.bin" before installing it.)
- Start firefox. Enter about:config in the address bar and set "browser.download.hide_plugins_without_extensions to "false" by double-clicking on it. Now the realaudio file types should be visible. Click on the small square at the right next to "Action" and make sure "Mime type" is checked.
- Click on the file type for audio/x-pn-realaudio and set it to the path for realplay.
Firefox and Amazon.com
How to get Firefox to work with Realplayer or Helix player to open Amazon music or sound clips?
Short answer: you can't. When you click on an audio clip in Amazon, Helix player will say, "The player does not have the capabilities to play back this content. This content is supported by Realplayer. The following components are required: protocol_pnm." Realplayer says: "The content you are trying to play uses an audio codec that is obsolete and no longer supported. Please contact the content provider about using a supported codec." The real issue seems to be Amazon's deal with Microsoft to support Windows Media Services 9. Apparently Microsoft has declared war on RealPlayer. The deal between Amazon and Microsoft probably means that Amazon will eventually be eliminating its RealPlayer files.
Solution: There are only two solutions: either switch to Windows and use IE, or purchase your CDs from a Linux-friendly vendor line such as cduniverse.
Update: P. Kensche reports that xine 1.1.4 is able to play these files, using the following procedure:
- Set "browser.download.hide_plugins_without_extensions" to "false" by double-click.
- Go to edit -> preferences -> content -> file types.
- Edit the references for "RealAudio-Broadcast" formats to start xine.
I haven't tested this procedure yet.
Opera problems
Opera's user interface has been greatly improved over previous versions and, unlike Firefox and Mozilla, Opera can be given an HTML file on the command line. Opera also has the nice feature of allowing the user to turn off plugins (i.e., Flash) as well as Javascript.
Opera's file browser does not display dot files, which makes it slightly more difficult to navigate in Linux. Opera also has difficulty importing Firefox bookmarks (no solution known yet).
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