3 posts tagged “firefox”

Most because of issues with tow of the more popular Web browsers for PC, I found it difficult to embrace the web based applications concept. Google’s new browser, Chrome has started to change my mind.

Chrome, which is still in Beta, is trim and robust. It’s easy to adjust to if you’ve been using Firefox or Internet Explorer (IE). It’s nothing like either one, but it does pretty much use the same keyboard shortcuts, and since I’m a huge fan of keyboard shortcuts, this is very nice.

As you would expect, Chrome is tab based like the other two, but has no menu bar and only one line for the tool bar. Most of which contains the address window.

When you enter something into the browser’s address bar, you have the option of going to the address you type, or you can use the same window to enter search criteria. Slick, and I guess once you get used to it being that flexible, pretty handy.

What I like most is it’s quick. It loads pages quicker and performs searches quicker than “the other two”.

Also, it works well with Google Docs. Not much of a surprise, but you never know until you know. All of Google’s keyboard shortcuts work perfectly with Chrome. That was not always the case. Especially Firefox.

At this point, Chrome isn’t recognizing the scroll area on the touchpad of my laptop, but I’m guessing that will be corrected by the time V. 1 is released. Also, Chrome has a similar spell check while you type feature that Firefox has. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work in Google Docs at the moment. Something else I would expect to be remedied.

I have made the folks working on Chrome aware of these two oddities. They make it very easy to report bugs, or submit wish list ideas. You don’t have to provide any personal information. You just fill in the subject and text of your bug report or wish list request. This is very quick and painless.

The other night I wanted to check the prices at my local Papa John’s pizza joint and they required that I give them my first and last name, complete street address, phone number and e-mail address. Just to check the menu.

I wrote them a very harsh message asking why I had to give such extensive personal information just to see how much a pizza might cost. They replied this is necessary to assure I get prices from the correct store. Like I don’t know where the hell I live. And do the Jones get different menus from the Smiths??? Why is my last name necessary to check prices on a menu.

Their reply was so ridiculous, I didn’t reply. Plus, I grilled myself a boneless, skinless chicken breast instead of ordering pizza.

Anyway, back to Chrome. Both the Mac and Linux versions are reported to be “coming soon”. After using it for the better part of a week, I’m happy with it, and I’m much happier using Google’s web based applications now that there’s an adequate browser to use them with.

I do like Chrome for general surfing, as well as just with Google Apps. I have a good feeling about Chrome so far. I have a knack for finding “oddities” in programs rather quickly and easily and except for the two I mentioned above, I haven’t found anything else.

More later.

Now it’s Foxfire’s turn to be in the hot seat. From time to time, I run into things Foxfire won’t do. Such as saving filled in forms, watching on demand video from Netflix and other general quirkiness.

On the plus side, it downloads quickly and is supposed to be “safer” online than IE. Okay, so I use Foxfire most of the time.

Just now, I was playing with Google Docs. Trying out stuff I hadn’t tried before.

I uploaded my July diary document that I had created in Word. This document comes complete with a Table of Contents.

In Word TOC listings are linked to the heading they refer to. Handy. The way it should be.

I had noticed, but had never tried Google Docs’ Bookmark feature. I like that kind of thing and make use of it from time to time, so I scroll down to the first entry of the month after the TOC. I insert a bookmark. Cool. Then I go to the top of the document, highlight the corresponding TOC entry and click on Link.

It gives me the option of picking between a URL, a file, a bookmark, or an e-mail address. Nice. I like flexible.

I choose Bookmark. My recently created Bookmark appears in the drop-down pick list, and I pick it.

When I return to the document, the first line of the TOC section now looks like a hyperlink. So far, so good.

I hover and get a description, but my pointer doesn’t turn to the little hand I’m expecting to see. I click once and get a drop-down option line. This asks me if I want to follow the link, change it, or delete it. More flexibility. I’m okay.

I click on follow the link. The screen goes blank for a couple of seconds, then I’m right where I started from on the TOC entry line, but now I have the entire document in a new tab. I did this a couple of times before I realized I was getting a new tab with the document in it each time.

I’m not so happy, but I remember how Firefox can be quirky sometimes, so I decide to try the same thing in IE (Internet Explorer)..

I guess you know what happened. Yep. It worked just like it was supposed to.

So, you might ask, and legitimately so, why don’t you just use IE and shut the f#@k up.

Well…IE does lots of things really well, however the one thing it does that irritates me is when I increase the Zoom in Google Docs (and anywhere else), it causes me to have to scroll horizontally to be able to see everything. Firefox knows to keep everything in page width, despite the Zoom level.

I’ve looked at the set up section of IE a couple of times hoping to be able to remedy this, but so far, Stevie Wonder can’t find anything.

Since I’m mostly using Google for storage and organization, I guess it’s okay, but I if I’m going to the trouble to put a link in a document, there’s a good chance I’ll be referencing that document at some point, isn’t there?

I downloaded and tried Opera the other day. I removed it less than an hour later.

I’d love to find a product that does everything all the time, the way it should. It seems everything has issues, caveats, or just plain lack of features.

When I was younger and could see normally, I should have learned how to program so I could write my own stuff that probably wouldn’t always work. At least I could fix my own stuff.

Looking forward to a relaxing evening around the fireplace with hot cocoa and marshmallows.

Well…I’ll at leas relax.

In a previous post, I had mentioned that I'm trying to wean myself off the Microsoft teat. I inadvertently took another step in that direction yesterday.

I had an idea for a new story and started scribing in Google Docs. I was using Internet Explore (IE) from Microsoft. I use both IE and Mozilla's Firefox. Each has its good points and its weaknesses, so sometimes one is better suited for the task at hand than the other.

I also have two Gmail accounts. One is my primary e-mail for personal business and keeping in touch with friends. The other is for "playing". I use it when I sign up on blogging sites, when I want information form one place or another, like NBA.com, etc.

I discovered that sometimes having both Gmail accounts open in the same browser program doesn't always work well. So, in my Virgo brain, I thought I would just use one browser for one account and the other for the other.

This also allowed me to logically separate my documents between the two accounts. I love organization, but this turned out to be overkill, although I learned a very interesting lesson from trying it.

As I got into my new story on IE yesterday, I noticed a couple of things. First as I increased the size of the text on the screen to accommodate my low vision, I would have to scroll horizontally. This never happens in Foxfire regardless of how big I make the screen text.

A little annoying, but not devastating. Later, I noticed I wasn't making any spelling errors. This is highly irregular. My low vision precludes me from seeing every little detail the way I would like and I often miss type-o's as I type.

At the end of the portion of the story I was writing, I searched everywhere in Google docs for an option to turn on, or off the spell check on-the-fly feature. No luck.

I finished the story in Word and moved on with my life. Tonight, I decided to investigate some more. I actually broke down and searched the Google Docs help where I found out the spell check as you type is a feature of Firefox, not a feature of Google Docs.

Needless to say, I've decided to still keep both browsers open to check the two e-mail accounts, but I'll be doing all my Google Docs in Firefox where I have spell check as-you-type and no horizontal scrolling on the screen.

I do have one issue with Firefox I can't seem to figure out. When you float your cursor over icons and other items in a web page, often there is a bubble help, bubble info thingy that pops up. In IE, this works perfectly. In Firefox, I get an empty (or at least it looks empty to me) white box. I have my bubble help set to black background with white text in Windows. This is what I get with IE. If anyone knows why I don't get the same thing in Firefox, can you let me know? I'd really appreciate it.

I suppose I could resort to the Help file my self. Maybe I'll do this and if I find an answer, I'll post it here for all to see.

Have a good Sunday.

Soon after posting this I downloaded the Opera browser. Basically it didn't work for me while using Google Docs. Even outside Google Docs, I found it quirky and inconsistent.

I have since uninstalled it. I have little patience for quirky software that I don't have to use.

I did figure out the tooltips thing in Foxfire. Foxfire was recognizing the font color I had specified in my Windows Display Properties, but it chose to ignore the background color I had specified.

I changed the setting to black text with white background and now I have fully functional tooltips in Firefox. Can we get a hallelujah from the congregation? What a performance.