6.1. Firefox
Firefox is part of the mozilla.org organization's wide range of
Open Source Internet application developments. Firefox is
powerful, integrated, and standards-compliant. It features
tabbed browsing, the use of plug-ins, and available extensions
and themes for the browser. This section shows you how to use
the Firefox web browser to explore the Internet.
Mozilla.org provides excellent documentation and help at:
6.1.1. Using Firefox
Firefox functions like any Web
browser you may have used before. it has the standard
navigational toolbars, buttons, and menus.
The Navigation toolbar contains
navigation icons, the address bar, and a search field.
Enter a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) — the name or
address of a web site — into the address field.
Firefox moves immediately to the
web site.
The Search field uses the most popular
search engines to look for sites related to the keywords you
enter. Select the search engine
Firefox should use by clicking on
the icon at the left of the field. Enter the keywords and
press [Enter] to perform the search.
Firefox has a sidebar to aid in navigation. Select =>
form the main Firefox toolbar, then choose the detail
to display. You can choose from your bookmarks or the history
of websites you have visited.
Finally, the Personal Toolbar can be customized with the web
sites that you visit most often. Web sites added to this
toolbar become buttons — one click, and Firefox moves to
that web site. To add a site to the Personal Toolbar, drag
the site's icon from the address field to the Toolbar.
6.1.2. Tabbed Browsing
Firefox offers tabbed browsing.
Tabbed browsing allows a user to flip quickly between web
pages without opening another instance of
Firefox. Right-click a link and
choose Open Link in New Tab to use this
feature. Open a new tab by selecting
=> or by pressing
[Ctrl]-[T].
6.1.4. Extensions and Themes
There are many extensions and themes available for
Firefox. Extensions are small
applets (smaller than plug-ins) that provide additional
functionality to Firefox. For
example, there is an extension called
ForecastFox that adds a small
toolbar at the bottom of Firefox
that includes the local weather forecast. This and other
extensions are available by going to the
menu and selecting
. To add new extensions
to your Firefox browser, click the
Get More Extensions link in the bottom
right of the window.
Themes allow you to change the way your browser looks. They
change the color of the browser window and the icons on your
toolbars. To download and install new themes, open the
Themes tool by selecting
=>
from the main toolbar. Click the Get More
Themes link in the bottom right of the window.
