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Mozilla Links – English Edition
Issue # 5 – October 28, 2003
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Welcome back to Mozilla Links!
Past couple of weeks have been pretty interesting. Mozilla Application
Suite 1.5 was finally released with several enhancements like a
SpellChecker for Mail and Composer, the option to print the list of
attachments in an e-mail, the option to replace a set of tabs with a
bookmarked set, asking for confirmation before closing a set of tabs,
among the most welcome features. A complete list of new features can
be found here:
http://www.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla1.5/README.html#new
Preview technologies, Mozilla Firebird 0.7 and Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3
(stand-alone browser and mail/news applications, respectively) were
also released with several enhancements.
Also, a beta mozilla.org website was released for general feedback.
Visit it at: http://website-beta.mozilla.org/ and submit your
suggestions and comments to webmaster@mozilla.org
Mozilla CDs are available for ordering right now. Grab your copy for
US$3.95 (plus a really small shipping and handling fee):
http://store.mozilla.org
As always, your comments are very much appreciated. Please send them
to newsletter-feedback@mozilla.org
Percy Cabello
Mozilla Links
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In this issue:
1. BETTER MOZILLA
- Mycroft
- Find Texts And Links As You Type
- Block Even More Pop-Ups
2. THE NEWS
- Mozilla Foundation Launches New End User Services Including CD Sales,
Telephone Support and Redesigned Website
- Mozilla 1.5 Released
- Mozilla Firebird 0.7 Released
- Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3 Released
3. MOZILLA INSIDER
4. MOZILLA PROJECTS: Firebird Help and Independent Status Reports
5. MOZILLA LINKS POLL: Favorite E-mail Applications
6. CONTACT INFO
1. BETTER MOZILLA
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Featured Enhancement: Mycroft
Mycroft is a library of very small search engine plugins that you can
download and install into your favorite Mozilla browser to add native
support for your prefered search engine.
This way, you can quickly perform specialized searches for movies, song
lyrics, auctions, dictionaries or any other category available at
Mycroft’s
500+ searchable library featuring engines from all around the world. It
can
really enhance you web browsing experience and save a lot of time.
In Mozilla Firebird (technology preview) you can also access Mycroft by
clicking the icon in the search text box and selecting “Add engines …”.
Try them at:
http://mycroft.mozdev.org/
****
Mozilla Links Tip: Find Texts And Links As You Type
(contributed by mozillatips.com, edited by Percy Cabello)
Find As You Type is a simple built-in feature in Mozilla browsers that
lets you navigate through the links on the web page by typing in the
first few letters of the link. Click on a blank are in the webpage you
want to search and start typing in the name of a link on the page.
When a link is found, the status bar will show more information about
the link. Press Enter to follow the link. If there is more than one
link with the same name, press F3 or Ctrl-G (Shift-F3 or Ctrl-Shift-G
to move to the previous match) or to move to to the next link
that matches what you have typed. The backspace key works for erasing
your search term letter by letter.
If you just want to find text on the web page and highlight it, type
the slash (/) key first, then enter the text you want to find.
Check the full text of this tip at:
http://www.mozillatips.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=24
****
Mozilla Links PowerTip: Block Even More Pop-Ups
(contributed by Mozilla Firebird website, http://texturizer.net/firebird)
Mozilla browsers have a built-in pop-up blocker that is activated by
default. However, they don’t stop web pages from opening in new windows
by using the target=”_blank” or the illegal target=”_new” properties.
To force such links to open in the same window, add the following code
to your user.js file:
// disable target=”_blank” (open in same window):
user_pref(“browser.block.target_new_window”, true);
Or, type about:config to access all available preferences. Locate
browser.block.target_new_window; double-click it and type “true”.
http://texturizer.net/firebird/tips.html#beh_blank
****
Need more tips? Try the TipBar Extension to get the Tip of the Day in
Mozilla Firebird. Grab it at http://tipbar.mozdev.org
You can also visit http://www.mozillatips.com for more fun tips for
your favorite browser.
Have a Tip or a PowerTip? Let other users know about it by sending it
to newsletter-feedback@mozilla.org .
2. THE NEWS
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(contributed by MozillaZine, your source for Mozilla news and
advocacy. http://www.mozillazine.org )
Mozilla Foundation Launches New End User Services Including CD Sales,
Telephone Support and Redesigned Website
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On Wednesday 15th October, the Mozilla Foundation launched several new
end user services, including CD sales, telephone support and a beta
version of a new website.
Mozilla CDs cost $3.95 (plus $3 shipping and handling, with an extra
$1.00 charge for non-US orders) and include Windows, Linux and Mac OS X
versions of Mozilla 1.5 (with source code), Mozilla Firebird 0.7,
Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3, Camino 0.7 (Mac OS X only) and Bugzilla. For
$16.95, users can purchase an annual subscription, which will guarantee
them every major Mozilla release on CD for a year. Mozilla CDs can be
purchased from MozSource at store.mozilla.org. CD order fulfillment is
handled by E-FLO, the same company that deals with the sale of Netscape
on CD.
Telephone support, available only for versions 1.5 and greater of the
Mozilla Application Suite, is provided in partnership with DecisionOne,
who also offer support for Netscape. Phone support costs $39.95 per
incident and can be obtained by calling 1-888-586-4539 from within the
United States. DecisionOne’s Mozilla support page has more information.
The Mozilla Foundation plans to begin offering email support once a
suitable partner has been found. A range of free community-based support
is also available.
A beta of the new mozilla.org website has also launched. The redesigned
site places a much greater emphasis on the needs of end users, with a
new central products section for getting the latest Mozilla releases.
Development information is still there but it’s a little more tucked
away. Most of the site has also been updated with a warmer and
friendlier look, with improved navigation that highlights the new end
user services.
MozSource Mozilla Store: http://store.mozilla.org/
Telephone support:
http://support.decisionone.com/mozilla/mozilla_help_main.htm
New mozilla.org website beta: http://website-beta.mozilla.org/
Full story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=3833
Mozilla 1.5 Released
———————
On the same day as the Mozilla Foundation launched its new end user
services, Mozilla 1.5 was released. In addition to enhancements to
tabbed browsing, Mail & Newsgroups and the DOM Inspector, this milestone
also features many Composer improvements, including support for
absolutely positioned elements, better resizing for images and tables,
z-index management and a new snap-to-grid option. The ChatZilla IRC
client has been overhauled and now includes support for logging. Mozilla
1.5 also features a spellchecker, as well as improved standards support
and better performance and stability.
Mozilla 1.5 Release Notes: http://www.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla1.5/
Download Mozilla 1.5: http://www.mozilla.org/releases/#1.5
Full story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=3836
Mozilla Firebird 0.7 Released
—————————–
The latest milestone of the Mozilla Foundation’s standalone browser was
also released on Wednesday 15th October. Based on Mozilla 1.5, Mozilla
Firebird 0.7 features several enhancements, including support for
webpage content in the sidebar, a stylesheet selector and a better
Options dialogue. Some of these new features were examined in
MozillaZine’s August article on Firebird. Version 0.7 also contains
numerous other changes.
Since then, a minor update for Mac OS X has been released. Mozilla
Firebird 0.7.1 fixes several usability issues and significantly improves
performance.
Mozilla Firebird 0.7 Release Notes:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/release-notes.html
Download Mozilla Firebird 0.7:
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firebird/releases/0.7/
Full 0.7 story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=3834
Mozilla Firebird 0.7.1 Release Notes:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/0.7.1-release-notes.html
Download Mozilla Firebird 0.7.1:
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firebird/releases/0.7.1/
Full 0.7.1 story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=3889
Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3 Released
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The third release of Mozilla Thunderbird, the standalone mail and
newsgroups client, is now available. Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3 features
better attachment handling, performance improvements (particularly for
IMAP users), support for placing your signature above the quoted message
text if you prefer to top-post, and a new POP account option to remove
read messages from the server after x days.
Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3 Release Notes:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/release-notes.html
Download Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3:
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/0.3/
Full story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=3835
3. MOZILLA INSIDER
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(contributed by Alex Bishop)
In addition to the recent releases of Mozilla 1.5, Mozilla Firebird 0.7
and Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3, the first nightly build of the standalone
version of Composer, Mozilla’s HTML editor, is now available for
Windows. It features customizable toolbars, a version of the Orbit 3+1
theme and a calendar smart widget:
http://webperso.easyconnect.fr/danielglazman/composer/composer++.html
All bugs in mozilla.org products are tracked using a system called
Bugzilla. Recently, a proposal for changing the organization of the
products and components in Bugzilla was published. The new plan calls
for the default assignees and QA contacts of the major products to be
changed to generic addresses, with all bugs that are not actively worked
on being eventually reassigned to nobody@mozilla.org. Changes to the
hierarchy of categories, products, components and subcomponents are also
planned. The proposal document will be updated regularly:
http://www.damowmow.com/playground/bugzilla-plan.txt
Moving on to fixes for bugs themselves, cookies now use hashtables
instead of a sorted listed (bug 143939) and the cookie notifications
system has been reworked (bug 221185), improving performance. Meanwhile,
site icons are back on the Personal Toolbar in the Mozilla Application
Suite (bug 43687) and Camino’s bookmarks system has been rewritten (bug
212630).
Finally, the main development trunk has now been frozen for Mozilla 1.6
Alpha. Until the release of 1.6a, checkins to the trunk will be strictly
controlled, a measure designed to ensure quality. Check tinderbox for
the latest status of the trunk:
http://tinderbox.mozilla.org/showbuilds.cgi?tree=SeaMonkey
Full status update: http://www.mozilla.org/status/2003-10-27.html
4. MOZILLA PROJECTS
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(contributed by Brian King)
Project of the Week: Firebird Help
Are you missing integrated Help in Firebird? Firebird Help is a project
aimed to fill this void by releasing an extension with a separate Help
Window and extensive content. Once installed, you can access it in
Firebird at the Help->Help Contents menu item. Features include a
Glossary, an Index, and a built in Search, all available from a Sidebar.
This is similar to the Mozilla Help window. Plans are in place to create
a similar extension for Thunderbird.
http://firebirdhelp.mozdev.org
Check this and other Projects of the Week at:
http://www.mozdev.org/featured/index.html
****
Independent Status Reports
The independent status reports include news and updates from Mozilla
application and extension projects hosted on mozdev.org and elsewhere
in the Mozilla community.
The latest report was posted on October 26 and includes:
- EasyGestures, which adds UI with mouse gestures and customizable
actions, has just been released v2.0, It is a simplified and revamped
modification of the original radialContext extension, and combines
mouse gestures with a circular UI.
http://easygestures.mozdev.org
- MozillaBook, A Users Guide for Mozilla, has just reached version 0.2,
with 92 pages of content so far.
http://userguide.mozdev.org
- QuickManager, where you can install and manage Extensions and Themes,
is now available for Firebird and Mozilla too and has some enhancements
in the new XPI.
http://quickmanager.mozdev.org
- Mozile, an inline editor for Mozilla, has reached v0.52 released.
This release added improved configurability using an XML file and
rounded out webDAV and general file publication support.
http://mozile.sourceforge.net
- StumbleUpon, a toolbar to find and share great web sites, has released
v1.89.
http://stumbleupon.mozdev.org
- mozdev.org, the website, has been sluggish all week due to nearly
double the volume of traffic in a week. We are taking steps to batter
deal with this. Foul play has not been ruled out yet.
http://www.mozdev.org
- Link Visitor, which allows you to mark link(s) as visited/unvisited
right in page, is at v0.30.
http://linkvisitor.mozdev.org
- Optimoz, optimizations (including gestures) for the Mozilla browser, has
released a major upgrade which is stable enough for day-today use. Many
enhancements and fixes are included since the last major release
http://optimoz.mozdev.org
Read more about each of these projects in the full report at
http://www.mozillazine.org/articles/article3885.html
5. MOZILLA LINKS POLL
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On last issue we asked if you regularly use Mozilla Extensions with
your Mozilla browser. The answer is an overwhelming 83% of Mozilla
Links respondants using one or more extensions.
27% Yes, 5 or more.
10% Yes, 4.
16% Yes, 3.
13% Yes, 2.
17% Yes, 1.
12% No, Mozilla does everything I need.
4% No, for other reasons.
(*) Results may not sum up to 100% due to rounding.
This week poll is: Which e-mail application you use to read this
newsletter?
- Web based e-mail client (Yahoo!, Hotmail and similars)
- Mozilla Mail Application (Mozilla Mail, Thunderbird or Netscape Mail)
- Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express
- Opera Mail
- Eudora Mail
- Other e-mail client software
Let your voice be counted at http://newsletter.mozdev.org
6. CONTACT INFO
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Mozilla Links(TM) is a bi-weekly electronic newsletter published by
the Mozilla Links Newsletter project.
http://newsletter.mozdev.org
Copyright 2003 by the Mozilla Links Contributors.
The Mozilla Links Newsletter is released under the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 license, available at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/legalcode
Only a valid e-mail address is required in order to receive this
newsletter. It will not be used for any purpose other than those
related to this newsletter such as delivery, support, removal or
similar.
To subscribe, unsubscribe and set other subscription options, please
visit http://newsletter.mozdev.org
Your comments and collaborations are welcome. Please direct them to
newsletter-feedback@mozilla.org
Mozilla Links is currenlty translated into german, italian, japanese,
polish and dutch.