# Does anyone here have Firefox Internet Browser?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 2, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247 "2004-10-02T23:11:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/21 "2004-10-03T02:37:32Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#):
>
> One more question. Is there a way to change the default text size?
Try **Tools -\> Options -\> General -\> Fonts & Colors**.
---
### Author:  [@Skeptico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeptico)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/22 "2004-10-03T03:29:43Z")
**No More Pop-up Ads**. Nuff said.
---
### Author:  [@The\_world\_s\_most\_deadliest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_world_s_most_deadliest)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/23 "2004-10-03T03:49:00Z")
I heart FireFox. If I could marry a browser…well, you get the idea. Its a personal goal to convert as many people as I can to it.
I just installed 1.0 and it is awesome. Threw the Noia 2.0 theme on it, got some new extensions (including one where clicking and dragging a link will open it up in a new tab, yummy) and I’m estatic.
One extension I really like is the calendar. If I understand it correctly, you can upload a file to a server and reference that schedule from any computer that has FireFox with the calendar extension.
Slightly OT but wondering if anyone is using Thunderbird, Mozilla’s email client - thinking about giving that a whirl as well…
---
### Author:  [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/24 "2004-10-03T03:55:41Z")
I do, thanks to my friend Vernon… and tabbed browsing is such a godsend. 😃
Haven’t gotten to the plug-ins or extensions yet, but another friend of mine listed them for me. Might do that later on… hahaha.
---
### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/25 "2004-10-03T04:52:02Z")
I thinks Firefox’s features and design are great. I like the smoothness of downloads and extension installation. However…
Anyone had problems with it freezing when you go to reply on the boards? I think this may have to do with Copying, Pasting, or typing into form windows.
---
### Author:  [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/26 "2004-10-03T04:56:44Z")
Not so far!
---
### Author:  [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/27 "2004-10-03T05:13:34Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#):
>
> One more question. Is there a way to change the default text size?
There’s also a plugin (I forget the name, sorry) that lets you choose the default text _magnification_, which is probably more useful.
My first favorite feature was the tabbed browsing. Not only for the uses already mentioned (I use the middle click on this forum in the exact same manner), but I also had a bunch of sites that I’d load up every morning when I first fired up the computer. Now, I put all those bookmarks in the same folder, and I can just open the whole folder at once, with each site in it’s own tab.
A favorite trick from a few versions ago: you can have a toolbar that has your favorite bookmarks on it for easy access. But I never liked having the toolbar taking up the screen space, so I never used it. But now, you can move that whole toolbar to the top bar, in between the help menu and the activity thingy.
It’s also got integrated pop-up blocking and an integrated web search bar. It’s just really an entire generation ahead of IE (which isn’t surprizing, since IE hasn’t had a new feature in a heck of a long time).
And, for those times when a site insists on IE, there’s a plugin that lets you right-click on a page and click on “open this page in IE”, which launches IE for you.
-lv
---
### Author:  [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/28 "2004-10-03T05:21:05Z")
I downloaded it on the recommendation of this board because the pop-ups on IE were making me nutty.
That was great recommendation.
The only time I see pop-ups now are the few times when I have to use IE.
🙂
The only problem I’ve with it is that I cannot play yahoo games on it. There’s a plug-in I seem to be missing. Has anyone else had this problem? How did you solve it? Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/29 "2004-10-03T05:21:46Z")
I’m making my first attempt to use Firefox for more than a couple of minutes. It looks really good so far. I’m not looking forward to putting my bookmarks in it, though. That will take a long time.
---
### Author:  [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/30 "2004-10-03T05:40:55Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#):
>
> **Nightwatch Trailer** mentioned an extension to enable mouse gestures. Can you let me know what that’s called? And I’d like to hear recommendations for any other useful extensions. (I’ve only been using it for a week or so.)
A must use extension is Adblock - you see an annoying Flash/other ad on a website you visit - simply right-click the image, select Ad-Block to ad filter, and you will NEVER see that ad again.
---
### Author:  [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/31 "2004-10-03T05:49:48Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#):
>
> I’m making my first attempt to use Firefox for more than a couple of minutes. It looks really good so far. I’m not looking forward to putting my bookmarks in it, though. That will take a long time.
When I first loaded up Firefox it offered to import all my bookmarks from IE. I love Firefox.
---
### Author:  [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/32 "2004-10-03T05:51:12Z")
Firefox is great!
I love tabbed browsing, and I am hooked on Quick Searches! “gi Julianne Moore” anyone?
---
### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/33 "2004-10-03T05:53:21Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#):
>
> I’m making my first attempt to use Firefox for more than a couple of minutes. It looks really good so far. I’m not looking forward to putting my bookmarks in it, though. That will take a long time.
Go to Bookmarks, click Manage Bookmarks, then File, and then Import. Should be able to go from there.
---
### Author:  [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/34 "2004-10-03T06:06:54Z")
> [@Kid\_A](#):
>
> When I first loaded up Firefox it offered to import all my bookmarks from IE. I love Firefox.
That didn’t work for me.
---
### Author:  [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/35 "2004-10-03T06:48:55Z")
Well, I managed to import my bookmarks, but I can’t import anything else.
---
### Author:  [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/36 "2004-10-03T07:47:42Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#):
>
> I do prefer Opera to Firefox, though.
Out of curiosity, why? I find Opera’s bookmark management cumbersome, and its mailer is _way_ too complicated.
I’m also curious as to why people prefer Firefox to standard Mozilla. I’ve tried both, and stuck with the latter because the mailer isn’t as slow/prone to freezing as Thunderbird.
---
### Author:  [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/37 "2004-10-03T13:33:45Z")
I’ve been using Firefox for about a month now, it’s way better than IE (I haven’t tried Opera), some people say it’s quicker than IE but I haven’t noticed any difference.
The extensions I use are:
Down Them All - useful if you download a lot of pictures or videos from thumbnail sites, you can just right-click, press down them all and it will bring up a list of all links on that site. Select you want to download any links ending in .jpg and it downloads all the jpg links.
All in One gestures - the mouse gestures utility thing. The ones I use are U,L to move back a tab, U,R to move forward a tab, L to go back a page, R to go forward a page and R,L,R to close the tab. I honestly don’t know how I lived without mouse gestures for so long, though I do find myself trying to use them in Windows and getting annoyed when they don’t work!
Spellbound - a spell checker for your browser - just right click and press Check Spelling, nice and simple.
Imagezoom - when opening an image, it zooms to fit the window (like IE)
Autofill - automatically fills in parts of forms.
**The world’s most deadliest…** - I also use Mozilla Thunderbird as an email client and it’s simple, easy to use, with lots of extensions available. Thundertray and ‘add-buttons’ are must-have extensions, calendar is useful, I’m sure there are others I use that I don’t notice though!
---
### Author:  [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/38 "2004-10-03T16:49:30Z")
I have just installed Firefox and I reckon that it is twice as fast as IE. I have been thinking about it for a few weeks but the only thing that stopped me was I use a spell checker called _IESpell._ . I had read that you could not use this on Firefox but now I have found an alternative ( Spellbound ) I have done the deed and am well pleased. BTW Spellbound comes with several dictionaries so , for instance , I have downloaded the UK English version.
---
### Author:  [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/39 "2004-10-03T16:58:49Z")
> [@ruadh](#):
>
> Out of curiosity, why? I find Opera’s bookmark management cumbersome, and its mailer is _way_ too complicated.
Well, I haven’t bothered with the mailer at all, so I can’t vouch for that. I think the bookmark system is efficient enough for my means (but then, I don’t have a huge number of bookmarks). To me Opera seems faster than Firefox, and I sometimes have trouble with Firefox’s mouse gestures (moving back two pages instead of one, or not moving back at all), though that may just be because of the specific extension I downloaded.
It’s not that I think Opera is leagues beyond Firefox…it just seems a bit more efficient for my purposes.
---
### Author:  [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247/40 "2004-10-03T17:03:20Z")
Love Firefox. Been using it for a few months, and I think I can only remember it crashing on me once, and I think that version .8.something? was a little buggy. Since then, no problems, it just gets better and better.
(Love the tabbed browsing, love the search toolbar (Google comes standard) you can add ebay, amazon, [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com), and hundreds of others, even the Straight Dope archives.
Adblock is a powerful ad blocker, you can use wildcards to eliminate ads from all content from specified sources (like doubleclick, etc.)
Spellbound comes in handy for spell checking things like replies on a message board, comments in a blog, and such.
I just installed one called Jump Link, to eliminate the javascript frames that annoy the heck out of me when following links from Hotmail and stuff like that.
It’s fast, secure, and just plain old rocks.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-have-firefox-internet-browser/267247.md?page=3)