I’m thinking of switching to Mozilla, in one form or another (either the X11 version or FireFox) but I’m having difficulties replacing the default Bookmarks.html file with my existing (created in a different browser, plain HTML) bookmarks file. Mozilla throws it in the trash on open and reloads a default from Og knows where.
I really really have no patience with a browser that won’t
a) let me import a non-proprietary file of bookmarks and use it; and
b) won’t let me simply alias or copy-and-rename an existing bookmarks file and use it
I do not wish to methodically open every damn site I’ve got bookmarked and create a new bookmark for it manually in Mozilla.
I should note that I’m having this problem with Firefox. I don’t even know where the X11 version of Mozilla keeps its Bookmarks file (this is OS X, by the way).
This isn’t elegant but I think it may work. My apologies if I’ve completely mis-understood your description of the problem and how you want it fixed. Also, while I have Firefox at work on a Mac (although I usually use Safari), I’m at home with Firefox on a pc now. You have a file, ending in .html which has your bookmarks. Can you open this in the browser, using the Open File command, then drag the link from the address bar to the bookmarks toolbar?
I can do that, but that means that, instead of having my Bookmarks show up individually in the Bookmarks menu of Firefox, including hierarchical menus of folders containing folders containing links and etc., I end up with a single bookmark to a file called Bookmarks, and when I go to it I’ve got all my desired bookmarks all right, but on a big sprawling text page that’s not a lot of fun to navigate. Then I either have to keep it open and launch all other pages from it in new windows or tabs, or I have to reopen it time and again in order to go anywhere else utilizing my bookmarks.
SOMEWHERE there’s a default file or the parameters for making one up, and somehow Firefox (and other flavors of Netscape/Mozilla for that matter) knows if I’ve manually edited (let alone replaced outright) the active bookmarks file, and if I have, it erases the sucker and substitutes the default file. If I knew where the default file was hiding, I could edit IT.
It sounds to me like you’re editing the bookmarks.html file in (approximately) C:\Program Files\Mozilla\defaults\profile\bookmarks.html. But the file mozilla actually looks at for bookmarks is to be found in (approximately) C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\gwqtt60n.slt\bookmarks.html. This confused the heck out of me at first, too.
I’ve installed a couple of Windows versions of Firebird (yes, time to upgrade), and during the installation both offered to import bookmarks from other browsers. Has Firefox given up on that? Or doesn’t it know about the browser you’re using now?
My first thought would be to check the attributes of the default file (including ownership and the date last touched), and make sure the copied one is set up to be identical.
If the attributes match, try opening both bookmark files side by side in a text editor, and look for a header or different formatting in the Firefox version. Copy and paste or reformat as needed.
A final chance would be to start Firefox first and then copy the new bookmark file into place. (Of course it won’t let you copy if Firefox keeps the file open, and it could cause a crash anyway.) If you can do that, try going into Manage Bookmarks and make a change or two so Firefox thinks it owns the file.
(Disclaimer: I have no idea about Firefox internals, and it’s been years since I touched Unix. I also have no idea about OS X.)
I’m on a Mac (OS X). The latter portions of the latter file path look like the one I edited, though.
I should point out: I left the window open in the Finder while I launched FireFox and I watched the file being tossed into oblivion and replaced with one of the same name with default information in it. I know FireFox is actively rejecting my modified/edited file and replacing it with a default. I’ve also replaced what I thought might be the file it uses as its “map” of what a default file oughta look like, but that hasn’t worked yet.
FireFox does have “Import Bookmarks” but althouth it lets me navigate to and select my file of desired bookmarks, it doesn’t do anything when I do so and click “Import”. The target file was originally created in Netscape eons ago when it was my browser of choice (Netscape 3.0 era mostly) and subsequently used and updated in iCab.
I imagine you’ve already tried this – can you export the bookmark file from iCab into another browser, then import that exported file into Firefox? Maybe an example will be clearer - export your iCab bookmarks into Internet Explorer, then import that IE bookmark file into Firefox. Or, if IE permits it, import the file from iCab to IE, than import that into Firefox.
Also, when Mozilla or firefox installs on a win32 platform, it will ask if you want to import your IE bookmarks or not. I wouldn’t be so quick to bash a software that you are not familiar with. If you don’t like Mozilla/firefox, fine, don’t use it. But it sounds like you don’t know how to use it.
And what’s this Mozilla/X11 or firefox stuff? Both can run in an X environment… they are the same engine, one is just slimmed down a bit.
a) iCab doesn’t have an Export function because its bookmarks are kept in a plain-vanilla HTML file. What would it export them AS?
b) Firefox is happy enough to automatically import my Internet Explorer Favorites, which would be nice and useful if I had such a thing as Internet Explorer Favorites and gave a damn about them. I don’t, and I don’t.
c) I hereby generically bash any stupid browser software that won’t either let you designate any HTML file in the universe as your Bookmarks file and use it as same, or else import from damn near any source (including standard HTML files and proprietary but common formats such as those used by IE and Opera) to pull bookmarks into its own nonstandard proprietary file format. That generic bashing happens to include Opera and it happens to include Firefox.
Firefox is compiled for Aqua so I would not have to run my X11 environment every time I want to use a browser; and that means more compatibility, clipboard-wise and drag-n-drop wise, with other Aqua apps. The X11 version has its own advantages and benefits (very fast, sleek,elegant). I’m looking at both.
Possibly ugly, but am I right that IE comes installed with OS X? If so, you might be able to do a two-step import, by letting IE import your bookmarks, then exporting from IE to Mozilla.
Well, if you’re going to try a two-step import, you might have better luck starting with vanilla Mozilla, then seeing if Firefox can/will automatically import that.
OK, problem fixed by circumnavigating it altogether.
I went with OmniWeb, which has a nicer “feel” and behavior than Opera and Internet Explorer, is more compatible than iCab, and was able to import my iCab Hotlist as its Bookmarks with no problem AND which has a built-in Scripts menu that runs AppleScripts. And I managed to write three AppleScripts, one of which passes the current URL on to Opera, one which passes it on to iCab, and one of which passes it on to Netscape. (Firefox is kind of out of the picture, not being AppleScriptable – yet, at any rate). X11 Mozilla is also mostly out of the picture.
OmniWeb has most of what I liked about iCab without the dismal compatiblity problems (which became insurmountable when vBulletin 3 turned out to give iCab fits, that was really the last straw for iCab). Both OmniWeb and Opera have problems with spoiler tags which is really why I was looking at FireFox, but being able to pass along URLs that don’t play nicely with OmniWeb gives me the flexibility I need.