[Techtalk] Mozilla v. Firefox

Akkana Peck akkana at shallowsky.com
Tue Feb 1 07:51:32 EST 2005


Cynthia Kiser writes:
> Quoting Akkana Peck <akkana at shallowsky.com>:
> > Though I haven't posted in that thread, I still use mozilla,
> > not firefox, because I use functionality in mozilla that was
> > removed in firefox; 
> 
> Do you mind elaborating on the differences that bother you? I love the
> web developer extension that I found for Firefox, but have not
> converted from using Camino (my work desktop is a Mac) because Firefox
> does not understand emacs keybindings (exp Ctl-k for kill to end of
> the line) in the url bar. Someone posted (I think to this list) how to
> customize Firefox keybindings - but the instructions were for Linux
> and I can't locate the analogous preferences file on my Mac. 

The web developer extension works fine in the mozilla suite --
it's not firefox-only.  I use it myself.

Mozilla should do emacs/readline keybindings by default on mac now
(at least, I think I saw that bug get checked in), but perhaps
firefox doesn't.  Search for a file called
"platformHTMLBindings.xml" -- that's the file you need to edit.

My main issues with firefox are:

Bug 233853:
  They changed the definitions of ctrl-enter in the urlbar to
  blindly copy IE's behavior.  In mozilla, I can type, say,
  "mozilla key bindings" in the urlbar, hit ctrl-enter, and
  I get a new tab with a google (or other chosen search engine)
  search page on those terms.  In firefox, it tries to open, in
  the current tab, "http://www.mozilla key bindings.com/"
  and of course gives me an error saying that page cannot
  be found.  Same if I type cnn.com and hit ctrl-enter: it
  tells me that http://www.cnn.com.com can't be found.
  The new behavior is idiotic and not useful.

  Firefox still has "open in a new tab", but it's alt-enter in
  the urlbar, ctrl-click on a link.  I'm forever getting those two
  mixed up.  Mozilla uses the same key (ctrl) in both places, so
  it's easy to remember.

Bug 245015: There's no easy way to "Save as".  In mozilla, I can
  shift-click on a link to save it.  In firefox, this opens a new
  window, and there's no replacement way to "save as".  Again,
  this was done because of blindly copying what IE does, without
  regard to replacing the lost functionality.

Bugs 234110 and 66834:
  There's no way to disable the autocomplete dropdown in the urlbar,
  and it steals my systemwide keyboard focus.  So if I start typing
  a url in the urlbar, a menu drops down, and if I then mouse over
  into some other window, I can't type there until I click to get
  rid of the dropdown.  If I want to click on a link in mozilla,
  I have to click first to get rid of the dropdown, then click again.
  I don't use the dropdown, so in mozilla I turn it off, but in
  firefox it's mandatory.

Bug 245159: Firefox has no equivalent to mozilla's "Allow cookies
  from this domain".  I block cookies by default, and then turn them
  on later if I need them.  In mozilla, turning them on is easy; in
  firefox, it's very difficult.

	...Akkana


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