Quote:
Originally Posted by pshrynk
Okay. Just so I can show my uber Luddite cred: What is Firefox?
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Short answer: Arguably the best web browser in existance.
Long answer: a descendant of Netscape Navigator. Back when, Netscape decided to create the next generation web browser, as a replacement for their Netscape Communicator product. It was to be a complete rewrite of the existing code. Netscape called the project Mozilla. They made it open source, and invited outside developers to get involved.
Development took a couple of years, but Mozilla code eventually surfaced in Netscape 7. (There was a terribly buggy Netscape 6 release which is better forgotten.) Meanwhile, AOL acquired Netscape, and eventually decided to cancel the project and lay off most of the developers. They turned over the code, the rights to the code, the servers used in development, and a couple of million in seed funds to the newly created non-profit Mozilla Foundation, and development continued.
Mozilla issued the Mozilla suite, which was identical to Netscape 7 save for branding and a few features like integration with AOL IM.
The Mozilla developers rethought the premises, decided not everybody wanted a full suite with browser, email/news reader, HTML editor, and Calendar ala Netscape Communicator/Mozilla suite, and began work on separating the pieces as independent products which could be installed individually but work together if more than one was installed.
The browser became Firefox. The email client/newsreader is Thunderbird. The Calender is Sunbird, and the HTML editor is Nvu. Development of the full Mozilla suite was stopped, and has since been resumed as a "community" project called SeaMonkey, hosted by Mozilla but worked on by volunteers, and not part of the mainstream development.
Firefox is promoted as a much more secure alternative to Internet Explorer. Too many folks use holes in Windows, IE, and the Active-X mechanism to create exploits targeting IE. Firefox deliberately doesn't support Active-X, so such exploits bounce off.
I appreciate the security, but prefer Firefox because it's more powerful. Under the hood of FF is Gecko, the rendering engine that interprets the HTML and actually displays the page you are viewing. As well as HTML, Gecko understands CSS, JAvaScript, and XUL, a language designed for creating user interfaces. The actual "look and feel" of Mozilla products is determined by XUL, CSS, and graphic elements, with JavaScript providing the actions.
Developers can use XUL, CSS, JavaScript and custom graphics to create themes that alter the way Firefox looks, and extensions that modify and enhance what it does. Many have, and there are literally thousands of FF extensions in existence. This thread lists the favorites of various posters.
Give it a try. I think you'll be pleased.
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Dennis