Downloading and Installing Firefox
Searches: Integrated and Keyword
Intro to Firefox
Welcome to an Introduction to Firefox, an alternative to Internet Explorer for browsing the web. This tutorial has the following objectives:
- Explain what Firefox is and why you might want to use it
- How to download & install Firefox on a PC
- How to import your bookmarks and preferences from your old browser
- How to explore the following features of Firefox:
- Tabbed browsing,
- Popup blocking,
- Integrated search engines,
- Keyword searches,
- Bookmarks (including Live Bookmarks, which incorporates RSS), and
- Downloading and installing themes and extensions for Firefox.
Why would I want to use Firefox?
Firefox is an open source browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation based on the code released by Netscape. Some of Firefox’s features include Pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, multiple search engine support, and built-in RSS support.
What is open source? Open source is a model of software development that allows a product’s code to be freely available to view and modify, usually with the expectation that any changes made will be given back to the community for its use. This permission to view and change code allows those with interest and skill in the product to contribute changes. Open source software usually, but not necessarily, is free. For more information about open source and “free” software, visit the GNU and Free Software Foundation at http://www.gnu.org/ . For more thoughts on the differences between open source and proprietary software development, see Eric Steven Raymond’s Cathedral and the Bazaar, which is available at http://www.catb.org/~esr/.
Firefox is available for free from the Mozilla Foundation, http://www.mozilla.org/.
US-CERT, http://www.us-cert.gov/, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, has recommended that government employees can deal with vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer by switching to another browser.
If you’re concerned about supporting non-proprietary development on the web, Firefox also supports the open web standards developed by the W3Consortium, such as CSS, XML, and DOM.
Some differences between Firefox and the Mozilla Suite is that Firefox is a web browser only; Mozilla is a combination of browser, email client, and HTML editor. Firefox and Thunderbird are projects by the Mozilla Foundation to separate the various elements of the Mozilla Suite into stand-alone applications that should be smaller and faster.
For more information on other Mozilla products, visit some of our other tutorials:
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