Besides new enhancement and improvement, Firefox 3 also come with a funny easter egg, just like the previous version of Firefox with the Kitchen Sink Easter Egg.

This time it is all about Robots in Firefox 3 new Easter Egg.

Firefox 3 About Robot Easter Egg

To view the new Firefox 3 About Robots Easter Egg,

1. Go to Firefox 3 Address Bar.
2. Type “about:robots” without the quote

A disclaimer will appear in the Firefox 3 browser. It seems that this new Firefox 3 about:robots easter egg feature some famous quotes from several movies and TV Series with robots.

As always, the Firefox 3 team never fail to impress.

See also:

• Firefox Kitchen Sink Easter Egg (3)
• Firefox 3.1 porn mode (1)
• Firefox 3.1 beta 1 download (0)
• Firefox 3.1 (soon to be released) awesome bar (1)
• Firefox 3 small back button (3)

Mozilla have made Firefox 3.1 beta 1 available for download.

Be advised though that Firefox 3.1 beta 1 is beta version and mostly will contains bugs and extensions compability. Some of the new features implemented in Firefox 3.1 beta 1 are:

• Web standards improvements in the Gecko layout engine
• Added support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties
• A new tab-switching shortcut that shows previews of the tab you’re switching to
  Improved control over the Smart Location Bar using special characters to restrict your search
• Drag and drop tabs from one Firefox window to another.
• Support for new web technologies such as the and elements, the W3C Geo location API, JavaScript query selectors, web worker threads, SVG transforms and offline applications.

Another features worth noticing is that Firefox 3.1 beta 1 scored a respectable 89/100 in acid test. In my previous post on badxp, I wrote about the new privacy features of Firefox 3.1 dubbed the “porn mode“. Interestingly, the new privacy mode are not mentioned in this new beta 1 release of Firefox 3.1 beta 1.

Those interested in trying the beta 1 version of Firefox 3.1 can dowload Firefox 3.1 beta 1 from mozilla download page.

See also:

• Firefox 3.1 porn mode (1)
• Firefox 3.1 (soon to be released) awesome bar (1)
• Firefox About Robots Easter Egg (0)
• Firefox 3 small back button (3)
• Firefox 3 improve performance by enabling windows to swap memory (1)

Mozilla will incorporate a private browsing mode, known to some as porn mode in their new Firefox 3.1 release.

Firefox 3.1 porn mode will enable user to browse the web using Firefox 3.1 without worrying that the browser collecting history and cookies while browsing. This feature have been provided by other browser such as Internet Explorer 8, Safari, and the new Google Chrome.

However, talks have it that Firefox 3.1 porn mode or private mode differ from other browser’s private, as upon entering Firefox 3.1 porn mode, the browsing information are still accessible by the sites and your ISP. The only things you are hiding are from your parents, husband/wife, or your kids.

See also:

• Firefox 3.1 beta 1 download (0)
• Firefox 3.1 (soon to be released) awesome bar (1)
• Firefox About Robots Easter Egg (0)
• Firefox 3 small back button (3)
• Firefox 3 improve performance by enabling windows to swap memory (1)

The soon to be released Firefox 3.1 will incorporate more “awesome” features in the so called awesome bar.

According to Ryan Wagner over at CyberNetNews, he recently dug into the about:config settings in the latest nightlies of Firefox, and points out a number of new preference that create wildcards. The settings are:

• browser.urlbar.match.title (#): Returns results that match the text in the title.
• browser.urlbar.match.url (@): Returns results that match the text in the URL.
• browser.urlbar.restrict.bookmark (*): Returns only results that are from the bookmarks.
• browser.urlbar.restrict.history (^): Returns only results that are from the browser’s history.
• browser.urlbar.restrict.tag (+): Returns only results that have been tagged

A quick use of these new awesome bar features in Firefox 3.1 will bring more enhance browsing experience for Firefox 3.1 user.

I wrote a tutorial on how to disable firefox 3 awesome bar before, but with the new features of the awesome bar in soon to be release firefox 3, you might want to think twice before disabling them.

See also:

• Firefox 3.1 porn mode (1)
• Firefox 3.1 beta 1 download (0)
• Firefox About Robots Easter Egg (0)
• Firefox 3 small back button (3)
• Firefox 3 improve performance by enabling windows to swap memory (1)

Firefox 3 come with a lot of new features, and a suprisingly large oversized back button. I don’t know what came into the developer mind when they decided to put an oversized back button on the new Firefox 3. Maybe their research on ergonomic and surfer’s behavior have led them to conclude the need for an oversized back button on Firefox 3.

Luckily, the developer of Firefox 3 gave us a choice of turning the large back button on Firefox 3 to Firefox 3 small back button. To change Firefox 3 large back button to firefox 3 small big button, follow this simple steps.

1. Go to menu “View”, select “Toolbars”.
2. Select “Customize”.
   
3. In Customize pop up box, select “use small icons”.
   
4. Click “done”.

That is all the steps you need to enable Firefox 3 small back button. If you want turn the large oversized back button on, just untick “Use small incons” in the “Customize” window. Hopefully this simple guide will help those who are looking of a way to use Firefox 3 small back button.

See also:

• Firefox About Robots Easter Egg (0)
• Firefox 3.1 porn mode (1)
• Firefox 3.1 beta 1 download (0)
• Firefox 3.1 (soon to be released) awesome bar (1)
• Firefox 3 improve performance by enabling windows to swap memory (1)

Firefox 3 memory management have improved tremendously over the previous version of Firefox which are well known for its memory hogging problems. But if you are low and RAM, and would like to shave off some memory from Firefox 3 when Firefox 3 is minimized, you can add an entry to Firefox 3 that will allow Windows to swap out memory from Firefox 3 when the application is minimized.

To enable Windows to swap out memory when Firefox 3 is minimized:

1. Type “about:config” in Firefox 3 location bar.
2. Right click anywhere on the about:config page.
3. Click New.
4. Select “boolean
5. Enter “config.trim_on_minimize”
   
6. Select “true”.
   
7. Click OK.
8. Restart Firefox 3.

This preferences will enable Windows to swap Firefox 3 memory when Firefox 3 is minimized.

See also:

• Firefox About Robots Easter Egg (0)
• Firefox 3.1 porn mode (1)
• Firefox 3.1 beta 1 download (0)
• Firefox 3.1 (soon to be released) awesome bar (1)
• Firefox 3 small back button (3)

Download manager in firefox 3 is a built in handy tools for managing your downloads directly from your firefox 3 browser. The default settings of firefox 3 download manager is the firefox 3 download manager won’t close itself even after the download finish. I find this annoying, and if you are like me, you would want the firefox 3 download manager to automatically close itself when the downloads are done.

The way to enable Firefox 3 automatically close download manager after all the downloads are done is easy. Just follow this simple steps below:

1. Type about:config in firefox 3 location bar.
2. type browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone in the filter bar
3. Now double click browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone on the main window.
4. Or you could right click on browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone and choose toggle.
5. This will change the value of browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone to “true”.

And this will enable firefox 3 download manager to close itself when your downloads are done.

If by any chance you want do disable firefox 3 download manager to close itself when downloads are done, just change the browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone value to false.

See also:

• Firefox About Robots Easter Egg (0)
• Firefox 3.1 porn mode (1)
• Firefox 3.1 beta 1 download (0)
• Firefox 3.1 (soon to be released) awesome bar (1)
• Firefox 3 small back button (3)

Relating to my previous post on how to disable Firefox 3 awesome bar, it seems that they are other changes on the new Firefox 3 final release. One of the new changes to Firefox 3 awesome bar is when you click on the firefox 3 location bar or the firefox 3 awesome bar, the click will select the entire URL in the firefox 3 location bar. In previous version of Firefox, single click will insert a the cursor, while double clicking will select the entire URL in Firefox location bar.

If you are not comfortable with the new function, you can disable single click will select the entire URL in firefox 3 location bar or firefox 3 awesome bar by editing browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll in Firefox 3 config file. The steps are:

1. Type about:config in firefox 3 location bar
2. Go to browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll
3. Double click to change the value to “false”
4. Close and restart Firefox 3.

By editing browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll and changing the value of browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll to false will disable firefox 3 single click select all, and will resulted in the same action as the previous version of firefox, where single click will insert a cursor in the Firefox 3 location bar.

See also:

• 5 reason you should upgrade to Firefox 3 (2)
• Firefox About Robots Easter Egg (0)
• Firefox 3.1 porn mode (1)
• Firefox 3.1 beta 1 download (0)
• Firefox 3.1 (soon to be released) awesome bar (1)

Firefox 3 new improved address bar or famously known as Firefox 3 awesome bar is a great improvement over Firefox 2 location bar. As I’ve written on my previous posting, one the 5 reason you should upgrade to Firefox 3, Firefox 3 awesome bar will display a drop down list of your browsing history in url, text (not just in the url of the website but also texts from the title or the page of the website), and Gmail messages.

If by any chance you find Firefox 3 awesome bar a bit cumbersome to use, you can disable firefox 3 awesome bar function entirely. There are a lot of talks on the net about the difficulty of using the firefox 3 awesome, and some claim firefox 3 that firefox 3 awesome bar are only for advance user.

Currently there are two method to disable firefox 3 awesome bar.

Method 1 - Tweak firefox 3 about:config file. Follow steps below to disable firefox 3 awesome bar by editing firefox 3 about:config file.

1. Type about:config in firefox 3 location bar
2. Go to Browser.urlbar.maxRichResults
3. Double Browser.urlbar.maxRichResults
4. Change the value (default is 12) to 0
5. Close and restart firefox 3.

Method 2 - Install oldbar extension

1. Download oldbar extension from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6227
2. Install and restart firefox 3.

Installing oldbar extension for firefox 3 seems to be the easiest way to disable firefox 3 awesome bar. Hope this guide will help those who are not comfortable using the new awesome bar and want to disable firefox awesome bar.

See also:

• Firefox About Robots Easter Egg (0)
• Firefox 3.1 porn mode (1)
• Firefox 3.1 beta 1 download (0)
• Firefox 3.1 (soon to be released) awesome bar (1)
• Firefox 3 small back button (3)

With all the hype surrounding firefox 3, and related to my previous post that firefox 3 in beta form is way faster than IE7 and Firefox 2, I have found 5 wonderful reason why you should upgrade to Firefox 3.

The 5 reason why you should upgrade to firefox 3 are:

1. Firefox 3 offer better performance than firefox 2
   With mozilla developer implementing memory management tricks from FreeBSD for windows and linux version of Firefox, Firefox 3 will use less system resources compared to Firefox 2. This has been tested and proved it work by several developer and beta tester. This is a good news indeed considering the fact that firefox 2 have been known as a memory hogger in windows and linux.
2. Firefox 3 Malicious website warnings
   Firefox will blocked known malicious websites, and will display a full page warning with detailed explanations why the website was blocked. This feature will definitely reduce the possibilities that your computer will be infected with sypware, adware, and all malicious scripts from the world wide web.
3. Firefox 3 Awesome bar
   The Firefox 3 awesome bar is actually a location bar on steroid. Firefox 3 awesome will display a drop down list of your browsing history in url, text (not just in the url of the website but also texts from the title or the page of the website), and Gmail messages. This Firefox 3 awesome bar will be useful to all of us, and firefox 3 awesome bar will definitely change the way we surf the web.
4. Firefox 3 better bookmarking system
   A new better bookmarking system in Firefox 3 will change the way user of previous firefox version use their bookmark. Firefox 3 smart bookmarking system allow user to catogerized their bookmark using tag system which are stored entirely in a database. This will enable user to search for bookmark instead of organizing them into folders.
5. Firefox 3 full page zoom
   Superb feature in Firefox 3 which user can zoom the entire page instead of only the text as in the previous version of Firefox 3. Though this full page zoom feature is not new (Opera have been using it for quite some time), it is great that it is implemented in Firefox 3.

These 5 great new features of Firefox 3 will no doubt enhance the user experience, and will transform a great browser to a superb browser. The only thing to do now is to wait for Firefox 3 download day on 17th June 2008.

See also:

• Firefox 3 disable single click select all in location bar (4)
• Firefox About Robots Easter Egg (0)
• Firefox 3.1 porn mode (1)
• Firefox 3.1 beta 1 download (0)
• Firefox 3.1 (soon to be released) awesome bar (1)