3. Browsing the Web

Today, most people know how to use a web browser. So, this section, focuses on describing the characteristics of Firefox. It also tells you how to install the “most popular” plugins, namely: Flash, Java and Real.

Launch Firefox by selecting Internet+Web BrowsersMozilla Firefox from the main menu.

Figure 2.9. Firefox's Interface

Firefox's Interface

The main components of Firefox's interface are:

Page Display Area

Where the contents of the pages you browse are displayed.

Navigation Buttons and Location Bar

Buttons allowing you to move around pages you visit: go back, go forward; refresh a page; stop loading page elements; and go to your starting (home) page. The location bar is where you enter a web site's URL (or a local file using file:// as the protocol part of the URL).

Bookmarks Toolbar

You can hide/display the bookmark bar, and add additional buttons to it. To do so, simply select ViewToolbarsCustomize and select the items you want to add, and click Done.

Search Bar

Located at the upper-right corner, allows you to perform web searches, dictionary searches, and others.

3.1. Tab Browsing

One of Firefox's most convenient features is the ability to browse many websites at the same time, without being confused with all the open windows. Each website is opened in a new tab, this is called: tabbed browsing.

Figure 2.10. Tabbed-browsing with Firefox

Tabbed-browsing with Firefox

To open a new tab, click FileNew Tab. To close a tab, right-click on the tab, and select Close Tab. Clicking on the cross at the right of the tab browsing bar closes the currently open tab.

[Tip] Tip

To quickly open new tabs, simply press Ctrl-T as many times as you want tabs. Pressing Ctrl-W closes the currently open tab.

Firefox enables you manage tabs easily, you can choose: to close, refresh, mark-up all tabs on the fly, or just the one currently displayed. To do so, simply right-click on a tab, then select the one of the available options according to what you want to do.

You can also move tabs. Click on a tab, hold the mouse button down and drag it where you want. When you see a little purple downward-pointing arrow, you can drop the tab to its new location on the tab browsing bar.

Figure 2.11. Moving a tab

Moving a tab

If you wish to duplicate a tab; simply “grab” the tab's URL (when rolling your mouse over the icon before the URL: a little hand pointer appears) in the location bar, drag-and-drop it onto an empty tab.

3.2. Built-in Search Bar

Firefox has a built-in search bar which allows you to search the web using the most popular search engines, notably: Google, Yahoo! and Wikipedia. You can also search words in the Dictionary.com online dictionary.

To perform a search type the text to be searched for, select the search engine and press the Enter key. Search results are shown in the Page Display Area. An icon at the left of the search bar identifies the active search engine.

[Tip] Tip

If you are looking for a website, and you cannot remember its exact address, just enter some keywords in the Location Bar, press the Enter key, and you will be taken to the related website. For example, entering new york times in the location bar, opens the New York Times website.

3.3. Installing Plugins

Plugins are programs which let your browser handle content other than HTML and graphics, such as animations, streaming audio, and Javatm applets, and so on. Firefox's plugins are stored in the /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox-VERSION/plugins directory and installing plugins requires root privileges.

We look at the procedures to install Javatm, Flash® and Real plugins. If you own a commercial version of Mandriva Linux, installation is greatly simplified and all the required packages are on the CDs. See Chapter 7, Package Management, for information on how to install RPM packages.

[Note] Note

If you have a Mandriva Club user name and password, you may be able to install even newer versions of the software mentioned here.

3.3.1. Javatm

Install the jre RPM package.

You can obtain the Java plugin on the Java Plug-in Home Page. Follow the links to J2SEtm (Java 2, Standard Edition) and download the JRE for Linux. Choose the RPM file for the Linux Platform, make it executable once the download is finished (chmod 700 j2re*.rpm.bin) and execute it. Accept the license and a “realRPM will be created.

3.3.2. Flash®

You can retrieve the Flash plugin on the Adobe® web site. Follow the link to the Flash Player and download it. Extract the tar.gz file into a temporary directory and follow the instructions given on the Download Center to complete the plugin installation. Test the plugin by opening the Flash web site URL in the browser.

3.3.3. Real

You can get the Real plugin on the Real dot com site. At the time of writing, the latest Real player available for GNU/Linux was version 10. Download and save the .bin file. Make it executable once the download is finished (chmod 700 Real*.bin), su to be root and execute it.

It is better to install the plugin in a system-wide location, for example /usr/local/RealPlayer, and to answer Y to the “configure system wide links” question. This way all users of your system will have access to the plugin.