How to Enable D2D in Firefox 4

Firefox 4 will be bringing hardware-accelerated graphics with Direct2D support in Firefox 4, but that will not be enabled by default. The Firefox team believes that feature is not quite ready to be rolled out for everyone.

Even though it’s not enabled by default, you can still enable it manually with the help of the instructions given at the Firefox Wiki.

How to Enable D2D in Firefox 4

Follow the instructions below to enable D2D support in Firefox 4:

1. Enter ‘about:config’
2. Click through the warning, if necessary
3. Enter gfx.font in the ‘Filter’ box
4. Double-click on ‘gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled’ to set it to true
5. Below this, right click and select New > Integer to add a pref setting
6. Enter ‘mozilla.widget.render-mode’ for the preference name, 6 for the value
7. Restart

Firefox 4 beta 4 will be released on Monday which will have support for hardware-accelerated graphics!

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Firefox 4 Beta 4 Releasing on Monday

Mozilla will be releasing Firefox 4 beta 4 for download on Monday, just days after beta 3 was released, Neowin reports.

Firefox 4 beta 4 will be released with two new features: hardware-accelerated graphics for Windows users and tab sets.

Hardware-accelerated graphics with Direct2D will not be enabled by default as their code is not that ready yet. D2D will make Firefox faster by helping in displaying texts and images.

Tab sets (aka tab candy) will allow users to group their tabs together into sets, such as ‘Work’, ‘Home’ etc.

Mozilla will release Firefox 4 beta 5 probably next month, which will be the last beta release before RC is released.

[via Neowin]

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Fennec for Android Pre-Alpha, Download Now!

Fennec for Android, Firefox Mobile, ‘super’ pre-alpha version is now available for download! Yes, it is still in its very early stages, but atleast it could open websites ;)

It has been a long time since Firefox has been talking about Fennec for Android and promised with an alpha release soon. They kept their promise, and the first alpha release is out for public download.

I have tried it on my Nexus One and it seriously has the best rendering of webpages among other Android browsers. Why and how? I’ll get on to this in another blog post. It has many bugs and glitches, but it performs the basic functions well, including installation and adding of Firefox Mobile addons. I even tweeted using the TwitterBar addon for Fennec here.

Download Fennec for Android

You need to have atleast a Motorola Droid or Nexus One in order to try out Fennec. Download it from the link below.

Download Fennec for Android

Some points to keep in mind, taken from the developer’s blog.

• We’ve only really tested this on the Motorola Droid and the Nexus One.
• It will likely not eat your phone, but bugs might cause your phone to stop responding, requiring a reboot.
• Memory usage of this build isn’t great — in many ways it’s a debug build, and we haven’t really done a lot of optimization yet. This could cause some problems with large pages, especially on low memory devices like the Droid.
• You’ll see the app exit and relaunch on first start, as well as on add-on installs; this is a quirk of our install process, and we’re working to get rid of it.
• You can’t open links from other apps using Fennec; we should have this for the next build.
• This build requires Android 2.0 or above, and likely an OpenGL ES 2.0 capable device.
• Edit: This build must be installed to internal memory, not to a SD card.

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Fennec for Android Download Now Available

Fennec for Android is now available for download, unofficially though. Mozilla said they would be soon releasing a working, simple alpha release of Fenenc but it’s nowhere to be seen so far.

A developer at Android forums managed to grab the dump from Mozilla Wiki and compile it in to an app that he tried and tested on his Motorola Droid.

I tried to make it work on my Nexus One, but it didn’t work at all. Next I’ll be trying it on my HTC Hero, but I doubt it will work on that too as it is on Android 1.5 – may be I’ll have to flash an Android 2.0 ROM on it. Get Fennec now!

Check out the demo videos the developer uploaded below:

If you enjoyed this post, y

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Firefox for Android Coming in February

Firefox Mobile is still in development and we are already hearing of a Firefox for Android version expected to release next month. Firefox for Maemo and Windows Mobile is already in development.

Firefox for Android alpha version is being expected in February as the development work on it started back in December 2009. This news was posted on the German Firefox community site.

It is not sure what features the Firefox for Android will have, but it seems it will be a very basic app to display web pages.

A look at the Firefox Android wiki pages hints that the Firefox for Android will run on Android devices running on Android 1.6 or higher. It won’t work on Android 1.5 devices like the HTC Hero, HCT Droid Eris etc.

The Firefox for Android wiki page can be found here. Or you can grab the Firefox for Maemo 1.0 Release Candidate version for the Nokia N900 by pointing to Firefox.com/m.

[Via TheMobileBlog]

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Accelerate Page Scrolling in Firefox 3.6

Firefox 3.6 was released a few days back and is available for download. The tips and tricks for Firefox 3.6 have already started popping up on the Internet.

This latest Firefox release brings in lots of new features and updates. It was downloaded over 4.5 million times on the first day and  has been downloaded 17 million times in its first week.

In the early Firefox 3.6 builds, a new page scrolling was implemented which was later turned off due to some compatibility issues. That feature is still better for many who find the current page scrolling slow in Firefox 3.6.

How to Accelerate Page Scrolling in Firefox 3.6

To enable this, follow the simple steps given below:

1. Go to about:config by typing it in the address box.
2. Now search for mousewheel.acceleration.start using the filter box and set it to the number of successive mouse scrolls that will trigger acceleration. (Recommended: 3)
3. Then in mousewheel.acceleration.factor change its value to how many times faster you want to scroll. (Recommended: 5)

That’s it! Your page scrolling with the mouse wheel in Firefox 3.6 should be a lot better now. You can play with the number of values and see what works best for you.

[Via Mozilla Links]

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Firefox 3.6 Portable now Available

Firefox 3.6 (final) was released yesterday which brings in better Javascript speed, Personas support and tons of new improvements i.e. speed.

PortableApps has released a portable version of Firefox 3.6 which you can carry anywhere you want.

This version would allow Firefox 3.6 to be used from your USB stick. No data will be saved on the computer you will be using it. It has the same features as the final (full) Firefox 3.6.

Download Firefox 3.6 Portable

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Backup Facebook with Archive Facebook

I have previously shared and gave away free license keys of SocialSafe, a tool to backup your Facebook account.

Well, since that was a paid app and people mostly prefer free tools and applications, I’ve found a free method to backup your Facebook profile.

ArchiveFacebook is a free tool that allows you to save content from your Facebook account directly to your hard drive. Archive your photos, messages, activity stream, friends list, notes, events and groups.

It is a Firefox extension, which helps you to save web pages from Facebook and easily manage them. Save content from Facebook directly to your hard drive and view them exactly the same way you currently view them on Facebook.

The addon is still in experimental stage, so you will need to create an account at the Firefox addon website.

Download ArchiveFacebook

You can download it from here: Download ArchiveFacebook

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Remove Google Groups Ads

This Greasemonkey script that I’ve found could be useful for those who use Google Groups a lot, but find all those Google ads on it annoying.

Google Groups Ads Remover is a free Greasemoneky script that takes off ads from the pages Google Groups which some people find annoying while going through the different groups.

How to Remove Google Groups Ads

• Make sure you have Greasemonkey installed (see below for your browser).
• Download the Google Groups Ads Remover script and install in Greasemonkey.
• Refresh your Google Groups page
• You shouldn’t see the ads anymore now!

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Download Firefox 3.6 Beta 4

Firefox 3.6 Beta 4 is now available for download and is probably the last beta before the final version is released.

This fourth beta version has been released for beta testers to test for any bugs or any last minute issues before Mozilla released Firefox 3.6 final version.

Firefox 3.6 Beta 4 contains more than 100 fixes as compared to the previous versions and more than 70% of Firefox addon developers have upgraded their plugins to be fully compatible with the latest version.

Firefox 3.6 Beta 4 Changes

• Supports for the HTML5 File API.
• A change to how third-party software integrates with Firefox to increase stability.
• The ability to run scripts asynchronously to speed up page load times.
• A mechanism to prevent incompatible software from crashing Firefox.
• Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Supports for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
• Supports for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

Download Firefox 3.6 Beta 4

You can download this for free here: Download Firefox 3.6 Beta 4

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Firefox 3.6 Beta 1

Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 is now available for download! This was suppose to be available a couple of days earlier, but due to some issues it wasn’t released. But now Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 is available for download.

This beta version of Firefox 3.6 is built on the Gecko 1.9.2 web rendering engine. It contains many improvements for web developers, add-on developers and for the users.

Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 Features

Some of the new features introduced in Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 are:

• Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
• Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

Download Firefox 3.6 Beta 1

You an download this latest Firefox 3.6 beta version from here: Download Firefox 3.6 Beta 1

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Firefox 3.5.4 Released

Yesterday, a Firefox update was released and uploaded on the Mozilla FTP and as well on the website.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5.4 is now available for download. Many of you must have aleady got notifications of the update from automatic update.

This latest Firefox release brings in security and stability updates to your browser which makes it important for everyone to update. According to the release notes, the total changes list include 124 items with seven marked as critical and 13 as major.

Download Firefox 3.5.4

You can download the latest Firefox from here: Download Firefox 3.5.4

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Add Lyrics Box in YouTube Video Pages

How many of you visit YouTube daily just to download music videos? I’m sure 50% of YouTube visitors visit it just for music videos. No wonder, they have the highest number of views on a video.

On a video page, you can now add a lyrics box below the description box using a Greasemonkey script.

YouTube Lyrics script adds a lyrics box to the YouTube sidebar under the video informations box. It searches in eleven different lyrics websites and the show all the results in a drop down list.

Download YouTube Lyrics script

You can download this free userscript from here: Download YouTube Lyrics

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Visual Cache Viewer for Firefox

Everything you browse and do in Firefox gets stored in the cache. You can browse the cache with two ways. One way is to type about:cache in Firefox and other is to access them manually from your Firefox profile.

Firefox Cache Viewer is a free tool that provides a GUI and detailed information for your Firefox cache.

This tool can help you in identifying which images are stored in Firefox’s cache. You can sort by url, size, mime type, cache location or date and can also search for specific items.

Download Visual Firefox Cache Viewer

You can download this Firefox addon from here: Download Cache Viewer

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Get Productive in Firefox with SmarterFox

Firefox already comes with some many features to keep your productivity high, but what if you get to make it more productive by adding a little spice to it?

The spice I’m talking about is, SmarterFox, a Firefox addon to speedup tasks in Firefox and let you browse faster.

SmarterFox is the most popular productivity addon which saves time by speeding up common tasks. This Firefox addon will help you get things done much quicker by getting faster, parallelized downloads, convenient shortcuts and more.

Highlights of the addon:

• To save Web videos right-click anywhere and then select “download page media”.
• You can download all images and links of a page in parallel, maximizing the usage of your bandwidth.
• When you reach the end of the page, SmarterFox will automatically load the next page and append it to the end, saving you time.
• To open the qLauncher, press Ctrl + Space. You can change this in the options dialog.

If you don’t want or like any of its features, you can easily disable them from the menu Tools > SmarterFox.

Download SmarterFox

You can download this addon from here: Download SmarterFox

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How To Create Your Own Firefox Installer

Despite the fact that Firefox is becoming more resource hungry day by day, it is still my favourite browser with all the addons it has to offer us.

Did you know you can easily create your own Firefox installer? Yep, that also with all your favourite addons and themes installed in it.

Silence of the Foxes is a free utility that lets you create your very own Firefox installers. All you need is the latest official Firefox installer, extension files and you’re good to go with your first Firefox installer project.

This application is only 288KB in size and worth a try if you want to create a custom Firefox of your own. Keep checking, as I would be releasing a Sizzled Core edition of Firefox soon using this tool :)

Download Silence Of The Foxes

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Firefox 3.5.2 Available for Download

Mozilla has just released an update, Firefox 3.5.2, addressing several security and stability issue which are now fixed in the latest release.

Currently, it is not available everywhere and is being reported of being distributed to all its mirrors.

Automatic update usually takes 24-48 hours before it starts notifying about any new released update. It is recommended that you all upgrade your Firefox to 3.5.2 as it is a security update fixing several issues. You can see the release notes here.

Download Firefox 3.5.2

While Firefox 3.5.2 gets distributed to all the mirrors worldwide, SizzledCore readers can download the English version from here: Download Firefox 3.5.2 (Windows only)

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Firefox 4.0 Screenshots Revealed

I remember when Firefox 3 was released making a world record for most downloads in 24 hours, the guys at Mozilla had already started working on the next Firefox. I even got a glimpse of the Firefox 4 Alpha 1 from their FTP, but not sure if that was the official one.

Just like there was a new interface in Firefox 3, the FF team is again working on a new and much-improved interface for Firefox 4.

Two mockup designs have been released on the Mozilla Wiki to gather user-feedback and improve their designs further. These two mockups show two versions, tabs on top and tabs on bottom on Windows Vista default theme.

Tabs on Top

A bookmarks menu has been added next to the address bar, also known as the Awesome Bar.

Tabs on Bottom

Positives:

• Save Vertical Space
• Efficiency/Remove Visual Complexity – Right now the tabs have to be connected to something. So we are adding an extra visual element for them to connect to.
• Shorter Mouse Distance to Page Controls

Negatives:

• Breaks Consistency/Familiarity – Moving things confuses existing users.
• Title is MIA – With the space removed from the titlebar you only get the truncated version in the tab.
• Longer Mouse Distance to Tabs – Takes longer to mouse to a tab.
• Lost Space – Sandwiched in between the application icon and the window widgets you lose some space.

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