NationStates Jolt Archive

I know I said it in the topic, but let me reiterate:

I DO NOT WANT THIS TOPIC TO BE A BROWSER WAR...

That said, let me get to the point at hand.

I am a long time user of IE, always used IE since that is what was handy, and even use up to its present incarnation (6.0.2900.2180). However, after constant pressure from my friends, this forum, and basically a whim for OpenSource (I want to eventually try Linux on my spare HDD) I downloaded and installed Mozilla FireFox 1.0.7.

Now, the issue at hand. I always read everywhere that it is much more stable, can do more things, prevents adertizements, etc. However, looking now on Jolt forums... the page looks identical to IE. How do I make FF shut off flash ad's? Furthermore, is there any way to have a bookmark page on the left of the screen like I would have with IE's favorites frame? Where is there a pop-up blocker? IE has integrated (I do not use it... I have one from Panicware)... but I do not know how to make Panicware's Popup stopper companion work as a toolbar in FF.

Any sane heads want to help me out here?

Again I reiterate, this is not supposed to be a browser war... I do not want it to degregate into one. I am a long time IE user giving FF a chance, I want to make it a fair chance before I pass my judgement on it.

(Oh, quick side note... why does my region's forum {http://s10.invisionfree.com/NS_TGE/index.php} not display properly with FF? Do I need to adjust some options so it can read the CSS properly?

For those who'd rather not look at our forum;
FF: http://img416.imageshack.us/img416/3660/ff7bh.th.png (http://img416.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ff7bh.png)
IE:http://img416.imageshack.us/img416/5408/ie5ls.th.png (http://img416.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ie5ls.png))

The main nifty thing about Mozilla/Firefox is the XUL extension system.
Main Firefox extension site (https://addons.mozilla.org/?application=firefox)

Adblock extension (https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=10&application=firefox) adds rightclick kill for image adverts and a tab for killing flash adverts.

Well, there is this nifty toolbar button called "Bookmarks" clicking on it creates a dropdown menu with which to browse your bookmarks. The popup blocking is inherent, you have to download a separate plugin to block embedded ads, I believe, http://adblock.mozdev.org/ .

How do I make FF shut off flash ad's?

You want adblock (http://adblock.mozdev.org/) and/or flashblock (http://flashblock.mozdev.org/).

Furthermore, is there any way to have a bookmark page on the left of the screen like I would have with IE's favorites frame?

Ctrl + B, or "View -> Toolbars -> Bookmarks Toolbar."

Where is there a pop-up blocker? IE has integrated (I do not use it... I have one from Panicware)... but I do not know how to make Panicware's Popup stopper companion work as a toolbar in FF.

Firefox's is integrated as well. "Tools -> Options -> Content -> Block popups." There are tonnes of extensions out there to add more functionality to the blocking.

Thank you so far to the three of you... that fixed a few of my issues.

If I can make that CSS work right, I would be golden... well, that and my pop-up stopper.

Some HTML will NEVER work the same on FF as IE.

They interpret it different and it gets screwy going between the two sometimes.

Hey! I use firefox! Its way better than IE.

I'm by no means a CSS or Firefox expert, but I think maybe Firefox doesn't like getting background-image from a third party source.

The sites doing the same thing on Opera.

Firefox and Internet Explorer have two different rendering engines. I have tested HTML and CSS in both browsers, and they each have their own little quirks. Firefox appears to better support the standards, but it is nothing Internet Explorer 7 couldn't fix if they worked at it. I personally hope IE 7 fixes this.... Otherwise, I will continue to use Firefox in protest.

Firefox and Internet Explorer have two different rendering engines. I have tested HTML and CSS in both browsers, and they each have their own little quirks. Firefox appears to better support the standards, but it is nothing Internet Explorer 7 couldn't fix if they worked at it. I personally hope IE 7 fixes this.... Otherwise, I will continue to use Firefox in protest.
IE 7 is looking to fix many of the problems that IE 6 has, last I heard. You can go check out the beta I believe.

Swilatia:
Again I reiterate, no browser wars here... just constructive help.

Poptartrea:
The backgound is not the problem, it seems it does not want to render the flat-colored backgrounds. I shall need to ask IPB what their oppinion is I think.

No-one has any suggestions for the readability issue?

For the scrolls, I've NEVER seen colored scrolls on FF. Ever. It's annoying, because if I want to make them on IE and that just bugs me.

No-one has any suggestions for the readability issue?
Without taking a look at the CSS code it's going to be pretty difficult. Just make sure that you're staying as close as possible to the W3 standards. Take a look in http://www.w3schools.com/ to see if there's something that can help.

For the scrolls, I've NEVER seen colored scrolls on FF. Ever.

Coloured scrollbars depend on one of Microsoft's 'extensions' to CSS. Obviously they're evil, as web pages shouldn't interfere with the user interface - unfortunately some web designers would like nothing less than to control the whole operating system...

Use more than one browser. IE produces more attractive pages while sometimes FireFox shows some really strange results. Hopefully FireFox 1.5 fixes those issues.

Without taking a look at the CSS code it's going to be pretty difficult. Just make sure that you're staying as close as possible to the W3 standards. Take a look in http://www.w3schools.com/ to see if there's something that can help.I followed the template given by IPB (I make other CSS myself, shows fine). According to the support ticket, I did the comment tags wrong... so I am changing it to see if it fixes.

For the scrolls, I've NEVER seen colored scrolls on FF. Ever. It's annoying, because if I want to make them on IE and that just bugs me.
They are most prevalent on myspace, geocities, and any other sort of blog/personal website.

Furthermore, is there any way to have a bookmark page on the left of the screen like I would have with IE's favorites frame?

View/sidebar/bookmarks will do it for you. If you figure out how to stop flash adds please let me know. Pop up blocker is integrated in Firefox.

They are most prevalent on myspace, geocities, and any other sort of blog/personal website.

I mean while browsing on FireFox.

I've seen them on the same sites on IE.

Okay, I changed my comment tags;

(In CSS, a comment tag is /* */... not <!-- --> like it is in HTML... oops!)

This fixed a huge chunk of the problem. STRIKE: {However, there is still a bit of discrepency between the two... I am wondering if I did anymore typos. I am waiting on the support ticket again.} EDIT: {I fixed it... now the forum looks identical on both browsers... apparently, FF has issues with the "background-attachment: fixed;" tag.}

BTW, yes, I did find the bookmark menu, thanks to those who showed me that.

Pop-up stopper is a bit disapointing compared to what I am used to (I get pop-ups, my friend running FF on Linux does not, go figure) but is no-where as bad if I had no blocker.

Ads I cannot disable completely. If I turn on the option in adblocker to shut them off... it also blocks legitamate flash objects, leaving a tag that says "AdBlock." I can left/right click that to my hearts content... it says there, and doesn't give me back my flash toolbar. So, I just need to leave Obj-Tabs off, and block adds singly as I come to them.

Oh, last thing, I admit that I too color the scroll bars. It makes them less obtrusive when looking at the rest of the site.

This fixed a huge chunk of the problem. However, there is still a bit of discrepency between the two... I am wondering if I did anymore typos. I am waiting on the support ticket again.

Yes, I was just taking a look and it seems fine. There's always going to be some discrepancy because both browsers interpret the standards differently. Some clever tweaking can minimize and sometimes eliminate the differences, but it's a pain.

Ads I cannot disable completely. If I turn on the option in adblocker to shut them off... it also blocks legitamate flash objects, leaving a tag that says "AdBlock." I can left/right click that to my hearts content... it says there, and doesn't give me back my flash toolbar. So, I just need to leave Obj-Tabs off, and block adds singly as I come to them.
No, that's not how you do it! Use wildcards. If an advert has this address:

http://www.example.com/adverts/47520975069704569.jpg

...then block this address:

*example.com/adverts/*

Which will block all files in the 'adverts' directory of any server at example.com. Here's a list of some others you'll probably want to block:

*advertising.com*
*atdmt.com*
*doubleclick.net*
*fastclick.net*
*tribalfusion.com*
*valueclick.com*

And if your NS region uses an InvisionFree offsite forum, this'll block the Google adverts:

*googlesyndication.com*

Oh, last thing, I admit that I too color the scroll bars. It makes them less obtrusive when looking at the rest of the site.
But the scrollbars match the rest of the user-interface. Would you colour the window background and titlebar too if that was possible?

I fiddle with the window background all the time!

As to the titlebar... if I could, I might.

I do handle ads as you described, on a server-by-server basis.

For anyone who doesn't notice my edit, I fixed the code... FF and IE look 100% the same now. Apparently, FF has issues with the use of "background-attachment: fixed;" at times.

For anyone who doesn't notice my edit, I fixed the code... FF and IE look 100% the same now. Apparently, FF has issues with the use of "background-attachment: fixed;" at times.
Are you sure it's not IE that's having the issues? Last time I checked Firefox handles background-attachment:fixed as per the CSS specification, but IE has its own unique way of doing things...

Maybe... but I removed the tag off of the forum/catagory/bordlogo tag... and now it looks the same on both. Case in point, I do not need to tell people that the forum only works in IE anymore.

That was always my biggest complaint with FF (my own forum doesn't work). Now that it does... we might have a convert...

That was always my biggest complaint with FF (my own forum doesn't work). Now that it does... we might have a convert...
Ah, another convert. Now we must shape you into a missionary, who responds 'Get Firefox!' to any question involving web browsers, even if it's totally irrelevant.

Okay... some more questions:

When I make a bookmark, and later check its properties, there is a checkbox that says "load this bookmark into the sidebar"... what does that do?

I have heard that there is a skinning feature for FF... how do I use it?

When I make a bookmark, and later check its properties, there is a checkbox that says "load this bookmark into the sidebar"... what does that do?

What it says. When you use the bookmarks sidebar and click on the bookmark, it's loaded directly in the sidebar instead of the main browsing area. I've yet to come across any site it's useful for, but I guess some people use it or else it wouldn't be there.

I have heard that there is a skinning feature for FF... how do I use it?

Tools -> Themes. There is a link there that takes you to the Firefox skins/themes site where you can download them.

Ah yes Fass, danke. That is the third time you've helped me with FF, I will look forward to seeing your name again in future topics of mine.