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Firefox: A better browser for journalists By Julian Sher Most, if not all journalists -- like everyone else on the web -- uses Internet Explorer by default as their web browser. It’s so automatic now people don’t even think about it. But back in the early days of the web the “browser wars” between Netscape and IE were famous and the competition produced better products. Now Microsoft finally faces a new rival again, and journalists should take a serious look at Firefox. It’s free, available for download at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox. It’s “open source” -- which means no one owns it; the web community develops it and anyone can build and propose improvements, add-ons or “extensions” as they are called. More on this later. There is a simple guide at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html. If you’re faint of heart when it comes to trying new techie things, fine, stick with Internet Explorer. But if you have just the slightest computer skills and want to explore a bit, Firefox can be a charm and especially useful to journalists. EASIER SEARCHES The best thing about Firefox is that the main address bar is automatic search engine. Better still, it is by default Google’s “I’m Felling Lucky” first choice result. In other words, everyone knows you can type in cnn.com in the address bar and go to CNN. But let’s say you want to find the British Foreign Ministry? In Internet Explorer, you would have to go to Google, put in that
term and click on the results. With Firefox, all you do is type in “British Foreign
Ministry” and - Bingo! -- it takes you to the official page of the Foreign and
Commonwealth Ministry of the To save time, many people have already downloaded the Google Toolbar which nestles at the top of your browser. (You can get it on JNet’s main page under the Google logo at www.journalismnet.com) But Firefox goes one better. Same toolbar -- but in addition, you can download over a hundred other search tools that you can use instead of Google from the same toolbar. Dictionaries, translation tools, BBC News. All very useful for the journalist on deadline. TABS AND MORE Journalists rarely stay on one web page for long. But in IE, you have to keep clicking “CTL + N” if you want to have multiple windows open to see and compare various web pages. With Firefox, every new page opens in a new “TAB” which is easily accessible. Clicking from, say, the New York Times to the London Times is a snap. Firefox also makes it much easier to save and reorganize your bookmarks. For more advanced users, they also have something called “Live Bookmarks” (SEE http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/live-bookmarks.html) Live Bookmarks lets you view RSS news and blog headlines in the bookmarks toolbar or bookmarks menu. (We discussed RSS Newsfeeds in Media # ). With one glance, quickly see the latest headlines from your favorite sites. For example, I have the CBC, BBC and the New York Times installed and just by hovering my mouse over these bookmarks I can see their latest news. One click and I am directly at the articles I want. EXTEND YOUR POWER Once you download Firefox you can go the extensions page and add on a bunch of neat features (including “skins” to make your browser look much better). To get any of these free extensions listed below, just put in the keywords in the search box at the Firefox extensions page at https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions. One of the neat extensions I always use is “Copy Plain Text.” I am also always cutting and pasting snippets of information, dates, facts and statistics. Ever notice that when you copy large amounts of text from a web page and then try to copy it into Word, it often comes out garbled because it keeps the same format and coding as the web page? With CopyPlainText, all you have to do is highlight the sections you want, click “CTRL SHIFT +C” and you can easily import the text into an email or Word document. I also often save web pages - either for future reference or because in doing research I am afraid the target of my research might change their web page or shut down during the course of the investigation. “Scrapbook” allows you to instantly copy entire web pages by simply clicking “ALT K”. Another extension I adore is “AutoFill” which allows me to fill in forms on web sites without having to retype my name, address and other information. There is even “ForecastFox” which pops up and tells me the weather in whatever city I program it for. * * * Firefox isn’t for everyone. You have to be a bit tech-adventurous because it doesn’t pay to download Firefox unless you use its extensions. Some web pages and download sites also work better under the old IE. But Firefox is at least challenging the boring and lazy Internet Explorer and offers the resourceful journalist new and fast ways to search the web. ____________________________________________________________________ Julian Sher, the creator and webmaster of Journalism Net (www.journalismnet.com), does Internet training in newsrooms around the world. He can be reached by email at jsher@journalismnet.com. This article and many other columns from “Media” magazine are available online with hot links on the JournalismNet Tips page at www.journalismnet.com/tips
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