Weave your way through the net …

One of the greatest strengths of Firefox is the ability to extend its capabilities through the use of plugins. If you want more out of your web browser, then you can usually find a plugin that will add that functionality.

One feature I searched for when I first started using Firefox was the ability to backup my bookmarks, and eventually, synchronize them between machines. I didn’t want to send my bookmarks to a third party, though, so addons for sites like Delicious were of no interest to me.

For years, I used a plugin called Bookmark Sync, which eventually became Bookmark Sync and Sort. Unfortunately, Sync and Sort was never updated to work with Firefox 3, so I had to look elsewhere for a solution.

I stumbled across another plugin called Foxmarks, now known as Xmarks. Xmarks was designed to synchronize bookmarks with the Foxmarks site, a third party. Fortunately, they added third-party server support into the addon around the time I was looking for a new solution. So for the next year or two, I used Xmarks.

Earlier this year, when Foxmarks became Xmarks, they started adding additional features that I had no interest in. For instance, when using Google to search, Xmarks added additional content to the search results. I also had intermittent problems with my third-party settings being reset and some pretty serious speed issues when syncing. I tolerated it, because there was nothing better out there, but it still bothered me.

In December of 2007, Mozilla Labs introduced a new concept called Weave. At the time, I didn’t really understand the Weave concept. It sounded like something similar to Delicious and all of the other social bookmarking systems. I planned on keeping an eye on the project, though. Fast forward to earlier this year when 0.4 was released, and I looked a bit deeper into the project.

From what I’ve read, versions 0.1 and 0.2 supported syncing through the WebDAV protocol. 0.3 on supported a custom server, which was released by Mozilla. Additionally, Weave supported syncing more than just bookmarks, such as passwords, tabs, form input, and more. After reading about the custom server, I decided to take Weave for a spin.

The first step in trying out Weave was to set up the Weave server. This proved to be a bit more difficult than I initially thought. Mozilla provides the software via a Mercurial repository, so grabbing the software is as simple as heading to the repository and downloading the latest tarball. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any “official” release channel for new versions of the server software, so you need to manually look for software updates. That said, I’ve had no problems with the current software release.

Once you have the software, place it on your server in a location of your choosing. If you choose to place it within an existing domain, you may need to do some fancy aliases or URL rewriting to make it work. That bit of the install took me a while to get working.

The server software uses a MySQL database to store all of the synchronized data. This was one of the biggest reasons I decided to check out Weave. I deal with MySQL databases almost every day, so I’m quite comfortable with manipulating them. Additionally, this gives me the ability to write my own interface to deal with the MySQL data, if I choose to. It also means I can quickly and easily manipulate the data, should I choose to.

The rest of the server install consists of setting up the SQL database and tweaking some configuration variables. Once complete, you can point the Weave addon at your server and begin synchronizing data. Make sure you go into the preferences and identify what data you’d like to synchronize.

The Weave settings in Firefox are pretty straightforward and don’t need a lot of explanation. One trick you might keep in mind is for the first sync from a new machine. Unless you want the existing bookmarks to be merged with what’s on the server, you need to use the “Sync Now” option from within the preferences menu. This command acts differently when you use it within Preferences as opposed to clicking it on the Tools menu or from the icon at the bottom of the Firefox window. If you click on it via Preferences, you get a small options menu, shown below.

Using this menu, you can choose to replace all of the local data, all of the remote data, or merge the two. Very useful to prevent those default bookmarks from being merged back into your bookmarks again.

Weave, thus far, seems to be pretty secure. It uses an HTTPS connection to communicate with the Weave server. A username and password is required to log into the server, as is typical with most services. What seems to set Weave apart is the inclusion of an additional passphrase used to encrypt all of your data on the remote server. If you look at the data stored in MySQL, you’ll see that all of the data is encrypted prior to being added. Weave encrypts the data locally on your machine prior to sending it over the network to the Weave server. Just do yourself a favor and don’t forget your passphrase. The username and password are recoverable, especially if you run your own server, but the passphrase is not.

As of this writing, Weave is up to a 0.6pre1 release. Synchronization speed has increased considerably, and additional features are being added. The current roadmap shows a 0.6 release by August 26th, but it doesn’t go into much more detail about future releases. Regardless, Weave has proven to be extremely useful and I’m looking forward to see where development will lead. It’s definitely worth checking out.

 

Get it while it’s hot….

Firefox 3.0, out now. Get it, it’s definitely worth it.

Oh, are you still here? Guess you need some incentive then. Well, let’s take a quick look at the new features.

Probably the most talked about feature in the new release is the “Awesome Bar.” Yeah, the name is kind of lame, but the functionality is quite cool. The new bar combines the old auto-complete history feature with your bookmarks. In short, when you start typing in the Address Bar, Firefox auto-completes based on history, bookmarks, and tags. A drop-down appears below the location bar, showing you the results that best match what you’re typing. The results include the name of the page, the address, and the tags you’ve assigned (if it’s a bookmark).

While I find this particular feature of the new Firefox to be the most helpful, many people do not. The reason I’ve heard cited for this hatred is that this forces the user into something new, breaking the “simplicity” of Firefox. And while I can agree, somewhat, with that, I don’t think it’s that big a deal. I do agree, however, that the developers should have included a switch to revert back to the old behavior. I did stumble upon a new extension and a few configuration options that can switch you back, though. The extension, called oldbar, modifies the presentation of the results so it resembles the old Firefox 2.0 results. The writer of the extension is quick to point out that the underlying algorithm is still the Firefox 3.0 version.

You can also check out these two configuration options in the about:config screen:

  • browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped (default: False)
  • browser.urlbar.maxRichResults (default: 12)

Setting the matchOnlyTyped option to True makes Firefox only display entries that have been previously typed. The maxRichResults option is a number that determines the maximum number of entries that can appear in the drop down. Unfortunately, there is no current way to revert back to the previous search algorithm. This has left a number of people quite upset.

Regardless, I do like the new “Awesome Bar,” though it did take a period of adjustment. One thing I never really liked was pouring through my bookmarks looking for something specific. Even though I meticulously labeled each one, placed it in a special folder, and synchronized them so they were the same on all of my machines, I always had a hard time finding what I needed. The new “Awesome Bar” allows me to search history and bookmarks simultaneously, helping me quickly find what I need.

And to make it even better, Firefox 3.0 adds support for tags. What is a tag, you ask? Well, it’s essentially a keyword you attach to a bookmark. Instead of filing bookmarks away in a tree of folders (which you can still do), you assign one or more tags to a bookmark. Using tags, you can quickly search your bookmarks for a specific theme, helping you find that elusive bookmarks quickly and efficiently. Gone are the days of trying to figure out which folder best matches a page you’re trying to bookmark, only to change your mind later on and desperately search for it in that other folder. Now, just add tags that describe it and file it away in any folder. Just recall one of the tags you used, and you’ll find that bookmark in no time. Of course, I still recommend using folders, for sanity’s sake.

Those are probably two of the most noticeable changes in the new Firefox. The rest is a little more subtle. For instance, speed has increased dramatically, both in rendering, and in JavaScript execution. Memory usage seems to be better as well, taking up much less memory than previous versions.

On the security side of things, Firefox 3 adds support for the new EV-SSL certificates, displaying the owner of the site in green, next to the favicon in the URL bar:

Firefox now tries to warn the user about potential virus and malware sites by checking them against the Google Safe Browsing blacklist. When you encounter a potentially harmful page, a warning message appears:

Similarly, if the page you are visiting appears to be a forgery, likely an attempt at phishing, you get this warning message:

Finally, the SSL error page is a little more clear, trying to explain why a particular page isn’t working. That error looks like this:

There are other security additions including add-on protection, anti-virus integration, parental controls on Windows Vista, and more. Overall, it appears they have put quite a lot of work into making Firefox 3.0 more secure.

There are other new features that you can read about here. Check them out, and then give Firefox 3.0 a shot. Download it, it’s worth it.

Prepare yourself, Firefox 3 is on the way…

Having just released beta 4, the Mozilla Foundation is well on its way to making Firefox 3 a reality.  Firefox 3 aims to bring a host of new features, as well as speed and security enhancements.

On the front end, they updated the theme.  Yes, again.  I’m not entirely sure what the reasoning is, but I’m sure it’s some inane marketing thing.  Probably something along the lines of “we need to make it look shiny and new!”  It’s not bad, though, and only takes a few moments to re-acquaint yourself with the basic functions.

One significant change is the function of the front and back history buttons.  In previous versions you could click towards the bottom of the button and get a history of the pages forward or back in your history, relevant to the button you pressed.  They have combined this into a single button now, with a small dot identifying where in the history you are.  Back history expands to the bottom of the list while forward history moves up.  It’s a little hard to explain in words, but it’s not that difficult in action.

Next up is the download manager.  They revamped the entire download manager, making it look quite different.  Gone is the global “Clear History” button, in is the new “Search” box.  It seems that one of the themes of this release is that history is important, so they added features to allow you to quickly find relevant information.  But fear not, you can still clear the list by right clicking and choosing clear list.  It’s just not as apparent as it used to be.  In addition, you can continue downloads that were interrupted by network problems, or even by closing the browser.

Some of the pop-ups have been reduced as well.  For instance, when new passwords are entered, instead of getting a popup on the screen asking if you want to save the username and password, a bar appears at the top of the page.  This is a bit more fluid, not interrupting the browsing experience as it did in the past.

Many of the dialogs related to security have been re-vamped in an attempt to make them more clear for non-technical users.  For instance, when encountering an invalid SSL certificate, Firefox now displays something like this :

Other warnings have been added as well.  Firefox now attempts to protect you from malware and web forgeries.  In additions, the browser now handles Extended Validation SSL certificates, displaying the name of the company in green on the location bar.  Clicking on the icon to the left of the URL provides a small popup with additional information about your connection to the remote website.

A plugin manager has been added, allowing the user to disable individual plugins.  This is a very welcome addition to the browser.

The bookmark manager has been updated as well.  In addition to placing bookmarks in folders, users can now add tags.  Using the bookmark sidebar, users can quickly search by tag, locating bookmarks that are in multiple folders.  Smart bookmarks show the most recently used bookmarks, as well as the most recently bookmarked sites and tags.

The location bar has been updated as well.  As you type in the location bar, Firefox automatically searches through your bookmarks, tags, and history, displaying the results.  Results are sorted by both frequency of visits, as well as how recent your last visit was.  For users who clear their history on a regular basis, this makes the location bar much more useful.

Behind the scenes there have been a number of welcome changes.  The most noticeable change is speed.  Beta 4 is insanely fast compared to previous versions.  In fact, it seems to be significantly faster than Internet Explorer, Opera, and others!  And, as an added bonus, it seems to use less memory as well.  Ars Technica did some testing to this effect and came out with some surprising results.

Mozilla attributes both the speed increase to improvements in the JavaScript engine, as well as profile-guided optimizations.  In short, they used profiling tools to identify bottlenecks in the code and fix them.  The reduction in memory is attributed to new allocators and collectors, as well as a reduction in leaky code.

Firefox 3 was built on top of the updated Gecko 1.9 engine.  The Gecko engine is responsible for the actual layout of the page on the screen.  It supports the various web standards such as CSS, HTML, XHTML, JavaScript, and more.  As the Gecko engine has evolved, it has gained additional capabilities, as well as performance.  In fact, using this new engine, Firefox now passes the coveted Acid 2 test.

Overall, the latest beta feels quite stable and I’ve begun using it on a daily basis.  It is definitely faster than previous releases.  I definitely recommend checking it out.  On a Windows machine, it will install separately from your primary Firefox installation.  It imports all of your bookmarks and settings after you install it, so there is no danger of losing anything from your primary install.  Just be aware that there is no current guarantee that any new bookmarks, changes, add-ons, etc. will be imported into the final installation.  Many add-ons are still non-functional, though there are plenty more that work fine.

Best of luck!

Firefox 2.0 Released!

Firefox 2.0 was released earlier today. I wrote previously about this latest release while it was still in Beta. I recommended then that you check it out, and with the final release here, I’ll say it again! This is one of the best browsers out there. Give it a try, it’s easy to uninstall if you find you don’t like it!

Firefox 2.0

The latest incarnation of the Firefox browser is nearing release. Version 2.0 brings with it a smattering of nifty features as well as an updated UI and enhanced add-on handling.

I’m particularly fond of the built-in spell checker which comes in really handy. It works in a fashion similar to how the spell checker in MS Office and Openoffice works. Each misspelled work is underlined in red. When you right click on the underlined word, Firefox pops up a list of suggestions. You can choose one of the suggested replacements, or add the word to your dictionary. The spell checker only checks text boxes by default, but you can right click on any text entry field to force a spell check.

The new UI places a close icon on each tab, allowing you to close a tab in a rapid fashion. I can see this causing slight problems with people that are too quick to click as it doesn’t prompt you to close the tab. If you have a large number of tabs open, it begins to suppress the close button on all but the current tab. There is also a drop down on the far right side of the tab bar that shows you all of the open tabs in a list, allowing you to read the full title before jumping to the tab you need.

Firefox now defaults to opening all links in new tabs instead of new windows. I prefer this behavior to simply opening new windows. In addition, the popup blocker has apparently been enhanced. Since installing 2.0, I have not seen a single popup.

The default search bar now supports suggestions. As you type, the search engine you have chosen will offer suggestions for search terms, helping you find the information you want. This is the same technology that Google uses for Google Suggest. The new search engine manager allows you to add in additional search engines as well.

Overall, I think this is a real positive step in Firefox’s evolution. You should check it out, it’s a really great browser!

Firefox turns to the dark side?

I noticed an article over on Slashdot about a new attribute, ping, that Firefox handles. That is, the development version of Firefox. This isn’t your standard network ICMP Echo Request, but rather an HTTP Request designed to track a users movements.

 

Ok, ok.. Stop screaming about privacy and security. I’ve thought about this a bit and I think Firefox is doing the right thing. The intention, as far as I’ve been able to tell, is to actually put more control into the users hands.

 

Let me explain how this “feature” works. There’s a small writeup on the Mozilla Blog that you can read as well. Tracking the browsing habits of a user is actually fairly harmless, at least in my opinion. The idea is to get feedback about what a user at that site likes to see. Do more people click on links to cartoons? Or perhaps to political information? It’s all about creating websites that people want to see.

 

So, Joe User goes to a website. There he sees a link for a new type of fusion rocket. He’s interested, so he clicks the link. Nowadays, tracking happens one of two general ways. The easy one is that the “real” destination is wrapped up and appended to a link to a tracking site. These links usually have the real destination URL in plain text, but some sites obfuscate the URL so the user can’t bypass the tracking. The other method is to use javascript to change the URL after the user clicks on the link. The user never sees this happen, so, in a way, it’s even worse from a privacy perspective.

 

Either method then directs the user to the tracking site, which tracks the request (and could, by the way, take advantage of any exploits that may exist), and then redirects you to the real site. This takes time, and the user is generally left sitting there with a blank screen.

 

The ping attribute, on the other hand, is much nicer. The owner of the website uses the ping attribute to specify tracking urls. When the user clicks on a link, the browser goes directly to the intended site, and then “pings” the tracking sites in the background. This means that there are no redirects, and no “trickery” to get the user tracking info. It all happens in the background, and that’s where all the privacy concerns come from. But, according to the spec, the browser is intended to have controls to allow a user to decide how the pings are handled. A user can choose to disable them completely, or enable them for some sites, etc.

 

Currently, the development version of Firefox has the bare minimum. That is, it sees and obeys the ping attribute, but there are no fancy GUI interfaces to change settings. Of course, this is the DEVELOPMENT version! They have to start somewhere. It’s not like these new features get a complete GUI, implementation, etc the moment they’re added. This stuff takes time! And it’s enabled by default! Light the torches! Stone the oppressors!

 

Seriously though, I feel confident, based on their past record, that the creators of Firefox will get this right. Sure, it’s enabled by default. But so is Javascript. The “correct” path is not always clear cut. If a feature is disabled by default, the chances of it ever getting enabled are slim. Most users just don’t know how! So, enabling it by default, and then popping up a message stating that the feature is active, here’s how to disable it, etc. is the right thing to do. I’m actually interested in this feature because it will allow the web, at large, to remove some of the trickery currently used to track users. It will allow this information to be up front and not hidden, and I think it will allow the end user greater control over their own security and privacy.