Customer Reviews

Firefox Hacks: Tips & Tools for Next-Generation Web Browsing

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I have a little sideline in repairing computers, and one day a customer asked if I could help him recover all his bookmarks from the installed Mozilla version he had on his old hard drive and move them to the one on his new hard drive. Hack 25 in this book, "Migrate Firefox Profiles", told me what to do since Firefox is based on the Mozilla code base. Over several more days, I referred to other hacks in this book to guide the customer with greater skill. This book made me look like a greater expert than I really am -- which pleases me.

This is just one of several times I have quickly reached for Firefox Hacks in order to rescue either a customer or myself. It is very common for customers to want to migrate their browser data. Some consider it important enough to pay for my help to get that job done. Browsers are the most important unit of software on the internet. Buying this book is a good investment in working with Firefox as a tool.

For myself, I'm interested in the fonts I can use (Hacks 30, "Insall Fonts and Character Support", and 61, "Make MathML Content"), reviewing the basics (Hacks 1-10) and installation (Hacks 22 through 32.) I want to play with Scalable Vector Graphics which are now natively supported in Firefox 1.5. I never tire of rendering the cubic spline tiger on Croczilla: [...]

If you want to develop with Firefox (and Nigel McFarlane has written a related book on Mozilla development). check out the getting-started Hack 93, "Make Firefox Software". Enjoy the thrill of compiling your own flavor of Firefox.

My point is that Firefox Hacks has something for everyone. If you are just starting with web browing, look at Hacks 1 through 10. I learned something from most of these -- and I thought I was an expert web surfer. If you want to do deep development, refer to the "Work More Closely With Firefox" hacks in Chapter 9. Yes, I have compiled the Mozilla browser many times. If you just want to be able to play around, pick any hack in this book, read it closely, and then implement it for yourself. Go do it -- you won't be sorry.

I like McFarlane's way of describing each hack in detail rather than throwing code at you and using it to take up column-inches and pages of book space without telling you what that code really does and how to make it work. McFarlane has a gift for explaining exceedingly complex material in an easily digestible way. Every reader of this book will find at least a few hacks to zero in on and study closely. You will find that you have the careful explanation you need to make the hack understandable and workable, without being smothered with useless detail.

McFarlane cross-references and supports his hacks with other hacks and web page links for those who want to learn more. It is McFarlane's special strength that he can simplify the complex issues that come with web browsing and point you in the right direction, while actually getting you interested in some arcane bit of Firefox.

McFarlane has done an outstanding job of crafting this book. He is one of the best technical writers of our time and I am hopeful he will publish new books as well as update his existing work.

To wring the most out of Firefox as your web browser of choice, get Firefox Hacks.

I have found that Firefox - beyond just being a great browser - is a great development tool. I use Firefox for JavaScript and DOM debugging, but didn't realize how many Firefox "hacks" are out there to help you debug and develop web applications.

From using XMLHttpRequest (Hack #48) to displaying live http headers (Hack #51) to XUL (several hacks) - there are plenty of great tips and tools for development and debugging.

There are also quite a few "hacks" for admins - such as remote user configuration management (Hack #29) - however, I think the most useful stuff comes from the hacks that show how flexible Firefox really is as a development tool.

Another reason to give the authors a nice pat on the back is the fact that (for the most part) the "Hacks" avoid spending a lot of time with the basics of browsing that have nothing to do with Firefox. Once you get past the first 30 pages (first 10 hacks) it's all great stuff.

I'll start this review with my conclusion: get this book. General users and network admins alike will find great benefit in this title. It is the missing manual that serves not only to introduce you to the product, but teach you the ins and outs of actually taking control of the browser and all of it's actions for not only yourself, but if your in a deployment position - for distribution to, and remote management of, others. Separated in to two parts, the entire text completes the FireFox picture for both developers and end users.

When it comes to how inclusive this title is, I'm not talking about the half-hearted attempts other like-books make for applications, where the reader is shocked to realize that 80% of it is graphical hand holding of the native menus and dialog boxes, rewording the tool-tips and associated help file when needed - this book really delivers. The first 100 pages are dedicated to making sure the reader understands the browser's makeup, understands, identifies, and can edit the configuration settings for native behaviors (quite often, when applicable, showing the one to one relationship with the graphical dialog or interface and the configuration setting), and setup / manage FireFox within a network environment. The remainder of the book deals popular browser extensions for both users and developers, CCS and DOM development, XML development, and the interaction with third-party tools and utilities one comes to expect from the "Hacks" series.

Don't think that just because FireFox is free and comes as trimmed down as possible, that there is nothing to it other than the obvious. A development goal was to make the browser's actions as transparent and accessible as possible, and the information available to the public. This title proves they succeeded, and you will find that this is the only book you will need to read to get the absolute most out of the browser.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've heard about the Firefox browser and how powerful it is. But how do you learn to harness all that power and make it work for you? Get a copy of Firefox Hacks by Nigel McFarlane (O'Reilly). It's the technical manual that doesn't come with the download...

Chapter List: Firefox Basics; Security; Installation; Web Surfing Enhancements; Power Tools for Web Developers; Power XML for Web Pages; Hack the Chrome Ugly; Hack the Chrome Cleanly; Work More Closely with Firefox; Index

The Hacks series from O'Reilly takes the particular subject matter (in this case, Firefox) and explores 100 tips, tricks, and "hacks" that allow you to do cool things with the software. Firefox Hacks follows the same format, but it seems to transcend the semi-randomness of other Hacks books and moves towards a solid reference manual for power users, web developers, and techno-geeks. And that's a *good* thing...

Because Firefox is open-source, there's a focus on making sure that the user can tweak and change things to suit their needs. McFarlane does a very good job explaining the general structure of Firefox and how it configures itself. Knowing these basics, the typical power user can do an incredible amount of customization with the about:config URL command. That part of the book could be worth the price alone. But we're not done. Under Web Surfing Enhancements, the author starts going into a number of the extensions that can be downloaded and added to Firefox to add to the base functionality of the browser. Want to completely change the way the tabbed browsing works? #34 - Modify Tabbed Browsing. Do you live to search the web? #36 - Get More Search Tools. Just want to waste time? #43 - Waste Time with Toys and Games...

The parts I found very useful were the chapters on Power Tools and Power XML. These chapters will help you utilize the built-in tools and extensions that can make your web coding incredibly easy. There are validators as well as debuggers that far surpass anything available in the "other browser choice" used by so many. And given the closer adherence to standards, you'll end up with pages that are far cleaner than you can otherwise produce.

If you've made the move to Firefox and want to start learning how to get the most out of it, get this book. If you're a power user, you'll find a lot to like in it. If you're a web developer, you absolutely need it.

Firefox Hacks is a great collection of information about the Mozilla Firefox browser. While almost anyone who has used Firefox would learn a great deal from reading this book, developers, admins, and advanced power users would benefit most from reading this. The book starts out nicely by going under the hood to look at internal settings, then turns to presentation aids and then to developer tools. I wish I'd had the book several months ago when I was doing more development! From code development the book moves into altering the browser look and feel, and finally into extension development. Although I may never do so, it's nice getting a guided look into areas I don't see on a day to day basis.

If you want more details on Firefox than what you can find online, or just want a good reference as a jumping off point, this is definitely one of the books to have.

Firefox has been around for several years and most of the hacks in the book are well documented on the web, but O'Reilly and Nigel McFarlane have brought you a book that brings the structure of the program and the usefulness of the hacks into one place.

The power of the "hacks" series is that you can benefit from this book even if you don't have time to read through the whole thing. If you picked up the book to help you with re-branding Firefox, then you can go just to that section. Maybe you are needing Firefox to be a test bed for standards compatibility of a particular web project you are working on, then just read the sections of the book which apply. On the other hand, if you don't know what Firefox is capable of then you need simply to browse through the whole book to see what a powerful program Firefox is.

The book covers a very wide variety of hacks. Many have to do with extensions that can be added onto Firefox. An extension can be considered as a pre-built hack with a nice installer. It is fitting then that many of these packaged hacks are covered in the book.

Outside of just general use of the book for learning what Firefox is capable of, the book has great appeal for web developers. With the extensions available to developers to help in their work, there are quite a few development tools built into Firefox. Not the least of which is its standards compatibility. To know if something is well written one simply needs to view it in Firefox to see how a standards compliant browser renders the underlying code.

The author used several phrases and vocabulary that would not be considered standard English. This is something that a company like O'Reilly, catering to their particular audience, might allow to become lax. Well written and edited books are hard to come by and often go unnoticed. It would have been better had the publisher spent a little more time on the editing of this work. It would be a shame that someone might be turned away from this book and its great content because of poor editing.

With hacks ranging in difficulty from easy to advanced, this 377 page guide will get just about anyone hacking Firefox.

I wish to offer condolences to the family of the author as he has since passed away.

"Firefox Hacks" includes a wealth of under the covers
information on the number two most used browser. This
book goes beyond the average browser user that just
uses a browser for browsing. The book covers
everything from securing Firefox to deploying Firefox
across an enterprise to using Firefox for debugging
websites. McFarlane goes into enough detail and
explanation in each of his tips so that the reader can
at least get a good understanding of the whys and
hows. I would recommend this book to anyone doing any
development using Firefox or developing for Firefox to
get into the details behind the browser.

Certainly an excellent resource for developers looking to extend Firefox and to create content for the browser. There is some material on the end user side of the browser, adding extensions, working the browser, cool sites to go to. But overall I find that there is more content in here for developers.

What's here is very well written and researched. Graphics are used well but not overused, as is the O'Reilly style. As with all of the Hacks books these recipes are teasers and don't offer comprehensive coverage.

If you're more than just a casual internet surfer, then you probably have downloaded a copy of Firefox. While it's by no means a perfect browser, it is a very good one. While reading this book I was blown away by the sheer number of tweaks and customizations that Firefox supports. This is the most comprehensive book I've seen available on Firefox.

Like the other books in the "Hacks" series, this one lists 100 different tips and tricks, divided into sections including such topics as security, web developer power tools, using XML, and getting involved with the Firefox community. My two favorite hacks (for no other reason than I think they're really cool) are how to edit Firfox configuration files, and how to work with SVG graphics on Firefox.

Like I mentioned before, if you're just a casual internet user, chances are you don't even have a copy of Firefox, and that's fine. However, if you're a power user, this is the best book out there on all things Firefox. It's an excellent resource to make a very good browser even better.

In the 6 months since it was first released out of beta, Mozilla's Firefox browser has easily become one of the most popular open source projects in existence. It has also shaken up the browser industry, claiming roughly 8% of the market share and chipping away at Internet Explorer's dominance.

I have been using Firefox since it was in the early stages, and have been encouraging others to do so as well when they <a href="http://www.jeremyflint.com">visit my site</a>.

Most people are content with installing Firefox and never changing a thing, so long as it blocks pop-ups and malware. For some people, they like to be able to really dig into the guts of the software and tweak every little thing they can, as well as writing extensions to add additional features that do not exist in the standard install.

No matter which type of user you are, the new book by Nigel McFarlane published by O'Reilly, Firefox Hacks is for you. It covers a wide range of topics, from basic browser usage options to installing, using, and creating custom widgets, extensions, toolbars and plug-ins.

A large majority of the 100 hacks involve editing the about:config preference file, but it also makes use of the easily available preferences in the Options panel. Each hack is rated as beginner, moderate, or expert, indicating the level of complexity involved.

The book begins by explaining the different ways that web pages can be displayed and navigated, what the toolbar icons are and what they do, and the keyboard shortcuts that are assigned to various actions in the browser. It also touches on modifying the appearance of the browser interface.

The most interesting part of chapter 1 for me was the section on making firefox go fast. This gives you tips on improving the performance of Firefox whether you are on a dial-up connection or broadband.

Once you are past the basic features of the browser, the book moves into security, which has always been a major selling point of the Firefox browser. Here you are introduced to the various security features of the browser, as well as how to raise and lower the settings that affect how the browser interacts with the web.

Next up is installation and enhancements, covering the options for installing firefox beyond the standard procedure, and explaining how to use firefox as an information-gathering tool.

Once you move past the first 3 or 4 chapters, the subject matter turns to hacking the internal workings of the browser, such as working with XML, XUL, XSL, creating custom extensions and sidebars, and modifying the interface chrome to create custom themes.

Overall, this book is a great resource for anyone wanting to dig deeper into their favorite browser, and the extensibility of Firefox certainly affords the user that luxury.

So whether you are a bored web surer, web designer, IT professional or experienced programmer, the tips and hacks in this book will help you make a productive switch to Firefox.