Talk:Firefox2/Features

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Allow white-listed cross-domain Ajax

Add Bookmark Search to Address Bar

  • djst: My proposal for making things easier for the user would be to broaden the autocomplete drop-down list of the address bar to also include Bookmark Search results (currently available from the Bookmarks sidebar). This would mean you could type e.g. "weather" in the address bar, and the result list would include your weather forecast bookmarks, even if their actual addresses didn't contain the word "weather". The Bookmark Search feature, as it is now, is hidden and probably unused by many people. (Apologizes if this is the wrong place for feature suggestions.)
  • Beltzner: this is the right place; I'd also suggest that you add comments on the discussion page of the new bookmark and history system breakout page since this falls into that particular bucket.
  • Triplicate:It'd be nice to provide previews for bookmarks that provide similar titles. Example, searching for weather gives three links with similar titles, press enter on the search term, three thumbnails of the website comes up.
  • frozeen: As I and my wife are both using Firefox but on different profiles in Windows it would be a great thing to be able to use the same bookmarks as well. Today it is only possible by using a theird party program, but it shouldn't be that hard to implement in your browser.

Déjà Vu

"Firefox 2 will aim to build on the success of Firefox by addressing issues related to the problem of managing the vast amounts of information available on the Internet. Our goal is to provide a browser that helps users manage and organize their online information channels."

Wow, that sounds a whole lot like what Netscape Marketing once said about Netscape Communicator 5 and its planned SmartBrowsing functionality. But thankfully the notes you've put here is more than screenshots. – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs, blog) 14:04, 4 Dec 2005 (PST)

History

"Firefox 2 history export process needs to be documented (maybe even here)."

Central Administration / Installation

  • ruko: To use firefox in companies, larger organisation, even smaller workgroups with few people doing the support, it would be very helpful, to have the possibility to do a central configuration or administration: (1) set or change configuration, (2) install extensions, (3) allow or disallow users doing various settings or extensions installation.
  • cst: A must for use in an enterprise environment (with Windows ADS) are true MSI installer packages. Firefox configuration and installation/configuration of extensions through Group Policy Settings would be helpfull too. Very nice would be a tool to build custom MSI packages including the needed extension, themes and default configurations.
  • tim: There should be a default internet explorer theme which is an exact copy of internet explorer including the microsoft flag and the spaces between buttons on the navigation toolbar as this will encourage people who are familiar to internet explorer easily switch to firefox.
  • shadowchaser: I completely agree with the comment about MSI packages. MSI packages are an absolute must if Firefox wants to make ANY inroads in the business or enterprise markets. Many IT departments are VERY "Microsoft" centric, and extensively leverage Active Directory or other deployment technologies. Companies are not going to bother installing Firefox manually on every desktop - they need to be able to deploy it automatically to thousands of machines automatically using Windows Installer (MSI). Adding this feature, and support for Windows Policies (ADM templates, etc) would make a HUGE dent in the IE market share. Remember all the reviews of Firefox when it came out? Most people completely wrote it off in corporate environments, saying how most would not deploy it without MSI or policy support. IT shops need automatic deployment, and the ability to force their evil ways onto users (ie/ lock out features). I disagree with tim's comment about an IE fake mode - copying IE exactially would lead to serious trademark issues. Firefox has already strived to have a similar look and feel to Internet Explorer - the only thing I would suggest is to natively support the Windows "Favorites" OS feature. You might want to take a look at the "Open Office" team. They resisted and fought for years against MSI, then finally gave in and now Open Office 2.0 supports it. Why? It's the ONLY way to make inroads into large "Microsoft Shop" corporations.
  • Robert Strong: I am curious if there are any enterprise companies (e.g. 5K+ employees) that have stated, "we would rollout Firefox if it was available as an MSI"? I ask because the enterprise companies I've consulted to have all repackaged the applications they deploy except for Office in some cases. This isn't to say that we shouldn't make an MSI package available... it is to say that I question whether this would really make a dent in the enterprise arena. Most of the time the CTO doesn't even know that their IT group is repackaging the software they deploy.
  • I would like to add that as the network administrator of a major University department we will have to remove Mozilla Firefox from over 100 computers as there is no way to stop Domain Users from changing the proxy settings in Firefox and we are trying to block websites such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com. The fact that Group Policy and .msi installation isn't along with a lack of 'user-lockdown' is the main reason why firefox has not penetrated the 'casual user' market and is relegated to being used mainly by 'computer experts' or the computer-savvy'

Extension Installation and Upgrades

  • mh166: After updating (or after installing) an extension it should not be necassary to restart Firefox. It's really anoying if you got dozens of sites opened and have to restart for updates taking change. I'm software developper of my own, too. And I think there should be possibilities for updating without restarting (haven't worked with plugin(systems) yet, but will do). So: why is it necessary atm?
  • Mike: Simply put, the way XUL overlays have always worked doesn't coexist well with dynamic changes. This is something we're aware of, but this is a core issue that most likely cannot be addressed in a release where the core (Gecko) code is API-frozen.
  • frandom: When a restart is necessary it should be possible for Firefox to remember what was open and restore it
  • bomfog: I believe a session-restore feature ala sessionsaver extension is in the works, no?
  • Kamasutra: Yes, the new session restore feature (not related to sessionsaver extension) should solve the problem indirectly. However, the fact remains that it is only a workaround to this specific problem. Since Firefox 2 does not involve any core changes this is fine, but when core changes are made for Firefox 3 this may be something to consider.
  • Robert Strong: Bug 256509 is for being able to install extensions without restarting and the session restore feature would be used to improve the experience if / when it lands.

Saving files

  • matthew: When I'm saving a file and Firefox detects, that I'm on to overwrite another file with the same name, I'm only able to overwrite the existing file or abort, start again and rename it from the beginning. It would be nice, if Firefox shows me a dialog, like Konqueror does, for renaming the file "just in time".
  • Kamasutra: Also, I'd like the "Save Link As..." option in the context menu to bring up the conventional dialog where one can also choose Open.

CTL issues

  • Veeven: Correct display of complex script languages (most Indian languages). IE6 in WinXP SP2 shows this page correctly, but Firefox 1.5 does not. I expect that I would be able to see webpages in my native lanugage comfortably with Firefox 2. Most Indian users will benefit from this.
  • This is a core Gecko issue, and may or may not be fixable within the Gecko 1.8.1 constraints - Mike


Anti-aliasing of fonts

  • Veeven: Anti-aliasing of fonts makes web pages look better. I think it may not be possible for Firefox 2.0. But, it is much needed to improve the visual look of any web page. Amaya does it already.
    • I believe this will come in Firefox 3.0, when Cairo will be used for rendering. Dasch 11:59, 28 Feb 2006 (PST)
  • Please do not put font anti-aliasing into firefox: 1) Your OS can already do this for you and Firefox should stay light-weight. 2) Anti-aliasing of fonts with DVI / LCD displays being the new standard is counter productive. You buy a DVI / LCD so that your monitor will look crisp and clear. Anti-aliasing fonts makes everything look blurry again, and small fonts become un-readable.

Support for JPEG2000

  • momendo: JPEG2K has been released as a standard and there has been very little movement in the browser world to support it. We have a chicken/egg scenario where browsers don't really need to support it unless there is a strong need. JPEG has become a very popular format for photos. Digital cameras don't support J2K but if it's supported in the browser, the case becomes really strong to support it. There is a bug filed for it here. J2K can really improve image quality and save bandwidth. PNG overlaps some of the features of J2K. But I would argue J2K has better PSNR and can be lossy if needed. Once it's in trunk, it can be used in tags like Canvas with alpha channel.

Stealth surfing

  • NisseSthlm: Private data is both a good thing and a bad. Mostly the Firefox' saving of private data is making the surf experience better, but sometimes you don't want Firefox to remember the websites you've visited during a period of time for one reason or another. At work, for example, you'd want Firefox to remember your Google searches in "Saved Forms" for future access. But on coffee breaks you might want to surf private stuff and "saved searches" would only clutter and disturb when the coffee break is over. By clearing your Private Data you erase everything without consideration. For "coffee break surfing" it would be nice to have a "Stealth Mode" that doesn't save any private data. This Stealth Mode should be fairly easy to switch on and off. I believe all of us use our browser for "important" as well as nonsense surfing and since the nonsense surfing is impossible to distinguish for "Clear Private Data", you'd want to be able to tell the browser that, for now this surfing is nonsense and shouldn't be remembered.
  • This sounds like an extension to me, not a built in feature. Keep Firefox small!

Reduced Memory Usage

  • chiklit: This has probably been said tons of times but it would be nice to see a reduction in memory usage in Firefox 2.0. Just in viewing this page with no other tabs open FF is using nearly 50mb of memory, while the same page on IE or Opera uses nearly half that.
  • cafeina: Also, Firefox should free memory when tabs are closed. Now memory usage is about the same, even if a tab is closed.
  • apocalypse: Some extensions consume a lot of memory. I just have installed 3 or 4, thoose that I use to work. With 4 tabs opened and just 30 minutes of usage firefox's using 93 MB. It should have a way to control the extension producting.

Anti-phishing as default plugin not permanent feature

I want to propose that features such as Anti-phishing is added as a default plugin that can be removed as any other plugin. Whereas I am totally for having Anti-phishing pre-installed in a new Firefox install, I see it as a major problem if we don't make it easy to disable or remove the function.

There are potential privacy concerns involved as it might be required the browser to lookup information about a page/site in a central database, leaving traces of where a user surf on intranets as well as on the Internet. There are also many existing anti-phishing plugins. As needs might be different, it might be better to create a uncomplicated general anti-phishing solution for the average person and give alternatives for more advanced users.

Firefox aims be lean and mean, and as such should not have too many integral parts. Default plugins rather than built-in features should therefore be preferred.

  • shadowchaser: The United States' government subpoena against Google to disclose their search record logs is a perfect example why Firefox should *NEVER* have an anti-phishing feature. Microsoft is currently planning on forcing this feature down the throats of millions of Internet Explorer users - by keeping Firefox "pure" without any opportunities for privacy violations, there will be a huge opportunity for a campaign to convince IE users to switch to a more private, safe alternative. How long before the department of justice requests the logs of EVERY internet explorer users' request? There are serious free speech concerns about this - I would seriously avoid this feature like the plauge.
  • p@tr1x: We all know that Microsoft's IE 7.0 will include 'Anti-Phising' technology. I think most of you know that Google has released an extension for Firefox 1.5 that gives the users some level of protection against Phishing attacks. As Phishing/Spoofing becomes one of the most prevalent forms of internet attacks I believe it would be foolish to introduce a product for the masses, like Firefox, that doesn't include this type of technology. How many of you have used the extension Adblock combo'd with Filterset.g? Do these types of programs act as a potential threat to 'free-speech'? I don't believe they do because I don't believe that web content providers have guaranteed access to my computer. I choose to enact a filter that prevents certain content from appearing. Whitelist/Blacklist/Heuristic analysis of web-content is not a violation of free-speech. Don't let any SPAMMER/Spoofer tell you otherwise.
  • t0rus For vast majority of Firefox users having an anti-phishing feature will be a bliss, and it should definetly be part of the browser. But for some paranoid people Mozilla should give the option to disable/uninstall it. Plain and simple. There's no point of depriving people of it simply because "the big brother is watching you"...
  • I agree that anti-phishing should be a plugin not a permanent feature. Firefox is already getting way too bloated. I'm for Firefox just improving efficiency and stability and keeping out all these "extras". Isn't that how Firefox got popular?

Hotkeys: Accessibility and Web 2.0

Good solution for AccessKeys conflicts (see AccessKeys_solution)

We can solve all conflicts related to accesskeys in a the same way, as Konqueror developers did. In order to activate accesskey 'P' you don't press Ctrl-P/Alt-P/etc. Instead you can press Ctrl,P, i.e. you press and release Ctrl key and then press 'P'. This way is much more desirable, than blocking an accesskey or allowing a web page to block browser shortcuts (like "Print" or "Preferences" for above combinations). When user presses and releases Ctrl key we can also display accesskeys near each link (i.e. tooltips) and give list of accesskeys in a status bar. If user don't want to choose any accesskey he can press Ctrl key again or just press any key which is not defined in a current page as accesskey. Another similar solution is to use Alt-A or another predefined combinations instead of a Ctrl key (e.g. you can press Alt-A,P). This may be useful in situations, where sending press&release event for Ctrl key is problematic.

Access key combinations defined within role list

Access Keys in web pages have been shown to conflict with pre-defined access keys in Browsers as well as Operating Systems.

Pressing Alt-D for example give instant access to the URL address in Firefox, however on pages using the access key Alt-D this may give totally different result. Firefox is currently unfortunately one of those browsers with most conflicts with HTML Access Keys: http://www.wats.ca/resources/accesskeysandkeystrokes/38

As great suggestion has been to define roles instead of Access Keys making the user able to define Role Keys. This would be a great general solution for Firefox in itself, not only for HTML access keys!

Obvious Roles would be "access address bar", "Next Page", "Bookmark page", "Print page", "Access Tools menu", and so on. A menu could then give the user an easy way to define/redefine the key combinations as the user would like, indicating possible conflicts with the combination.

How it is thought is that there will be a huge list of Roles whereas most does not associate with a key combination. Only typically used Roles would be pre-set such as Alt-B for Bookmarks, etc. The role list would however contain possible access key combinations from Firefox Plugins as well as Firefox internal, and user custom choices like adding frequently used web-pages to the role list and associate it with a key-press combination.

Web 2.0: Hotkeys in Web applications

Luyseyal: As data-entry intensive applications relentlessly migrate to Web applications, support for quick entry hotkeys becomes more desirable. Firefox, as a next generation browser, should integrate the need for Web applications to assign hotkeys with its goals for accessibility. This could be accomplished through an application-specific role which can be easily disabled.

MNG support

Is this planned for 2.0? We already know there are 1000+ people asking for it. Ashibaka 14:26, 30 Dec 2005 (PST)

Extension Sets

One of the difficulties for me in recommending FF to casual computer users is the fact that building out their browser with extensions is more than many casual users may want to handle. Whereas I have fun searching out and finding new extensions, these casual users just want to start the system and have it work. It would be helpful if I could export some or all extensions (or URLs of extensions) that are in my system. I could then email this file to a casual user and they could import it in one step. I am aware that an extension that does something similar exists now (Mass Installer); however, I feel this is a basic extension management feature that should be built into the system. Furthermore, this is NOT a request for creation of a 'standard' extension bundle -- your set of standard extensions is likely to be different than mine. Instead, I would like the opportunty to 'publish' my own default set that can be installed by my family and friends. Emellaich

Emellaich, I question how many people would use the creation feature and wonder what the probability of someone receiving such a bundle that contains an extension that won't peacefully co-exist with an extension already installed (e.g. multiple tab browsing extensions come to mind). Today you can use JavaScript in a web page to create an install that installs multiple extensions at the same time. There is also Multiple Item Packaging which provides the ability to package multiple extensions and themes in one xpi. We currently don't have the ability to create new zip archives (e.g. the file type of an xpi) though we can extract. The creation of a Multiple Item Package could be done by an extension today for those that want to create these types of packages for sending them to others but it would have to use an installed archiving program. Robert Strong

cafeina Also, a good idea could be a FF version built with the inclusion of few most popular and most used extensions, so that a user can using Firefox right away. Some of them could be: adblock, mouse gestures, fastefox..

justkeeperI wonder if you can add this function:just turn off some features by default,and pack them in the extensions.If the user wants to turn on it,the browser automatically prompts and leads the user to download the extension,it would be just more suitable for a lot of users who are used to the traditional and integrated way of providing functions.And you can have some saving on size too.

Extension Monitoring (A.M.O. Review)

Another issue with extensions. I often hear complaints about FF being buggy when it is running great for me. Often the complaints can be traced back to problems with extensions. The problem, as I mentioned previously is that I do not believe the 'average' web user will be willing to put in the time to manage extension issues. They will blame FF for all of the problems. I believe that extensions are both FF greatest strength, and potentially its greatest weakness (due to bugs introduced). I have two thoughts on alternatives for addressing this.

1) Introduce a system for 'certified' extensions. This could work similar to academically reviewed articles. Each extension writer who has a certified extension becomes part of a pool of reviewers for new extensions. Each extension submitted for certification must be 'approved' by two peer reviewers. These reviewers are not looking to judge the concept of the extension. Their only job is to make sure the extension is written according to accepted standards.

2) Introduce a technical rating system for extensions. Currently, there is a one to five star rating on home pages to indicate approval of the extension. Introduce a new rating that only pertains to the stability of the extension. This rating would appear next to the extension's name in the extension manager. If problems were occuring with an extension, a user would be able to see which of their extensions were reported by others to be buggy or caused conflicts with others.

Moving tabs

  • frozeen: A really nice thing in FF 2.0 would be to make it possible to move tabs. Sometimes you open alot of tabs but you want to change the order in which they appear. A simple drag n' drop functionality would be very nice!
  • Kamasutra: This functionality was added in FF 1.5 and works quite well as it is. However, it would be nice to have the ability to do so between different windows as well.

Support for SVG Full 1.1 ?

I miss rendering of SVG Full 1.1 format ... ?!

I believe it´s time to finally have interactive and SMIL animated XML vector graphics on the web! (In the same way as the Opera 9.)

It´s high time to advance graphics potentiality of the web!

Super Tabs

The tree view tabs and group mode are really incredible from Tab Browser Extensions. Although I see there are concerns about the stability of this code (I had some myself), I believe adding this functionality would be WELL worth it. Anticipating a possible response, I don't think this would be of interest only to power users. Tabs have become mainstream and people are already familiar with hierarchies as far as their file system. I really hope to see a stable addition to Firefox with this functionality. Brettz9 05:54, 18 Feb 2006 (PST)

Tabs: Session-saving

aia: I would like to suggest the feature and ability of "session-saving" in Firefox. The addresses in the open tabs would be saved either automatically or by choice before you close Firefox. The next time you start Firefox you could choose to load the saved session's addresses back into tabs in Firefox.

Suggest Creating a link on the main page to Firefox3 features

I would like to suggest dual pane view. Handy for us folks with wide monitors. We could see twice as much content on the page for the many pages that are narrow. In other words firefox would have the screen split in the middle, with a left and right pane. A web page would first fill the left pane and then move onto the second pane. Similar to how reading pane in MS word works.

My compliments to the Mozilla team for creating this wiki. Great collaboration tool. Daniel.Cardenas 09:21, 19 Feb 2006 (PST)

You mean something like this Screenshot from Opera? ARcanUSNUMquam 12:50, 13 May 2006 (PDT)

Remind me about a page

Add a feature to say 'Remind me about this page' and schedule when you would like to be reminded about this page. This might in the future allow us some integration with the Calendar feature.

Improvements in viewing source code

It would be nice to improve this functionality :

1. The source code could be opened in a new tab instead of a new window. It could also be possible to switch between source/normal view of a web page with a button or sub-tab.

2. Add the possibility to auto ident the source code, as we can see in others XML editors like dreamweaver, oxygen or visual studio...

Change in Address Bar Functionality

It would be nice if the address bar broke down the address into a clickable hierarchy, so that if you're at

http://www.somesite.com/somedirectory/somepage.html

then you could click on the "somedirectory" and be taken to the root of somedirectory (i.e., somedirectory/index.html) and if you click on "www.somesite.com" then you are automatically taken up to the root page of the website (http://www.somesite.com/).

Spell improvements

I notice the plan is to add better spell checking functionality. On OS X this is a big show stopper. Folk are used to being able to have it for free, always on. In additiona, the meta-shift-d to bring up the dynamic dictionary over any word works for every program I have on OS X except Firefox.

Slipstreaming

Not sure if slipstreaming is the right term, but I thought it'd be nice if it were possible to save my customized version of Firefox, with all the extensions, favorites, toolbar modifications, etc. The saved product should come in two forms: first as an import/export option that automatically configures firefox; second as an executable installation file. This would be extremely useful for two reasons:

1. As a backup incase the system crashes.

2. As an easy way to introduce my friends and family to my idea of a fully optimized version of Firefox.

Python support for extensions?

AFAIR long ago there were plans to extend language base for writing extension modules.

Are there any plans concerning this in 2.0?

Favorite Download Folders

I think this would be veeeery useful. My idea is something like this [1]. You click in one of that folders, then it go to the folder you clicked to save the file, just like if you choose the folder in that combo in the upside.

This image is nothind developed, this is pure MSPaint :D

Sorry if my english is poor, as you can see in the image, I'm brazilian and speek portuguese :P. I am in the intermediate english course... but sometimes my memory fails, hehehe...

Thanks, Leonelsr 21:20, 8 July 2006 (PDT)

Reintroduction of a Necessary feature

I don't know where to put this so I hope its ok that I put it here!

  1. why can't you use Alt-Enter to access the properties of a bookmark?
  2. I really like Firefox but I find that it is missing one key feature for me to transition from Mozilla 1.7.12 to Firefox 1.5.0.4, that is the lack of the same Mozilla "Bookmark This Group of Tabs" feature in Firefox. Now I know that Firefox has a "Bookmark All Tabs..." option but unlike Mozilla it creates a folder just like any other and has an option to "open in tabs" at the bottom of the folder. I can see why they did this and it would be nice to be able to enter a bookmark group to access only one tab... Yet it is something that is really rarely needed and could be done by hovering over the tab group for a short while. Now this might seam like a minor gripe considering all the other positives Firefox has over Mozilla, Yet I am truly addicted to the bookmark group in Mozilla and there are a few main reasons behind this:
    • it looks different than the other folders and is easy to distinguish
    • one simple click on the bookmark group to open it
    • The "Bookmark This Group of Tabs" defaults to show you the file tree (for lack of a better term) giving you a quicker way to save the bookmark group.
    Now I have been unable to find any extention that would allow me to use the same Mozilla bookmark group functions inside of Firefox. Is it possable that this could be included? Pretty please!

I REALLY would LOVE a solution to this Please help.... Thanks! -- UKPhoenix79 19:45, 24 July 2006 (PDT)

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