Firefox
Take Screenshots of web pages in Firefox using ScreenGrab
As a blogger I sometimes need to take screenshots of websites and for that purpose I use a Firefox extension called ScreenGrab, using it you can take screenshots from within Firefox, that way it is more convenient than loading a special software just for taking a screenshot. ScreenGrab has a very fast engine unlike other screenshot extension’s for Firefox and doesn’t uses much resources.
ScreenGrab can take screenshots of entire web pages unlike special screen grabbing softwares which can only take screenshots of the visible area, the options available to you are save or copy the complete page, save or copy visible portion of the webpage only, save or copy a selected area in the webpage, you can choose between JPG and png as the format of screenshots and you can also choose between gecko or java as the engine.
Get ScreenGrab from official Firefox add-ons site
Backup Your Firefox Profile With FEBE
For me loosing my bookmarks or website login information is like a nightmare that’s why I regularly backup Firefox Using an extension called FEBE, I am using it for a long time and it has never let me down
It is a very powerful extension with a lot of configurable options, using it you can either backup the full profile or selected things e.g extension, themes, bookmarks, preferences, username and password, cookies, search plugins, userchrome files, browser history, form fill history, permission or a backup that you define, you can also use timestamp directories so that you can keep multiple backups and easily manage them (You can set the number of backups it should store), you can also schedule backups at a specific time either daily , weekly or monthly (Firefox must be running at that time) you can also set reminders if the backup somehow doesn’t gets created or you have not set up scheduled backups, febe also has a very good extension backing up support it can save all your extensions in a .XPI file so that you can easily install them again
Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Final Released
A while ago Mozilla officially released the much anticipated Firefox 3 final version on their official download page, it was first uploaded on the FTP site few hours earlier but they requested users not to download from there:
The files in this directory are – for now – only meant to be used by our testers. Downloading them directly can harm our ability to distribute Firefox efficiently, and will also not be counted as part of our attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in a day.
After releasing 5 Beta versions and three Release Candidates Mozilla has finally released the final version of the browser, there have been many features added in this version that weren’t available in the last version (Version 2) for example the new add-on manager which displays the add-ons that Mozilla developers recommend, the modified auto complete feature which shows related entries from both your browser history and your bookmarks when you type something in the address bar, the all new bookmarks manager, the revamped download manager and the new themes that are tailored to suit the operating system one uses, a website specific font resize feature and much more, the compatibility in terms of ad ons is going good as I have seen many add-ons being updated to support the latest version in the last few days
Although you won’t notice any noticeable change from the previous version (RC3) cause there are no features added as RC3 was supposed to be the final release if no major bugs were discovered, but I will update you with the changes as soon as the change logs are published on the Mozilla site
Download:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/?from=getfirefox
Mozilla releases first pre-alpha version of Firefox 3.1
Mozilla is much active these days, just hours before the release of the Firefox 3.0 final they have added the first pre-alpha of the Firefox 3.1, code-named “Shiretoko” to their FTP site, the 3.1 version of the browser will run on Gecko 1.9.1 engine and will have a few new exciting features that missed out in version 3.0.
According to Mozilla wiki the new features include page preview when using ctrl+tab to switch between tabs, an all tab preview probably like the tab preview feature in I.E 7 , an advanced search User Interface, more advance tagging support , downloads history integrated in web browsing history, more startup/shutdown preferences etc
Remember it is an pre-alpha release and you should expect bugs but if you want to try it anyway get it from here.
Firefox 3 Directory Added to the Mozilla FTP site with an "almost ready" message
Mozilla have added a directory named 3.0 to their FTP site and when you open it, it shows this message:
We’re almost ready!
We’re still putting the finishing touches on Firefox 3, preparing the new website, getting our servers ready, and doing our final pre-launch checks. We’re happy that people are eager to get their hands on Firefox 3, but we still have a little bit of work to do. The files in this directory should only be used by our testers for now. If you’d like to be notified about when we’re ready for the world, please go to sign up for Download Day and we’ll be happy to do that. Or head over to getfirefox.com on Tuesday, June 17th after 10am PDT.
they have given a link to the FTP directory which suggests that they are going to upload the final release a few hours earlier so that it can be tested by beta testers, but will few hours be enough to test such a huge release? only Mozilla foundation can answer.
its a matter of hours now and I am sure no one can wait to upgrade, and I think the progress in terms of addon compatibility is great, in last 2-3 days many addons have been updated to support the final version of the browser
Update: the setup files for Firefox 3.0 have been added to the Mozilla ftp site but Mozilla is requesting users not to download from there
