The powerful and secure Mozilla Firefox web browser is included in Xubuntu. Firefox features tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, built-in search, and live bookmarks. Also supported are popular plug-ins such as Java, Flash, and RealPlayer.
Firefox can be launched by clicking → → .
As well as the default Firefox Web Browser, Xubuntu also provides a large selection of alternative browsers. A list of some of these is given below:
Epiphany Web Browser
Konqueror
Mozilla Web Browser
Opera
See Add Applications for help on installing new software.
A plugin is a small program which extends the capabilities of another program. In the case of web browsers, plugins typically allow the browser to play different types of multimedia or to run small, web-based programs.
To view a list of currently-installed plugins in the Firefox Web Browser, type “about:plugins” into the address bar and press Return.
It is possible to install a whole set of commonly-used restricted plugins at once, by installing the Ubuntu restricted extras package.
Restricted plugins are those which cannot be distributed with Xubuntu because of legal issues surrounding their use in some countries. Check that you are allowed to use this software before installing it. See the Ubuntu website for more information on restricted software.
Install the Ubuntu restricted extras package from the “Multiverse” repository (see Add Applications).
Restart the Firefox Web Browser to make the included browser plugins available.
As well as plugins and multimedia codecs, Java and a set of Windows fonts will be installed.
The following plugins and codecs are installed by the Ubuntu restricted extras package:
flashplugin-nonfree
gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly
gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse
msttcorefonts
sun-java5-jre
sun-java5-plugin
Many different multimedia formats are used on the Internet, and so you may find that you are unable to play some audio and video files without first installing an appropriate plugin.
See the following articles for information on installing and using multimedia plugins with the Firefox Web Browser:
Firefox Plugins (Ubuntu Community support pages)
Listen to online audio streams (instructions for installing RealPlayer)
Flash is a proprietary plugin which allows you to watch videos and animations on the Internet.
To view Flash graphics from the Firefox Web Browser:
Install the flashplugin-nonfree package from the “Multiverse” repository (see Add Applications).
Restart Firefox to make the plugin available.
Installing the package as described above will download and install the plugin. You need an Internet connection for this to work. If, after installing the application, you need to download and install the plugin at a later time, enter the following command in a terminal:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure flashplugin-nonfree
Some websites use small Java programs, which require a Java plugin to be installed in order to run.
These instructions are for i386 and AMD64 computers only. The plugin is not currently available for other computers.
If you are using an i386 computer install the sun-java5-plugin package from the “Multiverse” repository.
If you are using an AMD64 computer install the j2re1.4-mozilla.plugin package from the “Multiverse” repository.
See Add Applications for help on installing new software.
For a more complete Java installation, see Java.
The Firefox Web Browser is highly customizable - you can change the way it looks and works to suit your needs, with very little effort.
By default, Firefox has a toolbar consisting of five large buttons at the top of its screen, which you can use to navigate the web. These are in a particularly convenient location because you will often find yourself using these buttons, so it makes sense to put them where they are easy-to-reach. But what if there are certain other actions which you often perform which you'd like to make just as easy to reach?
To add new buttons to the toolbar:
Right-click any of the (active) buttons on the toolbar and select Customize... to open the Customize Toolbar window
Look for a button which you would like to add to the toolbar. The New Tab button is particularly useful
Drag the button onto the desired location on the toolbar
Press Done
You can remove items from the toolbar in a similar way. Instead of dragging a button from the Customize Toolbar window to the toolbar, drag it from the toolbar into the Customize Toolbar window.
If you would like to change the way that the toolbar buttons are displayed, select a different option from the drop-down list labelled Show.
Firefox looks like any other application on your computer. However, you can completely change the way it looks by changing the theme. There are many different themes available - most of these have been made by members of the Firefox community and are available for free.
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Only install themes from websites you trust. It is best to only use the official website, addons.mozilla.org |
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Some themes may be poorly designed, and can occasionally cause Firefox to experience problems. If this happens, just remove the theme. |
Press
→ and select the Themes tabPress Get Themes. You will be taken to a website with a large collection of themes to choose from
Choose a theme you like and press the Install Now button on that theme's page
A window will appear, asking if you would like to install the theme. Press Install Now
Go back to the Add-ons window and wait for the theme to be downloaded. The progress of the download is shown in the Installation tab
Once the download and installation has finished, go to the Themes tab
Select the newly-installed theme and press Use Theme
Go back to the Installation tab and press Restart Firefox to apply the new theme
Press
→ and select the Themes tabSelect the theme you want to use and press Use Theme
Restart Firefox to apply the new theme
If you find that the size of text in Firefox is too small to read comfortably, you can increase the default font size.
Press
→ and select the Content tabUnder Fonts & Colors, change the Size to a larger number (around 20 tends to be quite comfortable to read)
Text on web pages should immediately look larger. Press Close
To temporarily increase the size of text on a web page, press Ctrl key and scroll down with your mouse's scroll wheel, or press Ctrl++.
→ → . Alternatively, hold down theTo return the text to its normal size, press
→ → .When you open Firefox, the first web page which is displayed is your home page. This is usually a web page which you want to view every time you use the web, such as a news site, search engine or online email account.
To change your home page:
Open the page which you want to use as your home page
Press
→ and select the Main tabUnder Startup, press Use Current Page and then press Close
When you start Firefox or press the Home button, you will be taken to your new home page.
If you want to have more than one home page, open all of the pages that you would like to use as home pages in separate tabs. Then, follow the procedure above.
You can add all sorts of useful extras to Firefox by installing Extensions. These provide features such as advert-blocking, news readers and a download manager. There are literally thousands of extensions to choose from.
Press
→ and select the Extensions tabPress Get Extensions. A web page will open with a collection of extensions that you can install
Find an extension you like and press the Install Now button on the page for that extension
You will be asked to confirm that you want to install the extension. Press Install Now
Go back to the Add-ons window and select the Installation tab to watch the progress of the installation
Once installation is complete, press Restart Firefox to enable the extension
Many extensions have a number of settings that you can change.
Press
→ and select the Extensions tabSelect the extension that you want to change the settings of
Press Preferences and change settings as appropriate
Some extensions may not have any settings for you to change, and so will not have a Preferences button.
Protecting your privacy online is important, and Firefox offers many ways for you to protect or remove private information such as your passwords, which websites you have been looking at and so on.
When you browse the web, a list of the pages that you have recently visited is stored by Firefox. This is called the browsing history, and is useful if you want to go back to a site that you recently visited, but can't remember the web address.
However, if someone else has access to your user account, they can look at the browsing history and see which websites you have been visiting.
As well as the browsing history, Firefox stores other information about how you use the web. This information is intended to make browsing websites faster and more convenient for you, but you may wish to remove it every so often to help protect your privacy.
The easiest way to find something on the Internet is to search for it using a search engine such as Google. Firefox has a handy search box feature which makes searching for information quick and easy.
The search box can be found in the top right of the Firefox window.
To search for something
Click the search box and type what you want to search for, e.g. 'weather report'
Press the Return key. The search will be carried out in the current tab
The default search engine in Firefox is Google. However, there are several other types of search that you may find useful, including Wikipedia (which searches an online encyclopedia) and Last.fm (which searches for music-related information).
To change which search engine is being used:
Press the button immediately to the left of the search box (it has a small icon and a down-arrow)
Select the search engine that you want to use from the list
Click the search box and type what you want to search for
Press the Return key to carry out the search
If you visit a particular website often, or just want to remember a page for viewing later, why not create a bookmark for that page?
To create a bookmark:
Visit the page you want to bookmark
Press
→If you like, change the name of the bookmark
Under Create in, choose which bookmarks folder you would like to put the bookmark in
Press Add to create the bookmark
Bookmarks can be organized into different folders and locations. All of you bookmarks can be accessed by using the Bookmarks menu or by pressing
→ → .Add sites which you use particularly often to the Bookmarks Toolbar Folder. The Bookmarks Toolbar is shown immediately below the Address Bar, so it is very easy to access.
For a quick way of adding a bookmark to the Bookmarks Toolbar, go to the Address Bar and drag the small icon immediately to the left of the web address onto the toolbar.
If you have a very large collection of bookmarks, press
→ for a tool to help you organize them.