Firefox Hacks: Tips & Tools for Next-Generation Web Browsing: Tips and Tools for Next-Generation Web Browsing [Paperback]

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.

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