I just discovered this website, FirefoxIE, which seems like a nice starting point for advanced users looking to migrate from IE to Firefox with as little disruption as possible.
Posted by asa at August 28, 2004 09:03 AMHi
The link is not responding at the moment :-\. Too crowded allready perhaps ?
Posted by: Henrik Lynggaard on August 28, 2004 10:37 AMThe idea seems solid, on the other hand, the "install this, click this, restart, then click that, run msconfig etc." idea doesnt. This would be amazing if you could download an "all-in-one" exe, incorporating all the flash/plugins/themes etc. for the users to jump into. Seems too technical and too long of an ordeal for "normal" users to deal with, let alone try to figure out. Things should be point, click go..
So I ask, is there anyone with a plan to bring/build a CCK for firefox? How hard would a creation of the things mentioned above be to pull together?
Why does firefox not have a flash bundled option? Perhaps like Opera standalone and opera+java versions? According to Macromedia's website the bundling idea is not allowed according to the AUP. Has Mozilla Foundation attempted to contact Macromedia folks in an attempt to incorporate the flash+firefox thus allowing for an "all-in-one" approach? Obviously this would bloat things up..but making things easier for users to figure out is crucial. Have not seen the numbers but I think the average firefox user may come from a broadband connection, so having such a small download size shouldnt matter as much any longer. The market we are trying to reach has moved from 28.8kbps connections, for the most part, right?
Having available an "all-in-one" version, perhaps java+flash+firefox, and a standalone version I think would make things easier for the end user. Anyone agree?
Posted by: Justin on August 28, 2004 12:34 PMAgreed.
IIRC the Suits came with Flash, so I don't think there is any problem with Firefox bundled.
Wow! You posted this at 9:03 and by 10:37 we get a report that the site can't be reached because it is too busy! I didn't realize your Blog was that popular. :-)
Posted by: Bill on August 28, 2004 02:39 PMVery interesting, I think this might help in forcing some of my erstwhile relatives to switch to firefox, without even knowing it.
Posted by: Tristor on August 28, 2004 04:08 PMBy the way, who made this site?
http://www.takebacktheweb.org
minghong, the meta tag says it's Jon Hicks.
Posted by: Markus Lindström on August 29, 2004 04:02 AMHi, thanks for the mention! Was just checking out what people are saying about the site. It's been a crazy few days to be sure. 50,000 views in 2 days and got picked up by 400 media outlets. A lot of interest. In case you were wondering there is more Firefoxie coming up. I'm going to try and coincide with Firefox 1.0 Here is a bit more info for you.
At firefoxie.net Item 12. "Web Developer" now has information that will help
developers create web pages that render identically in the Mozilla Firefox
browser and the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. This is the single biggest
change in the history of the two browser developments. There are two
reasons. Once it is seen by enough developers, the eventuality will be, tools
to create identical web pages followed by a patch to make Firefox itself
render pages identical to Explorer by default. That is the killer app.
There has been an enormous misunderstanding among Explorer developers,
that Mozilla browsers simply can't render correctly.
Step 12 on my site features a complex web page with Firefox and Explorer
side by side, rendering identically.
Here is the analogy. Lets say I have a handwritten letter, written in English.
Now, I have to translate this letter to Chinese and Russian.
Quite simply, you translate one time for Chinese and put it in one envelope,
and you translate one time for Russian and put it in another envelope.
Both parties receive information they can read, the communication has
been carried out. The Russian has no need to know about the Chinese
version, the Chinese has no reason to know about the Russian version.
The message, however, was identical to both.
With CSS there is a way to import css code, so that the left hand doesn't
know what the right hand is doing. Basically, it comes down to ones and
zeros. If a computer can't translate computer code, there is something
seriously wrong. Of course, computers are masters at translating computer
code. It has simply been a paradigm shift that couldn't happen for a while
until all the pieces of the puzzle were in one place. It has also been a
mental block with developers. A read through the comments pages on
firefoxie.net is quite revealing. "You can't do that!" That, despite the fact
that right there on the site, is the proof that you can do that.
All paradigms are like that in technology. Everyone looks at it when it is
done and says, "Oh, I guess someone figured it out."
Now everything is snapping together at a tremendous pace. Firefox 1.0
will be very soon, 0.9.3 was released just a while ago and already the
developers are talking Firefox 1.0 PR (Preview Release).
No mention of a .9.4 no mention of a .9.5 etc...
Sneek peek of my new site http://www.firefoxie.net/automatic.html
Thank you again,
Dan McTaggart