What is the name of the browser called firefox. Description of the Mozilla Firefox browser

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It is called “Ognelis”, “FF” and “Mozilla”. Some users think browser Mozilla Firefox the worst thing that has ever been created, citing as arguments a lot of security holes and the program's love of fatal errors. The opposing side calls this browser ideal, putting it on par with the best programs for and surfing in . A difficult to explain psychological effect has long been noticed: as soon as a person works in Firefox for some time, he falls in love with it forever. Becoming his follower, admirer and adept.

Since today the Internet Mozilla browser Firefox ranks third in the world in popularity among all and a confident first place in the “Free Software” category.

However, there are countries where the popularity of Firefox is higher than the global one. So, let's say, in Russia Firefox is the second, and in Germany it is the first. It is precisely what preceded such a deafening glory of this program that we will talk to you today.

Creation of Firefox. Start

A Firefox history began with the fact that Netscape Communications really wanted to create a browser that would grab some piece of the pie from the incredibly popular Internet Explorer. Yes, yes, I was not mistaken, everything is correct: today in limbo and revived only by efforts, the IE browser at the end of the 20th century was extremely, simply fantastically popular.

It is quite natural that other companies did everything to repeat this success. Yes, let's be honest, the Netscape 5 browser completely failed in the battle with Internet Explorer in 1998, but still did not disappear without a trace - it was on its “remains” that the creation began new program for surfing the Internet. Or rather, the program was essentially written, so to speak, “from scratch”; only some ideas and pieces of open source software were taken from Netscape 5 program code. At the core modern browser Firefox is based on the freely portable Gecko engine.

Until 2002, the development of the new browser was neither shaky nor slow. As often happens, the crisis became a motivational kick for intensive work on the project. In 2002, AOL Time Warner Corporation, which owned Netscape Communications, decided to close the unprofitable project. However, the development of the new browser was not curtailed, but was separated into a separate structure of the Mozilla Foundation.

By the way, the AOL Time Warner corporation greatly helped the new company at the initial stage, providing computer equipment, providing some initial funds and transferring intellectual property rights.

Creation of Firefox. Continuation

It was from the moment we gained independence that the development of the project began to gain serious momentum. Already on September 23, 2002, the first version 0.1 was released. Frankly, the first release did not attract the attention of either the general public or specialists. Moreover, the program was so “raw” that many changes were made by the developers literally at full speed, at the time of using the program. Of course, this subsequently led to some compatibility problems. And yet, a beginning was made: the browser saw the light of day and began to actively develop.

The landmark date in the history of the Mozilla Firefox browser can easily be considered November 9, 2004. On this day the first stable version 1.0 was released. Sorry for the cliches, but the appearance of this version was akin to the effect of a bomb exploding. New browser users loved it so much that in just a year more than 100,000,000 people installed it. Moreover, 25 million Firefox downloads scored in the first 100 days after the program was posted on the Internet. Impressive numbers.

Then there were versions 1.5 (2005); 2.0 (2006); 3.0 (2008); 4.0 (2011) and so on. Each version improved something, optimized it, pulled new OSes into its orbit and additional functions. As of March 2014 Firefox browser already has 27 stable versions, each of which only increased the army of fans of the program.

And it’s interesting that the name Firefox was not the first. Nowadays, few people know, but initially the browser was called Phoenix (“Phoenix”), then Firebird (“Firebird”), and only after both of these names were rejected due to copyright infringement by the developers, the well-known to the online community, a cute fiery fox. Which, by the way, is not a fox at all, but a red panda. At least, this is what the Chinese think, from whose language the name is literally translated.

The creators of Firefox

Today, both Mozilla Foundation employees and volunteers from all over the world are working to maintain the functionality and expand the capabilities of the browser. And yet the browser has its own “fathers”, who are considered to be the creators of Firefox. There are only two of them - Blake Aaron Ross and Dave Hewitt. I think they deserve a few words.

I tried to remember below Interesting Facts that relate to the Firefox browser:

Firefox: predictions for the future

Nowadays, when colossal funds are circulating in the IT sphere, every successful decision is akin to the discovery of a real gold mine. And Firefox browser in this case not an exception. For several years now, intensive work has been carried out to popularize it and integrate it with mobile devices. The volume is expanding special extensions, available to browser owners. Media seeding is also actively underway, thanks to which the popularity of Mozilla Firefox is constantly increasing.

In general, if you follow the download statistics, you can conclude that very soon another “redistribution of spheres of influence” awaits us. Considering that Firefox owners extremely rarely switch to other web surfing systems, we can expect a significant jump in the popularity of this truly very unusual and original browser.

It is a logical desire of every Internet user to have a safe and comfortable browsing experience on the Internet.

And safety and comfort, first of all, depend on the characteristics and features (the program through which pages are viewed).

To date, a large number of the most have been created. However, the most popular are Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox. In this article we will look in more detail latest browser from the above list.

Firefox (also Mozilla, also called “fire fox”) is installed on the computers of many users. Someone uses only this browser, praising it in every possible way. Some people really dislike it, preferring Chrome or Opera. There are even those who have never used the “fire fox” at all. And it will be useful for such people to learn about all the main pros and cons of Mozilla Firefox.

Advantages of Mozilla

1. High degree security

Mozilla has built-in mechanisms that warn the user about the presence of a possible threat to the computer when viewing a particular web page, as well as when opening links from these pages.

2. Lightweight architecture

The browser itself is quite competently and rationally designed. This allows third party developers create a large number of add-ons and plugins that significantly expand the functionality of Mozilla Firefox.

On separate page(https://addons.mozilla.org/ru/firefox/) You can find exactly the add-ons you need that will make your Internet experience more comfortable and safe. Moreover, many add-ons are absolutely free and can be installed in a couple of clicks.

3. Availability of a master password

As you know, browsers have the ability to remember the login and password entered on different sites. On the one hand, this feature makes your life easier (you don’t need to enter the same data into the form every time).

On the other hand, there is a risk that someone from the same computer can use your accounts. Therefore, Firefox has implemented the ability to create a master password. When you install it, you will protect all data stored by the browser for all sites.

Rice. 1 Master password in the Mozilla FireFox browser

4. Convenient operation with bookmarks

All bookmarks can be opened in one click from the main menu. Therefore, if you have to work a lot with bookmarks and actively navigate through them, then you will probably like Firefox. Also, when you open a new tab in the browser, a panel appears with the 9 most viewed pages. It is very comfortable.

5. Pop-up blocker

You can enable it in your browser settings automatic blocking all pop-ups. This will allow you to browse websites with greater comfort, without encountering annoying advertising.

Now let's list the identified

Disadvantages of Mozilla Firefox

1. Abundance of unnecessary items and panels in the main menu

For example, few people use sections such as “File”, “Edit”, “View”. However, these sections cannot be removed or hidden anywhere in order to free up more space for other elements.

2. Deactivate many extensions when updating the browser

If you have installed a large number of add-ons and extensions on Firefox, then after the next browser update you will have to install some add-ons again. However, they may not be supported by the new version of Firefox.

3. High resource intensity

Mozilla Firefox is perhaps the most resource-intensive browser. The firefox.exe process uses up RAM quite heavily. All this is especially noticeable on weak machines.

When opening large number tabs RAM often gets clogged 100%. In addition, the flash plugin from Adobe consumes a lot of resources (it is what users most often install). However, if you have a powerful modern computer, there is nothing to be afraid of.

4. Deterioration of some browser characteristics in its new versions

Oddly enough, the ease of use of Mozilla has deteriorated somewhat with the release of the latest versions. In particular, the interface has become less intuitive, and working with bookmarks has become more complicated.

Mozilla Firefox(lit. English FireFox, pronounced Mozilla Firefox), formerly known as Phoenix and Firebird, is the world's 2nd most popular browser and the first open source browser to achieve such popularity. Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox were based on Netscape's seed code, released under the free MPL (Mozilla Public License) after losing the Browser Wars.

Since the release of version 1.0 on November 9, 2004, the browser has received praise from countless media publications, including Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. With over 25 million downloads in the first 99 days after its release, Firefox has become one of the most used free applications with open source, separately among home users. On October 19, 2005, Firefox was downloaded for the 100 millionth time, just 344 days after version 1.0 was released. As of November 2005, Firefox already occupied 9.4% of the global Internet browser market, and by mid-2006, the part of Mozilla Firefox accounted for, according to various sources, from 11 to 15%, greatly displacing the position of the dominant internet browser Internet Explorer.

There are versions for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, OS/2, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris and other operating systems.

Firefox supporters say that, unlike the most widespread browser at the beginning of 2007, Internet Explorer version 6, built into Windows, Firefox provides more highest level user security, is able to protect him from annoying advertising, has a number of new abilities.

Firefox 2.0 was released on October 25, 2006. It is built on the basis of the improved Firefox 1.5 engine - Gecko 1.8.1. It has improved JavaScript support, SVG, XML, browser design slightly changed, anti-phishing system developed by by Google. Initially it was planned to add modern system tab called Places, however due to problems in debugging it will be included exclusively in Firefox 3.0 (fall 2007). Added text spell checking in web forms.

Peculiarities

Firefox is one of the more flexible browsers with wide options: the user can install additional themes that change the appearance of the program, and extensions that add new functionality.

In the middle distinctive features it is possible to select:

* blocking pop-up windows;
* support for tabbed browsing (several pages in one window);
* excessive concern for safety (according to the creators);
* built-in search bar search engines and dictionaries;
* so-called “Live bookmarks” - a mechanism for integrating RSS feeds;
* broad abilities to customize behavior and appearance;
* small size distribution kit (about 6 MB);
* support for a huge number of extensions;
* good tools for web developer;
* automatic update both the browser itself and its extensions (from version 1.5).

It must be emphasized that the listed features are distinctive primarily according to the statements of the creators of Firefox. The correctness of naming certain features “distinctive” (exclusive to this browser, or applied specifically to it for the first time) is a prerequisite for controversy and online discussions. Users had the opportunity to get acquainted with the pop-up blocker integrated into the browser in Internet Explorer 6 (for example, by installing Service update Pack 2 for Windows XP) and when using the Internet Explorer 7. It was possible to use tabbed browsing (several pages in one window) in the Opera browser, and with the help of additional downloadable modules in Internet Explorer 6, the seventh version of which also provides this opportunity without the need to install additional modules. With the growing popularity of Firefox and the increasing enthusiasm of hackers, the inflated security declared by the creators began to be often disputed (in general, some such high-profile statements for verification turned out to be fiction). An integrated search bar has been available in Internet Explorer since version 4.0.

Firefox has quite a few abilities, thanks to which it has become widespread among users: firstly, it allows you to open a few pages in one window, saving free place on the taskbar. Secondly, the browser has a flexible graphics loading control system and allows you to disable the display of graphics on selected pages, and not on all of them at once. In addition, Firefox has the ability to block pop-ups and manage cookies.

Apart from the DOM debugger, which can tell the user about an error in the syntax of the loaded page and show the line number containing the error, there are no tools for web developers in the basic Firefox configuration. But, there are a huge number of extensions that implement the necessary functionality for web developers. Namely:

* JSView - extension for viewing external page files
* HTMLValidator - extension for checking code for compliance with W3C standards
* View Source Chart - extension for comfortable visualization of page layout
* FireBug is a multifunctional extension that includes a debugger, DOM navigator and JavaScript console
* Web Developer - an extension offering a huge number of functions for debugging a page

An Internet user who has become enthusiastic about downloading and installing Firefox on own computer, you need to know not only the pros, but also the cons of this product, which he has, just like any other program, even in that case the advertising claims otherwise. When compared to its main competitor, Internet Explorer, Firefox has both strengths and weaknesses. Displaying content immediately allows you to comfortably continue surfing even when the page is not fully loaded, which is especially noticeable with a leisurely connection and a large number of embedded objects. At Firefox development increased attention was paid to supporting W3C standards.

The open source code of the product also gives it certain advantages for the user - for example, the ability to make sure (if you have some experience) that there are no “bookmarks”, customize the browser “for yourself”, and even correct errors without the help of others.

You can download Firefox 2.0.0.4 at this address: http://www.mozilla-europe.org/ru/

Gecko engine

At first, the Gecko engine was intended for the Netscape 6 browser as a replacement for the old Netscape Communicator 4 engine, which had been in use since 1997(?). To debug the engine, the open source Mozilla Suite program was created, on which Gecko was debugged. In 2004, Mozilla Suite was dismantled into the Mozilla Firefox browser, Mozilla Thunderbird email client, WYSIWYG HTML editor NVU, Sunbird calendar and Chatzilla IRC client, which was released as an extension for the Mozilla Firefox browser. Now the version of the Gecko engine 1.8.1 is measured, created for Mozilla Firefox 2.0, Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0 and SeaMonkey 1.1, and the engine is being developed latest generation Gecko 1.9 for Mozilla Firefox 3.0, Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0 and SeaMonkey 1.5.

Prospects

There is not enough information about this version yet, because it is still at the alpha testing stage. It is only clear that it will have Places, internal Sqllite storage, support for animated PNG, new manager passwords and it will comply with the Acid2 test. For latest version The engine is being significantly reworked; Gecko 1.8.1 will be replaced by version 1.9.

After the release of the first alpha versions, called Gran Paradiso (Alpha 1), it became clear that in the newest version:

* changed the way frames are displayed;
* implemented execution of object blocks in the absence type attribute;
* support for operating systems has been discontinued Windows systems 9x, also operating Mac systems OS X 10.2.

The developers of this product require today's Firefox 2 users not to use alpha Firefox version 3 or make a backup of your existing profile.

On June 6, 2007, a version of Gran Paradiso Alpha 5 was released for testing on the Gecko 1.9.1a5 engine.

Source of material: Wikipedia website

Official Firefox website
Official FTP

Beginning with Mozilla versions Firefox 57, thousands of extensions will stop working in the browser, browser users will see many other changes in the way the Internet browser works.

A turning point in the history of the browser begins. What awaits Firefox: a breakthrough into the future, or gradual oblivion?

Quite a lot of users in the world use the Mozilla Firefox browser as their main internet browser. This is essentially the only independent browser that more or less successfully resists the monopoly of Google Chrome in the browser market in operating system Windows.

I don't mention Microsoft browsers Edge and Internet Explorer, as they are installed by default on Windows. Users install all other browsers on their computer independently.

Things are even worse with other browsers: Opera browser has a small market share in the world, Yandex.Browser is just a regional browser, and both are based on Chrome. I don't take into account mobile browsers, because these are slightly different browsers in their functionality.

Of course, competing with a giant corporation that has huge opportunities for advertising, very difficult. Google owns the largest search system, several of the most visited sites in the world, for example, just name one - YouTube.

However, to this day Mozilla Firefox retains its position as the second most important browser. At the beginning of 2017, the Mozilla Foundation decided to make major changes to the browser.

What's New in Firefox 57 and Beyond

The browser is gradually migrating from the old Gecko engine to new engine Quantum. Thanks to this, resource consumption is optimized, the browser works faster and more stable. The browser has been equipped with multi-processing capabilities, which has a beneficial effect on application performance.

In Mozilla Firefox 57, the interface will change: the Photon interface will appear, and some other changes will be made.

Firefox 57 will disable thousands of extensions

Many users know that Mozilla Firefox is the most customizable browser thanks to a huge number extensions. Thanks to extensions, additional functionality appears in the browser.

Add-ons written using XUL, SDK and XPCOM will no longer work in Firefox 57 Quantum. Only add-ons written in WebExtensions will work in the browser.

On this moment, only 4 thousand extensions out of more than 20 thousand add-ons found in AMO (addons.mozilla.org) support WebExtensions. Among the legacy add-ons, the vast majority are the most popular extensions. They are marked in the browser as “outdated”, but for now they continue to work (until version 57 is released).

With the release of Firefox 57 ( Firefox Quantum) version everything will become much worse: all “outdated” extensions will be disabled in the browser.

Developers were warned about this in advance so that they would transfer their extensions to WebExtensions. It would seem that redo it and everything will be fine. But there are some nuances here. Here are some of them:

Some of the old add-ons have been abandoned; the developers have stopped developing them. At the same time, these extensions continue to work perfectly in the browser.
WebExtensions have limitations in terms of functionality. You may know that extensions of the same name work differently in the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. Typically, an extension in Firefox is more functional due to the fact that it does not have the limitations of WebExtensions, which are used in Chrome
a significant part of developers refused on principle to port their extensions to WebExtensions, because of this attitude on the part of Mozilla
Most of the feature-rich extensions cannot be translated to WebExtensions due to functional limitations

An illustrative example is the extension, which is used by hundreds of thousands of users. The extension has the highest rating - 5 stars. It is mainly used by users of the browser with many years of experience, since beginners have no idea what the browser looked like before 2013, when it switched to the Australis interface (the extension customizes the classic Mozilla interface Firefox).

The developer contacted Bugzilla to obtain an API to transfer his add-on to WebExtensions (in this case, the extension would significantly lose its functionality), but he was refused. This means that the Classic Theme Restorer extension will die at the end of 2017. The extension will only work in outdated versions browser.

The developer of Cyberfox (based on Firefox) also announced the “death” of this version of the browser. There will be no new versions of the browser; Cyberfox has switched to Mozilla Firefox ESR (long-term support version) and will work for another year.

When deciding to make drastic changes, Mozilla proceeds from the following logic:

Thanks to technical innovations, Mozilla Firefox will be able to successfully compete with Google Chrome
with the introduction of WebExtensions, Firefox users will have access to most extensions from the Chrome store
The WebExtensions API for Firefox allows you to develop more functional extensions than on WebExtensions for Chrome
a significant part of users do not use extensions at all, which means they will continue to use the browser without any problems

Will it lead this decision Mozilla's guide to success, or the browser's inevitable crash over time, time will tell.

Where to look for add-ons labeled Compatible with Firefox 57

Now in store Mozilla applications(AMO) extensions written in WebExtensions are labeled "Compatible with Firefox 57+". AMO will show compatible extensions at the top of the add-ons list. The ability to download old extensions will remain only for users of older browser versions released before version 57.

Separately, add-ons supported in Mozilla Firefox 57+ can be viewed on this page.

How to prepare for the release of Mozilla Firefox version 57

On my computer I use Mozilla Firefox as my main browser. I have quite a few extensions installed in my browser: a small part of them are enabled all the time, the rest I use from time to time, some more often, others less often.

Almost all the extensions I need are not supported in Firefox 57.

What should those who are used to using Firefox extensions do, which will be disabled in the browser starting from version 57?

There are very few options:

switch to another browser (before switching, do not forget to save your bookmarks to transfer them to another browser)
disable browser updates while continuing to use certain version compatible with older extensions

If you need advanced functionality, then there are practically no options. You will have to switch to Google Chrome, or another browser created on its basis, and continue to use Chrome extensions.

There is still a browser created on the basis of Mozilla Firefox, but this is already an old offshoot of Firefox. There is an option to use Mozilla Firefox ESR - a version of the browser with long-term support. In this case, you can safely use the browser for another year and a half.

Developer of Waterfox (another browser based on Firefox-based) promises to introduce support for old XUL/XPCOM extensions in Waterfox 57+, and it is not yet clear whether this will be implemented or not.

I stayed on latest version browser that supports older extensions. Now I will tell you how, in my opinion, you should prepare for the release of version 57.

The first thing you need to do is a browser profile with all the settings so as not to lose add-ons and other important data. You can save the profile using the program, or manually (link to this method is below in the article).
Next you need to log in Mozilla settings Firefox and disable automatic browser updates in order to continue using current version browser.
In order to keep abreast of changes in new versions of Firefox, I recommend using the portable version of the Firefox Portable browser. Copy your backup profile, which was saved earlier. On a portable browser, you will have settings identical to the main browser. After some settings, you can run both browsers, isolated from each other. Firefox Portable will have automatic updates enabled, so you will be able to see all the changes that occur in the browser, including those affecting the way extensions work.

After some time, it will be possible to draw conclusions: perhaps Mozilla Firefox will have the add-ons you need that are compatible with WebExtensions, then without any problems, update your browser to current version. If everything goes wrong, you will have to: either use Firefox without the usual extensions, or switch to another browser.

If you need some extensions to work not on permanent basis, transfer (copy) your profile to the Firefox Portable browser up to version 57, in which you disable the update. In this case, you can use necessary extensions Anytime.

How to return old settings after upgrading to Mozilla Firefox Quantum

As I expected, for many Firefox browser users, the update to version 57 came as a surprise. This is normal, not everyone closely follows new browser releases.

How to return old extensions to the browser? Everything can be returned to the state that the browser had before the update. I will show you two ways: a simple one and a more complex one.

An easy way to return your Firefox browser settings to your previous settings

To return Mozilla Firefox browser profile settings, follow these steps:

Remove the browser from your computer Windows tool. Typically, removal by a system tool does not affect the browser profile, which contains all the settings, including installed extensions. The main thing is that when deleting systemic remedy did not delete anything from the browser profile (because of this, this method is less reliable).
Download any version of the Firefox browser up to release 57 by following this link: https://mozilla-russia.org/products/firefox/history.html
Install a browser on your computer. Immediately after launching the browser, go to settings and disable the update.
Restart your browser. The old version will pick up all the settings from the profile. All extensions will work again.

The second way to return the previous Mozilla Firefox settings

This method is more complex, but reliable. Follow these steps in sequence:

Manually copy the browser profile folder to a convenient location on your computer according to this article (there is a video in the article): . Mozilla Profile is in hidden folder, in the computer user profile.
Remove the Firefox Quantum browser from your computer. The browser can be uninstalled using an uninstaller program, which will remove the browser profile.
Download to your computer any version of Firefox up to release 57 (from the link in the method above).
Immediately after launch old version browser, disable the update, and then close the browser.
Login to your profile folder installed browser, copy the contents from the previously copied profile folder of browser version 57 into it. When copying, agree to replace the files.
Launch the Mozilla Firefox browser. All previous extensions and other settings will be in place.

Conclusions of the article

Mozilla Firefox 57 has disabled a large number of extensions that are incompatible with WebExtensions. Because of this future of firefox covered in darkness: the browser is waiting for a breakthrough or fiasco.