Seasonal Themes for Firefox

The seasons are changing! In the U.S., we’re getting ready for fall. We thought this would be a great time to highlight some autumn themes. Themes allow you to change the look and feel of your browser and personalize it.

Here are a few of our fall favorites:

Fall Theme

We didn’t forget about our friends in different parts of the world. There are plenty of themes for you too! If you’re lucky enough to be kicking off spring, you might enjoy some of these:

Spring Theme

  • Morning Spring will remind you of the peaceful spring mornings you love.
  • Joyful Spring You will want to lay in the grass and stare at the clouds with this theme!
  • Must be Spring will have you ready to go smell the flowers in your yard!

Wondering what a theme will look like before you install? Simply hover over the theme you’re interested in, and Firefox will automatically generate a preview for you. If you want to keep it, click add. You can change or remove themes at anytime!

Want to see more? Find thousands of themes here.

Creating Screenshots With Firefox

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then you can understand why you might want to take a screenshot of something online.

Did someone post a quote on your social network that you want to save? Are you having an issue with a Web page and want to take a picture to share with the support team? Are you preparing a presentation and you need examples of Web pages to include? Screenshots, screenshots, screenshots!

This Support article details how you can take a screenshot from your computer. But Firefox also features some great add-ons – those little pieces of software that add functionality to your browser – that make the screenshot process even easier (and let’s you do more with your screenshots!)

The screenshot add-on of choice for this writer is Awesome Screenshot Plus. Why? Well, you can choose to capture a whole Web page or just a chosen section of it, and then you can add to the screenshot with shapes, text and more. Plus, the add-on makes that screenshot image easy to share when you’re done. All this with easy access from a little icon in the upper right corner of your browser!

Check out the full list of screenshot add-ons for more options!

Firefox Tip: Find Bookmarks Faster with Tags

Are you a bookmarking fiend? Do you have so many bookmarks that you have difficulty finding them again?

Here’s a tip to help you out!

To help you find bookmarks faster, assign them a “Tag” (a keyword). Here’s how.

Once you have created a bookmark (link to SUMO article), clicking on the star a second time will open an editing window, where you will see a tag field. You can enter tags, or if you select the drop-down arrow next to the tag field, you can select from previous tags.

For example, if you bookmark a product on Amazon.com, you can tag it with “shopping.”

Bookmark tag

Now that you have tagged your bookmark, you can then either search for all sites with a that tag by typing it in the Awesome Bar. How cool is that?

Visit this Support page for more detailed information on how to tag bookmarks (and how to edit bookmark tags from your library).

Firefox for Android Is Now More Awesome

The latest release of Firefox for Android has some new features to make your mobile Web browsing even better. Do you you have Firefox for Android yet?

We’ve made some changes to the Awesome Screen to help you get to your Web sites more quickly.

  • Full Screen Browsing: The title bar automatically hides when you’re not using it. This gives you back your entire screen for browsing enjoyment. When you want to access it again, simply pull down the Awesome Bar from the top of the screen.

  • URL Autocomplete: The Awesome Bar also now  completes your URL destination as you type – currently the only mobile browser that does this!

  • Switch to Tab: The Awesome Screen now has a Switch to Tab feature, that lets you easily find and switch to any open tab from your Awesome Screen without opening duplicate tabs.

  • Your choice of search: Change your default search provider directly from the add-ons manager. Just visit the add-ons manager and long-tap on an installed search engine. This brings up a dialog where you can either “Disable” the search engine or “Set as Default”.

If you haven’t given Firefox for Android a try yet, this is a great time!

Firefox Expert Gives Advice on Staying Safe Online

Recently, we asked Michael Coates, the Director of Security Assurance at Mozilla (the makers of Firefox) a few questions about keeping users safe on Firefox. His goal is to protect users, their privacy and Mozilla’s applications, services, systems and reputation. (Read more from the Security Assurance team on their blog.)

Q. What do you see as the biggest challenge that Internet users face to stay safe online?

Michael’s answer: The biggest challenge for internet users is to ensure their browser and plugins are up to date. One of the most common ways malware infects users on the internet is through outdated browser plugins.

Q. What is a potential solution for that challenge?

Michael’s answer: Mozilla has created a website to help users check if their plugins are out of date and need to be updated. Users should regularly visit this page to ensure the are using the most current versions of all plugins. www.mozilla.org/plugincheck

Q. What is your favorite Firefox security feature?

Michael’s answer: My favorite security feature of Firefox is one that we’ve recently shipped, and that we are still improving. The feature, called Click to Play, helps protect users against attacks targeting outdated plugins. Unfortunately a compromised website may contain malware that attempts to compromise a user’s machine via an outdated plugin. In many cases the website has no normal need to use this plugin at all. The click to play security feature helps protect users by not enabling these outdated plugins by default. Instead these plugins are only activated when a user intentionally takes an action like clicking on a dialogue box in the browser. In the end this new security control helps protect users against a common type of attack on the web.

Thanks to Michael for his insights!

Here are some other security tips from Firefox.

  1. Use a super strong password. If your password is 1234, you’re probably more vulnerable to being hacked. Use a phrase with numbers and special characters. For example, “_pe4reSP” is a strong password.
  2. Know if a site is secure before entering personal information. There are two quick and easy security things to look for when on a site. First, does the URL start with HTTPS (instead of HTTP)? And second, is there a “lock” icon on the URL bar that shows that you are on a secured website?
  3. Use the latest version of Firefox. This is maybe the most important tip. 🙂 With every update comes more security. If you’re using an older browser, you’re putting yourself at greater risk. An update is so simple – here’s how to do it.

What Firefox OS means for you

Firefox recently announced that Firefox OS phones are now available! (As of this post, in Spain and Poland.)

If it’s not available in your market, do you have a stake in the success of Firefox OS? We brought in an expert that says “Yes!” and explains why.

Christian HeilmannWelcome Christian Heilmann!

Q: Christian, how are you involved with Firefox OS?

A: I worked with the system, I helped developers port their apps to it and I spend hours and hours writing about it, making demos and talking to the press and anyone who’d stand still long enough (or sit on a plane next to me).

Q: Why do you think Firefox OS is important?

A: Here are a few reasons.

  • Firefox OS kills the idea of mobile Web connectivity only being for the rich in the western world. Yes, for those in the US or the UK having a new shiny phone every half year is not an issue. But that is just not affordable to everyone, and even if it was, in many countries if you have no credit card you couldn’t even buy apps for those phones. This is unfair, elitist and plainly against anything the web stands for. Firefox OS is affordable, and apps can be bought on prepay or on your phone bill.

  • Firefox OS does not assume a fast, stable and always available connection. When traveling I start hating my Android phone (which I love to bits otherwise.) Having dozens of megabyte updates over roaming is out of the question and neither is using flaky and slow wireless connections. Firefox OS has no native apps – all of them, including the system apps are written in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Thus they are much smaller and can have atomic updates instead of having to be replaced as a unit every single time.

  • Firefox OS is the web in your pocket. It is Firefox and nothing else (other than a Linux core to access the hardware). Thus I will not be told to “download the native app” when I go to Web sites that are perfectly fine to use.

  • Firefox OS is the platform HTML5 deserves. For developers, our HTML5 solutions are finally first-class citizens. We are not shoved into a slower Web view and told we can not access the hardware.

  • Firefox OS apps are Web-distributed apps. Users can go to the marketplace and find our apps by hand or via review or they could search for a certain song, movie, football team and dish and find our app that way. App discovery is as simple as using the Web and finding Web sites.

These are the things that really get me excited like a 5 year old on sugar rush! (Read more from Christian on his blog.)

5 Ways to Spread the Word About Firefox OS

Today, we’re excited to announce that Firefox OS smartphones will launch this month in select markets. We are taking the open Web beyond the browser into mobile operating systems, breaking down the walls that lock people into proprietary platforms.

Even if it’s not available for you yet, you can help us celebrate and generate excitement! Here’s how:

1. Tell everyone the news! Post on your social networks, tell your family, tell your friends, tell your next door neighbor — even tell complete strangers! Remember to use the #FirefoxOS hashtag when posting so those who are interested can easily follow the conversation. And you can always direct people to facebook.com/firefox and twitter.com/firefox for the latest and greatest information and fun stuff!

2. Paint social media blue! Change your social media avatars to show your support of Firefox OS — and tell others to do the same! Download the image to use here or right click on the image below to save to your desktop.

Social Media Avater

3. Post on social media at one time with many voices! Join Firefox fans from around the globe in a simultaneous Tweet or Facebook status update celebrating the launch of Firefox OS. Sign up here.

4. Add a Firefox OS Affiliate button to your blog or website! Help tell the world about Firefox OS by posting a Firefox OS Affiliate button on your blog or website. Sign up to become an affiliate at http://www.affiliates.mozilla.org and grab your button code (in your language!)

Affiliates

5. Become a Mobilizer! Mobilizers are Firefox fans who want to help spread the word about Firefox OS. Mobilizers receive periodic missions asking them to do a simple action to teach others about Firefox OS. Mobilizers can also attend, assist or host events in their region.

We are currently recruiting Mobilizer teams for Colombia, Venezuela, Spain, Poland, Mexico and Brazil. If we are not currently recruiting Mobilizers in your country, please stayed tuned for more Mobilizer teams starting soon around the world. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobilizers

Let’s tell the world about Firefox OS!

Firefox Add-ons for Fun

Sometimes, you visit the Web for work. Sometimes, you visit the Web for research. But sometimes you visit the Web for fun!

Here are a few Firefox Add-ons that are just for the fun of it.

Love Calculator is a completely unscientific (but totally fun!) way to find out if you are compatible with another person. It uses the letters in the two names to give you a “love score.” Give it a try.

Fun Characters allows you to add weird unicode characters to any text field. ✪✿☢☎☑ There are 248 characters to have fun and decorate your social updates or blog posts. ☕♪⚣ ツ

Cheevos lets you have fun while you’re learning Firefox! Gain achievements for using Firefox, finding hidden Easter eggs within the product and more. Varying levels of points are awarded based on the difficulty of acquiring an achievement. See how many points you can collect!

Give these a try or find something that suits you — there are thousands of Firefox Add-ons to choose from.

Download the REAL Firefox and Avoid Spyware Imposters

We thought this would be a good time to review some simple steps you can take to ensure you’re downloading a legitimate version of Firefox.

1.  Firefox is always free. If you are ever asked to pay to download Firefox, it’s a scam.

2.  The only way to be 100% sure you’re getting a legitimate version of Firefox is to download it from http://www.mozilla.org.

3.  Firefox has a lot of fans.  Some of those fans place badges on their website encouraging their visitors to download Firefox.  We call these friends affiliates (you can be one too!) If you ever click to download from one of these sites, you’re still safe, but just make sure you’re landing on a page with mozilla.org in the URL.

If you’re ever questioning whether or not you’re downloading Firefox from a legitimate site, stop what you’re doing and go directly to www.mozilla.org.  That’s the easiest way to ensure you’re getting a real version of Firefox.

Finally, you can help protect the Fox!  If you suspect someone is using our brand improperly, you can report it here.