Damnit Firefox (is awesome)

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:39 pm

Okay this is my second serious try at using Firefox. So far it has gone much better, but there is at least one thing that is very annoying (and may end up being a deal breaker).

I often search for reference images on Google. Occasionally, clicking for the fullscreen of the image in the google frame, IE7 would automatically use my default image viewer instead of opening it in the same IE window.

Firefox cannot use the 'windows fax and picture viewer' as it is a dll. So I installed InfranView. But I still have to jump through a bunch of 'open with' hoops every time I want to view these. For some reason the 'use this automatically from now on' checkbox is grayed out.

Even if I right-click to view in new tab, I have to go selecting FF to open it every time.

This is driving me crazy, and I've spent the better part of a day googling for a solution. Overall I'm really liking FF. If anyone knows a solution here, I'd really appreciate it.

p.s. I can open them by right-click 'Open in ext. app' or 'Open in IE tab', but if I have to rely on IE constantly, how exactly is FF competing?

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:12 pm

I guess in the first place I'm wondering why in the heck you'd ever want to use anything other than FF to view the full sized images.

For example, I also use Google Image search (a lot) for reference images. I tried just now and came up with a Life's World Fair image (hosted by Google) that is 1200 x 800 or some such. I clicked to open it in a new tab and that is fine for full screen browsing (I can zoom in and out with ctl-mouse scroll, or move around the image with the right mouse button).

Just what advantage does any other viewer have?

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:49 pm

Well here's an example of a problem image. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... l%26sa%3DG

In IE this opens using the same window, no problems just left-clicking it. But in Firefox right-click 'open in new tab' still makes me do all of the 'open with' dialogs every time.

In the 'open with' dialog I can point it to open with FF (and it opens fine), but like I said, the option to always use it to open this type of file is grayed-out, so I have to select FF every time I come across one of these.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:01 pm

move around the image with the right mouse button

Is that an extension functionality? The zoom works, but I'm not finding a pan.

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:41 pm

Actually, it pans with the scroll button without pressing ctrl.

But I see what you mean about that (weird) image. I've actually never seen anything like that (then again, I seldom look at Anime pages -- just from context I'm going to guess that page was generated in Asia and they DO have some odd ideas about things). I've browsed literally tens of thousands of images and never had that happen (but, once again, in the West).

Now, in doing some research I found some fixes for this issue BUT (and here's where I haven't done enough research to be on firm ground but I'm *fairly* sure of this) the whole reason IE "swallows" these kinds of files is exactly what you DON'T want to do.

IOW, the "fixes" for Firefox open it up for the same sorts of problems IE has -- IE works here because it doesn't particularly care about running code which may or may not be pernicious. FF is actually protecting you, and if you choose to change that you are taking risks which are not wise.

What is happening is that these are not simple images but actual programs that are running on your computer (that's the application/octet types), and while most of the time they may be just fine it is that one time in 100 (or 1000) that will put a virus on your machine (or do something equally bad).

So... My own take is that this is a Very Good Thing that FF makes you jump through these hoops. But, as I said, if you want to change this behavior I can point you to some code changes in FF that the user community recommends against. Truthfully, if you really want to run a virus prone app, I'd just dump FF and go back to your old IE.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:51 am

Yeah, I just came across that 'stream octet app' bug report for FF. I had been thinking that this was a more common thing, but investigating further it appears it will be very infrequent.

It's just never any fun changing from something you're use to.

My only other problem is that, once I open an image with FF, if I right-click and try to save the image it always shows up as a FF document. Any way I can get it to use the actual file's extension by default. Otherwise I have to keep changing it manually.

p.s. I know I should find an FF forum for this, but I appreciate the advice from someone I trust.

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 4:36 am

I've never had that problem, Wes. If I'm looking at a JPG or GIF or whatever and save it (right click) it always saves it with the proper extension. Are you actually using "Save Image As" rather than "Save Link As"?

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:18 am

Well I've uninstalled FF in order to get rid of any user data, and I'll start from scratch. I found a couple of things that apparently couldn't be undone otherwise. Hopefully that problem is one of them.

I'm guessing having set FF as default image app at one point was causing that.

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:10 am

I like using that cooliris piclens add on for firefox to browse images, it ROCKS, using the tablet to sweep through tons of images or zoom in in an instant it's like looking for a 'minority report' or something.

JCook · Post by **JCook** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 2:19 pm

Give Cooliris a try. It lets you look at images freely without loading a player. It's an add-on for Firefox, Safari and IE. I use it on my Mac in Firefox and Safari, but it's also Windows compatible. Oh, and it's free.

http://www.cooliris.com/

Jack

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:43 pm

Checking it out now. Thanks guys. I think I'm over the hump with getting on board with FF. Once the dust clears, I'm sure I'll be very happy with it.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:23 am

don't forget to look at the extensions. the greatest thing in firefox (as good as AS scripts).
from I remember, I can recommend you Adblockplus, Tabmix and download status bar.
I have a page with some recommendations, but it's in spanish. Anyway, here is it http://tazatriste.cl/?extensiones. enjoy.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:50 am

Wow, AdBlockPlus and Cooliris are awesome.

I've already installed AIOS, Compact Menu 2, Download Status Bar, FireFTP, IE Tab, Nav Sounds, and OpenBook.

I'm pretty happy that I've been able to get all the features I liked about IE plus some really great extras.

I'm a convert!

p.s. I don't know what I did, but the AIOS is even remembering the bookmark scroll position now.

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:46 am

And best of all, you have a virus free browser (don't underestimate the importance of this).

It's not *completely* MS fault -- as the great thief Willie Sutton said when he was asked why he robbed banks "because that's where the money is" the same is true about virus writers. They attack IE because it's the most used browser (but it also has security holes the size of Fort Knox trucks to drive through despite years of efforts of trying to close them).