Firefox team offers chance to have your say

If like me you use Firefox as your main Web browser, you may have noticed the small print underneath the Google search box, just by the T-shirt.

Mozilla, the developer of Firefox, is asking for suggestions about Firefox 3 with the aim of making changes for the way people search for information online.

You can submit your suggestions to Mozilla, and I suggest you do.

Mozilla says the new browser has been designed around the importance of search to users.
Firefox 3, now going through its third stage of beta testing, will offer a combined search and bookmark tool via the URL bar. It will also allow offline working.

Mozilla Foundation chairman Mitchell Baker said it was clear that when people were looking for information on the Web, search was the number one activity.

"We've devised ways to bring that power into areas that are closer to your individual life,'' she said.

Typing ``camera'', for example, into the URL bar, will bring up a list of the sites the user recently visited that had cameras in their names.

If you bought shoes, that is all you have to remember. Firefox 3 will help you find the places you have been visiting.

Ms Baker said other changes had been made that were invisible in terms of look but would improve overall performance.

It would be faster, sleeker and even easier to use, she said.

That will be great. I like Firefox for many reasons, not the least that it so far has been less vulnerable to attacks from people with a malicious streak.

IE7 sounded great and was an improvement on previous versions, but there is always the worry that someone is going to get control of your computer through the browser. Microsoft attracts the nastier side of the computing world, people who think it's fair and reasonable to attack users of the software giant's products and services.

Mozilla has a team of people around the world watching (voluntarily) for attacks and working out ways to combat them.

Firefox is the second most popular browser, although its 12% share is dwarfed by that of IE.

It has grown substantially since its launch - first as Phoenix in 2002, then as Firebird and finally ending up as Firefox in February 2004.

Ms Baker said that when Mozilla issued Firefox 1 it had one staff member but hundreds working on different aspects of it. Now, there were 150 employers around the world and ``tens of thousands'' working on the software.

Mozilla is run as a not-for-profit organisation, and an advocate of open source coding. Anything that makes it easier for people to use will be a plus.

The other substantial change planned for Firefox 3 is the ability to do much more offline, with the browser ``remembering'' key data that is usually lost when an Internet connection goes down.

This is designed to allow the user to continue to work when travelling or in remote areas where wireless access is patchy.

That makes it sound just right for New Zealand, where coverage can range from slow dial-up, to what passes as broadband in this country through to data cards and the reliance on mobile phone company reception.

Have a look at Firefox and contribute to the development of something that is likely to remain freely available. Who knows, it could even come through with a New Zealand flavour.

dene.mackenzie@odt.co.nz

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