Browsing the Web
Welcome to Mozilla! One of the most popular ways people use Mozilla is to
browse the Web. Navigator, the Mozilla component that lets you visit web pages,
offers many ways to visit web pages and search the Web.
This section introduces you to Navigator, and how you can use it to browse,
search, and save web pages.
Navigating Web Pages
Viewing Your Home Page
When you start Mozilla, you see Navigator, your browser. A "What's
New" page appears automatically in the browser window when you first launch
Mozilla.
After the first launch, you will normally see your home page when you launch
Mozilla. Unless you choose a home page yourself, your home page is chosen by
your network or Internet service provider, or you see Sun's home page.
To choose your own home page, see Specifying
How Mozilla Starts Up.
Tips:
- To streamline the Mozilla interface, you can use Full Screen mode to display
web pages using almost all of your screen. In Navigator, open the View menu and
choose Full Screen. You can also press F11.
- To go to your home page quickly, press Alt+Home.
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Moving to Another Page
You move to a new page by typing its URLits location (address) on the
Web. URLs normally begin with "http://," followed by one or more names that identify
the address. For instance, "http://mozilla.org".
- Click the Location Bar to select the URL that is already there.
- Type the URL of the page you want to visit. The URL you type replaces any
text already in the Location Bar.
- Press Enter.
Using the lock icon near the lower-right corner of the window, you can check
a web page's security status at any time. For details, see Checking
Security for a Web Page.
Tip: To quickly select the URL in the Location Bar, press Ctrl+L.
|
Location Bar
|
Don't know a URL? You can type part of a URL, such as "cnn" (for www.cnn.com);
or you can type a general word, such as "gifts" or "flowers." Navigator guesses
what page you want to view, or displays a page with a choice of links related
to the word you typed.
If you are new to the Internet, see the New
to the Net Tutorial.
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Clicking a Link
Most web pages contain links you can click to move to other pages.
- Move the pointer until it changes to a pointing finger. This happens whenever
the pointer is over a link. Most links are underlined text, but buttons and
pictures can also be links.
- Click the link once. While the network locates the page that the link points
to, status messages appear at the bottom of the window.
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Retracing Your Steps
There are several ways to re-visit pages:
- To go back or forward one page, click the Back or Forward arrow.
- To go back or forward more than one page, click the small triangles on the
Back and Forward buttons. You'll see a list of pages you've visited; to return
to a page, choose it from the list.
 |
Back Forward
|
- To see a list of any URLs you've typed into the Location Bar, click the
arrow at the right end of the Location Bar. To view a page, choose it from
the list.
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Location Bar |
- To choose from pages you've visited during the current session, open the
Go menu and use the list in the bottom section of the menu.
- To choose from pages you've visited during the past several sessions, open
the Go menu and choose History. You see the history list. The history list displays
a list of folders. Double clicking the folders displays subfolders or bookmarks
to web pages. You can double-click the URL next to the Bookmark icon to view
that page.
Tip: The Sidebar History tab also allows you to choose from pages
you've visited during the past several sessions. For information, see Adding
Sidebar Tabs.
About
History Lists
The history list contains links to recently visited pages. The Location Bar
list contains links to pages you've typed into the Location Bar and then visited.
To access the history list from Navigator, open the Go menu and choose History.
To access the Location Bar list, click the arrow at the right end of the Location
Bar.
Tip: To quickly open the history list, press Ctrl+H.
If you don't want the Location Bar or history list to display the pages you've
been visiting, you can clear the history list and Location Bar history entirely or selectively.
To delete all pages from the Location Bar or history list, begin from the Navigator window:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Navigator category, click History. (If no subcategories are visible,
double-click Navigator to expand the list.)
- Click Clear History and Clear Location Bar to remove all previously visited
web pages from the lists.
- If you wish to set a limit on how many days the pages remain in the history list,
click the field next to "Remember visited pages for the last" and type a number of days.
To selectively delete pages from the history list, do any of the following:
- To delete all pages from a domain, select a page within that domain (folder)
in the History list, open the Edit menu, and select "Delete entire domain
[domain name]." For example, use this command if you want to delete
all pages that end in "mozilla.org."
- To delete pages from a subdomain, select a page within that subdomain in
the History list, open the Edit menu, and select "Delete all from [subdomain]."
For example, use this command if you want to delete all pages from "bugzilla.mozilla.org"
but not "mozilla.org."
- To delete a single page, select a page in the history list and press Delete.
Tip: To sort the history list, click one of the categories (Title, Location,
or Last Visited). Click the title again to reverse the order.
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Stopping and Reloading
If a page is taking too long to appear, or you change your mind and don't
want to view it, click the Stop button.
To refresh the current page, or get the most up-to-date version, click the
Reload button, or press Ctrl+Shift+R.
|
Reload
|
Stop
|
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Visiting Bookmarked Pages
The addresses, or URLs, of web pages can be quite long and difficult to remember.
Fortunately, it's not necessary to memorize URLs in order to browse the Web.
Your browser has a list of bookmarks, which are pointers to interesting web
pages.
To go to a bookmarked page, begin from the Navigator window:
- Open the Bookmarks menu. The menu contains bookmarks represented by a bookmark
icon, and folders that contain more bookmarks.
- To visit a bookmarked page, choose a bookmark from the menu, or open a folder
and choose a bookmark.
Tip: To retrace your steps, click the Back arrow.
You can save your own bookmarks to point to pages you frequently visit, or
to other interesting places on the Web. See Creating
New Bookmarks for more information.
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Using Tabbed Browsing
When you visit more then one web page at a time, you can use Tabbed Browsing
to navigate the Web faster and easier.
Tabbed Browsing lets you open tabs, each displaying a web page, within a single
Navigator window. You don't have to have several windows open to visit several
different web pages. This frees up space on your desktop. You can open, close,
and reload web pages conveniently in one place without having to switch to another
window.
You can manage your navigation tabs easily and control when tabs are opened
automatically. For more information about setting Tabbed Browsing preferences,
see Navigator Preferences - Tabbed
Browsing.
To learn more about using Tabbed Browsing, see Tabbed
Browsing.
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Using Sidebar
In addition to navigating the Web with Navigator, you can let the Web come
to you by using Sidebar.
Sidebar is a customizable frame in your browser where you can keep items
that you need to use all the timethe latest news and weather, your address
book or Buddy List, stock quotes and many other available options.
Sidebar presents these items to you in tabs that it continually updates.
Mozilla comes with some Sidebar tabs already set up, but you can customize
Sidebar by adding, removing, and rearranging tabs. For details, see Sidebar.
To view an item in Sidebar, click its tab.
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Sidebar Handle
|
If it is not already open, open Sidebar by clicking its handle. If the
handle is missing, open the View menu in Navigator, choose Show/Hide, and then
Sidebar from the submenu.
|
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Searching the Web
Fast Searches
There are three ways to search quickly: from the Location Bar, from Sidebar,
and from the Net Search page.
Searching from the Location Bar
Searching for web pages on a particular topic is as easy as typing a question,
or just a word or two, into the browser's Location Bar, as pictured below.

For example, if you want to find information about baby dolls:
- Double-click in the Location Bar to select the current text.
- Type the word "baby doll". Your typing replaces the current text.
- Perform one of these steps:
- Click the Search button.
- Click "Search Mozilla Search for "baby doll" at the bottom
of the drop-down list in the Location Bar. (You default search engine may be
different.)
The default search engine you choose in Preferences is used.
Search results for "baby doll" appear in both the browser window and in Sidebar.
Click the links to visit web pages about baby dolls.
After you perform a search, the results are saved in Sidebar's Search tab
until you do a new search. You don't have to click the Back button to retrieve
the search results.
Note: You can also use Internet Keywords to search from the Location Bar.
Searching from Sidebar
The Sidebar Search tab lets you quickly search and bookmark your search
results. For example, if you want to find information about toy cars:
- If it is not already open, open Sidebar by clicking its handle.
- Click the Search tab.
- Open the "using" drop-down list, and choose a search engine.
- Type "toy car" in the search field.
- Click Search. Search results for 'toy car' appear in both the browser window
and in Sidebar. Click the links to visit web pages about toy cars.
Note: If the Sidebar Search tab contains a list of search engines
from which to choose, then it is set to search in Advanced mode and you will
have to choose one or more search engines before clicking Search. You can keep
it that way or change to a basic setting in Preferences.
Tip: To display the next or previous page of search results quickly,
click the Next and Previous buttons at the bottom of the Sidebar Search tab.
Searching from the Net Search page
The Net Search page lets you type in a Search term or phrase, or explore several
categories (such as Arts & Entertainment, Business, and many more) that may
interest you. To visit the Net Search page, perform one of these steps:
- Click on the Search button
on the Personal Toolbar.
- Open the Tools menu and choose Search the Web.
Searching on Selected Words
in a Web Page
Mozilla allows you to search for words you select within a web page:
- Select (highlight) any words in a web page.
- Right-click and choose "Web Search for [your selected words]" for
the menu.
Mozilla opens a new window and uses your default search engine to search
for your selected words. To learn how to change the search engine used to search
for your selected words, see Navigator
Preferences - Internet Search.
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Advanced Search Mode
You can set the Sidebar Search tab to Advanced mode, which lets you narrow
a search or choose one or more search engines.
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Navigator category, click Internet Search. (If no subcategories
are visible, double-click Navigator to expand the list.)
- Under Sidebar Search Tab Preferences, click Advanced, and then OK.
- If it is not already open, open Sidebar by clicking its handle.
- Click the Search tab in Sidebar.
- Open the "within" drop-down list, and choose a category.
- Choose one or more search engines for the selected category (if available).
- In the search field, type the word for which you want to search.
- Click Search.
Customizing Search Categories
You can specify which search engines should be used for different categories
of searches. For example, you can select one set of search engines to search
for travel, and select another set of search engines to search for software.
- Set Sidebar Search to Advanced Search Mode. See Advanced
Search mode for details.
- If it is not already open, open Sidebar by clicking its handle.
- Click the Search tab in Sidebar.
- Open the "within" drop-down list, click "Edit Categories". You
see the Edit Categories dialog box.
- From the Categories drop-down list, choose the category you want to customize.
Or
To create a new category, click New and type a name for the category in the dialog
box. The drop-down list now displays the name of the selected category.
- Do one of the following:
- To add a search engine for the selected category, highlight the search engine
in the list on the left, and click Add.
- To remove a search engine for the selected category, highlight the engine
in the list on the right, and click Remove.
- To rename the selected category, click Rename and type a new name.
- To delete the selected category, click Delete.
- Click OK when you are finished customizing.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Setting Search Preferences
You can choose a different search engine as the default. You can also specify
how you want search results displayed in Sidebar.
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Navigator category, click Internet Search. (If no subcategories
are visible, double-click the Navigator to expand the list.)
- Under Default Search Engine, choose a search engine you want to use for
web searching.
- Under Search Results, select "Open the Search tab in the Sidebar when
search results are available" if you want the Sidebar search tab to open
and show your search results.
- Under Sidebar Search Tab Preference, select Basic if you want to search using
a single search engine, or select Advanced to be able to search using multiple
search engines.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Using Internet Keywords
Internet Keywords work with the Location Bar to help you quickly find specific
types of information. There are several ways to use Internet Keywords:
- Type a specific product, trademark, or company name and press Enter, to go
directly to a company's web site.
- Type certain verbs, such as "shop" or "quote," followed by the word you
want to look up, to get specific information. For instance, "shop pets" takes
you to a page with links to online pet stores.
- Type the name of a city or town followed by certain words such as "movies"
or "restaurants," for local information. For instance, type "san francisco
restaurants".
Hint: The most commonly used Internet Keywords are listed in the pull-down
list to the left of the Location Bar. Click the triangle and choose from the
list. To see a longer list of keywords, choose List of Keywords.
Important: To use Internet Keywords, you must press Enter on your keyboard
instead of clicking the Search button. Pressing Enter activates the Internet
Keyword feature; clicking Search initiates a search.
To see the difference, try this:
- Type "apple imac" into the Location Bar and press Enter. Apple Computer's iMac
Web page appears.
- Now type "apple imac" into the Location Bar and click Search. You see a
list of links related to Apple Computer's iMac models.
If typing Internet Keywords into the Location Bar is not working for you, check
your Smart Browsing preferences to be sure the
Internet Keywords feature is enabled.
Quick Stock Quotes
To see a recent stock quote for a company, type "quote" followed by the company's
stock ticker symbol, and press Enter.
If you don't know a company's stock ticker symbol, type the company's name.
The quote page will list all companies with similar names, and you can choose
the one for which you want a quote.
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Searching Within a Page
To find text within the page you are currently viewing in Navigator:
- Open the Edit menu and choose "Find in This Page". If the page
you are viewing contains frames, you may need to click within a frame before
you begin your search. You see the "Find in this Page" dialog box.
- Type the text you want to find.
- Choose from the following search options:
- Match upper/lower case: Choose this to search for a word or phrase
that matches the word you typed exactly (including uppercase and lowercase
letters).
- Wrap around: Choose this to allow the browser to search from the where
the cursor is to the bottom of the page and then continue searching from the
top of the page. Note: Normally, the page is searched from the place where you
last clicked your mouse to the bottom of the page.
- Search backwards: Choose this to search from the insertion point
backwards to the top of the page.
- Click Find to begin the search.
To find the same word or phrase again:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Find Again.
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Searching the Bookmarks or History List
To search the bookmarks list, begin from the Navigator window:
- Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks. You see your Bookmarks
window.
- In the Bookmarks window, open the Tools menu and choose Search Bookmarks.
You see the Find Bookmarks dialog box.
- Use the drop-down lists to select options
to define your search.
- Type a search word.
- Click Find. Bookmarks that match your search criteria are displayed in the
Search Results-Bookmarks window.
Tip: To quickly open your Bookmarks menu, press Ctrl+B.
To search the History list:
- Open the Go menu and choose History. You see the history list.
- In the History list, open the Tools menu and choose Search History. You see
the Find in History dialog box.
- Use the drop-down lists to select options
to define your search.
- Choose from the following search options:
- Choose "title" or "location" to choose where you would
like to search. (The bookmarks window allows searching "name," "description,"
and "keyword".)
- Choose "contains," "starts with," or "ends with" if you know only part of
the word or phrase for which you're searching.
- Choose "is" if you know exactly what you're searching for.
- Choose "is not" or "doesn't contain" to exclude pages.
- Click in the field and type all or part of word or URL (web address) for
the bookmarks or history listings that you want to find or exclude.
- Click Find. History listings that match your search criteria are displayed
in the Search Results window.
To use the search results:
- Double-click a bookmark in the Search Results window to go to that web page.
Tips:
- To open the History list quickly, press Ctrl+H.
- If the list is hard to read, try expanding the Search Results window.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Copying, Saving, and Printing Pages
Copying Part of a Page
To copy some text from a page, begin from the Navigator window:
- Select the text.
- Open the Edit menu and choose Copy.
You can paste the text into other programs.
To copy a link (URL) or an image link from a page:
- Position the pointer over the link or image.
- Right-click the link or image to display a pop-up menu.
- Choose Copy Link Location or Copy Image Location. If an image is also a
link, you are offered both options.
You can paste the link into other programs or into Navigator's Location Bar.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Saving All or Part of a Page
To save an entire page, begin from the Navigator window:
- Open the File menu and choose Save Page As. You see the Save As dialog box.
- Choose a folder in which to save this file.
- Choose a format for the page you want to save:
- Web Page, Complete: Save the whole web page, along with pictures.
This option allows you to view it as originally shown with pictures, but may
not keep the HTML link structure of the original page. Mozilla creates a new
directory (where the page is saved) to save pictures and other files necessary
to show the whole web page.
- Web Page, HTML Only: Save the original page without pictures. This
options preserves the original HTML link structure in one file.
- Text file: Save the original page as a text file. This option will
not preserve the original HTML link structure, but will allow you to see a text
version of the web page in any text editor.
- Type a file name for the page and click Save.
When you view a page containing frames and a frame is currently selected,
the Save Frame As option is offered in the drop-down list in addition to Save
Page As. This lets you save only the page within the selected frame.
Saving a file onto your hard drive lets you view the page (or its HTML code)
when you're not connected to the Internet.
To save an image from a page:
- Position the mouse pointer over the image.
- Right-click the image to display a pop-up menu.
- Choose Save Image As. You see the Save File dialog box.
- Choose a folder in which to save this image.
- Type a file name for the image and click Save.
To save a page without displaying it (which is useful for retrieving a nonformatted
page, like a data file, that's not intended for viewing):
- Position the mouse pointer over the page's link.
- Right-click the hyperlink on the page to display a pop-up menu.
- Choose Save Link Target As. You see the Save File dialog box.
- Choose a folder in which to save this file.
- Type a file name for the page and click Save.
Important: Some links automatically download and save files to your
hard drive after you click them. The URLs for these links often begin with "ftp"
or end with a file-type extension such as "au" or "mpeg." These links might transmit
software, sound, or movie files, and can launch helper applications that support
the files.
Tip: To set an image as your desktop wallpaper on Windows, right-click
on an image and choose Set As Wallpaper from the pop-up menu.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Printing a Page
To print the current page, begin from the Navigator window:
- Open the File menu and choose Print.
To print selected text, begin from the Navigator window:
- Select the text in the current page.
- Open the File menu and choose Print. The print dialog box appears.
- Under Print Range, click Selection.
The size of the printed page, not the size of the onscreen window, determines
placement of content on the printed page. Text is wrapped and graphics are repositioned
to accommodate paper size.
Using Print Preview
To have an early look at how a page will look before it is printed, you can
use Print Preview. Begin from the Navigator window:
In Print Preview, you can do the following with pages you want to print:
- View a preview of each page: Click the Next
,
Previous
,
First
,
or Last
button
to move between pages.
- Change the scale (size) of pages: In the Scale field, type in a percentage
of the original size and Press Enter. For example, type "50"
and press Enter to make each page half the size of the original page. Click the
Up
or Down
button to resize up or down by an increment of one, respectively.
- Change the direction of the page: Choose Portrait
to position the page normally, with the shorter
side facing up. Choose Landscape
to position the page sideways, with the longer
side facing up.
- Go to Page Setup: Click Page Setup to further customize pages you
want to print.
- Go to Print: Click Print to print pages.
Using Page Setup
To customize how pages are printed in Mozilla, you can use Page Setup:
In Page Setup, you can change the following settings for pages you want to
print:
- Format & Options: Choose the orientation, scale, and other options:
- Orientation:
- Portrait: Choose this
to position the page normally, with the shorter
side facing up.
- Landscape: Choose this
to position the page sideways, with the longer
side facing up.
- Scale: Type in a percentage of the original size. For example, type
"50" and to make each page half the size of the original page.
- Shrink To Fit Page Width: Select this to automatically resize the
page to the width of the paper.
- Options:
- Print Background (colors and images): Select this to print background
images and colors. If unselected, only pictures and color in the foreground (in
front) are printed.
- Margins & Header/Footer: Click this tab to set up margins, headers,
and footers:
- Margins:
- Top, Bottom, Left, Right: Type a margin in inches for the top, bottom,
left, and right margin.
- Headers & Footers: Each drop-down list represents either a header
or a footer area. The top row of drop-down lists are for the left, center, and
right header areas. The bottom row are for the left, center, and right footer
areas. In each drop-dop list, choose one of the following options:
- --blank--: Show nothing in this area.
- Title: Show the web page title.
- URL: Show the web page URL (URL's usually start with "http://").
- Date/Time: Show the date and time when the web page is printed.
- Page #: Show the page number of each page. For example,
- Page # of #: Show the page number along with the total number of
pages. For example, if you print a five page web page, "3 of 5" would
be shown on the third page.
- Custom: Type your own text. You can include any of the following
codes to print specific information:
- &PT: Page Number with Total (Example: "3 of 5")
- &P: Page Number
- &D: Date
- &U: URL
- &T: Page Title
Tip: To see a preview of changes made to Page Setup, use Print
Preview.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Using Languages and International Content
Selecting Character Codings and Fonts
If you browse, compose, or send and receive email in more than one language,
you need to select the appropriate character codings and fonts.
A character coding method is the way a document or message has been converted
to data to be used by your computer. All web documents and mail and news messages
use a character-coding method (also known as a character encoding or character
set).
The character coding method for a document depends on its language. Some languagessuch
as most of the Western languagesshare the same coding method. Others, such
as Chinese, Japanese, and Russian, use different methods.
Your version of Mozilla is set to a default character coding appropriate
for your region. However, if you use more than one language, you may need to
select appropriate character-coding methods and designate the fonts you wish
to use for your coding method.
To select character codings, begin from the Navigator window:
- Open the View menu, choose Character Coding, and then choose More.
- Choose a region from the top section of the submenu.
- Choose a character coding within the region submenu. Repeat steps 1-3 for
each character-coding method you want.
The character coding methods you select are added to the Character Coding menu.
If you have more than one coding method selected, the active one has a bullet
(dot) next to it.
Mozilla can detect which character coding a document uses, and can display
it correctly on your screen. To take advantage of this capability, begin from the Navigator window:
- Open the View menu, choose Character Coding, and then choose Auto-Detect.
- Choose one of the Auto-Detect options, or choose Off from the submenu.
To make changes to your list of active character sets:
- Open the View menu, choose Character Coding, and then choose Customize.
You can see the Customize Coding dialog box.
- Choose from the following procedures:
- To add to the list of active character sets, choose a character set
from the list on the left and click Add.
- To remove a character set from the active list, choose a character set
from the list on the right and click Remove.
- To change the order in which the browser checks for character sets,
highlight character sets in the list on the right, and use the arrow buttons
to move the character sets up or down in the list.
To change the default fonts within a language group:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Appearance category, click Fonts. (If no subcategories are visible,
double-click Appearance to expand the list.)
- From the "Fonts for" drop-down list, choose a character coding method. For
instance, to set default fonts for the Western character set, choose "Western."
- Select whether proportional text should be serif (like Times Roman) or sans
serif (like Arial). You can also specify what font size you want for proportional
text. Proportional text varies in width.
- (If available) Select a font for Serif, Sans-Serif, Cursive, and Fantasy.
- Select the monospace font (like Courier) that you want to use for web pages.
Monospace text is fixed in width, so each character or letter takes the same
amount of space.
Many web page authors choose their own fonts and font sizes. You can use the
author's font settings by selecting "Allow documents to use other fonts."
To adjust the readability of fonts, select from the drop-down list the dots
per inch (dpi) for displaying Web pages. Select "Other" to open the
Calibrate Resolution dialog box, which allows you to calibrate your resolution
by measuring how long a line appears on your screen.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Setting Language Preferences
The language you use for Mozilla affects the text of buttons, dialog boxes,
menus, tools, and other items. The functionality of these items remains the
same.
To set your preferred language:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Appearance category, click Languages/Content. (If no subcategories
are visible, double-click Appearance to expand the list.)
- Under "Installed languages packs" select a language pack.
- Click OK.
Note: You must restart Mozilla after you change your preferred language.
The content pack you use affects the home page, bookmarks, toolbar contents,
Sidebar, and other items.
To use a content pack:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Appearance category, click Languages/Content. (If no subcategories
are visible, double-click Appearance to expand the list.)
- Under "Installed content packs" select a content pack.
- Click OK.
Note: You will have to need to restart Mozilla after you change to
another content pack.
Tip: To download more language packs or content packs, click Download
More.
Web pages are sometimes available in several languages. Mozilla presents
pages in the language you prefer, if it is available. You can specify the languages
you wish to see, in order of preference.
To set language preferences:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Navigator category, click Languages. (If no subcategories are visible,
double-click Navigator to expand the list.)
- Click Add. You see the Add Languages dialog box.
- Select a language and its code. If you wish to add a code not on the list,
type the language and its code in the Others field (see note below). If you want
to reorder the languages in the list, select a language and click Move Up or
Move Down.
- Click OK.
Note: Two-letter codes enclosed in brackets appear next to each language
in the list. These are standard abbreviations for languages. For a complete list,
see the online document, Codes
for the Representation of Names of Languages.
[ Return to beginning of section ]
Finding International Web Content
For information about Mozilla in multiple languages, see the online document
International
Users Page.
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Improving Speed and Efficiency
Managing Different File Types
Navigator can handle many types of files. However, for some files, such as
movies or music, Navigator needs plug-ins or "helper" applications that can handle
those files. If Mozilla doesn't have the needed helper application or plug-in,
it can still save the file to your hard disk. When saving files, you can keep
track of them using Download Manager.
Plug-ins
Plug-ins are helper applications that extend the functionality within Navigator
and run within Mozilla. Plug-ins like Sun Java, Macromedia Flash, and RealNetworks
RealPlayer allow Mozilla to show multimedia files and run small applications,
such as movies, animations, and games.
When you installed Mozilla, you had the option of adding some of these most
popular plug-ins. You don't have to install them separately. However, you can
also install plug-ins after you install Mozilla.
To see a full list of Mozilla plug-ins you can install, see the Browser
Plug-ins page at mozdev.org.
Helper Applications
When files can not be used within Mozilla, you have to option to launch
helper applications that open outside of Mozilla. For example, to play MP3 files,
programs like Winamp can be opened outside of Mozilla.
The settings in the Helper Applications preferences panel tell Navigator which
helper applications to use on your computer. Usually, these preferences don't
need to be changed since they are preconfigured. Also, if Navigator doesn't know
which helper application to use, it allows you to find helper applications within
the download dialog box.
The download dialog box has these options:
- Open using: Mozilla opens the file using the default program in your
system settings.
- Choose: Mozilla allows you to open the file using an application
you choose.
- Save this file to disk: Mozilla allows you to select a location to
save the file.
- Always ask before opening this type of file: When this is selected,
Mozilla opens the download dialog box when downloading a particular file type.
You can reset these choices afterwards in preferences
for Helper Applications.
- Advanced: Mozilla allows you to fine-tune how files are handled.
See "To add a new helper application to the list"
for details.
Tip: You can clear your saved options for "Always ask before opening
this type of file" in preference. For more information, see Navigator
Preferences - Helper Applications.
For experienced users to fine-tune the Helper Applications preferences:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Navigator category, click Helper Applications. (If no subcategories
are visible, double-click the Navigator to expand the list.)
- Perform any of the following procedures:
To add a new helper application to the list:
- Click New Type. You see the New type dialog box.
- Type a description of the type of files the application works with; for instance,
"movies" or "sound files."
- Type the file extension (suffix) used by this file type. If this type of
file uses more than one extension, type them all, separated by spaces.
- Type the MIME type. MIME types consist of two words separated by a slash.
For instance, a TIFF image file's MIME type is "image/tiff".
Note: When you download a file, Mozilla will show you the MIME type on
the download dialog box.
- Click Choose, then select an application that handles files of this type.
- Click OK.
To specify how Navigator should handle downloaded files:
- Select a file type from the list and click Edit.
- Type in the MIME type you want this file to use.
- Choose a "Handled By" option to have downloaded files saved on your hard
disk or opened in an application that you specify. Click Choose to specify the
application.
- Click OK.
To remove an item from the list:
- Select a file type from the list and click Remove.
- Click OK.
To learn more about Helper Application preferences, see Navigator
Preferences - Helper Applications.
Download Manager
You can use Download Manager to keep track of files you download. Download
Manager shows the following information:
- filename
- time remaining before download is complete
- transfer speed
- percent complete
- time elapsed
- web location (source)
To open Download Manager, do the following:
- Open the Tools menu and choose Download Manager.
The following menu options are available in Download Manager:
- Properties: Select a file being downloaded and click Properties to
show the progress dialog box.
- Cancel: Select a file being downloaded and click Cancel to stop the
download.
- Remove from List: Select a file and click Remove from List to remove
a canceled or finished download. This will not delete the file from your hard
disk.
- Launch File: Click this to open a selected file.
- Show in Explorer: Click this to show the location of a selected file.
Note: Show in Explorer appears as Show in Browser on Linux.
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Automatic Loading
When you bring a web page to your screen, Mozilla automatically loads (starts
up) several features that help interpret web pages. These features, Java and
JavaScript, can make web pages more lively, but they take time to load.
To learn how to turn off Java, see Advanced
Preferences - Advanced.
To learn how to turn off JavaScript, see Advanced
Preferences - Scripts & Windows.
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Changing Cache Settings
Your computer stores copies of frequently accessed pages in the memory cache
or disk cache. This way, the computer doesn't have to retrieve the page from
the network each time you view it.
To set the size of the memory cache or to clear it:
- Open the Edit menu and click Preferences.
- Under the Advanced category, click Cache. (If no subcategories are visible,
double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
- Enter a number in the Memory Cache field to specify the size of the memory
cache. 1024K to 2000K is a good size. To clear the memory cache immediately,
click Clear Memory Cache.
Important: A larger memory cache allows more data to be quickly retrieved.
But unless you have a lot of extra memory on your computer, 1024K is sufficient.
To set the size of the disk cache or to clear it:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Advanced category, click Cache. (If no subcategories are visible,
double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
- Enter a number in the Disk Cache field to specify the size of the disk cache.
5000K on Unix is sufficient. To clear the disk cache immediately,
click Clear Disk Cache.
Important: A larger disk cache allows more pages to be quickly retrieved,
but more of your hard disk space is used.
When you quit Mozilla, it performs cache maintenance. If maintenance takes
longer than you wish, try reducing the size of the disk cache.
To specify how often Navigator checks the network for page revisions (so that
you don't keep "stale" pages in the cache too long):
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Advanced category, click Cache. (If no subcategories are visible,
double-click Advanced to expand the list.)
- Choose from the following options:
- Every time I view the page: Select this if you want Mozilla to compare
a web page to the cache every time you view it.
- When the page is out of date: Select this if you want Mozilla to
compare a web page to the cache when the page is determined by the server to
have expired.
- Once per session: Select this if you want Mozilla to compare a web
page to the cache once for each time you start Mozilla.
- Never: Select this if you do not want Mozilla to compare cached information
to the network.
If pages that should be in the cache are taking longer to appear than they
should, make sure the preference is not set to "Every time I view the page,"
because the verification requires a network connection that takes time.
To refresh a page at any time:
- Click the Reload button in the browser's Navigation Toolbar. The computer
checks the network to make sure you have the latest version of the page.
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Getting the Latest Software Automatically
Mozilla can notify you when updates for your software are available, and
it can install the updates automatically. Mozilla can also inform you when a
new version of Mozilla is available.
To learn about setting up automatic software installation, see Advanced
Preferences - Software Installation.
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Using a Mouse Wheel
If your mouse has a mouse wheel, you can control how the mouse wheel functions
in Mozilla.
To learn more about setting up a mouse wheel, see Advanced
Preferences - Mouse Wheel.
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Proxies
This section explains how to work with proxies.
Setting Proxy Values
Many organizations block access from the Internet to their networks. This prevents
outside parties from gaining access to sensitive information. The protection
is called a firewall.
If your organization has a firewall, the browser may need to go through a proxy
server before connecting you to the Internet. The proxy server prevents outsiders
from breaking into your organization's private network.
Before you start:
- If there's a proxy configuration file at your workplace, ask the system
administrator for its URL.
- If there's no proxy configuration file, ask your system administrator for
the names and port numbers of the servers running proxy software for each
network service.
To set the browser to work with the proxy:
- Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Under the Advanced category, click Proxies. (If no subcategories are visible,
double-click the Navigator to expand the list.)
- Select one of the following:
- Direct connection to the Internet: Choose this if you don't want to
use a proxy.
- Manual proxy configuration: Choose this if you don't have a proxy
location (URL).
- HTTP Proxy, SSL Proxy, FTP Proxy, Gopher Proxy: Type
the name or numeric IP address of the proxy server. Type the port in the Ports
field.
- SOCKS Host: Type the name or numeric IP address of the proxy server.
Type the port in the Ports field.
- SOCKS v4, SOCKS v5: When entering a SOCK Host, select "SOCKS
v4" or "SOCKS v5," depending on what version of SOCKS is used
for the proxy.
- No Proxy for: Type the domains that you do not want to use a proxy
for. Separate each domain with a comma. (Example: .yourcompany.com, .yourcompany.co.nz)
- Automatic proxy configuration URL: Choose this if you have a proxy
configuration file or URL, then type the configuration URL.
Domain names are the part of a URL that contains the name of an organization,
business, or schoolsuch as netscape.com or washington.org. If you use local
host names without the domain name, list them the same way. Use commas to separate
multiple host names. The wildcard character [*] cannot be used.
For more information on using the Proxy preferences panel, see Advanced
Preferences - Proxies.
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