using Firefox browser on msn spaces
If you've arrived at this entry via an internet search involving Spaces and Firefox you'll find a series of entries about Firefox and MSN Spaces in a list accessed from the home page of my blog.
to those of you who have recently become aware of me , thanks for visiting . due to time commitments with starting a new job my blog entries have been a bit poor of late . if you want a better read go back to my archived stuff for December and January .for now i'm going to cut the sarcasm and stupidity to do something I've been meaning to do for a while ...... which is cover the topic of the advantages of using Firefox browser instead on Internet Explorer for your msn spaces browsing .if you already use Firefox you are probably aware of a lot of what i will say , however , there might be an odd nugget in there even for you .
i'm not anti Microsoft , i just think there are some advantages a modern browser like Firefox has over I.E. .
1. it's a multi-tab browser rather than a single / multi window browser . just click the tab to see the other pages you've opened . no minimizing / maximizing windows like in I.E. .
2. it's faster loading for most pages .
3. it's configurable , meaning you can customize it to suit how you work .
4. as it's open source it's continually being further developed and enhanced
6. it's a lot more secure than I.E.
it's not the only browser i use . i do still use I.E. sometimes ( spaces has been designed to dove-tail perfectly with I.E. ) and i also use Avant browser which is like a multi tabbed version of I.E. . each has it's own advantages and disadvantages . i know Firefox doesn't work perfectly with msn spaces so I've found workarounds where possible . i'm going to cover the advantages / workarounds in turn below .
advantages
multi tabbed - you can open multiple pages at a time , each in it's own tab . this makes cutting and pasting address urls easy , for example if you want to leave a comment . it's quicker to copy and paste than type it in .
also - you can click on a comment with the middle mouse button ( provided your mouse has been set up to do that ) and open someone's page url from a comment they left . this will open in a new tab ( or the same tab if you prefer ) .
spell checker - this is a problem with spaces , no spell checker , and if you type like i do you probably need it . with Firefox you can customize the browser by adding a spell checker to it called " spellbound " . simply highlight the text and click on the spell check tool bar button and away it goes . saves so much time on long entries .
bookmarks ( favourites in I.E. ) - in Firefox i save all the blogs i like to 1 folder ( which i've called blog spam - don't be taking offence anyone ! ) . as the browser is multi tabbed i can open all these pages with one click " open all tabs " for that folder . i also have a folder for blog tools which amongst other things contains the Google translation page and several url submission pages to submit my blog to various search engines . again these can all be opened up with 1 click , i then copy and paste my blog url into each of them .
workarounds
Firefox will only let the entry be typed in 1 colour - black , 1 font and size . I've tried using a special add-on for Firefox called " cuneAform" which i thought would get round this , simply draft my blog entry in cuneAform and cut and paste it into Firefox .
when making a new blog entry in Firefox directly ( i.e. not using cuneAform ) spaces between paragraphs and sentences written on different lines aren't respected when the blog entry is submitted and published . again the workaround comes from an add-on for Firefox called "FEdit" . it simply gets added to your tool bar and when you've finished typing your blog entry click on the FEdit button . line breaks will be added to the page , click publish and voilà .
#### UPDATE - 27 June 2005 - MSN Spaces adds an html editor that works with Firefox so no need to use cuneAform or FEdit any more . #####
some page layout formats available in msn spaces look different in Firefox and Internet Explorer . this is just a trial and error thing . i now use a layout that suits me AND looks ok in both .
adding photos or customizing layout by moving elements . both of these work differently in Firefox , but there are no problems , it's simply a different way each has of doing the same task .
summary
i could go on , but that 's plenty for now and covers most of what anyone would need . if you intend to try Firefox and need help with anything just leave a comment . if you know something i don't do the same , all comments and tips welcome . I've tried to include links throughout the entry of anything I've mentioned and screen shots which should help explain .
to those of you who have recently become aware of me , thanks for visiting . due to time commitments with starting a new job my blog entries have been a bit poor of late . if you want a better read go back to my archived stuff for December and January .for now i'm going to cut the sarcasm and stupidity to do something I've been meaning to do for a while ...... which is cover the topic of the advantages of using Firefox browser instead on Internet Explorer for your msn spaces browsing .if you already use Firefox you are probably aware of a lot of what i will say , however , there might be an odd nugget in there even for you .
i'm not anti Microsoft , i just think there are some advantages a modern browser like Firefox has over I.E. .
1. it's a multi-tab browser rather than a single / multi window browser . just click the tab to see the other pages you've opened . no minimizing / maximizing windows like in I.E. .
2. it's faster loading for most pages .
3. it's configurable , meaning you can customize it to suit how you work .
4. as it's open source it's continually being further developed and enhanced
6. it's a lot more secure than I.E.
it's not the only browser i use . i do still use I.E. sometimes ( spaces has been designed to dove-tail perfectly with I.E. ) and i also use Avant browser which is like a multi tabbed version of I.E. . each has it's own advantages and disadvantages . i know Firefox doesn't work perfectly with msn spaces so I've found workarounds where possible . i'm going to cover the advantages / workarounds in turn below .
advantages
multi tabbed - you can open multiple pages at a time , each in it's own tab . this makes cutting and pasting address urls easy , for example if you want to leave a comment . it's quicker to copy and paste than type it in .
also - you can click on a comment with the middle mouse button ( provided your mouse has been set up to do that ) and open someone's page url from a comment they left . this will open in a new tab ( or the same tab if you prefer ) .
spell checker - this is a problem with spaces , no spell checker , and if you type like i do you probably need it . with Firefox you can customize the browser by adding a spell checker to it called " spellbound " . simply highlight the text and click on the spell check tool bar button and away it goes . saves so much time on long entries .
bookmarks ( favourites in I.E. ) - in Firefox i save all the blogs i like to 1 folder ( which i've called blog spam - don't be taking offence anyone ! ) . as the browser is multi tabbed i can open all these pages with one click " open all tabs " for that folder . i also have a folder for blog tools which amongst other things contains the Google translation page and several url submission pages to submit my blog to various search engines . again these can all be opened up with 1 click , i then copy and paste my blog url into each of them .
workarounds
Firefox will only let the entry be typed in 1 colour - black , 1 font and size . I've tried using a special add-on for Firefox called " cuneAform" which i thought would get round this , simply draft my blog entry in cuneAform and cut and paste it into Firefox .
when making a new blog entry in Firefox directly ( i.e. not using cuneAform ) spaces between paragraphs and sentences written on different lines aren't respected when the blog entry is submitted and published . again the workaround comes from an add-on for Firefox called "FEdit" . it simply gets added to your tool bar and when you've finished typing your blog entry click on the FEdit button . line breaks will be added to the page , click publish and voilà .
#### UPDATE - 27 June 2005 - MSN Spaces adds an html editor that works with Firefox so no need to use cuneAform or FEdit any more . #####
some page layout formats available in msn spaces look different in Firefox and Internet Explorer . this is just a trial and error thing . i now use a layout that suits me AND looks ok in both .
adding photos or customizing layout by moving elements . both of these work differently in Firefox , but there are no problems , it's simply a different way each has of doing the same task .
summary
i could go on , but that 's plenty for now and covers most of what anyone would need . if you intend to try Firefox and need help with anything just leave a comment . if you know something i don't do the same , all comments and tips welcome . I've tried to include links throughout the entry of anything I've mentioned and screen shots which should help explain .
if you want to re-direct to this entry simply hyperlink to this url ......
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