Welcome to Mozilla Firefox! Firefox is an Internet browser that
you can use to visit web pages and search the Web.
In this section:
* Navigating Web Pages
* Searching
* Copying, Saving, and
Printing Pages
* Improving Speed and
Efficiency
Navigating Web Pages
Viewing Your Home Page
When you start Firefox, you will see your home page. By default,
you will see Firefox's home page.
Tips:
* To display more web content on the screen, you can use Full Screen mode.
Full Screen mode condenses the Firefox's Toolbars into one small
toolbar. To enable Full Screen mode, simply select
View > Full Screen or press
F11.
* To go to your home page quickly, press AltOpt+Home.
Moving to Another Page
You can move to a new web page by typing in its Internet address or URL
into the Location Bar. URLs normally begin with "http://" followed
by one or more names that identify the address. One example is
"http://www.mozilla.org/".
1. Click the Location Bar to select the URL that is already there.
2. Type the URL of the page you want to visit. The URL you type replaces
any text already in the Location Bar.
3. Press EnterReturn.
Tip: To quickly select the URL of the Location Bar, press
CtrlCmd+L.
Don't know a URL? Try typing something specific to the page
you want to visit, e.g. a name, into the Location Bar and hit EnterReturn.
This will take you to the top result in Google for that term.
Clicking a Link
Most web pages contain links you can click to move to other pages.
1. Move the mouse 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.
2. Click the link once. While the network locates the link's page, status
messages will appear at the bottom of the window.
Retracing Your Steps
There are several ways to revisit pages:
* To go back or forward one page, click the Back or
Forward button.
* 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 recently visited; to return to a page, choose it from the list.
* 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.
* 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 will see the
History Sidebar. The History Sidebar displays a list of folders.
Clicking the folders displays subfolders or titles of web pages.
You can click a page's title to view that page.
Stopping and Reloading
If a page is loading too slowly or you no longer wish to view a page,
click the Stop button.
To reload the current page or to get the most up-to-date version, click
the Reload button or press CtrlCmd+R.
Tabbed Browsing
When you visit more than 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 Firefox 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.
For more info, see Tabbed Browsing.
Using the Sidebar
The Sidebar is an area on the left side of the screen that you can use for
viewing bookmarks or history. Extensions may add new ways to use the Sidebar
as well.
To view an item in the Sidebar, select View >
Sidebar. From there you can select the Sidebar tab you want.
Searching
Searching the Web
Searching for web pages on a particular topic is as easy as typing a few
words into Firefox's Search Bar as pictured below:
For example, if you want to find information about baby dolls:
1. Click in the Search Bar.
2. Type the phrase baby doll. Your typing replaces any text
currently in the search bar.
3. Hit EnterReturn to search.
Search results for "baby doll" appear in the Firefox window.
Tip: You can click on the Search Engine icon to choose
another Search Engine. You can also switch between installed Search Engines by
pressing CtrlCmd+Up Arrow and CtrlCmd+Down Arrow.
There are Search Engines which search the whole web like Google; others only
search specific sites like Amazon.com. Select Add Engines...
to install additional Search Engines.
Searching for Selected Words
in a Web Page
Firefox allows you to search for words you select within a web
page:
1. Select (highlight) any words in a web page.
2. Right-clickPress Ctrl,
click the mouse button, and choose "Search Web for [your selected
words]" from the menu.
Firefox opens a new tab and uses your default search engine to
search for your selected words.
Searching Within a Page
To find text within the page you are currently viewing in
Firefox:
1. Select Edit > Find in This Page. If the
current page contains frames, you may need to click within a frame before
you begin your search. A new toolbar should appear near the bottom of your
browser.
2. Type the text you want to find.
3. Choose from the following search choices:
* Find Next: find text in the page that is below the
current cursor position.
* Find Previous: find text that is above the current
cursor position.
* Highlight: highlight occurrences of your search string
in the current page.
* Match case: limit the search to text that has the
same capitalization as your search string.
4. The search automatically begins when something is typed into the
text box.
To find the same word or phrase again:
* Select Edit > Find Again.
Copying, Saving, and Printing
Pages
Copying Part of a Page
To copy text from a page:
1. Select the text.
2. Select Edit > Copy from the Menu
Bar.
You can paste the text into other programs.
To copy a link (URL) or an image link from a page:
1. Position the pointer over the link or image.
2. Right-clickPress Ctrl
and click on the link or image to display a popup menu.
3. Choose Copy Link Location or Copy Image Location. If an image is also a
link, you can choose either menu item.
You can paste the link into other programs or into Firefox's
Location Bar.
Saving All or Part of a Page
To save an entire page in Firefox:
1. Select File > Save Page As. You will see
the Save As dialog box.
2. Choose a location for the saved page.
3. Choose a format for the page you want to save:
* Web Page, Complete: Save the whole web page along
with pictures. This choice allows you to view it as originally shown
with pictures, but it may not keep the HTML link structure of the
original page. Firefox 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 choice preserves the original HTML link
structure in one file.
* Text file: Save the original page as a text file.
This choice 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.
4. Type a file name for the page and click Save.
To save a frame from within a web page:
1. Position the mouse pointer within the frame.
2. Press Ctrl and click onRight-click the frame to display a popup menu.
3. Select This Frame > Save Frame As from
the submenu. You will see the Save As dialog box.
4. Choose a location for the saved page.
5. Choose a format for the page you want to save.
6. Type a file name for the page and click Save.
Saving a file onto your hard drive lets you view the page when you aren't
connected to the Internet.
To save an image from a page:
1. Position the mouse pointer over the image.
2. Right-clickPress Ctrl
and click on the image to display a popup menu.
3. Select Save Image As. You will see the
Save Image dialog box.
4. Choose a location for the saved image.
5. 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 that isn't intended for viewing):
1. Position the mouse pointer over a link to the page.
2. Right-clickPress Ctrl
and click on the link to display a popup menu.
3. Select Save Link to Disk. You will see the
Save As dialog box.
4. Choose a location for the saved page.
5. 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 background,
right-clickpress Ctrl,
click the mouse button on an image and choose Set As Desktop
Background... from the popup menu.
Printing a Page
To print the current page:
* Select File > Print.
To print selected text:
* Select the text in the current page.
* Select File > Print. The print dialog
box will appear.
* Under Print Range, click Selection.
The web page's author and the size of the printed page, not the size of the
onscreen window, determine 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:
* Select File > Print Preview.
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
drop-down menu, choose "50%" to make each page half the size of
the original page. To automatically resize pages so that they fit the width
of the paper, choose "Shrink to Fit". You can also type in your
own percentage by choosing "Custom...".
* Change the orientation of the page: Choose
Portrait
to position the page 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 the
pages.
Note: Some Print Preview functions are different or
unavailable on Mac OS and Linux.
Using Page Setup
Note: Some Page Setup functions are different or
unavailable on Mac OS and Linux.
To customize how pages are printed in Firefox, you can use Page Setup:
* Select File > 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:
o 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.
o Scale: Type in a percentage of the original size. For example,
type "50" 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.
o 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:
o Margins:
+ Top, Bottom, Left, Right: Type a margin in the given units
for the top, bottom, left, and right margins.
o 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-down 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.
+ 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,
