MozillaZine

Mozilla Firebird 0.7 Released

Wednesday October 15th, 2003

The latest milestone of the Mozilla Foundation's standalone browser was released today. Based on Mozilla 1.5, Mozilla Firebird 0.7 features several enhancements, including support for webpage content in the sidebar, a stylesheet selector and a better Options dialogue. Some of these new features were examined in MozillaZine's August article on Firebird. Version 0.7 also contains numerous other changes.

Download a build today from the new download page or the Firebird 0.7 directory on ftp.mozilla.org. Also, don't forget to check out the new Mozilla Firebird product page, which has lots of information for end users.

#1 release notes

by pmsyyz

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 4:14 AM

Will the release notes be updated? http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/release-notes.html

#6 Firebird BitTorrent

by jrobbio

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 5:55 AM

Can someone please put the 0.7 release on my BitTorrent tracker at http://www.metashops.co.uk/mozilla as I'm currently at work. Thanks very much to whoever starts it off. Oh and please mention it in the build forums.

Rob

#2 Missing Scrollbars

by p_ter

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 5:34 AM

Hi, I was really looking forward to 0.7 because in the last two weeks my 0.61 crashed quiet often. but now that i downloaded 0.7 im missing all the scrollbars. the browser has none neither the formfields. I switched the theme but that didnt change a thing. Is it only me who is experiencing that?!

#7 Re: Missing Scrollbars

by qaelith_2112

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 6:02 AM

Release 0.7 broke some of the themes. You'll have to either wait for the theme to be updated, or search around on Google for the procedure for fixing the broken theme.

#18 Re: Missing Scrollbars

by neilparks1

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 10:55 AM

Themes were broken approx Aug 17. So look for one that was updated after that date and it should work okay.

#3 How do I install it?

by rethanon

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 5:37 AM

Surely it's not just a case of running it straight out of the folder you unzip it to? What about installing extensions and storing profiles?

#8 Re: How do I install it?

by qaelith_2112

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 6:05 AM

Move the folder that was created (MozillaFirebird) when you unzipped it to wherever you want it. The first time you run Firebird, it'll automatically create a profile. To install extensions, go to the web page that has the extension you would like to install and click it.

They will probably be putting an installer on the next Firebird release.

#10 Re: Re: How do I install it?

by rethanon

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 6:09 AM

Thanks very much - it's very difficult to find this info on www.mozilla.org and I think it would be nice to include a small text file that says exactly what you wrote, just to make things clear. It's especially difficult for new users who aren't experienced in the testing and nightly builds etc.

Thanks again.

#13 Re: How do I install it?

by seb

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 9:44 AM

There is also the unofficial installer: http://seb.mozdev.org/firebird/ Direct link: http://downloads.us-east3.mozdev.org/seb/MozillaFirebird-0.7-setup.exe (5.4 MB)

#4 How do I install it?

by rethanon

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 5:42 AM

Surely it's not just a case of running it straight out of the folder you unzip it to? What about installing extensions and storing profiles?

#5 New Firebird site

by Jeex

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 5:42 AM

The new site design (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/) is good - much more consumer orientated - but I prefer the look and feel of the new Beta Mozilla site (http://www.mozilla.org/website-beta/).

It would be good also if the main points on the new Mozilla Firebird homepage (i.e. "Blocks Popup Advertising") were hyper-linked to the corresponding section in the Tour pages...

Last thing, just missing the gorgeous Mozilla Firebird logo in the site's favicon!

Good work Mr. Goodger!

-- James

#9 Re: New Firebird site

by dave532

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 6:08 AM

I thought the new look of the firebird site was awful, it was way too bright. This makes the product seem less like a professional offering.

The new mozilla.org beta site and the current homepage look good, why should we be blinded when we want to see firebird information?

#16 Re: Re: New Firebird site

by tve

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 10:30 AM

I agree. I was always happy with the recent new looks, but the new FB product page looks quite ugly. Sorry.

Make it look like http://www.mozilla.org/website-beta, this looks great.

#26 Re: Re: New Firebird site

by Ashato

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:16 AM

I agree with that. The logo's way too fancy -almost unreadable. And there's no visual consistency between the various parts of the Mozilla website nor within the Firebird site -patent when you look at the "compare features" table. All this, unfortunately, seems a bit amateurish... The product is good, but the wrappin doesn't live up to it.

Btw, am I the only one to have a problem with the "Advocacy" link? It doesn't seem to lead anywhere.

#11 Re: New Firebird site

by hoodedone0

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 7:28 AM

The Beta site looks great, but the Firebird site? ...no.

*also notices many typos in the various new pages*

#43 It's ugly

by tomsommer

Thursday October 16th, 2003 3:53 AM

The new Firebird page sucks, looks like something a newbie designer did in 3 minutes

I much prefer the "beta" design of Mozilla.org :)

#12 Re: New Firebird Site

by rethanon

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 9:09 AM

I agree - the new beta site looks good, but the Firebird site is way too in your face. I wouldn't say it looks less professional, just a bit too "travel-agent-ish" if you know what I mean. Like it's advertising holidays in the sun. And the "Take a Tour!"? That just makes it sound like a company trying to sell you something, showing you how good it is to make you get it....(hmmm, actually not a bad idea to encourage new users when you think about it....). Still, I'd prefer to see it renamed Preview or Demo or something less overly enthusiastic. It would probably be alright without the exclamation mark actually...

#14 Upgrading from previous version

by leet

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 9:53 AM

I'm using a nightly sometime after 0.6.1. I installed some extensions that I don't want. How do I not lose other settings?

#15 Re: Upgrading from previous version

by dave532

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 10:29 AM

You're safe to delete the directory that mozilla firebird is installed into, your settings are held elsewhere (in your profile dir - see the Firebird Help site for more details http://texturizer.net/firebird/)

#19 Re: Upgrading from previous version

by neilparks1

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:00 AM

Extensions are weird critters. Some are installed into the "application" directory (where the EXE is) and some into the profile. But if they let you set any options, all your choices are in the profile.

So, if you have any extensions in the app dir, you'll have to reinstall those after installing the new FB. But you'll probably find that your custom settings have been retained.

#17 Sidebar Panels ... wtf?

by thomasz44l

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 10:39 AM

I would post this in the firebird forum, but they are down for now (yes I donated just now!)

My question is, wtf is with the new sidebar panels in firebird? There is no option to close the panel. So now I have a bookmark that opens itself in the sidebar, and once you've opened it, there is no way to close that thing down. You have to load one of the three stock sidebars, then go back to the menu, and turn that sidebar off again...

Please fix this ASAP, I love my sidebars in mozilla and have been missing them in firebird!!

Also, why don't the sidebars that have been added show up in the View... Sidebar menu? The only way to access them is through the bookmark. I hope this can be changed also.

#21 Re: Sidebar Panels ... wtf?

by neilparks1

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:03 AM

Personally I thought the best use of a sidebar was the "Page Holder". I hope that feature will come back. Flagging a particular bookmark to always open in a sidebar is not quite as practical, IMNSHO.

#41 Re: Re: Sidebar Panels ... wtf?

by nguyen_alex

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 10:17 PM

Dragging a link or bookmark to the Web Panel seems like a natural option.

#22 Forums down

by neilparks1

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:06 AM

Have the good folks at Mozilla Foundation considered applying for some free space on sourceforge?

#23 Re: Forums down

by kerz

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:09 AM

The foundation doesn't pay for them, I do, along with whatever the community donates. We've ordered more ram for the box, which will hopefully get dropped in soon. Being popular is a curse :).

jason

#24 Re: Sidebar Panels ... wtf?

by mrgoodgood

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:10 AM

In the default installation of firebird, sidebars come with close button on the top-right corner of the sidebar itself.

Just a wild guess you might be facing the same problem i'm faced (and solved) last time. I met your problem after following instruction from firebird help site to add lines to userChrome.css to remove the close button from tabbar. Apparently the code has some flaws.

instead of

.tabs-closebutton{ ...

try putting

#content .tabs-closebutton{ ...

hopefully that will fix the problem ;)

#40 That did it, thanks!

by thomasz44l

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 9:01 PM

I kiss you!

#20 Whatever

by Tanyel

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:02 AM

They should stop calling it firebird.

#28 Re: Whatever

by vfwlkr

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:49 AM

hello familiar troll.

#42 Re: Re: Whatever

by Tanyel

Thursday October 16th, 2003 1:17 AM

Hello blazing flunky. I think they should change the name because they said they would, and they were wrong to use it originally. I would like to comment on other aspects of the browser but there does not seem to be anything noteworthy. With no moral standing and no outstanding features, the project seems stagnated to me. I had a desire for Netscape to survive Microsoft for a long time. Now that I have abandoned that hopeless struggle, I have a desire for any web browser to overcome Internet Explorer. Mozilla could do this if they would stop behaving like Microsoft. Microsoft may win by using underhanded tactics and covering mistakes. Mozilla should win by confessing mistakes and resolving issues (even if they are just naming disputes). They will never be as good as Microsoft at being evil, so they had better try something else.

#45 Re: Re: Re: Whatever

by thomasz44l

Thursday October 16th, 2003 6:09 AM

Ha ha... funny.

#47 Re: Whatever

by MillenniumX

Thursday October 16th, 2003 3:00 PM

Yes, because we all know that DBAs lack the intellegence tell a Web browser from a database.

#25 Product Page

by neilparks1

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:14 AM

Just visited the new "product pages" for Moz, TB, and FB. The other two look very sharp and professional. Please do the FB page in that format sted the one you're using now.

#27 Mirror

by paugq

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:23 AM

Here is a mirror in Spain:

http://ente.tlc.upv.es/~paugq/MozillaFirebird-0.7-win32.zip (Win32)

http://ente.tlc.upv.es/~paugq/MozillaFirebird-0.7-mac.dmg.gz (Mac OS X)

http://ente.tlc.upv.es/~paugq/MozillaFirebird-0.7-i686-pc-linux-gnu.tar.gz (Linux i686)

#29 How do I make the middle mouse button open tabs?

by gpinero

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 11:49 AM

I can't find it in options. Do I need to install an extension?

#30 Re: How do I make the middle mouse button open tab

by vfwlkr

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 1:36 PM

That should work out-of-the-box. Are you on windows? Have you mapped your middle-mouse button to something else - like dblclick?

#44 Re: How do I make the middle mouse button open tab

by jilles

Thursday October 16th, 2003 6:00 AM

Do you use the logitech mouse driver? It can remap the middle mouse button to a number of things, one of which is the middle mouse button event. If you map it to something else, that would be a problem for applications that do something with middle mouse button events.

#48 Re: How do I make the middle mouse button open tab

by maltschul

Saturday October 18th, 2003 12:25 PM

I'm having the same problem. Using MS Intellimouse Explorer USB with latest MS drivers installed on Mac OS X and Firebird 0.7. I just can't get the blasted middle button to open new tabs. Any other thoughts? I've tried restoring mouse defaults and still no luck.

Thanks.

#50 Re: How do I make the middle mouse button open tab

by Jekel

Tuesday January 13th, 2004 5:23 PM

for logitech, set it in mouse properties to Autoscroll (not universal autoscroll or what it initially sets it to on setup) also checkmark to 'Use MS Office Compatible Scroll only' Worked for me. Heres an image of exactly what im talking about: http://www.j3k3l.com/fileman/sexy/Jekel/mouse.jpg

#31 The new Firebird website withdrawn?

by marcoos

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 1:56 PM

Currently this link: http://www.mozilla.org/website-beta/firebird/ redirects to the (not-so-)old http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/ page...

#32 Yup, redrawn...

by Waldo_2

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 1:58 PM

It's gone...

Comments by Ben Goodger in the document history:

OK, OK. Initial feedback was mixed but now it seems the world sees the 0.7 site more suitable advertising a Mexican airline than a browser. Going back to the more tried-and-true 7/15 design. You can't hit a home run every day of the week! -_-

#33 The product page's redrawn, that is

by Waldo_2

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 1:59 PM

the new design for the product page, that is: I thought I'd set my post up to reply to #31 there. My bad...

#34 Re: Yup, redrawn...

by jedbro

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 2:04 PM

Yeah, while the concept is nice (The Tour/Features/download/etc) it should definitally be in a similar format as the Thunderbird release: http://www.mozilla.org/website-beta/thunderbird/

#35 same old problem

by leet

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 2:21 PM

Install fresh copy. Go to options. Go through each panel on the left and change some settings. Try clicking OK. There's no response.

I've had this problem on every computer since the early milestone days. I don't know how many panels have to be changed or just inspected before the bug pops up.

#38 Re: same old problem

by HoserHead

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 5:50 PM

Have you reported this bug? How do you expect it to get fixed if you haven't?

#46 Re: same old problem

by leet

Thursday October 16th, 2003 7:25 AM

Well, I'm not good at querying for a bug I don't entirely understand, and since it's such an obvious one I thought someone could shed some light on it instead of filing what may well be a duplicate. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

#36 Still nightlies for me...

by anthropolemc

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 2:47 PM

...as I can't reach ftp.mozilla.org to save my life.

#37 Re: Still nightlies for me...

by leet

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 5:04 PM

Try ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/.

#39 more Bittorrents!

by sdsalsero

Wednesday October 15th, 2003 6:09 PM

The only way I was able to get any of the files today was via that one guy's Bittorrent server. Can Mozilla.org setup their own tracker and start posting releases that way, too?

#49 More localized versions?

by ogiesen

Tuesday October 21st, 2003 4:10 AM

Any ideas when the German localized version of FB 0.7 will become available? Currently I only see TW and CN in the contrib-localized sub-dir. This would definitely help me push FB to some more people... ;)