Firefox and Gimp

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Firefox and Gimp

• Mark Szidik, MLC
• October 3, 2008

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Some FOSS Projects used at MLC
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Some FOSS Projects used at MLC
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What is Mozilla Firefox

• Firefox is a free web browser
• Open Source (unlike IE and Opera)?
• Built by community of over 800 code contributors
  and thousands of other volunteers
• Dedicated to open standards

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Mozilla/Firefox History

• Mozilla was formed as a separate organization by
  Netscape in 1998 (yes, 10 years ago)?
• Netscape Communicator code released as OSS
• AOL buys Netscape in 1999
• Mozilla Browser released in 2002

(Creative Commons photo by Jesse Sneed)?
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Mozilla/Firefox History

• Firefox version 1.0 released Nov 9, 2004
• Firefox version 2.0 released Oct 24, 2006
• AOL announces end of Netscape development in Dec,
  2007
• Firefox version 3.0 released June 17, 2008

(Creative Commons photo by John Cooper)?
(Creative Commons photo by Brian Herzog)?
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Firefox 3 Features

• Runs faster and uses less memory than V2
• Smart location bar
• searches your bookmarks and history
• one-click bookmarks
• Improved anti-phishing measures
• Session restore, reopen closed tab
• Cookies, history and bookmark storage moved to
  sqllite database

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5 Reasons to Use Firefox
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5 Better Standards Support

• Firefox has excellent support for HTML, XHTML and
  CSS. IE is still catching up.
• And finally there are versions of MSIE which
  seem to require that an SSL session can be reused
  (a totally non standard-conforming behavior, of
  course).
• http//www.modssl.org/docs/2.8/ssl_faq.htmlToC49

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4 Its Fast

• Tests show that Firefox v3.0 is faster than IE 6
  and 7 as well as faster than IE8 beta
• http//lifehacker.com/5055406/browser-speed-tests-
  the-compiled-uptodate-results

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3 Community / OSS

• Firefox is open source and community driven
• From the Mozilla Foundation manifesto
• The Mozilla project is a global community of
  people who believe that openness, innovation, and
  opportunity are key to the continued health of
  the Internet. We have worked together since 1998
  to ensure that the Internet is developed in a way
  that benefits everyone.
• Many other projects are based on Mozilla code

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2 Its more secure

• Firefox gets updated much faster than IE
• An independent study shows that, in 2006, IE
  users were vulnerable to online threats 78 of
  the time. Firefox users? Only 2.
• http//www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/security
• Malware, such as computer viruses and spyware,
  is often distributed as ActiveX controls in
  webpages.
• Wikipedia http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActiveX

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1 Add-ons

• Firefox is the most customizable browser
  available
• Over 5000 Add-ons currently available

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Recommended Firefox Add-ons

• Zotero is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension
  to help you collect, manage, and cite your
  research sources.
• from George Mason University (partially IMLS
  grant funded)?
• NoScript blocks Java, Javascript, Flash on all
  sites and gives you control of where you will
  allow them to run
• Flashblock blocks all flash animation
• Web Developer a ton of tools for web coders

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Write Your own Search Plugin
ltsearch version"2.1" name"MeL Resources
Gateway" description"Michigan eLibrary
Internet Collection search plugin v2.1"
method"POST" action"http//mel.org/SPT--Advan
cedSearch.php" searchForm"http//mel.org/SPT--
AdvancedSearch.php"gt ltinput name"F_SearchString
" user""gt lt/searchgt ltbrowser update"http//szid
ik.org/mel2.src" updateIcon"http//szidik.org/me
l.png" updateCheckDays"7"gt
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GNU Image Manipulation Programa.k.a GIMP

• Gimp is a Photoshop-like tool for creating and
  editing images.
• started by two Berkeley students in 1995
• Version 1.0 released in 1996
• Created the GTK toolkit which is used by many
  other applications including GNOME
• Its now cross platform running on many Linux/unix
  variants including Mac. Windows is supported as
  well.
• Version 2.6.0 release October 1, 2008

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OSS Alternatives to Gimp

• Gimpshop Gimp with a Photoshop-like interface
• Seashore Gimp 'lite' for Mac
• Krita Part of Koffice (Linux, unix only)?
• Paint.net (Windows only)?