Firefox: A Better Browser for Journalists

Posted on July 2, 2005

Most, if not all journalists -- like everyone else on the web -- uses Internet Explorer by default as their web browser. Its so automatic now people dont even think about it.

But back in the early days of the web the browser wars between Netscape and IE were famous and the competition produced better products. Now Microsoft finally faces a new rival again, and journalists should take a serious look at Firefox.

Its free, available for download at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox. Its open source -- which means no one owns it; the web community develops it and anyone can build and propose improvements, add-ons or extensions as they are called. More on this later.

There is a simple guide at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html. If youre faint of heart when it comes to trying new techie things, fine, stick with Internet Explorer. But if you have just the slightest computer skills and want to explore a bit, Firefox can be a charm and especially useful to journalists.

EASIER SEARCHES

The best thing about Firefox is that the main address bar is automatic search engine. Better still, it is by default Googles Im Felling Lucky first choice result. In other words, everyone knows you can type in cnn.com in the address bar and go to CNN. But lets say you want to find the British Foreign Ministry?

In Internet Explorer, you would have to go to Google, put in that term and click on the results. With Firefox, all you do is type in British Foreign Ministry and - Bingo! -- it takes you to the official page of the Foreign and Commonwealth Ministry of the UK government.

To save time, many people have already downloaded the Google Toolbar which nestles at the top of your browser. But Firefox goes one better. Same toolbar -- but in addition, you can download over a hundred other search tools that you can use instead of Google from the same toolbar. Dictionaries, translation tools, BBC News. All very useful for the journalist on deadline.

TABS AND MORE

Journalists rarely stay on one web page for long. But in IE, you have to keep clicking CTL + N if you want to have multiple windows open to see and compare various web pages.

With Firefox, every new page opens in a new TAB which is easily accessible. Clicking from, say, the New York Times to the London Times is a snap.

Firefox also makes it much easier to save and reorganize your bookmarks.

For more advanced users, they also have something called Live Bookmarks (SEE http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/live-bookmarks.html)

Live Bookmarks lets you view RSS news and blog headlines in the bookmarks toolbar or bookmarks menu. (We discussed RSS Newsfeeds in Media # ). With one glance, quickly see the latest headlines from your favorite sites. For example, I have the CBC, BBC and the New York Times installed and just by hovering my mouse over these bookmarks I can see their latest news. One click and I am directly at the articles I want.

EXTEND YOUR POWER

Once you download Firefox you can go the extensions page and add on a bunch of neat features (including skins to make your browser look much better).

To get any of these free extensions listed below, just put in the keywords in the search box at the Firefox extensions page at https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions.

One of the neat extensions I always use is Copy Plain Text. I am also always cutting and pasting snippets of information, dates, facts and statistics. Ever notice that when you copy large amounts of text from a web page and then try to copy it into Word, it often comes out garbled because it keeps the same format and coding as the web page?

With CopyPlainText, all you have to do is highlight the sections you want, click CTRL SHIFT +C and you can easily import the text into an email or Word document.

I also often save web pages - either for future reference or because in doing research I am afraid the target of my research might change their web page or shut down during the course of the investigation. Scrapbook allows you to instantly copy entire web pages by simply clicking ALT K.

Another extension I adore is AutoFill which allows me to fill in forms on web sites without having to retype my name, address and other information.

There is even ForecastFox which pops up and tells me the weather in whatever city I program it for.

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Firefox isnt for everyone. You have to be a bit tech-adventurous because it doesnt pay to download Firefox unless you use its extensions. Some web pages and download sites also work better under the old IE.

But Firefox is at least challenging the boring and lazy Internet Explorer and offers the resourceful journalist new and fast ways to search the web.