computer science

List of Firefox features

List of Firefox features is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of Firefox features rather than just read about it. In short: Mozilla Firefox has features which distinguish it from other web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Major differences To avoid interface bloat, ship a relatively smaller core customizable to meet individual users' needs, and allow for corporate or institutional extensions to meet their varying policies, Firefox relies on a robust extension system to allow users to modify the browser accordi…

Key takeaways

List of Firefox features belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of Firefox features to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of Firefox features from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mozilla Firefox has features which distinguish it from other web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge.

Major differences To avoid interface bloat, ship a relatively smaller core customizable to meet individual users' needs, and allow for corporate or institutional extensions to meet their varying policies, Firefox relies on a robust extension system to allow users to modify the browser according to their requirements instead of providing all features in the standard distribution. While Opera and Google Chrome do the same, extensions for these are fewer in number as of late 2013. Internet Explorer also has an extension system but it is less widely supported than that of others. Developers supporting multiple browsers almost always support Firefox, and in many instances exclusively. As Opera has a policy of deliberately including more features in the core as they prove useful, the market for extensions is relatively unstable but also there is less need for them. The sheer number of extensions is not a good guide to the capabilities of a browser. Protocol support and the difficulty of adding new link type protocols also vary widely across not only these browsers but across versions of these browsers. Opera has historically been most robust and consistent about supporting cutting-edge protocols such as robust file sharing eDonkey links or bitcoin transactions. These can be difficult to support in Firefox without relying on unknown small developers, which defeats the privacy purpose of these protocols. Instructions for supporting new link protocols vary widely across operating systems and Firefox versions, and are generally not implementable by end users who lack systems administration comfort and the ability to follow exact detailed instructions to type in strings.

Web technologies support

Firefox supports most basic Web standards including HTML, XML, XHTML, CSS (with extensions), JavaScript, DOM, MathML, SVG, XSLT and XPath. Firefox's standards support and growing popularity have been credited as one reason Internet Explorer 7 was to be released with improved standards support. Since Web standards are often in contradiction with Internet Explorer's behaviors, Firefox, like other browsers, has a quirks mode. This mode attempts to mimic Internet Explorer's quirks modes, which equates to using obsolete rendering standards dating back to Internet Explorer 5, or alternately newer peculiarities introduced in IE 6 or 7. However, it is not completely compatible. Because of the differing rendering, PC World notes that a minority of pages do not work in Firefox, however Internet Explorer 7's quirks mode does not either. CNET notes that Firefox does not support ActiveX controls by default, which can also cause webpages to be missing features or to not work at all in Firefox. Mozilla made the decision to not support ActiveX due to potential security vulnerabilities, its proprietary nature and its lack of cross-platform compatibility. There are methods of using ActiveX in Firefox such as via third-party plugins but they do not work in all versions of Firefox or on all platforms. Beginning on December 8, 2006, Firefox Nightly builds pass the Acid2 CSS standards compliance test, so all future releases of Firefox 3 would pass the test. Firefox also implements a proprietary protocol from Google called "safebrowsing", which is not an open standard.

Cross-platform support

Mozilla Firefox runs on certain platforms that coincide OS versions in use at the time of release. In 2004 version 1 supported older operating systems such as Windows 95 and Mac OS X 10.1, by 2008 version 3 required at least OS X 10.4 and even Windows 98 support ended. Various releases available on the primary distribution site can support the following operating systems, although not always the latest Firefox version.

Various versions of Microsoft Windows, including 98, 98SE, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. OS X Linux-based operating systems using X.Org Server or XFree86 Builds for Solaris (x86 and SPARC), contributed by the Sun Beijing Desktop Team, are available on the Mozilla web site. Mozilla Firefox 1.x installation on Windows 95 requires a few additional steps. Since Firefox is open source and Mozilla actively develops a platform independent abstraction for its graphical front end, it can also be compiled and run on a variety of other architectures and operating systems. Thus, Firefox is also available for many other systems. This includes OS/2, AIX, and FreeBSD. Builds for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition are also available. Mozilla Firefox is also the browser of choice for a good number of smaller operating systems, such as SkyOS and ZETA. Firefox uses the same profile format on the different platforms, so a profile may be used on multiple platforms, if all of the platforms can access the same profile; this includes, for example, profiles stored on an NTFS (via FUSE) or FAT32 partition accessible from both Windows and Linux, or on a USB flash drive. This is useful for users who dual-boot their machines. However, it may cause a few problems, especially with extensions.

Security Firefox is free-libre software, and thus in particular its source code is visible to everyone. This allows anyone to review the code for security vulnerabilities. It also allowed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to give funding for the automated tool Coverity to be run against Firefox code. Additionally, Mozilla has a security bug bounty system - anyone who reports a valid critical security bug receives a $3000 (US) cash reward for each report and a Mozilla T-shirt. With effect from December 15, 2010, Mozilla added Web Applications to its Security Bug Bounty Program.

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of Firefox features

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of Firefox features claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of Firefox features before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of Firefox features ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of Firefox features

In research: List of Firefox features appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of Firefox features in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of Firefox features is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Firefox, Software features, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of Firefox features outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of Firefox features in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of Firefox features means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of Firefox features out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of Firefox features in simple terms?

Mozilla Firefox has features which distinguish it from other web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Major differences To avoid interface bloat, ship a relatively smaller core customizable to meet individual users' needs, and allow for corporate or institutional extensions…

Why does List of Firefox features matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of Firefox features?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of Firefox features.