[Python-Dev] Python sidebar for Mozilla/Netscape (original) (raw)

Mark Hammond mhammond@skippinet.com.au
Fri, 5 Apr 2002 09:45:03 +1000

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Mark> I wrote a cute little Python sidebar for Mozilla/NS6.

I saw all the other responses so far, and while it looks cute, I can only think of two reasons to use Mozilla/NS6: testing for compatibility and escape from MS.

I don't want to evangelize Mozilla too much, but FWIW I recently switched my default browser from IE to Mozilla.

The killer features for me:

• Reasonable image and cookie blocking built in - haven't seen many banner ads for some time now, and no need to install extra software for the blocking.

• Nice "script security" features. You can remove the ability of pages to create popup windows or to move or resize the Window. I haven't seen a single popup window in ages

• "Tabbed" browsing - middle-click on a link, and a new tab opens in the current window. Very useful as it allows you to keep many related web pages open in a single frame.

• Keywords, as described here recently. I enter "dict foobar" in the URL bar, and "foobar" is looked up in an online dictionary for me. I have a number of such keywords setup.

• Sidebars - the "search" sidebar is particularly effective. The Mozilla developer specific sidebars, (bugzilla, tinderbox autobuild, lxr text search etc) are great. This new Python one is pretty cool too:)

• Other "Power User" oriented functions - eg "Page Info" shows a whole slew of info about the current page that is very useful when trouble-shooting pages or web applications.

I still don't use Mozilla for mail though - still a few rough edges there. I expect to move to mail over the next 6 months or though. I do use it for news.

Writing code that is specific to any browser seems counterproductive to me.

counterproductive for who? The alternative appears to have been "don't do anything". The fact that this only works in Mozilla is still quite productive for me :) Further, I would expect that in 12 months time, we find Mozilla has the largest browser share for this particular little group!

Obviously this is off-topic for python-dev, but I thought some of you may be interested in the fact that Mozilla is stabilizing, more advanced preferences are finding their way to the UI, and I find the "power user" features make Mozilla a better browser than IE. Obviously YMMV.

In a desperate attempt to bring things back on topic, there is also a Python XPCOM plugin available for Mozilla. Unfortunately, if you want to write Python code that executes on the client, you need to ensure Python and PyXPCOM are installed on the client, so not incredibly useful for general use.

Mark.

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