2 posts tagged “internet”

I just installed Firefox 2.0 on my iMac G5 after reading about the new version release this week and I was having a really hard time figuring out how to enable the new Session Restore feature that was mentioned in the Release Notes.  There's no documentation in the notes as to how to enable it to work like the now obsolete Session Saver add-on that I've come to love and rely on heavily in Firefox.  The application Saft for Mac OS X's Safari browser has a similar tab save and restore feature but Safari 2 just doesn't cut the mustard for many of the web 2.0 application sites, including Vox.  Hopefully, Safari 3.0 will fare better than 2.0 has with these new website applications.

So, I was just looking at the Firefox Add-Ons page for Session Saver and discovered that there is no new version of this software and no way to contact Rue, the creator of the Firefox Session Saver plug-in.  I also searched the Firefox Help via the Help menu and there's no entry anywhere for Session Restore which is really stupid.

Luckily, someone was nice enough to mention where the feature can be selected in the Session Saver user comments on the Firefox Add-Ons site and I have the scoop for those that are having the same difficulty I was.

In Windows, go to Options > Main > When Firefox Starts and select Show my windows and tabs from last time.  The default is normally Show my home page.  What this does is, every time you close Firefox 2 with one or more tabs open, the same tabs are opened again the next time the application is launched.  I absolutely love this feature.  Your mileage may vary depending on your personal taste.

For Mac users, the instructions are just a tad bit different: Go to Firefox > Preferences > When Firefox starts and select the Show my windows and tabs from last time option from the pop-up.

With the addition of Session Restore in Firefox 2.0, there are some really nifty features that are still missing from the add-on Session Saver and the Safari-only Saft application's equivalent tab saving feature.  Session Restore also restores all previously open pages or tabs after a crash of the browser which on the surface is very useful but sometimes, you need to be able to pick and choose from the list of pages that were open when the crash occurred because one of the open tabs may have caused the crash and you don't want it to be reopened and have the browser crash all over again.  Only Saft for Safari provides a pick list of pages or tabs that were open prior to the crash where you can choose which pages or tabs you want it to open and remove pages that might have been the source of the browser crash.

Another feature that is missing in Firefox 2.0's new Session Restore that Session Saver .2 and Safari's Saft include is the ability to save a specific group of tabs as a set.  When the tab is saved in Saft or with older versions of Session Saver, selecting the user-defined saved tab set item from the appropriate menu opens all of the tabs that were saved at the time of creation into a new browser window.  I like that feature but it's not nearly as important as being able to choose which pages to restore after a crash.

I hope someone find this information helpful.

I was finally able to log in and see something besides the down page over at Tribe.net and I've gotta say, the new look is a marked improvement over the previous one, once you get used to it.

Some additional features were added but they're not immediately obvious including the ability to add blog RSS feeds to your MyTribe.net page, drag and drop of modules on that page and tons of other new UI changes including a new, smaller, more adult-oriented masthead and an old school-look logo.

Additionally, many of the pages that had been previously buried have resurfaced again in the browse menu like Reviews and other items that had been deemed less important to be able to access easily under the previous CEO.  There's also a new my friends'  photos module, a calendar module for the MyTribe.net page and a new official Tribe.net blog that's actually an RSS-enabled tribe.  All tribes on Tribe.net have featured RSS capabilities for some time but being able to add modules to your MyTribe.net page that are feeds of your tribes is all new as of today.

There are a few items that have to be cleaned up in a point release at some point but so far, it's looking like the good old Tribe.net we all used to love with some slight adjustments to the UI and several long awaited new features.  I was salivating at the thought of being able to read my blog feeds from MyTribe.net and having the drag and drop functionality that was discussed when I still worked for the company, and now it's finally here!

To add a feed module to your MyTribe.net page, click the customize your homepage link at the top of the Home page after logging in, and then choose which module you'd like to add from the list.  The list of items is different depending on whether your configuring your MyTribe.net page or your profile.  Some new modules have been added to the outward-facing profile stable of modules as well.  More on them below.

In addition to the previously supported MyRevver video module, YouTube, and GoogleVideo modules have been added and XPSF file formats are now supported with new modules in the user profile configuration area of the site.  To see the new modules, log in and click to your profile page [the icon in the upper left corner of the page or choose profile from the My pop-up], then click the Add Modules tab and select any of the existing or new modules from there.

XPSF, for the technically handicapped, is an XML file format for sharing music playlists.  Click the link XPSF for more info on where to find these playlists, or how to create your own.

Nice work Tribe guys!  I was reporting bugs just like back in the good ol' days today.  I'm really happy that the folks there are stoked to come in to work again.  Morale had gotten pretty low there towards the end of my tenure.