Firefox Hacks is ideal for power users who want to take full advantage of Firefox from Mozilla, the next-generation web browser that is rapidly subverting Internet Explorer's once-dominant audience. It's also the first book that specifically dedicates itself to this technology. Firefox is winning such widespread approval for a number of reasons, including the fact that it lets users browse faster and more efficiently. Perhaps its most appealing strength, though, is its increased security something that is covered in great detail in Firefox Hacks. Clearly the web browser of the future, Firefox includes most of the features that browser users are familiar with, along with several new features, such as a bookmarks toolbar and tabbed pages that allow users to quickly switch among several web sites. Firefox Hacks offers all the valuable tips and tools you need to maximize the effectiveness of this hot web application. It's all covered, including how to customize its deployment, appearance, features, and functionality. You'll even learn how to install, use, and alter extensions and plug-ins. Aimed at clever people who may or may not be capable of basic programming tasks, this convenient resource describes 100 techniques for 100 strategies that effectively exploit Firefox. Or, put another way, readers of every stripe will find all the user-friendly tips, tools, and tricks they need to make a productive switch to Firefox. With Firefox Hacks, a superior and safer browsing experience is truly only pages away. The latest in O'Reilly's celebrated Hacks series, Firefox Hacks smartly complements other web-application titles such as Google Hacks and PayPal Hacks.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 21 Ratings

completely discombobulated - 2005-07-24
Reviewer Rating:
I don't know where to begin, I get a headache everytime I pick up this book. It is clear that the author knows what he is talking about, but where this book falls short is the layout. This might have been a good book *if* and only if McFarlane didn't have to conform to the "Hacks" series format. It really ruins the book, most of the hacks aren't even useful for an end user and are meant for developers. These might be useful if you understand what RFC 822 means, but if you do, then why on earth do you need to buy a book that explains things you already know? Alot of the "hacks" don't even stand by themselves, this book constantly references other "hacks" making it a chore to read. Like I said, if the author was free to create his own format(not conform to "hacks" series) it might have been laid out well.

Someone must explain to me why, in a chapter entitled "Installation", why does it then go into describing the files and folders that exist only once Firefox is installed???? No where in the chapter does it mention the config.ini or install.ini. Which *ahem* are rumored to be used in the installation process. It might've been helpful *coughcough* if it detailed the options for the firefox-installer or setup.exe." It could explain what preferences might be set by the installation process, then have a seperate chapter devoted to preferences. The chapter should've been called "Preferences."

I don't understand the security chapter at all, why is it giving you ways to make Firefox *less* secure???? I suppose you could do them if you were accessing a local webpage, but how many of us do that on a regular basis, and for what purpose? Why would you turn off a security switch that has no performance hit what-so-ever? I suppose you could give a look through them and then use the exact opposite settings it defines, but most of those are already the default settings.

I could go on, but I have other things to do. If you must read this book there's an online version somewhere.

Something For All Web Surfers; Something For All Firefox Developers - 2006-02-05
Reviewer Rating:
I have a little sideline in repairing computers, and one day a customer asked if I could help him recover all his bookmarks from the installed Mozilla version he had on his old hard drive and move them to the one on his new hard drive. Hack 25 in this book, "Migrate Firefox Profiles", told me what to do since Firefox is based on the Mozilla code base. Over several more days, I referred to other hacks in this book to guide the customer with greater skill. This book made me look like a greater expert than I really am -- which pleases me.

This is just one of several times I have quickly reached for Firefox Hacks in order to rescue either a customer or myself. It is very common for customers to want to migrate their browser data. Some consider it important enough to pay for my help to get that job done. Browsers are the most important unit of software on the internet. Buying this book is a good investment in working with Firefox as a tool.

For myself, I'm interested in the fonts I can use (Hacks 30, "Insall Fonts and Character Support", and 61, "Make MathML Content"), reviewing the basics (Hacks 1-10) and installation (Hacks 22 through 32.) I want to play with Scalable Vector Graphics which are now natively supported in Firefox 1.5. I never tire of rendering the cubic spline tiger on Croczilla: [...]

If you want to develop with Firefox (and Nigel McFarlane has written a related book on Mozilla development). check out the getting-started Hack 93, "Make Firefox Software". Enjoy the thrill of compiling your own flavor of Firefox.

My point is that Firefox Hacks has something for everyone. If you are just starting with web browing, look at Hacks 1 through 10. I learned something from most of these -- and I thought I was an expert web surfer. If you want to do deep development, refer to the "Work More Closely With Firefox" hacks in Chapter 9. Yes, I have compiled the Mozilla browser many times. If you just want to be able to play around, pick any hack in this book, read it closely, and then implement it for yourself. Go do it -- you won't be sorry.

I like McFarlane's way of describing each hack in detail rather than throwing code at you and using it to take up column-inches and pages of book space without telling you what that code really does and how to make it work. McFarlane has a gift for explaining exceedingly complex material in an easily digestible way. Every reader of this book will find at least a few hacks to zero in on and study closely. You will find that you have the careful explanation you need to make the hack understandable and workable, without being smothered with useless detail.

McFarlane cross-references and supports his hacks with other hacks and web page links for those who want to learn more. It is McFarlane's special strength that he can simplify the complex issues that come with web browsing and point you in the right direction, while actually getting you interested in some arcane bit of Firefox.

McFarlane has done an outstanding job of crafting this book. He is one of the best technical writers of our time and I am hopeful he will publish new books as well as update his existing work.

To wring the most out of Firefox as your web browser of choice, get Firefox Hacks.

Good bok for developers and admins alike - 2005-09-26
Reviewer Rating:
Firefox Hacks is a great collection of information about the Mozilla Firefox browser. While almost anyone who has used Firefox would learn a great deal from reading this book, developers, admins, and advanced power users would benefit most from reading this. The book starts out nicely by going under the hood to look at internal settings, then turns to presentation aids and then to developer tools. I wish I'd had the book several months ago when I was doing more development! From code development the book moves into altering the browser look and feel, and finally into extension development. Although I may never do so, it's nice getting a guided look into areas I don't see on a day to day basis.

If you want more details on Firefox than what you can find online, or just want a good reference as a jumping off point, this is definitely one of the books to have.

Good book for all levels of users - 2005-08-15
Reviewer Rating:
Firefox has been around for several years and most of the hacks in the book are well documented on the web, but O'Reilly and Nigel McFarlane have brought you a book that brings the structure of the program and the usefulness of the hacks into one place.

The power of the "hacks" series is that you can benefit from this book even if you don't have time to read through the whole thing. If you picked up the book to help you with re-branding Firefox, then you can go just to that section. Maybe you are needing Firefox to be a test bed for standards compatibility of a particular web project you are working on, then just read the sections of the book which apply. On the other hand, if you don't know what Firefox is capable of then you need simply to browse through the whole book to see what a powerful program Firefox is.

The book covers a very wide variety of hacks. Many have to do with extensions that can be added onto Firefox. An extension can be considered as a pre-built hack with a nice installer. It is fitting then that many of these packaged hacks are covered in the book.

Outside of just general use of the book for learning what Firefox is capable of, the book has great appeal for web developers. With the extensions available to developers to help in their work, there are quite a few development tools built into Firefox. Not the least of which is its standards compatibility. To know if something is well written one simply needs to view it in Firefox to see how a standards compliant browser renders the underlying code.

The author used several phrases and vocabulary that would not be considered standard English. This is something that a company like O'Reilly, catering to their particular audience, might allow to become lax. Well written and edited books are hard to come by and often go unnoticed. It would have been better had the publisher spent a little more time on the editing of this work. It would be a shame that someone might be turned away from this book and its great content because of poor editing.

With hacks ranging in difficulty from easy to advanced, this 377 page guide will get just about anyone hacking Firefox.

I wish to offer condolences to the family of the author as he has since passed away.

Good book! - 2005-09-23
Reviewer Rating:
"Firefox Hacks" includes a wealth of under the covers
information on the number two most used browser. This
book goes beyond the average browser user that just
uses a browser for browsing. The book covers
everything from securing Firefox to deploying Firefox
across an enterprise to using Firefox for debugging
websites. McFarlane goes into enough detail and
explanation in each of his tips so that the reader can
at least get a good understanding of the whys and
hows. I would recommend this book to anyone doing any
development using Firefox or developing for Firefox to
get into the details behind the browser.

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