Insurance Agent Forum

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I never considered using that browser...until yesterday.

For whatever reason, my firewall/anti-virus software (CA provided by Time Warner) would not remember my password in certain sites. I could not log into the admin panel for my websites to make changes and certain social media sites were doing the same thing.

Finally...after a long chat with the CA people, it was determined the problem was Internet Explorer 8.

So I downloaded Firefox and had NO TROUBLE getting into any site. I still use IE8 as my default browser, but I have a feeling I will be using Firefox more and more as I get used to it.

Just curious...for those of you that have used Firefox for a while, are there any features I should know about (especially, SEO/Website type stuff).

Thanks.

[dmiller90]

Try to stay away from I.E. 8 many compatibility problems.

View your website how your customers view it. My recent months stats.

59% I.E. 7
12% Firefox

Screen Resolution: 1280 x 1024 or 1024 x 768

Here is what most use, but honestly I dont even use it. Its like anything else, if you dont know what the data is or how to use it, Its just another buzz word. This is the information that it provides, But unless you understand all this, its just a bunch of Useless Information.

SEO for Firefox Extension: Free SEO Toolbar Firefox Browser Plugin

• PR: (Google PageRank) an estimated measure of global link authority
• Age: age pulled from Archive.org, shows the first time a page was indexed by Archive.org's spider. The theory is that if Archive.org found a page so did many of the major search engines.
• Links: (Yahoo! linkdomain) shows a rough estimate of the total number of links pointing at a domain
• .edu Link: (Yahoo! .edu linkdomain ) shows a rough estimate of the total number of .edu links pointing at a domain
• .edu Page Link: (Yahoo! .edu link ) shows a rough estimate of the total number of .edu links pointing at a specific page
• .gov Link: (Yahoo! .gov linkdomain ) shows a rough estimate of the total number of .gov links pointing at a domain
• Page Links: (Yahoo! link) shows a rough estimate of the total number of links pointing at a page
• del.icio.us: number of times a URL has been bookmarked on Del.icio.us. Heavily skewed toward techy / Web 2.0 stuff.
• Technorati: an estimate of the total number of links to a site from blogs
• Alexa: rank based on website traffic . Heavily skewed toward internet marketing and webmaster related resources.
• Cached: (Google site shows how many pages from a site are indexed in Google
• dmoz: searches the Google Directory to count the total number of pages from a site that are listed in DMOZ, and the total number of pages listed in DMOZ that reference that URL.
• Bloglines: shows you how many people are subscribed to a particular blog via Bloglines.
• dir.yahoo.com: is a site listed in the Yahoo! Directory or not.
• WhoIs: makes it easy to look up the whois data for any site.

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Thanks Dave. And yes...those compatability problems you mentioned...I am now starting to notice them.

[somarco]

I upgraded to IE 8 a few months ago and immediately had problems. Dave & I were working on some things jointly and I could not access the pages he wanted me to see. He walked me through how to uninstall IE 8 and restore 7. Haven't had any problems since.

But in the FWIW column, I use Chrome for a lot my "forum work" (which includes consumer forums, etc) but my default is FF. I still keep IE for sites that require it which are mostly carrier sites.

[alphawave2k]

Originally Posted by somarco

I upgraded to IE 8 a few months ago and immediately had problems. He walked me through how to uninstall IE 8 and restore 7. Haven't had any problems since.

But in the FWIW column, I use Chrome for a lot my "forum work" (which includes consumer forums, etc) but my default is FF. I still keep IE for sites that require it which are mostly carrier sites.

Totally correct. I am not the most knowledgeable computer guy, but my opinion is IE sucks, and IE v.8 sucks absolutely. MS should be criminally charged for putting out this kind of junk. FF runs circles around any version of IE, but for some reason, many carriers have a compatibility issue with it.
I honestly think it's because of MS's early dominance and incumbency. Just about any browser is better...again all IMHSUO (SU=somewhat uneducated)

[al3]

I run a Mac. However I also run Windows (on the Mac). I too was "asked" by Windows (XP) to upgrade to IE 8 and not knowing much about M$ I did.

So far I've not had a problem with IE 8 but I don't use Win much. Is there a way to revert back to IE 7? If so, can one of you Windows guys give me the step-by-step?

FYI I use FF for the Mac but for a few sites (like WinFlex web) and part of Ohio Nat. I need to use IE ... so I just click an icon to bring up Windows on my Mac and it runs fine... and fast. I often just keep it running all day (minimized.) If you have enough RAM on your Mac you won't even notice the difference in performance of either system. Win looks like this:

[Alston]

1. Make sure you have a working browser such as Firefox or Safari that isn't a version of IE. (This way you can surf the web and re-download IE8 if the directions below cause you problems.)
2. Download IE 7 from Microsoft's site.
3. Save file (don't install yet.)
4. Use Control Panel to uninstall IE8.
5. Install IE 7 from your downloaded file.

You will lose any favorites you had in IE8. There are ways to save them and reinstall them into IE7, if that is important for you, you should be able to find instructions by using help or by Googling them.

[Robert Barney]

One think about Mozilla really bugs me. It won't allow .EXE files to be executed by the user from a web site. You have to save them first whereas Microsoft permits you to either run or save.

[Pawnature]

I have used Mozilla for over a year now. The reason, everything that has been mentioned about IE above. Actually If Google Chrome had a few more features I would use it.

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

How about Mozilla's email system "Thunderbird"? Is it worth my time to use it?

[arnguy]

Originally Posted by CHUMPS FROM OXFORD

How about Mozilla's email system "Thunderbird"? Is it worth my time to use it?

Yeah, Ed, I drink Thunderbird wine all the time. It is cheap and it really gives you a buzz! It's a cheap alternative to Wild Turkey Bourbon according to the street people.

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Thanks a bunch!

[bill3173]

Originally Posted by CHUMPS FROM OXFORD

Just curious...for those of you that have used Firefox for a while, are there any features I should know about (especially, SEO/Website type stuff).

Thanks.

It's not compatible with Aetna's producer world.

[Cenla Agent]

Originally Posted by bill3173

It's not compatible with Aetna's producer world.

I've found many producer sites are incompatible with anything but IE. Mozilla and other browsers will display them but often you lose some functionality.
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Originally Posted by CHUMPS FROM OXFORD

How about Mozilla's email system "Thunderbird"? Is it worth my time to use it?

I use it. Are you using any email client now? Probably not worth upgrading from Outlook if you have been using that. But I think Thunderbird is better than Outlook Express, Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail.

There are some add ons for Thunderbird you would want to download to give it more functionality, especially the Lightning calendar add on. Unlike products from MS, Opera and other companies, Thunderbird is pretty much bare bones, and a few add ons really enhances it. On the other hand, there isn't much in the way of add ons for a lot of other software.

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Originally Posted by CHUMPS FROM OXFORD

I never considered using that browser...until yesterday.

For whatever reason, my firewall/anti-virus software (CA provided by Time Warner) would not remember my password in certain sites. I could not log into the admin panel for my websites to make changes and certain social media sites were doing the same thing.

Finally...after a long chat with the CA people, it was determined the problem was Internet Explorer 8.

So I downloaded Firefox and had NO TROUBLE getting into any site. I still use IE8 as my default browser, but I have a feeling I will be using Firefox more and more as I get used to it.

Just curious...for those of you that have used Firefox for a while, are there any features I should know about (especially, SEO/Website type stuff).

Thanks.

I've used Firefox for about 5-6 years, since maybe 2003 or 2004, if not earlier. It was probably around the time version 1.0 was released. I have Safari installed, but have only toyed around with it a little. I have used Opera extensively as well.

Did you try the compatibility function in IE 8? That's the button to the left of the refresh button that looks like a piece of paper torn in half. It allows you to view the webpage in IE 7. I've found that it fixes problems on the pages I've had some issues with, but I don't typically use IE unless I have to.

I think the real problem comes in with pages that are designed for the decrepit IE 6, which some companies still use, and some IT departments haven't upgraded from. My understanding is that this is more of a problem with IE 8 than with IE 7. I think the idea may have been to get more companies to upgrade from IE 6 but it may backfire on MS and simply cause them to lose further market share to other browsers.

[JayVanDamme]

Here's some suggestions of Firefox additions that I use for SEO and other purposes:

RankChecker: Let's you check your ranking for various keywords in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Really easy to use...

SEO for Firefox: Someone in this post already described in great detail...

IMacros for Firefox: Let's you record keystrokes and clicks for repetitive tasks.

Outwit Hub: Let's you extract data from different webpages...May be helpful for finding link partners...

Hope it helps, I tried to include links to the download pages, but my membership is too new to post links...you can just search any of those in google to find them...

I've been a fan of Firefox since I switched about a year ago.

Good Luck
Jay

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Thanks Jay.

Geez...We're not used to informative first posts around here. Usually, it's someone from Zambia selling berry juice or someone selling their EBook for a couple of hundred bucks! Whoops. I think that's what I did.

[radiusbob]

I have been using Firefox for sometime now (MAC and PC)...The availability of exstensions is fantastic and you can really maximize your browsing experience.

From a user standpoint IE still owns the space, with IE 6 holding roughly 15-20% market share (mainly enterprise wide users), IE 8 starting to eclipse 7, FF gaining momentum along with Google's Chrome. The biggest difference is that MSFT's Explore has not adopted the latest in web standards CSS3, so site's tend to be finiky (sp).

From a user standpoint, FF and Safari give a great experience, but keep in mind that if you have a site, users could still be viewing it in IE 6.

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Instead of starting a new thread..Can anyone tell me where the spellchecker is on Firefox? I just can't find it. Is it something I add?

I'm used to the "ABC Check" with IE that is so simple.

Thanks.

[radiusbob]

May be best to start here:
Addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

OK. Thanks. As it turns out...I have it already. It was a small icon in the corner.