Fedora uses Mozilla Firefox by default in Gnome and Konqueror in KDE to access the World Wide Web (Web).
Beyond being excellent, standards compliant web browsers, Firefox and Konqueror have many features. This chapter explains how to use some of the more popular features, and provides links to further information.
Using Firefox
GNOME
To start Firefox in GNOME, select Applications > Internet > Firefox Web Browser or use the menu panel icon:
| File:Docs Drafts DesktopUserGuide Web firefoxicon.png | This is the default icon associated with Firefox. |
KDE
To start Firefox in KDE, select KMenu > Applications > Internet > Firefox Web Browser:
| File:Docs Drafts DesktopUserGuide Web firefoxicon.png | This is the default icon associated with Firefox. |
Fedora starts Firefox with a default home page that has links to useful Fedora-related sites. Navigate to other web pages by typing the web address - also called the univeral resource locator, or URL - into the long navigation bar across the top of the Firefox screen, replacing "http://start.fedoraproject.org".
If the URL is not known, enter a keyword (or words) into the search bar to the right of the navigation bar, then press the [ENTER] key. The search engine used to perform your search can be changed by left-clicking the logo in the search box. You will be presented with a list of options including Google, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, and Creative Commons.
Like other web browsers, Firefox makes it possible to save a web page for future reference by adding it to a list of bookmarks. Use the key combination [Ctrl] [d] to bookmark a page you are viewing. To manage bookmarks, or perform other actions, use the Bookmark menu from the top of the Firefox window. Create a live bookmark (a feed) that automatically checks for updates from a page with an RSS or Atom feed. If a feed is available for a particular web page, there will be an orange icon at the right hand edge of the address bar while you are visiting that page. Left click the feed icon and a preview of the feed is displayed. Select the method you would like to use to subscribe to the feed.
Firefox can use a number of popular web-based options for subscribing to feeds, such as Bloglines, My Yahoo, and Google Reader, as well as Firefox's own live bookmarks. Another option is to use a desktop feed reader you have installed, such as Liferea.
Tabs
Open a new tab with [Ctrl] [t] . A blank page is presented and a new bar is available under the navigation bar showing all open tabs; to switch between them left-click the desired tab. To close a tab you can either right click to access the context menu or press the red "X" on the tab.
Navigating a large number of open tabs can be difficult. To make it easier, use the arrow icon on the right hand side of the tabs toolbar. Click this to reveal a list of all open tabs that you can switch to by clicking on the relevant item.
Extensions
Firefox is designed to be fast and lightweight. As a result, some functionality found in other browsers may not be available by default. To solve this problem the Firefox team made the browser extensible, so it easy to create and integrate extensions that add new functionality to the browser.
Firefox can also be extended by adding new search engines to the search box, installing new themes to customize the look, and installing new plugins allowing the use of Java and other web technologies. All of these can be found at Mozilla's Firefox add-ons site.
To manage and install extensions, plug-ins, and themes, select the Tools > Add-ons menu entry. New extensions are found by visiting https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/. To install an extension from this site follow the Install link, and when prompted click Install Now.
Further Reading
Firefox has many more features than discussed here; you can find more information on Firefox at the Mozilla Firefox website.
Using Konqueror
GNOME
To start Konqueror in GNOME, select Applications > Internet > Konqueror :
| File:Docs Drafts DesktopUserGuide Web konqueror.png | This is the default icon associated with Konqueror. |
If you only have Gnome installed, the Konqueror browser is not installed by default. You may install Konqueror if you wish, as well as several other browsers. Konqueror is installed by default if you have installed KDE. See the chapter on managing software.
KDE
To start Konqueror in KDE, select KMenu > Applications > Internet > Konqueror or select KMenu > Favorites > Web Browser:
| File:Docs Drafts DesktopUserGuide Web konqueror.png | This is the default icon associated with Konqueror. |
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