Command Lines and the Future of Firefox 360
Barence writes "Mozilla has revealed how it plans to integrate plain text commands directly into future versions of Firefox. Dubbed Taskfox, the move sees Mozilla's Ubiquity project become part of the browser itself, allowing users to type commands directly into the address bar. You can, for example, type 'map cleveland street london' to bring up a Google Map of that location, or 'amazon-search the great gatsby' to find that book on Amazon, without visiting the website directly. 'The basic idea behind Taskfox is simple: take the time-saving ideas behind Ubiquity, and put them into Firefox,' the Taskfox wiki claims. 'That means allowing users to quickly access information and perform tasks that would normally take several steps to complete.'"
slashdot-search idle interesting (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:slashdot-search idle interesting (Score:4, Funny)
sudo make me a sandwich
Re:slashdot-search idle interesting (Score:5, Funny)
sudo make me a sandwich
Zap, you're a sandwich.
Re:slashdot-search idle interesting (Score:4, Funny)
You are a sandwich and you're in a dark room. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Re:slashdot-search idle interesting (Score:4, Funny)
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+.....|
|.....|
|....d|
|...*@+
- -----
hclewk the Sandwich St:16 Dx:11 Co:14 In:9 Wi:15 Ch:10 Chaotic
Dlvl:1 $:0 HP:14(14) Pw:4(4) AC:4 Exp:1
Re:slashdot-search idle interesting (Score:4, Funny)
Beautiful! I didn't know /. allowed posting screenshots.
Re:slashdot-search idle interesting (Score:4, Funny)
The Zen master then responds, "Where's my change?"
The hot dog vendor replies "change comes from within."
screenshots (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, they have actual screenshots of the commandline interface. Who would have thought that was possible.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
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Firefox has keyword searches, too, and they are easy to set up from the search engine manager. You don't need a bookmark keyword to do that.
That being said, bookmark keywords, while they can also be used as search keywords, are different and more powerful because you can use them for things that aren't really "searches," like Google Maps (Google doesn't have a Sherlock or OpenSearch plugin for maps; browers like Firefox, Safari, and IE 7/8 need this because that is what you need to add a search engine).
Re:screenshots (Score:5, Informative)
You joke, but the interface is all that's new here. You can already do what the summary suggests using bookmark keywords
Not exactly. With Ubquity you get instant feedback during typing, so you don't have to wait for the page to load with all the bells and whistles, you see only the relevant part of it.
So it's quicker and more convenient than keyword bookmarks.
Re:screenshots (Score:4, Informative)
Go to the address bar and type 'amazon-search the great gatsby'
Have you tried Ubiquity at all? It has completion on the commands too.
E.g. for accessing wikipedia I don't have to write "wikipedia". "wi" is enough.
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Note: this also works for other sites such as imdb.
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So it's going to be like Launchy [launchy.net]/QuickSilver [wikipedia.org].
I already have some custom commands to search our internal LAN, our internal phone directory, google maps, etc.
I no longer use QS but just use Spotlight on my Mac. Both OSs have Ctrl-Space as the bind keys. Anytime I'm on a computer without them I feel lost like I don't know how to launch programs.
Official bookmark shortcuts (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Official bookmark shortcuts (Score:5, Informative)
Opera has had this for ages. It is truly sweet to be able to type "g Argle Fargle" into the address-bar to do a google-search for "Argle Fargle" without ever touching my mouse. There is also 'z' for Amazon search, 'a' for Ask.com, 'b' for bittorrent, 'y' for Yahoo, etc. etc. And you can add your own.
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Opera has had this for ages. It is truly sweet to be able to type "g Argle Fargle" into the address-bar to do a google-search for "Argle Fargle" without ever touching my mouse. There is also 'z' for Amazon search, 'a' for Ask.com, 'b' for bittorrent, 'y' for Yahoo, etc. etc. And you can add your own.
Same goes for KDE's Konqueror. Just build your own and add them to the list.
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But you cannot select an image on a random web page and say "email this to $contact", and have it compose a mail in Gmail for you.
If Ubiquity did nothing but that, it would be worth installing. And the more of it gets integrated in Firefox, the better.
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Re:Official bookmark shortcuts (Score:5, Informative)
No, it's oh so much more than that.
Watch the video, it explains everything, and looks like a very cool feature with a LOT of potential.
http://labs.mozilla.com/projects/ubiquity/ [mozilla.com]
Already doing that (Score:3, Insightful)
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Doesn't it do this? (Score:5, Informative)
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The difference is that right now it's probably relying on Google's "I'm feeling lucky" feature.
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So they basically finally put a UI on a nearly undiscoverable feature that's been there since FF...I can't even remember, but I think at least 1.5, and IE7.
Good. I've been using that for ages but even technical people usually haven't heard of FF's smart bookmarks or IE's keyword search (wtf...one requires bookmarks and one requires the registry to alter the address bar's behaviour...).
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The idea had occurred to me one day while I was working to pull up a map of something, I said to my wife, 'they should just make it so that you can say map boise, idaho'. Then I tried it out. D'oh! It already does that.
These are the sorts of innovations that will keep FOSS and alternative software ahead of Microsoft, despite Microsoft's claims that they innovate.
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but I didn't think it was news.
People are too dismissive of these as "little" things. The whole point of a computer is computation and automation. We still do way too much crap manually, crap that the computer could easily figure out if only it was programmed to do so. I imagine a simple browser plugin could get rid of the Search box by using the URL box. Probably there is one. Quite simple to determine if a line of text looks like a URL, and if not, send it to a search engine. More than once, I've typed in some search terms and th
Re:Doesn't it do this? (Score:5, Informative)
Same with "wikipedia donkey punch". What's new?
With Ubiquity you have suggestions and instant preview, so if you type "wi donkey punch" you see other possible matches too (the film with the same name, etc.) with previews without having to go to the site.
Hasn't this been in there for ages? (Score:5, Interesting)
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OmniWeb [omnigroup.com] has had something similar for a long time, it's called shortcuts. You can either type in your searches (such as: imdb Jack Black [imdb.com]) or you can use the search shortcut on the toolbar.
I like Firefox a lot because of its support for standards and its expandability but honestly I find myself using OmniWeb a lot more. Sure I can get addons to Firefox that make it as (or perhaps even more) functional as OmniWeb but the Firefox addons can get a bit odd at times, interacting with Firefox in weird ways. It'
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Ooooo... fun! Like the TRS-80s that used to be on display in Radio Shack.
10 ? "Radio Shack Sucks ";
20 GOTO 10
So how long before... (Score:4, Interesting)
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And how long will it be before I start compiling my own version of Firefox?
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I would very much like... (Score:4, Insightful)
... for Mozilla to keep their filthy commands out of the address bar. They could easily add that to the search plugin bar without any problems. I had enough trouble last night when I was trying to troubleshoot a neighbor's internet connection issues and Firefox would repeatedly send the perfectly valid address (http://192.168.1.1) I was inputting off to a google search, which of course would return a blank page, since the ultimate trouble was the cable modem, not the router nor the connection to the router.
There needs to be a gigantic "FUCK YOU, LEAVE ME ALONE, LET ME SURF THE WEB AS THE FLYING SPAGHETTI WEASEL INTENDED" button in the settings.
Re:I would very much like... (Score:5, Funny)
I recommend they call it the "damned dirty apes" button.
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That sounds like a lie. I just tried what you said in FF3 and there was no problem. ip address, with or without a preceding http:// takes me to wherever it points, no google search.
Are you sure you're qualified to handle one of these machines?
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There needs to be a gigantic "FUCK YOU, LEAVE ME ALONE, LET ME SURF THE WEB AS THE FLYING SPAGHETTI WEASEL INTENDED" button in the settings.
There is.
In about:config, change browser.urlbar.maxRichResults to -1
No, that's the "FUCK YOU, LEAVE ME ALONE, LET ME SURF THE WEB AS firefox 3.0 pretends THE FLYING SPAGHETTI WEASEL INTENDED, but it still wastes CPU cycles trying to match cached pages (which really hurts on a single core, slower system), redirects to the wrong URLs and can't follow simple IP addresses" button. I've resorted to using konqueror for any simple web diagnoses, because firefox is starting to fall under its own weight.
That sounds like it should be an add-on (Score:5, Insightful)
Screenshot from article [mozilla.com]
The idea is interesting, but wouldn't this be better served as an add-on? That would keep Firefox true to it's add-on roots, IMO.
Re:That sounds like it should be an add-on (Score:4, Informative)
Okay, so it's taking some getting used to but the Vimperator plug-in is pretty awesome. They implement Search-Replace better than Firefox, though it'll take some getting used to before I get C-i C-o instead of searching for the mouse and clicking on the Back and Forward buttons.
I love what they do with bookmarks, though. Instead of mousing over the bookmark buttons that I usually have taking up real estate on my taskbar I just type ":bmarks! xkcd" and it automatically opens my favorite web comic. Plus, I can easily envision renaming my webcomic bookmarks as "comic " so that I can open them with one sweeping ":bmarks! comic" and then just C-n with "d" through them until I've consumed them all.
Good stuff. Mod parent up. Vimperator is an excellent tool.
Late or confused? (Score:2)
Either this is an announcement of something they've already done - or they aren't aware of the capabilities of their own (existing) browser. Entering the two examples into the address bar of my installation of Firefox (v3.0.8) yields the desired results already.
In the beginning (Score:5, Interesting)
In the beginning operating systems only had command lines.
Then the GUI replaced the command line.
Then the browser replaced the operating system.
Then the browser got a command line.
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It would be nicely symmetric, except that the command line wasn't in the beginning and browsers won't be the end.
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You mean browsers will get a punch card interface?
Re:In the beginning (Score:5, Funny)
God creates dinosaurs
God destroys dinosaurs
God creates man
Man creates dinosaurs
Dinosaurs eat man
Woman inherits the Earth
Emacs (Score:5, Funny)
Firefox is gonna be like the Emacs Operating System ... only bigger
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Firefox is gonna be like the Emacs Operating System ... only bigger
Yep, Emacs already has this [emacswiki.org].
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Ahem (Score:2, Informative)
Like vimperator?
Return of the command line (Score:5, Insightful)
over the past 20 years I've been amazed at how the IT world first started scorning command lines (IE the rise of Mac, Windows and GUIs in general) only to come back to them (IE Mac OS X / spotlight / Quicksilver, Windows / launchy, smart address bars, and the increasing amount of people who started using Linux with Ubuntu and are nwo flocking to the command line).
This just proves what i'd known all along: command lines are more efficient, and although the learning curve might be a bit steeper, they just kick ass for things you have to do repeatedly. You of course learn the commands and then whiz by all those people whose motor skills barely allow them to use the mouse, yet they insist in their clickety-clickety ways.
Many operations are easier with a GUI but getting rid of the command line altogether (mac OS 1.x-9.x, I'm looking at you) is/was never a good idea.
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Yes, there's a lot of stuff in OS's that people don't use much. I remember when Unix didn't include any kind of non-command-line applications. Does the fact that they have more now prove that GUIs were better all along?
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This just proves what i'd known all along: command lines are more efficient, and although the learning curve might be a bit steeper, they just kick ass for things you have to do repeatedly.
I would say it differently: command lines are better or more efficient for some things. Trying to do those things with a mouse may make it easier for people who don't know how to do the same thing in a command line, but someone using a command line can sometimes do the same thing more quickly and easily. On the other hand, some things are better handled by those clickety-clickety ways that are used by people who favor a GUI.
I'm not sure we're disagreeing, but your post seems to focus on how it's a bit si
Is this really needed? (Score:2)
So we already have keyword commands such that I can put "dir: " and have firefox search the corporate directory at my company. Want to search amazon? What about just typing "amazon.com " Google seems pretty good about finding it. The worst part about these "text commands" is having to remember all the commands that they're going to decide to implement.
Unless of course amazon decides to pay firefox for keyword usage...
But it already does this (Score:3, Informative)
The article doesn't explain why this is necessary (Score:5, Insightful)
Users can already do that with the search text field. Example1 [google.com]. Example2 [google.com]. This new feature doesn't appear to bring any new value to the user over what is already provided.
I'd really like to see Mozilla spend one release where they stop working on new features and focus solely on fixing bugs. The results of such an effort would be more valuable to the end user.
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I'd really like to see Mozilla spend one release where they stop working on new features and focus solely on fixing bugs. The results of such an effort would be more valuable to the end user.
You're absolutely correct. But, while it is a whole lot more valuable to the end user, it's a whole lot less interesting to the developers.
So basically... (Score:2)
What's next, an email client and html editor? (Score:5, Insightful)
.
If I wanted bloat I would use IE.
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Absolutely 100% agree! I cannot understand what Mozilla are thinking. This should surely be an add-on, so should the awful bar, so should many other things currently slowing down Fx. If I wanted a service like this -- I'd just go to Ask.com. It's so 1997.
Bottom line is this... Chrome and IE8 are already beating Fx on many things. The only advantage to Fx is some add-ons. However,
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unneeded integrated features have more overhead than uninstalled add-ons.
Do it right (Score:4, Funny)
It would be nice, but not as "let me guess half way what you want as you type in the address bar" kind of thing. Much of that is there already. If you want to add a real command line, then create an add-on with multi-line commands, some logic built-in, perhaps piping. In other words, do a "bashy" thing.
While we're at it, why not allow execution of scripts written in this new language? Now, that would be cool.
Nice Sanboxing - NOT! (Score:2)
sudo rm -rf / (Score:2, Funny)
Oops, I deleted the Internet. Sorry.
Hey, how about.. (Score:2)
How about abstracting the profile from the program itself? Maybe make it a separate module which can then be pluggable. So then, if I want to run firefox in a corporate environment via GPO, I can use a module which allows me to do that.
And let's bin the entire concept of multiple profiles per account while we're at it.
More needless bloat (Score:2)
IMHO.
Firefox Redux? (Score:5, Insightful)
When Firefox was created, it was a spinoff of the Mozilla project for people who wanted 'just a browser' with extensions to fill in the rest.
Part of me wonders if it's time to do that again: spin something new off of the Firefox project for people who want 'just a browser' with extensions to fill in the rest. Firefox has done a lot of good, just like Mozilla before it, but it seems to me like it's starting to suffer from the same bloat-over-standards problem that made the original project necessary in the first place.
Maybe this is a cyclic thing; I don't know. Perhaps it's just plain going to be necessary to do this every few years: when a Mozilla browser gets too large, a lean child project emerges, eventually takes over, bloats up, and another lean child project emerges, and so the cycle continues.
i know... (Score:3, Funny)
let's call it phoenix, so it can rise from the ashes of firefox?
I was so excited, for like ten seconds (Score:5, Interesting)
I was excited, thinking that the command-line was back, and I could ditch this horrible mouse interface. But then I read that it's only for skipping common search interfaces. Big deal.
What I wanted, what I want, what wolud actually get me to switch from IE to FF, what I need is to be able to control the browser from a command-line interface. I want to type something like "add favourite 'my favourite recipes' in 'food links'" and "go back" and "favourite 'my favourite recipes'" and "new tab 'live.ca'" and "close all other tabs".
I don't care about search. There's already as many serach bars as I want, and smart address bars, and ISP searches. Already if I serached for "amazon magic beans" I'd get a listing with the expented book about jack from amazon. I don't need fancier searching. I don't have trouble searching. I have trouble with slow interfaces to vast feature sets within browsers.
"stop loading images"
"javascript off"
"deny cookies"
"accept cookies"
"read privacy policy"
"view certificate"
"disable flash"
"maximize"
Hell, what I want is the windows key to pull up a generalized command-line interface, either to the OS or to the current application. I'm sick of long drop-downs, fly-outs, ribbons, menus, and checkboxes. I can type faster than I can click -- and who's ever heard of clicking without looking?
Re:I was so excited, for like ten seconds (Score:5, Interesting)
Clicking without looking (Score:2)
"who's ever heard of clicking without looking?"
Heard of it? Hell, that's two-thirds of the malware problem, right there.
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Some things are very easily communicated by pointing & grunting. ("Please pass the salt", for example.) Other things are very hard to express by pointing & grunting, and require the expressiveness of compose-able grammatical elements. Your experience with the most crude machine and command set has blinded you to the latter.
Purpose? (Score:2)
Maybe I'm missing something, but you can already type 'map cleveland street london' or 'amazon-search the great gatsby' in the address bar and get the exact results you need. Is this inventing a solution to a problem that does not exist?
Mozilla apparently can't help it (Score:2, Redundant)
Location Bar Command Line (Score:2)
Imagine tab-completing the titles/slugs of news stories! To me that's much more exciting than this new Firefox feature.
what happened to firefox being a bare bones base (Score:3, Insightful)
Mozilla has revealed how it plans to integrate plain text commands directly into future versions of Firefox. Dubbed Taskfox, the move sees Mozilla's Ubiquity project become part of the browser itself, allowing users to type commands directly into the address bar.
ummmm...what happened to firefox being a bare bones base that you'd add your own addons to?
*yawn* (Score:2, Informative)
I typed both these into the search box and got the results.
I am not convinced this gains anything.
Stupid, stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
Why not just BUNDLE SOME FUCKING PLUGINS, rather than ignoring the whole plugin-based architecture you've set up?
If you could do it just fine as a plugin, bundle the thing instead of removing the feature of not having it
I just can't resist...I'm sorry (Score:2, Insightful)
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it is nowhere near as cool as ubiquity.
you don't have to even type full commands.
you highlight an address, press shift-space, and type map
it gives you a list as you type of the possible variables.
press enter opens a google map with that address mapped. way more cool than simple one letter shortcuts.
Uninformed bullshit (Score:3, Insightful)
Irritating (Score:3, Insightful)
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"delete dupes slashdot"
But then where will twitter go!?
Re:works great (Score:5, Funny)
Too Late (Score:5, Funny)
You are eaten by a grue.
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I see a new feature here. Graphical text adventures in the browser with almost no overhead.
Re:Sounds like AwesomeBar 2.0 (Score:5, Insightful)
Because new == bad [tvtropes.org]
We know.
No, seriously, at least give it a chance to be useful. Your prejudgment seems unwarranted, unfounded, and unnecessary. I know I'll at least try it out before either ignoring it or destroying it.
Re:Sounds like AwesomeBar 2.0 (Score:5, Funny)
Any feature added to computers since 1978 is bad. Anything that allows normal humans who haven't dedicated their lives to understanding the machine to use a computer is evil. The interface was perfected when it was arcane and required years of study to use effectively. Everything since then is simply a conspiracy between Intel and Microsoft to make money.
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No, seriously, at least give it a chance to be useful.
How do you imagine the option to turn it off will in any way interfere with this?
Even better (Score:5, Funny)
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Those things are right in your face when you use a browser, but if I can filter out certain things deep in a configuration setting or my registry, that'd be gold. Mainly, I want to be able to "show" someone a website without having to hammer out a URL really fast.
[
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Well Firefox is doing it, therefore it is innovative and cool and must be newsworthy. No one cares about us Opera users. We're such a minority.
But this does appear to be more robust than that. I use the hell out of it in Opera. It's really nice that you can set up custom ones, too.