101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that IE cannot.
Redhat71
component that one cannot do with IE. The list only includes things that
don't require manually changing the registry or some other obscure
thing. I used the Windows version of IE 6.0; the list will vary slightly
for the Mac version.
1. Tabbed browsing
Lets you display more than one site in a window using multiple tabs.
2. Popup blocking
Block all those popup ads.
3. Prevent scripts from doing various things
such as moving windows, closing them and setting cookies.
4. Link toolbar
Displays content from the <link> tags provided by a document,
allowing one to navigate to various parts of a site.
5. Sidebar
The sidebar provides a number of tabs by default, and others can
be added by the user.
6. Can add custom panels to sidebar
Custom sidebars can be implemented in HTML or XUL and can be
installed from a remote site without much hassle.
7. More control over text zooming
Can zoom text to any size. IE only supports five sizes and has no
shortcut keys that I could determine.
8. Can zoom any text, even that with fixed pixel sizes
Can zoom text no matter what units were specified.
9. Can select from multiple stylesheets provided by page
When a page provides multiple (or alternate) stylesheets, one can
select between them by choosing from the View menu.
10. Page info dialog
Provides additional information about encoding, MIME type,
referrer and meta tags.
11. Detailed form/link/media info dialog
The page info dialog provides tabs which have lists of the form
elements, links, images and other media in a page. You can even preview
images and save the then from this window.
12. Save plugins
Mozilla saves plugins when saving a Web page as complete. You can
also save them from the Page Info window.
13. Themes
Provides two themes by default (Classic and Modern), but others
may be installed.
14. Bookmark window displays more detail
Displays more information about the bookmark in the bookmark window.
15. Bookmark keywords
Keywords to look up bookmarks quickly. Has the advantage that the
part entered after the keyword is filled in where '%s' appears in the
bookmarks's URL.
16. Bookmarks can be downloaded at a certain schedule
One can set bookmarks to be checked at various schedules and
notify when the content has changed. At least, in theory.
17. Cookie Manager
The cookie manager lets you view the cookies that have been set,
their values and their expiry times.
18. Can delete cookies individually
The cookie manager lets you delete individual cookies without
having to search around your file system.
19. Block images from third party sites
One can block images that come from a third party domain.
20. Can block images from certain sites
Images can be blocked from particular domains, such as those that
commonly display ads.
21. Download Manager
The download manager provides a tabular view of all of the files
that you have downloaded, allowing you to open them without having to
search around on your file system.
22. Prevents running of executables directly
Mozilla doesn't let you run executable files directly when
downloading, which at least makes you think twice before opening them.
23. View Source
View the syntax coloured source of a page, without having to view
it in Notepad.
24. JavaScript Console
The console displays a log of errors that you can easily scroll
through, or ignore if so desired.
25. JavaScript Console displays script warnings
The console separates warnings and errors. The warnings allow you
to see obsolete script usage and so forth.
26. JavaScript Debugger
Utility for debugging JavaScript.
27. DOM Inspector
View the structure of a document using a nifty tree view. Also
lets you view script properties and style applied to each element.
28. DOM Inspector image capture
The DOM Inspector has a tool to capture an image of part of a
page, although it doesn't seem to work all too well.
29. Select text and perform search
Select some text, bring up the context menu, and choose 'Search'
to search for the selected text.
30. Can select custom search engine
You can select any search engine you wish, not just one that has
been chosen for you.
31. Can display search results in sidebar
When a search is performed, results can be parsed automatically
and displayed in the sidebar. You can navigate each found item, without
hiding the list.
32. Supports any Sherlock search plugin
Supports the Macintosh Sherlock search format, so any search
engine that supports it can be used.
33. Can manage saved passwords
Lets you view and delete stored login and passwords.
34. Can fill-in complete forms automatically
Stores complete forms which can be later be filled in
automatically. This is useful if you want to register for something 600
times.
35. Master password encrypts info
A single master password can be used to protect all of your other
passwords
36. Can disable tooltips
Not very exciting, but useful if someone thinks they get in the way.
37. Caret Browsing
Press F7 and a cursor appears on the page. This can be used to
navigate a page and select text using only the keyboard.
38. Type Ahead Find
Press a few keys to search for links with that text.
39. View Selection Source
Select some text, bring up the context menu, and choose 'View
Selection Source' to view the source just for the selected content.
40. Properties dialog lets you see info about various tags
Right click on certain links and images and so on, and view info
about them, such as language and whether links will open in a new window.
41. View scripts and stylesheets directly
Mozilla can display scripts and stylesheets directly as plain
text without a separate application which is useful if you just want a
quick peek at something.
42. More font options
One has more control over the fonts used, including customizing
the various CSS fonts.
43. Can set minimum font sizes
Can set the minimum font size that text is displayed in which is
useful on some sites.
44. Mouse wheel options
Pressing Alt and scrolling the wheel will navigate back and
forward in the browser history. One can also configure the wheel for
other modifier keys for scrolling and changing the font size.
45. Multiple profiles
Can handle multiple profiles so you can use one for testing, or
share them between multiple persons.
46. Easily installed
Can be installed quickly and without much fuss. It can generally
be run off a network or CD as well.
47. Can be easily uninstalled
One can uninstall in the same manner as one does with other
applications.
48. May have multiple versions installed at once
One can have as many different versions of Mozilla installed at
once which is useful if you need to test on various versions.
49. Cross-platform
Runs a number of different platforms and has the same features on
all.
50. XUL
The XML User Interface Language is used to create complex user
interfaces using markup
51. XBL
The eXtensible Bindings Language is used to create custom widgets
or elements and bind them to other XUL, XML or HTML elements.
52. RDF
Mozilla can read and manipulate Resource Description Framework files.
53. MathML
MathML is a markup language for displaying math equations.
54. XPCOM
Native interface accessible via C++ or JavaScript which lets you
perform various Mozilla functions.
55. Properly handles MIME types
Properly displays content using the content type supplied by the
server instead of various other incorrect things.
56. Supports documents sent as application/xhtml+xml
The debate is still on whether this content type should be used
for XHTML, but Mozilla supports it.
57. Can render XML documents with styling
Can render XML documents with associated style sheets without
converting them into something else.
58. Link Prefetching
Newer builds of Mozilla allow one to set documents or images to
prefetch in the background after a page is loaded. Usually, this would
be used for the next page in a sequence.
59. Displays ABBR/ACRONYM titles in tooltips
Content in these tags are displayed with an underline and the
titles of various elements are displayed in a tooltip.
60. Supports blinking text
You can make text blink. This list isn't subjective.
61. CSS min/max-width/height
Set minimum or maximum sizes on content to constrain it.
62. CSS position:fixed
This feature allows content to be fixed to a particular part of
the window. If the user scrolls the document, the content stays where it is.
63. CSS display:table and related display types
Allowing one to create custom table elements
64. CSS generated content
:before, :after, the content property and so on.
65. CSS2 selectors
Select elements for styling based on attribute values
66. Supports a handful of CSS3 selectors
Matching on attribute substrings, selected text and so on.
67. Supports some extension CSS properties
user-focus,user-select,border-radius, and many more. Mostly used
in themes, but they can also be used by Web pages as well if you really
need to.
68. XML Base
For specifying the base of an XML document. I really don't know
if this is supported in other browsers.
69. FixPtr support
For referring to parts of XML documents.
70. Simple XLink support
This is used for links in XML documents.
71. XML-RPC
Simple API for doing XML-RPC.
72. Built-in SOAP API
Fairly extensive set of SOAP functions are available without any
extra libraries needed.
73. PNG alpha transparency
For making transparent images.
74. MNG image support
An animated image format, usually used for animated PNG images.
75. Supports 'favicons' in any image format
Supports any image format that Mozilla supports
(GIF,JPEG,PNG,MNG,XBM,BMP,ICO). You can even make them animated if
you're insane.
76. Display icons in tabs and address bar
Displays site icons in the tabs and in the address bar. This is
off by default in various builds.
77. Available for more languages/locales
Mozilla is available for many different languages, including ones
you've never heard of before.
78. Support for standard event handling
Supports the standard capturing/bubbling event model.
79. Support for additional DOM0/DOM1/Core features
Supports almost all of DOM0 and DOM1.
80. DOM2 namespace handling
Supports the various DOM methods that deal with namespaces.
81. DOM2 Style interfaces
Supports most of the standard DOM style interfaces.
82. DOM2 TreeWalker interface
The TreeWalker interface is used to navigate through a document.
83. DOM2 Range interface
Supports the Range interface for grabbing blocks of text.
84. DOM3 XPath interface
Supports retrieving elements using XPath expressions in
HTML/XML/XUL documents.
85. Address field in full screen mode
In full screen mode, there is an address bar to navigate to other
pages.
86. Can set size of printed output
This may vary based on your printer, but one can scale the
printed document or fit it to the page. Useful for those sites that are
just a bit too large.
87. Can bookmark groups of pages (in tabs)
You can bookmark a set of pages and them open them all at once in
multiple tabs.
88. Can search bookmarks
You can search bookmarks without having to search through your
file system.
89. Easily create and add custom components
XPInstall can be used to easily install custom components, using
an install script written in JavaScript. No special tool required except
a ZIP utility.
90. Supports finger protocol
Can use the finger protocol. This has been disabled in newer
versions of Mozilla.
91. Supports data: URLs
data URLs can be used to embed data in a URL.
92. HTTP Pipelining
Allows for better performance when viewing pages.
93. Supports JavaScript getters/setters
For adding custom properties to objects.
94. JavaScript supports strict error checking
Which means displaying errors for things you didn't think were
errors. (Think Perl's strict mode)
95. Easily accessible preferences file
Preferences are all stored in a single file (prefs.js) which one
can easily edit to add custom settings which have no UI.
96. Preferences can be moved around easily
One can easily copy preferences, bookmarks and other settings to
another system as they are all stored in a single directory.
97. Various security related features
Surely you knew Mozilla had better security features?
98. Supports irc protocol
Supports the irc: protocol for opening Chatzilla
99. Open Source
So keen developers can always find out exactly why Mozilla
behaves the way it does, or change it if they so desire.
100. Bugzilla
This is Mozilla's bug tracking system, where you can find
information about problems you encounter and can help get them fixed.
101. Giant lizards are cool
Much more exciting than a blue e.