Hawk Wings » FireFox

Set Gmail as default email app in Firefox 3.0

Tim Gaden — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:11:39 +0000

Mac users who want to use Gmail (or some other webmail service) as their default email app rather than Mail.app already have at least three ways of doing it.

With the launch of Firefox 3.0, there is now another way for Firefox users.

All you have to do is enter the following text into Firefox 3.0′s address bar and hit return:

http://javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler(“mailto”,”https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=***”,”GMail”)

This will register Gmail as the default handler for any mailto: link you click on in Firefox. Of course it doesn’t work for mailto: links in other apps—say, a web archive or note in Yojimbo.

To undo it, just reselect Mail.app as the default in the Applications tab of Firefox’s Preferences.

For a comprehensive solution, you still can’t beat Webmailer which is easy to use and free.

[Via Torben Brams ] gmail, firefox, mailto, default email app, web mailSimilar Posts:

Zimbra’s Mobile Phone interface on an iPhone

Tim Gaden — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 10:32:18 +0000

After complaining that the IT Department has more important things to do than upgrade our Zimbra installation, I am forced to eat my words.

It was updated this morning, and the new features (see Zimbra’s press release ) are just as sweet as they promised to be (Thanks, Mark. You IT guys are the cat’s pajamas.)

I no longer have to dive into Firefox to use its web interface, and it does feel blisteringly fast in Safari 3.0.

Dialling up the Zimbra 5.0 web interface in Safari on the iPhone now automatically launches its “mobile” interface. It looks good:

It lets you select emails by folder, via Zimbra’s saved searches or by tag. In a nice touch for MailTags users, you can set a Zimbra filter which will pick up a particular plain-text MailTags tag in the x-mailtags header and label it with a corresponding Zimbra tag.

The only downside I can find is no auto-completion of email addresses, which is a pain if you need to compose a new email or forward an existing one.

The calendar on the iPhone is even better than the built-in one.

It respects the colour choices of each calendar so that it is easier at a glance to see if the event is home-related (blue) or work-related (green). In iPhone’s default calendar everything is steely-blue. Stylish but not as informative.

No auto-completion puts iPhone’s mail client ahead for email, but Zimbra’s calendar is now my first port of call for seeing what’s coming up next.

[Hawk Wings readers who are unfamiliar with Zimbra's power, reliability and general open-source goodness can read about it on Zimbra's Product Page .] zimbra, mail.app, apple mail, mailtags, iphone, safari, firefox, productivitySimilar Posts:

Better Gmail 2: New features, new skins

Tim Gaden — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:09:14 +0000

Gina Trapani has released an update to her excellent Better Gmail 2 extension for Firefox.

This is the Better Gmail extension that works with the new Gmail interface.

The new version adds four new features: One Click Conversations (quick access to previous emails from a particular sender), Hide Invites Box, Google Reader Integration (in the Sidebar) and Rollover Highlight Messages (which highlights message rows as you mouse over them).

It also marks the return of skins. Users can now choose between a Blue Skin and a Grays and Blue Skin (screenshot below):

The updated version is available from Lifehacker or from the Mozilla Extension Repository . Needless to say, it is freeware.gmail, not apple mail, not mail.app, productivity, greasemonkey, firefox, skins, conversationsSimilar Posts:

Killer list of Google Calendar tips

Tim Gaden — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:13:13 +0000

Christina Laun at VirtualHosting.com has posted a killer list of 50 tips, scripts, extensions and hacks to make the most of Google’s Calendar service.

She starts off with some basic tips, keyboard shortcuts, integration with Gmail, reminders and so forth.

Things get more interesting for seasoned users with her collection of 15 (mostly Greasemonkey) scripts that offer skinning, interface streamlining and more, including the Better Gcal script, which combines several of the most useful scripts (Ã la Gina Trapani’s Better Gmail Firefox extension).

Finally, she provides a list of Firefox Extensions, hacks and some syncing utilities that help Outlook users and others get the most of Gcal. She doesn’t mention BusySync’s public beta that offers iCal-Gcal syncing or Spanning Sync , but I guess you knew about those already.

If you use Goolge’s Calendar, you will want to bookmark Christina’s collection of tips for sure.not mail.app, not apple mail, google, calendar, tips, scripts, greasemonkey, web 20, ical, productivity, firefox, syncingSimilar Posts:

Better Gmail 2.0 for the new Gmail

Tim Gaden — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 09:17:12 +0000

Gmail’s new interface is gradually spreading through its user base. I have it now.

It brings mysterious backend changes which enhance “the performance and the usability” of Gmail, as well as new features for contact management and more.

Two things will strike Hawk Wings readers at once.

First, the new interface breaks the Better Gmail Firefox extension. Its keyboard macros, quick navigation, coloured labels, advanced composing options and more make Gmail a pleasure to use.

Luckily Gina Trapani (a productivity goddess) is quick off the mark, and Better Gmail 2.0 is already available, although with a vastly decreased feature set, as she waits for the developers of each feature to update their code. Still, it already contains the keyboard shortcuts which are the key feature for speeding up your Gmail experience.

Secondly, Safari 3.0 is not fully supported. For example, on a cosmetic note, compare the contact manager layout on Google’s blog (top) with how it looks in Safari 3.0 (below):

Other early adopters of Leopard may agree that it is possible to spend too much time on the bleeding edge of innovation. Luckily, you can opt to use the old interface instead by clicking on “Older Version” next to the Settings.gmail, not apple mail, not mail.app, email, firefox, safari, interface, productivitySimilar Posts:

.Mac webmail technotes updated

Tim Gaden — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 10:22:01 +0000

Apple has updated four new technotes for users of its revamped webmail interface.

In brief:

Firefox issues when sending mail — Firefox can unexpectedly quit when sending an .Mac webmail message with a large attachment.
Entourage folder accents convert to HTML — The webmail interface converts Entourage folders with accents into HTML tags. Advice: Don’t use accents.
Scrollbar issues when expanding the Address Book — The interface doesn’t draw scrollbars for an expanded correctly when using the two-pane view.
Ways to use the online Address Book to create new messages — Two ways to use the online Address Book to create a new message. And one thing not to do.

.mac, dotmac, apple, technotes, firefox, entourage, accents, address book, interfaceSimilar Posts:

Quickly email a link from Safari

Tim Gaden — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 22:45:08 +0000

The current “Tip of the Week” from Apple describes how to email a URL from Safari.

It’s as easy as pressing â‡§âŒ˜I and then sitting back while Mail.app creates a new message containing the link.

That’s it.

I hesitated about posting this, but sometimes tips aren’t as well known as you might think, like using âŒ˜] and âŒ˜[ to cycle through the available HTML, Rich Text and plain text views of an email, or using Gmail-like “Conversation” views in Apple Mail.

If you use some other browser, you will have to make your own arrangements. OminWeb users can use a bookmarklet to send a link, Firefox users can customise their toolbar by adding a “Send Link” button and Camino users can uses â‡§âŒ˜L. url, safari, camino, firefox, mail.app, apple mail, keyboard shortcuts, gmail, tips, emailing a linkSimilar Posts:

GTDGMail: Getting Things Done with Firefox and Gmail

Tim Gaden — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:00:18 +0000

GTDGMail is a Firefox extension that provides an excellent “Getting Things Done” (GTD) framework for Gmail. It also adds advanced search abilities in Gmail, which are very welcome whether you are into GTD or not.

If it had existed when I was compiling a list of ten GTD apps for Mac users, it would have come in near the top of the list. It’s a very clever stretch of Gmail’s existing label and filter features.

GTDGmail is very easy to install. Simply navigate to the site, click on the install link and follow the prompts in Firefox. A quick relaunch, load Gmail and you are good to go.

The extension comes with “wizards” to install common labels for contexts, actions and projects. Detailed instructions make it easy to create your own additional ones.

Access to the GTD labels is provided at the top of each Gmail message:

The inbox helpfully displays those labels at the start of the message’s subject line (some of my labels are coloured by the Gmail Label Colors Greasemonkey script — I like visual clues):

Additional tweaks offer easy emailing of tasks and references to yourself.

One other feature of the extension will please Gmail users even if they are not interested in the GTD approach. The GTD search function allows you to construct complex searches in Gmail much faster than you can manually:

Once you needed to enter the string “label:freelance label:Hawk-Wings after:17/8/2006″ into Gmail’s search box. Now it is just a matter of a few mouse clicks.

GTDGmail is freeware and well-supported with documentation, tips and hints on the developer’s web site.GTD, getting things done, firefox, gmail, productivity, extension, email in generalSimilar Posts:

WebnoteHappy 1.2 gets del.icio.us support and more

Tim Gaden — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:24:09 +0000

WebnoteHappy has been updated. This clever app with an unfortunate name is a bookmark manager that allows you to tag and annotate your links.

The new version (1.2) brings support for syncing your bookmarks with your del.icio.us account, adds hot key support for Firefox and Shiira, clickable hyperlinks in the notes field and more.

All the fields in a WebnoteHappy webnote are now editable, including the URL itself.

The app sells itself partly as a native Mac OS X interface for del.icio.us and it does look nice:

You can read the full list of changes in the release notes .

WebnoteHappy is shareware (USD 24.95) and is available from the developer’s web site.bookmarks, delicious, URLs, tagging, Web 2.0, firefox, internet, not apple mailSimilar Posts:

Thunderbird 1.5.0.5: More stable, more secure

Tim Gaden — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 10:40:21 +0000

The latest version of Thunderbird is more stable and brings the email client up to date with the latest Mozilla security fixes.

The update also brings some welcome improvements for Mac users.

Newsgroups are no longer “over-abbreviated” and HTML text cut from Firefox 1.5.0.5 now pastes into an email message properly.

You can read a fuller list of improvements and bugfixes on The Rumbling Edge, Mozilla’s Development blog.

Thunderbird 1.5.0.5 is available from the Mozilla web site .

[Thanks, Bronson]thunderbird, email, security, HTML, firefoxSimilar Posts: