News

Today marks the release of Phoenix Mozilla Firebird Firefox 0.8 (anyone else confused yet?) It has a new name, clearly, as well as a new icon and new branding stuff all over the place. We're assured that this name change is final, just like the Firebird one was. Let's hope some more open-source weirdos don't turn up to stymie this one with their complete lack of acceptance of two different software projects having the same name; especially since, after the initial shock and horror, the name is growing on me, and the new icons and logos are pretty neat.

But none of you care one little bit about all that, I'll wager. What might you care about? Well, when I announced the release of 0.7, one of the common questions was how to install Java and Flash. Here's the good news: version 0.8 for Windows comes with an installer, which means that, with any luck, both Flash and Java will recognise Firefox once it's been installed, and their installers/control panels will happily let you install them into the browser with no extra fuss. Another common problem has been downloading certain files from misconfigured Web sites, receiving a page of garbled text in the browser instead; this should now be resolved for the most part. Also included is a new download manager, which keeps all your downloads in a single window, and a new extension installer based on it. For Mac OS X users, the browser now also uses a more native-looking theme.

A bonus feature for me, and probably other Web developer types, is the inclusion of Document Object Model Inspector as an option in the installer. Previously it was necessary to compile it in yourself, with some modifications to the source code to make it work properly, or to find an unofficial build containing it.

I'm sure there's more exciting stuff in there I've forgotten about, as well, so head on down to the Mozilla Firefox product page today and grab a copy for yourself. I'll remind you of what I told you last time: it's a "technology preview", so don't expect it to be perfect, though in my and a great many others' experience, it's a lot safer and more stable than Microsoft's dated, insecure and generally lacking Internet Explorer. Still, if you're very concerned about using beta software, you might prefer the recently released Mozilla 1.6. Almost slipping under the radar with the excitement surrounding Firefox, its companion mail client, the non-renamed (as of yet, at least) Mozilla Thunderbird 0.5 was also released today, and is definitely worth picking up if you want a e-mail client in the Firefox style.

All are great products, and Mozilla browsers are strongly recommended for viewing CoN (hence my excuse for writing these non-Squenix-ish software release articles, you see), though I'm sure you can tell which our favourite is by the tone of this article. For more reasons to switch (probably), check the old news article about Firebird 0.7's release.

If you can see this post, congratulations! Your ISP has been clever enough to sort out its DNS records and point you to our new home on FuitadNET hosting.

We're now primarily using the cavesofnarshe.com URL rather than the OPGaming.com subdomain we used previously. We'd like to thank Rubicant and OPGaming for their gracious offer of hosting, which we have used largely without incident since early 2002, and HostRocket, who host that domain.

Today sees three new Mozilla releases. For the uninitiated, Mozilla is the open source software that rose from the flames of once mighty Netscape Navigator/Communicator, though long-time detractors from the frankly awful Netscape 4 will be pleased to note that it bears very little relation to today's Mozilla products.

Along with the main Mozilla Suite 1.5 release (the suite featuring Navigator for browsing, Mail & Newsgroups, Composer, and various integrated bits, much like the old Netscape Communicator) come new versions of the increasingly popular (and highly recommended by many CoN staff and regulars) standalone applications based on Mozilla code: web browser Mozilla Firebird 0.7 and e-mail client Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3. While these are pre-release software, they have both been shown to be extremely reliable in the past, and this should be especially true of these releases, the first to be built from a release branch of the Mozilla code. Should you require the ultimate in stability, you might prefer Mozilla Suite 1.4.1, released earlier this week.

Not even remotely Final Fantasy or even gaming news, but it falls broadly under the umbrella of site news, since we've recommended Mozilla browsers for the best experience viewing the site (and browsing the Web in general) for some time now. Standards compliant, free and, especially in the case of Firebird and Thunderbird, light, fast, and user-friendly. What more do you want?

Download:

• Mozilla Firebird 0.7
• Mozilla Thunderbird 0.3
• Mozilla 1.5
• Mozilla 1.4.1
• Downloads via BitTorrent and builds optimised for specific CPU types or with varied feature sets can frequently be found at the MozillaZine forums.

The new forums should be available about as soon as I've finished with this news post.

There are really too many new features to list, but I encourage you to glance over the rules once again, especially towards the end, where we have added some information about the ability to close your own topics.

You should also edit your profile, in case there have been any hiccups importing it, and to reselect your avatar.

Naturally, there may be a few teething problems, of which you may inform us in the troubleshooting forum, provided you can log in and post. If you can't log in, try the lost password link, and if you still can't, shoot me an e-mail (address on the staff page).

Note that if you had registered on the old board, but had not yet validated your registration, your account has been deleted. You're free to reregister on this board, but the old activation codes would not have carried over successfully. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Have fun, now.

For someone like me, there's no better way to spend your warm, summer days than sitting in your room with the curtains shut marking up some remarkably dark website layout.

Hence, I present you with the Digitiser style, selectable from the style page, which becomes the first original selectable style.  I guess some of you will like it, and some of you won't, especially if you have a dark monitor and/or a lot of glare.  Let me know what you think.

I don't know about you, but one thing that irks me about using online game guides is having to run back to the computer to check something.  Maybe even have to reconnect, on dialup.  And then someone's using the phone.  Oh, it's such a trial.  The very thought of it is making me perspire.

Wouldn't it be handy if you could just print out some information for reference and have it to hand during those difficult moments?  But, curse those graphical sites, they aren't quite print friendly.

Well, now there's a solution: get a text walkthrough from GameFAQs!


...

Or, you can use the new "Printable Page" links at the bottom of most of our pages.  That would also work.  Probably.  If you see a page that doesn't have a print link that you think should, or a page that does have a print link that you think shouldn't, or find anything that otherwise doesn't work (unless you're using some deeply embarassing browser like Netscape 4), please do let us know.

I hope that's useful to someone.