The powerful and secure Mozilla Firefox web browser is included in Ubuntu. Firefox features tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, built-in search, and live bookmarks. Also supported are popular plug-ins such as Java, Flash, and RealPlayer.
Firefox can be launched by clicking → → .
As well as the default Firefox Web Browser, Ubuntu also provides a large selection of alternative browsers. A list of some of these is given below:
-
Epiphany Web Browser
-
Konqueror
-
Mozilla Web Browser
-
Opera
See Add Applications for help on installing new software.
A plugin is a small program which extends the capabilities of another program. In the case of web browsers, plugins typically allow the browser to play different types of multimedia or to run small, web-based programs.
To view a list of currently-installed plugins in the Firefox Web Browser, type “about:plugins” into the address bar and press Return.
It is possible to install a whole set of commonly-used restricted plugins at once, by installing the Ubuntu restricted extras package.
Restricted plugins are those which cannot be distributed with Ubuntu because of legal issues surrounding their use in some countries. Check that you are allowed to use this software before installing it. See the Ubuntu website for more information on restricted software.
-
Install the Ubuntu restricted extras package from the “Multiverse” repository (see Add Applications).
-
Restart the Firefox Web Browser to make the included browser plugins available.
As well as plugins and multimedia codecs, Java and a set of Windows fonts will be installed.
The following plugins and codecs are installed by the Ubuntu restricted extras package:
-
flashplugin-nonfree
-
gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly
-
gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse
-
msttcorefonts
-
sun-java5-jre
-
sun-java5-plugin
Many different multimedia formats are used on the Internet, and so you may find that you are unable to play some audio and video files without first installing an appropriate plugin.
See the following articles for information on installing and using multimedia plugins with the Firefox Web Browser:
-
Firefox Plugins (Ubuntu Community support pages)
-
Listen to online audio streams (instructions for installing RealPlayer)
Flash is a proprietary plugin which allows you to watch videos and animations on the Internet.
To view Flash graphics from the Firefox Web Browser:
-
Install the flashplugin-nonfree package from the “Multiverse” repository (see Add Applications).
-
Restart Firefox to make the plugin available.
Installing the package as described above will download and install the plugin. You need an Internet connection for this to work. If, after installing the application, you need to download and install the plugin at a later time, enter the following command in a terminal:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure flashplugin-nonfree
Some websites use small Java programs, which require a Java plugin to be installed in order to run.
These instructions are for i386 and AMD64 computers only. The plugin is not currently available for other computers.
-
If you are using an i386 computer install the sun-java5-plugin package from the “Multiverse” repository.
-
If you are using an AMD64 computer install the j2re1.4-mozilla.plugin package from the “Multiverse” repository.
See Add Applications for help on installing new software.
For a more complete Java installation, see Java.
If you find that the size of text in Firefox is too small to read comfortably, you can increase the default font size.
-
Press → and select the Content tab
-
Under Fonts & Colors, change the Size to a larger number (around 20 tends to be quite comfortable to read)
-
Text on web pages should immediately look larger. Press
To temporarily increase the size of text on a web page, press → → . Alternatively, hold down the Ctrl key and scroll down with your mouse's scroll wheel, or press Ctrl++.
To return the text to its normal size, press → → .
