View (Online Help)

View
Toolbars

Navigation Toolbar
Toggles the visibility of the navigation toolbar, which usually contains standard navigation buttons (Back, Forward, Stop, etc.).

Bookmarks Toolbar
Toggles the visibility of the bookmarks toolbar, which contains bookmarks to various sites.

Customize...
Displays the toolbar customization dialog. You can drag and drop toolbar buttons to or from the toolbars here. You can also right-clickpress Ctrl, click on the navigation toolbar and select Customize... to show this dialog.

Status Bar
Toggles the visibility of the status bar, located at the bottom of the window. The status bar displays useful information about the page but may not be needed by everyone.
Sidebar
The Sidebar can display your bookmarks or the browsing history. You can always close the Sidebar by clicking on the X in the upper-right corner.

Bookmarks
Displays the Bookmarks Sidebar, which keeps your bookmarks visible all the time. This can be very useful if you use bookmarks often.

History
Displays the History Sidebar, which keeps track of the sites you have visited. To change how many days a site should be remembered, select Tools > Options and select the Privacy panel.

Stop
Stops loading of the current page you're browsing. This is the same as clicking on the Stop button on the toolbar.

Reload
Gets the most up-to-date version of the current page. This is the same as clicking the Reload button on the toolbar.

HELP ONLINE RFIREFOX

Exit

Quit

Closes all Firefox windows, cancels any active downloads, and exits Firefox completely. If you happen to select this menu item with more than one tab or window open, Firefox will ask you to confirm your choice to prevent accidental exits. You can switch off this warning by deselecting the Warn me when closing multiple tabs checkbox in the Tabs panel of Tools > Options. Firefox will also warn you if you are currently downloading any files.

Edit

Undo

Undoes the last action in a text field. If you later decide you don't want to undo an action, use the Redo command.

Redo

Redoes the last Undo command.

Cut

Cuts the selected text from a text field and stores it in the clipboard. Paste the text elsewhere by using the Paste command.

Copy

Copies the selected text to the clipboard. Paste the text in a text field by uing the Paste command.

Paste

Pastes text stored in the clipboard into a text field.

Delete

Deletes the selected text from a text field.

Select All

Selects all text and other items on the page.

Find in This Page...

Displays the Find Toolbar at the bottom of the browser window. Enter the text you wish to find in the toolbar, and as you type Firefox will automatically find and select the first occurrence of the entered text on the page. Click Find Next or Find Previous to find the text at other locations in the page, and click Highlight to highlight all occurrences of the text on the page.

Find Again

Searches for the next occurrence of the text specified when using the Find in This Page... command.

Options

Displays the OptionsPreferences window, where you can change many optionspreferences in Firefox.

Finding Help Online

Finding Help Online

Freedom Scientific maintains a number of mailing lists for JAWS users.

GW Micro maintains a number of mailing lists for Window Eyes users.

You may also post accessibility questions to the Firefox Support forum.

Mozilla Firefox Menu Reference

This menu reference describes each menu item in the main Mozilla Firefox window.

File

New Window

Opens a new Firefox window.

New Tab

Opens a new browser tab in the current Firefox window.

Open Location...

Focuses on the Firefox URL bar so you can type in a new location to visit.

Open File...

Displays an Open File dialog where you can select a file from your local disks or network. You can view many file types in Firefox, including HTML/XML files, image files, text files and more.

Close (Window)

Closes the current window.

Close Tab

Closes the current tab and selects the rightmost tab. This menu item is visible only if more than one browser tab is currently open.

Save Page As...

Saves the page you are currently browsing. You can choose to save the whole page (complete with graphics), just the current HTML page, or the page text only.

Send Link...

Opens an email composition window using your computer's default email program so you can send a message with a link to the current page.

Page Setup...

Displays a Page Setup dialog where you can specify printing settings such as margins, headers and footers, and page orientation.

Print Preview

Displays a preview of how the current document will appear when printed. It reflects the settings in the Page Setup dialog and the page author's intentions.

Print...

Displays the Print dialog, where you can specify the number of printed copies, etc. Click OK to print the page.

Import...

Opens the Import Wizard dialog, which allows you to import optionspreferences, bookmarks, history, passwords and other data from browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla or Opera.

Work Offline

Toggles between online and offline mode. Offline mode allows you to view web pages you've previously visited without being connected to the Internet.

Overriding Page Colors

Overriding Page Colors

Some web sites may display text and background colors that are difficult to read, and other sites may rely on the browser's default colors. You can set your default colors by going to Tools > Options, selecting the Content panel, and clicking the Colors button in the Fonts & Colors section. You can set default text and background colors, as well as default colors for visited and unvisited hyperlinks. You can also specify whether hyperlinks should be underlined.

However, many web pages set their own colors, so your choices will have no effect. To override the colors defined by web pages, uncheck the Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of my selections above option.

Using a High Contrast Theme

Firefox automatically detects if you are using a High Contrast theme and displays everything in your high contrast color scheme. This overrides all other other browser or web page settings, and it affects the Firefox interface itself (all menus, windows, and dialog boxes) and the content of any web page you visit.

To use a High Contrast theme, go to Start Menu > Control Panel >Accessibility Options > Display and check the Use High Contrast option.

Controlling Web Content

Blocking Popup Windows

See Controlling Popups for information on blocking popup windows.

Turning Off Java Applets

Some web pages provide a rich interactive experience with Java™ applets. However, some users that rely on keyboard navigation may experience problems with some Java applets that automatically set focus and do not provide a way to break out of the applet and navigate to the rest of the web page. If this is a problem for you, you can disable Java by going to Tools > Options, selecting the Content and unchecking the Enable Java option.

Restricting JavaScript Behavior

You can turn off JavaScript entirely by going to Tools > Options, selecting the Content panel, and unchecking Enable JavaScript. Some web pages rely on JavaScript and may not work properly if JavaScript is disabled.

If you do not wish to disable JavaScript entirely, there are also a number of advanced JavaScript settings to restrict the behavior of scripts. Immediately after the Enable JavaScript checkbox, click the Advanced button to open the Advanced JavaScript Settings window. You can control whether scripts are allowed to move or resize existing windows, raise or lower windows, disable or replace context menus, hide the status bar, or change status bar text.

Compatibility With Assistive Technologies

The latest information about compatibility with third-party assistive technologies is online at Access Mozilla: Compatibility with assistive technologies.

Using a Mouse

Using a Mouse

Common Mouse Shortcuts

Fonts and Colors

Overriding Page Fonts

Some web sites may display text in fonts that are difficult to read, and other sites may rely on the browser's default fonts. You can set your default fonts by going to Tools > Options, selecting the Content panel, and selecting a default font and size in the Fonts & Colors section.

You can specify default fonts for different styles, including serif, sans-serif, and monospace by clicking the Advanced button. However, many web pages specify their own fonts, so your choices will have no effect on such pages. To override the fonts defined by such pages, uncheck the Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above option.

Note that some web pages may display incorrectly depending on your choice of a default font.

Setting a Minimum Font Size

Some web sites may display text which is too small to read comfortably. To make such pages easier to read, you can set a minimum font size. On web pages that try to display text smaller than this size, Firefox will enlarge the text to your chosen size.

To set a minimum font size, go to Tools > Options, select the Content panel, and click the Advanced button in the Fonts & Colors section. You can specify a minimum font size from the dropdown menu.

Note that some web pages may display incorrectly depending on your choice of a minimum font size.

Resizing Page Text

You can temporarily change the size of text on any web page in the View > Text Size menu. The new size will remain in effect until you close your browser window or tab, even if you navigate to a different web site.

The following keyboard shortcuts control text size:

* Press Ctrl++ to increase the text size. This zooms the text to 120% of its original

size, then 150%, 200%, 300%, 450%, 675%, 1013%, and 1519%.

* Press Ctrl+- to decrease the text size. This zooms the text to 90% of its original

size, then 50%, 33%, 22%, 15%, 10%, 7%, 4%, 3%, 2%, and 1%.

* Press Ctrl+0 to reset the text size to the web page's default size.

Note that some web pages may display incorrectly if you increase or decrease the text size.

Accessibility Features of Mozilla Firefox

Firefox includes many features to make the browser and web content accessible to all users, including those who have low vision, no vision, or limited ability to use a keyboard or mouse.

Using a Keyboard

Keyboard Shortcuts

A list of common keyboard shortcuts is available in Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts. Online, you can find a comparison chart of keyboard shortcuts implemented in Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Opera.


Always use the cursor keys to navigate within webpages

Always use the cursor keys to navigate within webpages allows you to move through web content as if you were inside a read-only editor. You can use the keyboard to select web content and copy it to the clipboard. You can enable this feature by selecting Tools > Options opening the General tab in the Advanced panel, and checking the Always use the cursor keys to navigate within webpages option.

You can press F7 at any time to turn this feature on or off. When you press F7, Firefox will ask if you really want to turn on this feature. You can disable this prompt by selecting Don't show this dialog again.



Search for text when I start typing

Search for text when I start typing allows you to quickly navigate to text or hyperlinks in a web page. This feature has two modes. Press / and start typing to search all text on the current page, or press ' before your string to search hyperlinks only. Firefox will highlight matching text or hyperlinks as you type.

The following keyboard shortcuts control this feature:

* Type more characters to narrow your search. Firefox will highlight the next matching hyperlink or text or alert you that nothing matched.

* Press Ctrl+G or F3 to find the next occurrence of your current search string.

* Press Ctrl+Shift+G or Shift+F3 to find the previous occurrence of your current search string.
* Press Backspace to undo the last character you typed. Firefox will back up to the previously highlighted text.

* Press Esc to cancel a search. You can also cancel a search by changing focus, scrolling the page with the mouse or keyboard, or simply waiting for the timeout.

You can change the default behavior of this feature by selecting Tools > Options > opening the General tab of the Advanced panel, and checking the Search for text when I start typing option. If this optionpreference is checked, you can start typing at any time to auto-start an inline search. By default auto-started searches look for all text on the page. You can still explicitly press ' or / to start finding in one mode or the other.

You can use this feature to get to buttons, text boxes and other form controls. Search for the text immediately before the form control you want and press Tab. Pressing Tab automatically exits the search and sets focus to the next form field or button after the highlighted text.

Bookmarks and Tabbed Browsing

Tips and Tricks

Bookmarks and Tabbed Browsing

To bookmark a set of tabs:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+D or Select Bookmarks > Bookmark All Tabs to add all the tabs in the current window to a new bookmark folder.

2. To open bookmarks in tabs, open a bookmark folder menu and choose Open in Tabs. You can also middle-click on the folder to open its contents in tabs. The bookmarks will open in existing tabs, not new ones.

Home Page as Tabs

Instead of using only one web page as your homepage, you can make your home page a set of tabs. Select your favorite web sites and open them in tabs in a single window. Select Tools > Options and open the Main panel. Under Startup, press the Use Current Pages button. Now when you press the Home button, your favorite web sites will load with just a click.

Adding a New Tab Toolbar Button

You can add a New Tab button on the toolbar to easily open new tabs by customizing your toolbars.

Keyboard shortcuts

Firefox has an extensive set of shortcuts related to tabbed browsing; see the full list in Keyboard Shortcuts.