Mozilla Links Newsletter - 15 - March 16, 2004

================================================ Mozilla Links - English Edition Issue # 15 - March 16, 2004 ================================================

Welcome back to Mozilla Links!

For sure you know the main Mozilla applications "Mozilla Application Suite," and the in-development Mozilla Firefox (stand-alone browser), and Mozilla Thunderbird (stand-alone e-mail application).

Among other powerful applications are Composer, Calendar, Chatzilla, and a family of other stand-alone browsers powered by Gecko (the Mozilla component that translates HTML files into graphical documents) like Camino (with native MacOS interface), K-Meleon (with native Windows interface), and Galeon (with native Gnome interface on Linux systems).

In this issue we cover Mozilla Calendar, a full-featured personal information manager (PIM) based on the same technology and quality you have come to expect from Mozilla products.

Thanks for reading and please send your comments and tips to [e-mail:newsletter-feedback@mozilla.org] .

Percy Cabello Mozilla Links

---------------------------------------------------------------------- In this issue:

1. BETTER MOZILLA - Mozilla Calendar - Publishing and Subscribing To Calendars - Change Calendar Notification Sound

2. THE NEWS - Mozilla Firefox Adds Support for Importing Settings from Other Browsers - Test Build of Mozilla Thunderbird with Windows Installer Available - NewMobileComputing Interviews Minimo Project Leads - RUS-CERT Criticizes Mozilla Security Bugs Policy - US Patent and Trademark Office Nixes Eolas Browser Plug-in Patent

3. MOZILLA INSIDER

4. MOZILLA PROJECTS - Project of the Week: CuteMenus - Independent Status Report

5. MOZILLA LINKS POLL

6. CONTACT INFO

1. BETTER MOZILLA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Featured Extension: Mozilla Calendar (developed by Mostafah Hosseini, et al.)

Mozilla Calendar takes the concept of extensions to the extreme. Calendar is a complete personal information management (PIM) application that allows easy management and tracking of appointments and to-do lists.

Appointments (called events) are managed in calendars that can be viewed by day, week, multiweek and month. For each event you specify name, location, start date, end date, time, alarm, status (tentative, confirmed, cancelled), category and the calendar file you want to store it.

With Calendar you can handle several calendars at a time which will quickly prove to be a powerful feature. Users can have a personal calendar, another for business/work appointments, one for national holidays, and even further, subscribe to calendars your friends or family members have shared and published.

There are several websites serving user-created calendars, including icalshare.com, apple.com, and mozilla.org. From South Park episodes to Cuban political events to holidays in Singapore, there is a good chance the calendar you need is already available and ready to subscribe to.

Calendar can import iCal (OS X) files, Outlook (comma separated) and vCalendar files and export to these same formats plus HTML.

Available as an extension for Mozilla Application Suite, Firefox and Thunderbird, you can try it here: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/download.html

Sunbird, a stand-alone version of Calendar, is also in the works by OEone.

Calendar libraries: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/holidays.html http://www.icalshare.com http://www.apple.com/ical/library/

Themes: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/skins.html

Localized Mozilla Calendar: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/translations.html

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Mozilla Links Tip: Publishing and Subscribing To Calendars (With icalx.com) (contributed by Percy Cabello)

This tip assumes you have already created a free account at http://www.icalx.com, however it should work in a similar way with any WebDAV enabled server.

Sharing a calendar: - Start Calendar from the "Tools" menu in Mozilla Firefox or "Window" in Mozilla Application Suite - In the "Edit" menu, select "Preferences..." - In the "Publishing" page, in the "Default Remote Filename" textbox, enter: http://icalx.com/private//.ics where .ics is the name you want to give to the new file you will publish. - If you want to share this calendar type instead: http://icalx.com/public//.ics - Enter your login information (username and password of you icalx.com account. - Close the "Calendar Options" window. - To publish a single event, select "Publish Selected Events" in the "Tools" menu. To publish the whole calendar, change to the "Calendars" tab in the main window, right-click the calendar you want to publish and select "Publish Entire Calendar". - Calendar doesn't display an error or confirmation window after publishing, so you will need to check your account in icalx.com to insure your calendar was published.

Subscribing to a calendar:

- In the "Tools" menu, select "Subscribe to Remote Calendar...". - Enter a name for the new calendar. - Enter the location of the shared calendar. For example to subscribe to the calendar just created in the previous step, enter: http://icalx.com/public//.ics - If it was created in a private (protected) area, enter: http://icalx.com/private//.ics - You will also need to enter login information (user name and password) if the calendar is hosted in a private area. - You can repeat these steps to add several caledars.

You will now be able to subscribe to your calendar wherever you go.

However you will notice that in the computer where you first published your calendar, if you subscribed to the just published calendar, you will see duplicated entries: one from your local calendar and another from the remote calendar. We suggest deleting the local calendar to insure any change you make to your calendar is reflected in the remote and not the local calendar.

- To delete your local calendar, change to "Calendars" in the main window, right-click the desired calendar ("My Calendar" is the default for your original local calendar), and select "Delete".

iCalX.com calendar server: http://www.icalx.com

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Mozilla Links PowerTip: Change Calendar Notification Sound (contributed by Percy Cabello)

You can set up Mozilla Calendar to play a sound when an event is about to start. However if you feel like it is not too inspired or does not fit your type, you can replace it with your preferred one.

Just browse to your Mozilla Application Suite, Firefox or Thunderbird installation directory (tipically "C:Program FilesMozilla"; "C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox") and look for "chromecalendarcontentsound.wav"

Replace it with any sound file (in WAV format) you want. Next time an event is due, it will play your tune.

For Sunbird, look for "/chrome/calendar.jar" in your Sunbird installation folder. The ".jar" file is a regular ZIP file. Open it with your favorite ZIP tool and update the "sound.wav" file.

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Need more tips? Try the TipBar Extension to get the Tip of the Day in Mozilla Firefox. Grab it at http://tipbar.mozdev.org

You can also visit http://www.mozillatips.com for more fun tips for your favorite browser.

Have a Tip or a PowerTip? Let other users know about it by sending it to [e-mail:newsletter-feedback@mozilla.org] .

2. THE NEWS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (contributed by MozillaZine, your source for Mozilla news and advocacy. http://www.mozillazine.org )

Mozilla Firefox Adds Support for Importing Settings from Other Browsers --------------------------------------------------------- The latest nightly builds of Mozilla Firefox can now import profile data from a variety of other browsers, including Internet Explorer, the Mozilla Application Suite, Netscape and Opera. Support for other browsers, such as Safari, Konqueror, Galeon and Epiphany will be added in the future. Settings can be imported by going to the File menu and using the new 'Import...' option. At the same time, the location where Firefox stores its own profile data has also been changed.

Full story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=4429

Test Build of Mozilla Thunderbird with Windows Installer Available ------------------------------------------------------------------ A new test build of Mozilla Thunderbird with an installer for Windows is now available. As well as providing a smoother setup experience for users, the installer also offers to set up the Offline Extension, which no longer needs to be downloaded separately. In addition, the installer registers Thunderbird as a mail and newsgroups client in the Windows Registry and also configures the program to handle the mailto, news, snews and nntp protocols.

The new Windows installer build is based on the same code as the latest standard weekly test build, which includes junk mail detection improvements and support for the IMAP IDLE command.

More details about the Windows installer build: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=61337

More details about the latest weekly test build: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=61223

Full story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=4475

NewMobileComputing Interviews Minimo Project Leaders ---------------------------------------------------- NewMobileComputing has interviewed Doug Turner and Chris Hofmann, leaders of the Minimo project. Minimo is the Mozilla Foundation's browser for small devices, which had a 0.1 release last month.

NewMobileComputing Minimo interview: http://www.nmcx.com/story.php?news_id=3761

Full story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=4452

RUS-CERT Criticizes Mozilla Security Bugs Policy ------------------------------------------------ The Computer Emergency Response Team of the University of Stuttgart (RUS-CERT) has critcized Mozilla's security bug policy. The group finds fault in the fact that no official security advisories are published, with flaws being silently fixed in newer releases.

RUS-CERT article (German): http://cert.uni-stuttgart.de/ticker/article.php?mid=1183

Full story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=4460

US Patent and Trademark Office Nixes Eolas Browser Plug-in Patent ----------------------------------------------------------------- The US Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated a patent covering browser plug-ins. The patent, jointly held by Eolas Technologies Inc. and the University of California, has been struck down in a preliminary decision, which Eolas has sixty days to respond to. Eolas successfully sued Microsoft for infringing on the patent last year, forcing the software giant to outline drastic changes to Internet Explorer that would severely impact upon the user experience of the Web.

All modern browsers including Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox could also be affected, since they all rely on plug-in technology to deliver enhanced interactive content like Macromedia Flash animations and Java applets.

Full story: http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=4436

3. MOZILLA INSIDER ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (contributed by Alex Bishop)

The first feature complete version of Mozilla Firefox, 0.9, will be based on Mozilla 1.7. After 0.9 ships, a branch will be created for the final 1.0 released. This means that checkins to the trunk after 1.7 has branched are unlikely to be appear in Firefox until after version 1.0. This is intended to ensure that 1.0 is stable and highly tested.

After much debate, the new Mozilla Firefox artwork has been checked in to the tree but builders will need permission to include it in their own homegrown builds. A new --enable-official-branding flag builds Mozilla Firefox with the official logos and artwork for those who have permission to use them. This flag is being used to brand the nightly builds (bug 237596). The restrictions on who can use the Firefox branding are intended to protect the Mozilla Foundation's trademarks and provide an indicator to users of which builds are official.

Other recent Mozilla checkins include a new preference to prevent webpages from blocking the standard page context menu (bug 86193 and bug 117532) and redesign of the cookies user interface to reflect its current abilities (bug 233339). On the mail and newsgroups side, there's now support for the IMAP IDLE command (allows mail servers to inform mail clients of changes such as new mail) (bug 141369) and a spoiler protection feature (hides parts of messages that the author would not want you to read accidentally) (bug 11080).

Mozilla Firefox Roadmap: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/roadmap.html

Bug 237596: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=237596

Bug 86193: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=86193

Bug 117532: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=117532

Bug 233339: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=233339

Bug 141369: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=141369

Bug 11080: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11080

Full status update: http://www.mozilla.org/status/2004-03-16.html

4. MOZILLA PROJECTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (contributed by Brian King)

Project of the Week: CuteMenus

CuteMenus is just the thing you need if you want to jazz up the menus in your Mozilla Suite or Firefox browser. After install and restart, you will find icons on all the main menus and the content context menu. Not all tasks have icons, but many common ones do such as Find, Reload, Home, Print, and so on. You may be used to seeing icons in the Bookmarks menu (site favicons), the Window menu, and in the Personal Toolbar. CuteMenus broadens the range and livens up your Mozilla browsing experience. Included in the latest in-development release is the ability to change icon sets and the choosing of different themes for the menu. Themes currently include an Office XP skin and the default Firefox Qute theme. To access these settings, pop the context-menu and then hold shift and move to configure.

http://www.mozdev.org/featured/index.html

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Independent Status Reports

The independent status reports include news and updates from Mozilla application and extension projects hosted on mozdev.org and elsewhere in the Mozilla community.

The latest report was posted on March 14, 2004 and includes:

www, the mozdev.org website, has posted a new logos page (http://www.mozdev.org/community/logos.html). If you are hosting a project on mozdev and have turned off the default branding, please include a logo somewhere on your site with a link to http://www.mozdev.org. They can also be used by 3rd party sites to link to mozdev.org. The site is currently in an ongoing process of re-design and always welcomes help in this area. http://www.mozdev.org/

Googlebar - v0.8, bringing Internet Explorer's Google Toolbar to Mozilla/Firefox, has released version 0.8 for Mozilla and Firefox, including lots of new features and bugfixes. Highlights include support for International Google News sites, more flexible keyboard modifiers to determine what is searched and where the results will be shown, and Middle-click on toolbar buttons now opens search results in new Tab. http://googlebar.mozdev.org/

Firebird Help - v1.0.1, brings Mozilla's Help Viewer to Firefox and Thunderbird. The Help Content Extension (HCE) project is now online at http://firebirdhelp.mozdev.org/hce. This project will list additional Help content that you or others may be interested in adding to the Help menu. Currently there is only one Extension listed, a full version of the book 'Creating Applications With Mozilla', with a glossary, partial index and search function. http://firebirdhelp.mozdev.org/

Dictionary Search - v0.4, which looks up or translates words in a Web page using an online dictionary, reached version 0.4 on 6th of March. Version 0.4 adds the possibility of using up to four different dictionaries. http://dictionarysearch.mozdev.org/

Mnenhy - v0.5.1, MailNews-Enhancements and more for Mozilla, Thunderbird and Firefox. Most parts of Mnenhy are now usable with Mozilla, Thunderbird and Firefox. Features include custom mail/news header configuration for Mozilla and Thunderbird, text encoders and decoders like ROT-13, Unicode converters or Kenny. The Chrome Manager can move, deactivate or deinstall addons and extensions! The Registry Viewer displayss the contents of Mozilla registry files like mozver.dat or registry.dat. http://mnenhy.mozdev.org/

Metagrams Toolbar for Mozilla - v0.8, is a toolbar for word games enthusiasts. v0.8 is nearly at feature parity with the Metagrams Toolbar for Win/IE only (http://toolbar.versimedia.com/metagrams/), implementing nearly all of the IE toolbar's interface. It supports Netscape 7.1, Mozilla 1.6, and Firefox 0.8. http://words.mozdev.org/

cuneAform - v0.2.6, the HTML Editor for Everyone. The list of cuneAform features is contantly growing and includes a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment, Table Support, CSS Support, Template Support and Save and Print features. http://cuneaform.mozdev.org/

Read more about each of these projects in the full report at http://www.mozdev.org/status/2004-03-14-status.html

5. MOZILLA LINKS POLL ----------------------------------------------------------------------

In our last issue we asked if you use online bookmark services such as http://www.onlinebookmarks.co.uk's. Here are the results:

- Yes 8% |]] - No, I haven't found one that 32% |]]]]]] suits my needs - No, I didn't know they exist 60% |]]]]]]]]]]]]

(*) Results may not sum up to 100% due to rounding.

This issue's poll: What PIM (personal information manager) do you use?

- Mozilla Calendar - Microsoft Outlook - Ximian Evolution - Another PIM - No, but looking for one - No, don't need one

Let your voice be counted at http://newsletter.mozdev.org

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Visit http://store.mozilla.org now!

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Help children worldwide for a better future out of the web too! MissionFish is a website that allow you to start an auction at eBay and donate part or the total of it to Unicef. http://www.missionfish.org/cgt/nonprofit/np.show.home.do?NP_ID=1443 For more ideas on how to contribute, please visit Unicef. http://www.unicef.org . Thanks!

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6. CONTACT INFO ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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Copyright 2004 by the Mozilla Links Contributors. The Mozilla Links Newsletter is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 license, available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/legalcode