Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?

Two behaviors which I really dislike are:

1) firefox isn't desktop aware. The firefox launcher tries to reuse windows,
but if the opened firefox is on another desktop, opening a URL causes a desktop
switch to where the running firefox window is. I don't want to randomly
switch desktops when I open a url.

2) firefox has drag'n'drop to the desktop, but the created icon, when launched
don't open anything but a text window with the url inside. I have to
cut'n'paste that back to the firefox address bar to actually open the page.

I'm using konqueror more and more, but there are a lot of features of the
firefox gui that I prefer over konq.

On Tuesday 10 June 2008 14:51, *AZ Nomad* wrote in /alt.os.linux.gentoo:/

> Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?

I haven't looked into the latest versions of Firefox, but as far as I know,
the answer would be "no". ;-)

Actually, from what I've read, Firefox would appear to lean over more
towards an integration with Gnome, rather than with KDE.

> Two behaviors which I really dislike are:
>
> 1) firefox isn't desktop aware. The firefox launcher tries to reuse
> windows, but if the opened firefox is on another desktop, opening a URL
> causes a desktop switch to where the running firefox window is.

Yes, that is also what I've experienced with regular Mozilla.

> I don't want to randomly switch desktops when I open a url.

Consider it a feature. It just so happens to be that the one who programmed
that feature was probably doing it to please himself, rather than us KDE
users...

> 2) firefox has drag'n'drop to the desktop, but the created icon, when
> launched don't open anything but a text window with the url inside. I
> have to cut'n'paste that back to the firefox address bar to actually open
> the page.

This is something I haven't tried yet myself.

> I'm using konqueror more and more, but there are a lot of features of the
> firefox gui that I prefer over konq.

Well, as you may recall, I am still using an older Mandrake on this machine
here, and I use both a pre-Firefox Mozilla and Konqueror as my browsers,
with the latter being my main browser.

I only use Mozilla for websites on which the Javascript or Flash version
gives me problems in Konqueror, e.g. YouTube, Google Maps, et al. All
other stuff - Google lookups etc. - are done using Konqueror, and when I
click a link in an e-mail or on Usenet, then it'll be opened with Konqueror
by default. I keep it set up that way. :-)

--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

AZ Nomad <aznomad.3@PremoveOBthisOX.COM> wrote:
> Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?
>
> Two behaviors which I really dislike are:
>
> 1) firefox isn't desktop aware. The firefox launcher tries to reuse
> windows, but if the opened firefox is on another desktop, opening a
> URL causes a desktop switch to where the running firefox window is.
> I don't want to randomly switch desktops when I open a url.

I bet that the way it works is the preferred way for many people, who want
to keep their virtual desktop separate, and not get a notification from
their "games" VD displaying on their "work" VD.

Doesn't KDE have a setting switch for whether new windows are to open in the
same virtual desktop as the parent (if any), or in the active one?

Anyhow, there shouldn't be any integration with the desktop from the program
itself. You can run Mozilla (and most other X programs) remotely, and with
the display manager and window manager of your choice. "Your choice" being
the key words here. Not locked down to one or two choices.

> 2) firefox has drag'n'drop to the desktop, but the created icon, when
> launched don't open anything but a text window with the url inside.
> I have to cut'n'paste that back to the firefox address bar to
> actually open the page.

Seems to me like you have a problem with your file manager's magic parsing.
Check whether KDE or its file manager has its own magic file -- if not, add
an entry to ~/.magic.mime (or globally, to /usr/share/misc/file/magic.mime)
that identifies it, like:

0 string URL: application/x-url

You may have to change the application/x-url to something else if your file
manager expects something else. You may even have to add an entry for your
file manager to know what to do with files of this type. See your KDE
documentation.

Regards,
--
*Art

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:01:13 -0400, Arthur Hagen <art@broomstick.com> wrote:
>AZ Nomad <aznomad.3@PremoveOBthisOX.COM> wrote:
>> Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?
>>
>> Two behaviors which I really dislike are:
>>
>> 1) firefox isn't desktop aware. The firefox launcher tries to reuse
>> windows, but if the opened firefox is on another desktop, opening a
>> URL causes a desktop switch to where the running firefox window is.
>> I don't want to randomly switch desktops when I open a url.

>I bet that the way it works is the preferred way for many people, who want
>to keep their virtual desktop separate, and not get a notification from
>their "games" VD displaying on their "work" VD.

If you're on your work VD, and firefox is sitting over on the game VD,
opening a URL from your email will flip you over to the game VD. That isn't
desirable behavior in my opinion. I want to stay on whatever VD i'm working
with.

>Doesn't KDE have a setting switch for whether new windows are to open in the
>same virtual desktop as the parent (if any), or in the active one?
Doesn't matter. Firefox will activate it's current running window and that'll
drag the user over to it. I suppose it could be set so there wouldn't be a
desktop switch but then you'd be wondering why nothing happens when you try
to open a URL.

....

>> 2) firefox has drag'n'drop to the desktop, but the created icon, when
>> launched don't open anything but a text window with the url inside.
>> I have to cut'n'paste that back to the firefox address bar to
>> actually open the page.

>Seems to me like you have a problem with your file manager's magic parsing.
>Check whether KDE or its file manager has its own magic file -- if not, add
>an entry to ~/.magic.mime (or globally, to /usr/share/misc/file/magic.mime)
>that identifies it, like:

You'd expect that an icon create BY an application would be launched
properly by that same application. What is the point of firefox creating an
icon it won't launch?
....

AZ Nomad wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:01:13 -0400, Arthur Hagen <art@broomstick.com> wrote:
>> AZ Nomad <aznomad.3@PremoveOBthisOX.COM> wrote:
>>> Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?
>>>
>>> Two behaviors which I really dislike are:
>>>
>>> 1) firefox isn't desktop aware. The firefox launcher tries to reuse
>>> windows, but if the opened firefox is on another desktop, opening a
>>> URL causes a desktop switch to where the running firefox window is.
>>> I don't want to randomly switch desktops when I open a url.
>
>> I bet that the way it works is the preferred way for many people, who want
>> to keep their virtual desktop separate, and not get a notification from
>> their "games" VD displaying on their "work" VD.
>
> If you're on your work VD, and firefox is sitting over on the game VD,
> opening a URL from your email will flip you over to the game VD. That isn't
> desirable behavior in my opinion. I want to stay on whatever VD i'm working
> with.
>
>> Doesn't KDE have a setting switch for whether new windows are to open in the
>> same virtual desktop as the parent (if any), or in the active one?
> Doesn't matter. Firefox will activate it's current running window and that'll
> drag the user over to it. I suppose it could be set so there wouldn't be a
> desktop switch but then you'd be wondering why nothing happens when you try
> to open a URL.

If you don't like the way things are done, then tweak the "Special
Window Settings" and/or "Special Application Settings".


>> Seems to me like you have a problem with your file manager's magic parsing.
>> Check whether KDE or its file manager has its own magic file -- if not, add
>> an entry to ~/.magic.mime (or globally, to /usr/share/misc/file/magic.mime)
>> that identifies it, like:
>
> You'd expect that an icon create BY an application would be launched
> properly by that same application. What is the point of firefox creating an
> icon it won't launch?
> ...

But the icon isn't executed by the application but the desktop.

--

//Aho

AZ Nomad wrote:
> Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?

No. In Firefox 3, the Gnome integration got better (don't forget
Firefox is a Gtk application). Hopefully this will also make KDE
integration better due to the KDE-Gnome interoperability efforts as of late.

But as long as Firefox is not a "real" Gnome app, KDE integration will
always be poor.

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:18:30 +0200, J.O. Aho <user@example.net> wrote:
>AZ Nomad wrote:
>> On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:01:13 -0400, Arthur Hagen <art@broomstick.com> wrote:
>>> AZ Nomad <aznomad.3@PremoveOBthisOX.COM> wrote:
>>>> Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?
>>>>
>>>> Two behaviors which I really dislike are:
>>>>
>>>> 1) firefox isn't desktop aware. The firefox launcher tries to reuse
>>>> windows, but if the opened firefox is on another desktop, opening a
>>>> URL causes a desktop switch to where the running firefox window is.
>>>> I don't want to randomly switch desktops when I open a url.
>>
>>> I bet that the way it works is the preferred way for many people, who want
>>> to keep their virtual desktop separate, and not get a notification from
>>> their "games" VD displaying on their "work" VD.
>>
>> If you're on your work VD, and firefox is sitting over on the game VD,
>> opening a URL from your email will flip you over to the game VD. That isn't
>> desirable behavior in my opinion. I want to stay on whatever VD i'm working
>> with.
>>
>>> Doesn't KDE have a setting switch for whether new windows are to open in the
>>> same virtual desktop as the parent (if any), or in the active one?
>> Doesn't matter. Firefox will activate it's current running window and that'll
>> drag the user over to it. I suppose it could be set so there wouldn't be a
>> desktop switch but then you'd be wondering why nothing happens when you try
>> to open a URL.

>If you don't like the way things are done, then tweak the "Special
>Window Settings" and/or "Special Application Settings".

You shouldn't give advice you've never tried.
The special window settings can't change the way firefox reuses currently
running windows.


>>> Seems to me like you have a problem with your file manager's magic parsing.
>>> Check whether KDE or its file manager has its own magic file -- if not, add
>>> an entry to ~/.magic.mime (or globally, to /usr/share/misc/file/magic.mime)
>>> that identifies it, like:
>>
>> You'd expect that an icon create BY an application would be launched
>> properly by that same application. What is the point of firefox creating an
>> icon it won't launch?
>> ...

>But the icon isn't executed by the application but the desktop.

The problem is that firefox creats an file which it then can't read.

I have no problem setting the desktop icon to launch firefox. The problem
is that firefox is unable to properly read the object it just created.
It opens a window with a single line containing the URL.

On Tue, 2008-06-10 at 13:13 -0500, AZ Nomad wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:01:13 -0400, Arthur Hagen <art@broomstick.com> wrote:
> >AZ Nomad <aznomad.3@PremoveOBthisOX.COM> wrote:
> >> Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?
> >>
> >> Two behaviors which I really dislike are:
> >>
> >> 1) firefox isn't desktop aware. The firefox launcher tries to reuse
> >> windows, but if the opened firefox is on another desktop, opening a
> >> URL causes a desktop switch to where the running firefox window is.
> >> I don't want to randomly switch desktops when I open a url.
>
> >I bet that the way it works is the preferred way for many people, who want
> >to keep their virtual desktop separate, and not get a notification from
> >their "games" VD displaying on their "work" VD.
>
> If you're on your work VD, and firefox is sitting over on the game VD,
> opening a URL from your email will flip you over to the game VD. That isn't
> desirable behavior in my opinion. I want to stay on whatever VD i'm working
> with.
>
> >Doesn't KDE have a setting switch for whether new windows are to open in the
> >same virtual desktop as the parent (if any), or in the active one?
> Doesn't matter. Firefox will activate it's current running window and that'll
> drag the user over to it. I suppose it could be set so there wouldn't be a
> desktop switch but then you'd be wondering why nothing happens when you try
> to open a URL.
>
> ...
>
> >> 2) firefox has drag'n'drop to the desktop, but the created icon, when
> >> launched don't open anything but a text window with the url inside.
> >> I have to cut'n'paste that back to the firefox address bar to
> >> actually open the page.
>
> >Seems to me like you have a problem with your file manager's magic parsing.
> >Check whether KDE or its file manager has its own magic file -- if not, add
> >an entry to ~/.magic.mime (or globally, to /usr/share/misc/file/magic.mime)
> >that identifies it, like:
>
> You'd expect that an icon create BY an application would be launched
> properly by that same application. What is the point of firefox creating an
> icon it won't launch?

Ah. You're here to bitch, not to get help. Noted.

Regards,
--
*Art

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:15:49 -0400, Arthur Hagen <art@broomstick.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 2008-06-10 at 13:13 -0500, AZ Nomad wrote:
>> On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:01:13 -0400, Arthur Hagen <art@broomstick.com> wrote:
>> >AZ Nomad <aznomad.3@PremoveOBthisOX.COM> wrote:
>> >> Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?
>> >>
>> >> Two behaviors which I really dislike are:
>> >>
>> >> 1) firefox isn't desktop aware. The firefox launcher tries to reuse
>> >> windows, but if the opened firefox is on another desktop, opening a
>> >> URL causes a desktop switch to where the running firefox window is.
>> >> I don't want to randomly switch desktops when I open a url.
>>
>> >I bet that the way it works is the preferred way for many people, who want
>> >to keep their virtual desktop separate, and not get a notification from
>> >their "games" VD displaying on their "work" VD.
>>
>> If you're on your work VD, and firefox is sitting over on the game VD,
>> opening a URL from your email will flip you over to the game VD. That isn't
>> desirable behavior in my opinion. I want to stay on whatever VD i'm working
>> with.
>>
>> >Doesn't KDE have a setting switch for whether new windows are to open in the
>> >same virtual desktop as the parent (if any), or in the active one?
>> Doesn't matter. Firefox will activate it's current running window and that'll
>> drag the user over to it. I suppose it could be set so there wouldn't be a
>> desktop switch but then you'd be wondering why nothing happens when you try
>> to open a URL.
>>
>> ...
>>
>> >> 2) firefox has drag'n'drop to the desktop, but the created icon, when
>> >> launched don't open anything but a text window with the url inside.
>> >> I have to cut'n'paste that back to the firefox address bar to
>> >> actually open the page.
>>
>> >Seems to me like you have a problem with your file manager's magic parsing.
>> >Check whether KDE or its file manager has its own magic file -- if not, add
>> >an entry to ~/.magic.mime (or globally, to /usr/share/misc/file/magic.mime)
>> >that identifies it, like:
>>
>> You'd expect that an icon create BY an application would be launched
>> properly by that same application. What is the point of firefox creating an
>> icon it won't launch?

>Ah. You're here to bitch, not to get help. Noted.

hello pot. meet kettle.

AZ Nomad wrote:

> Has any progress been made to integrate firefox with KDE?
>
> Two behaviors which I really dislike are:
>
> 1) firefox isn't desktop aware. The firefox launcher tries to reuse
> windows, but if the opened firefox is on another desktop, opening a URL
> causes a desktop
> switch to where the running firefox window is. I don't want to randomly
> switch desktops when I open a url.
>

Wow. Minor show stopper... You aren't a troll... are you? Why not file a bug
report, like you SHOULD be doing rather than crying about it?

> 2) firefox has drag'n'drop to the desktop, but the created icon, when
> launched
> don't open anything but a text window with the url inside. I have to
> cut'n'paste that back to the firefox address bar to actually open the
> page.
>

What version KDE? Rather than cry about it, file a bug report. You can be a
hero... IDIOT!

> I'm using konqueror more and more, but there are a lot of features of the
> firefox gui that I prefer over konq.

What's the purpose of complaining here then? You can't possibly be a
Troll... can you?

--


Jerry McBride (jmcbride@mail-on.us)