help with Firefox and Internet Explorer bookmarks?

[edenfalling]

This afternoon Microsoft automatically updated my browser to IE9. I do not like IE9. I think it's ugly, and I can't figure out how to rearrange the toolbars up top to get my tabs on a different line from the address bar.

So I updated Firefox. I am not wild about the appearance of their newest browser either, but at least the tabs are on a separate line and thus both large and easily visible.

The thing is, I have a LOT of bookmarks (or favorites) in Internet Explorer, while my Firefox bookmarks (which, I think, got copied automatically from IE when I first downloaded Firefox two or three years ago) are horribly out of date. And I use my bookmarks to navigate all the time, partly because they're an easy and non-site-specific way to track writers I like, and partly because they are completely private and I don't always like to advertise my guilty pleasure reading habits.

Is there a way to get Firefox to copy my IE bookmarks and their organization, while overwriting whatever version I already have in Firefox?

Alternately, is there a way to get the tabs on a separate line from the address bar in IE9? (Because that is my main issue with that browser. I hate that layout with the burning passion of a thousand fiery suns. Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.)

Comments

[branchandroot]

About halfway down the page here (http://kb.iu.edu/data/ahau.html) looks like what you want. Seems like IE finally got with the picture and made bookmarks an html file. That should be compatible with FF, so all you have to do is go into FF and do what it says here (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Import_bookmarks) to import from a file.

[edenfalling]

Thank you! I ended up importing them as a folder marked "From Internet Explorer" and then moving them out of that after manually deleting the old bookmarks -- a little roundabout, but it worked. :-)

[alikcin.livejournal.com]

To move the tabs to a different line in IE9, I just right clicked on the blue bar above the address bar. Between 'Lock Toolbars' and 'Restore' in the drop-down menu is 'Show Tabs on a Separate Row.' That's worked for me.

[edenfalling]

Oh, bless! Thank you, that is SO MUCH better. Now I am off to see about fixing the horrible color scheme...

[alikcin.livejournal.com]

Glad I could help! And yeah, the original layout was horrible. First thing I did after updating was figure out how to move the tab bar.

Good luck with the color scheme.

[chibirisuchan.livejournal.com]

Or if you like Firefox better, you can tell IE to export its bookmarks as HTML and then use Firefox's Bookmarks menu->organize bookmarks->import HTML to slurp 'em up? :D

(I can't tell you what to click in IE9 to make the export part happen, though; so far I have managed to avoid installing said abomination...)

[edenfalling]

I got Firefox to import from IE without needing to export, actually. I could not, however, find an "organize bookmarks" option, and had to delete the old ones manually, after which I manually moved the imported ones out of a new folder labelled "From Internet Explorer." Kind of roundabout, but it worked in the end.

I find IE more convenient for one basic reason: it interacts better with Hotmail, which is my basic email provider. Other than that... well, mostly I'm just used to it, and familiarity is a greatly underrated virtue. *wry* I actually only had Firefox because that was the only browser in which I was able to sign up for Yuletide a couple years ago; now I keep it around as a backup for the once or twice a year when IE pitches a fit for some reason.

[chibirisuchan.livejournal.com]

The biggest reason I love Firefox is the plugins.

The LJ-login plugin lives quietly at the bottom corner of your screen and lets you log in and out with a click!

Since I work in a huge concrete bunker the size of a city block with no external windows, the weather forecast plugin is a lifesaver (or at least a hairsaver) for when it's going to be raining/snowing when I get out.

Then there's NoScript and AdBlock for making sure bad stuff doesn't get onto your computer, and WebOfTrust to make sure sites are legit and not virus-infected.

Since I do a lot of web work, I've got a web developer plugin, and since I speak Japanese reasonably well but am still learning kanji, I've got a furigana-overlay plugin that helps me with pronunciations of kanji I'm not familiar with. I don't know if any of those are available on IE, but if they are, I've never heard of 'em. (And all of those plugins were designed for 3 but they work just fine with Firefox 4!)

really, if IE9 isn't playing nice, this is totally a good time to investigate whether Firefox's customizability might make you happy. :D

/takes off evangelist hat :D

[chibirisuchan.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, and I forgot to mention one you might really like.

There's a plugin called IE Tab 2 that lets you switch a Firefox tab over to IE and back. So you could set it so that Hotmail always launched in an IE tab inside Firefox if you like. :D (I use that a lot at work for Microsoft sites and tools like Sharepoint that don't play nice with Firefox.)

/really takes off evangelist hat this time XD

[edenfalling]

I will now reveal the degree of my computer illiteracy and ask you what a plugin is, and how it works. *sheepish*

[chibirisuchan.livejournal.com]

no problem! To be a total geek about it, plugins are to Firefoxlike when in RPGs you don't like the equipment you have as a rank 1 newbie and you want to upgrade to different gear. (Only as far as I know all plugins are free; you don't need 'Firefox coins' or another game equivalent to get 'em.)

So your browser as automatically installed (either Firefox or IE) is like that rank 1 newbie (or like Academy Naruto). If you want to "level up" Firefox, you can pick whatever plugins you like from https://addons.mozilla.org/ -- just use Firefox itself to surf around; you can't add Firefox plugins to Firefox from inside IE. If you see a plugin description you like, click its "Add to Firefox" button and Firefox will give you some prompts to OK, then add it in. After you restart Firefox, your new plugin will be part of the browser, and you can turn it on or off and in some cases tweak its settings.

So the AdBlock Plus plugin I mentioned earlier is currently profiled on its home page, or there's a straight link to it here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/

And the weather plugin is here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/forecastfox-weather/

The LJ-login (which installs a little LJ-account logger-inner-or-outer that lives at the bottom right side of the screen in Firefox 3, haven't tried it in Firefox 4 yet) is on LJ itself instead of Firefox's home, but here it is: http://ljlogin.livejournal.com/

And here's IE Tab 2, to be able to launch IE from inside Firefox for Hotmail etc: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ie-tab-2-ff-36/

Then there's the Themes section that will let you change how Firefox looks: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/themes/

Firefox themes are like Winamp skins, if you remember those. :D (I'm old, I know, I remember MP3 players from before iTunes was a gleam in Steve Jobs' eye.) So if, for example, you wanted to make your browser look like you decked it out in bad 70's woodgrain paneling, there is in fact a theme for that! https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/walnut-for-firefox/

You could also use, say, a thesaurus plugin or dictionary plugin for help finding words while writing up a post.

Hope that helps?

[edenfalling]

Yes, that's very helpful! Thank you for the explanation and links.

[lady_songsmith]

Building on what chibirisuchan said, there ought to be an option called "Import and Export" under the Favorites, near the "add" button.

You can also make FF look like almost anything - mine's currently running a scheme similar to an old IE - 5 or 6, I think, which was the last time I actually liked any browser's built-in look.

[edenfalling]

I had a comment and LJ ate it.

Basically, now that I've fixed the tabs my main remaining issues are that IE9 only saves five addresses in complete form under the little autocomplete triangle at the right-hand corner of the address bar, instead of the ten to fifteen that IE8 saved. I liked having ten sites there that I didn't have to type at all to reach.

Also, IE9's toolbar/menu bar/whatever is a disgusting, soul-killing near-black color, and the tab background shade is a deathly dark gray that renders the tab labels nearly illegible. Also, UGLY!!! And no matter what terms I search under, I cannot find a way to change the colors -- apparently you couldn't change them in the beta version, and it looks like Microsoft didn't fix that VERY IMPORTANT error before releasing the public version. BASTARDS.

[purple-alicorn.livejournal.com]

If you have google toolbar you can import the links into google toolbar, and use that.

[edenfalling]

I do not have google toolbar. I try to avoid having search functions in my toolbars -- I want them as uncluttered as possible, and since Google is my homepage, there's no reason to have it follow me around the web as well. *wry*