I keep getting email about IE7 and how this
website looks in this web browser. Well to make it publically known I am not at
all interested in IE7 and it is way too soon to be concerned with it. There are
a number of other reasons for this like how would I run both IE6 and IE7 on my
development PC? I would have to use some type of switcher. My experience with
such things has been bad or worse. They always seem to screw up something in
Windows because of the tight integration of IE and Windows.

When I get IE7 email I sometimes ask if they have tried
Firefox3. In all of the IE7 hype developers (the ones that are
sending me email) tend to forget that Firefox is in constant
development
that Firefox 1.5 is not the only version.
Firefox3 is readily available for
download.
Unlike its predecessors FireFox development does not sit and wait for the entire
internet to complain about bugs and shortcomings before they start building a
better version.

I have a question. If Firefox 2 is a better browser with more
features than
IE7 will you install IE7 or just jump from Firefox 1.5.x to Firefox 3.0.x? I
like many others am unconcerned with web browser holy wars and make my choices
based on need and statistics not on hype. I am however interested and concerned
with the way websites look in Firefox 3 because it does not require me to have a
particular Windows OS installed. Normally to be able to check the differences on
a live site would mean replacing my Firefox 1.5 instance with the FF3. This is
not what I want to do, I want to be able to switch back and forth between them.
The following methods are the ones I discovered while surfing for information.
The main part of this tutorial comes from a post contributed by Vectorspace on
Aug Sat 26th 2006 on Mozilla.org.

The simple method

The simplest way is to just run two seperate versions using the same profile.
This satisfies the needs of most since the profile contains the websites that
they would be checking. Set MOZ_NO_REMOTE to 1 in the environment
variables. Create desktop shortcuts and name them accordingly the paths to use
are as follows:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p default
"C:\Program Files\Deer_Park\firefox.exe" -p FF3Test

Both work with their different profiles and both can be running at the same
time. The flaw is that MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 means all new firefox.exe
processes will want a separate profile, including links from external
applications and when you double-click a Firefox shortcut. It will also affect
other Mozilla aps, like Thunderbird. This makes this method fast to implement
but not the best for a development PC where any number of applications or
programs may call the firefox.exe

Complicated method

Normally when you try to run a second firefox.exe process, it just gets
redirected to a new window/tab in the existing firefox.exe process.
MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 means that when you run a second firefox.exe process, it
stays a separate process and needs a separate profile. A mentioned previouly
there is the complication that MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 means all new firefox.exe
processes will want a separate profile, including links from external
applications and when you double-click a Firefox shortcut.

 It will also affect other Mozilla applications, like Thunderbird. If you set
MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 in Windows Environment Variables, then it is always on.
The batch file method means that the variable is only 1 when you want a new
firefox.exe process to start - links from external applications and the like
will be redirected to the most recently started profile, instead of bringing up
Profile Manager. I have a full solution to running a release and a new instance
using the batch file method - I use it and it does work:

First, remove MOZ_NO_REMOTE from Windows Environment Variables and restart
windows (to ensure that it is gone) I installed FF3 to a different location
(C:\Program Files\Firefox 3\) from 1.5 (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\). I
used Profile Manager to create a separate profile for FF3. The profile was
called "FF3" I did not start the profile. Then, I modified the target in Firefox
1.5's shortcut to read this:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p "default"

That shortcut now starts FF 1.5 with the profile named default. And I modified
FF3's shortcut target to read this:

"C:\Program Files\Firefox3\firefox.exe" -p "FF3"

That shortcut now starts FF3 with the profile named 'FF3'. Copy this text
into a batch file, running it will start FF3 even if Firefox 1.5 is already
running: Code:

@echo off
set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 start "" "C:\Program Files\Firefox3\firefox.exe" -p "FF3" set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=0

And a version to start FF 1.5 even if FF3 is already running: Code:

@echo off
set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1
start "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p "default"
set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=0

If you want batch files to start Profile Manager for one of the builds, just
remove the profile name from the above examples. With this method you can run
more then two instances at the same time - I have had two 1.5 profiles and a FF3 profile running simultaneously using this method.

Save the file with a *.bat extension and create a shortcut to your desktop.
You can Right-Click the shortcut and rename it to whatever you want.

Change the path to your particular firefox.exe and the Profile name as
appropriate for your installation. When you double-click the Batch file desktop
shortcut, it will start Firefox with the appropriate Profile even if a
version/Profile of Firefox is already running.

There are some issues that need to be solved when using this method. When you
just run firefox.exe (like an external application will do) it will start
whichever is your default browser, but it will start with whichever profile was
last run from profile manager. So, make sure that FF 1.5's profile is the one
selected in profile manager. or you might get FF1.5 started with the FF3
profile. Just start FF1.5's profile manager and start it's profile, and that
profile will be selected in profile manager as the default. This is assuming
that FF1.5 is your default browser, If FF3 is, make sure that the FF3
profile is the default.

You can start Firefox by just typing firefox.exe into Start>Run, or by typing
start firefox.exe into a command prompt - no path. If you install FF1.5 first
and FF3 second, FF3 will take over this so that it will start FF3 instead of
FF1.5. You need the version that is started by this to be the same version that
is set as the default browser, otherwise again you will get one version using
the other's profile. The simple solution would be to just reinstall 1.5.

Alternatively, there is a registry entry you can change to set this back if
you wish: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion >
App Paths > firefox.exe. In that location, change the values of the (Default)
and Path keys to match your original Firefox installation instead of FF3. If you
are not familiar with editing the registry then do not try.

 

Happy Publishing!

This article brought to you by the Hiveminds Magazine - Staff. Contact us if you want to post an article or announcement anonymously