Mozile Basics
Anything within this dashed red border is editable by Mozile. If you are using a current version of the Mozilla or Mozilla Firefox browsers, then you should be able to click here and start typing. Note that other browsers are not supported, and likely will not be supported; Mozile makes use of advanced technology only available from the Mozilla project.
Mozile strives to work very much like a normal word-processor. What can you do? Well, with Mozile's XHTMLBasic module running, you can do most of the things that you can do in a normal word-processor. Try it! You can:
- Make text bold (strong), italic (emphasis), underlined, or all three at once.
- You can apply CSS styles with the click of a button, making text large or small, superscript, subscript, different fonts, and with different foreground and background colors.
- You can justify a block of text to the right hand side of the page.
- You can also remove the formatting from a section of text.
- You can edit preformatted text, where spaces, tabs, and
newlines are preserved.
- Insert links, images
, lists. Change the document title, the style attribute of an element, or set any attribute of the selected element to any value you want.
- Edit HTML, XHTML, and many types of XML documents.
- And more!
Mozile is designed to be exceptionally configurable. You can create your own commands, which can do anything to your documents that JavaScript, the DOM, and CSS can do. You can also create your own modules, which extend Mozile in any way you like.
Not everything in the document has to be editable! You can choose which parts are editable and which are not.
Two Kinds of Mozile
Mozile comes in two different forms. The first is called Mozile Server-Side, and it's a collection of JavaScripts stored on your web server and loaded into your web pages. Anyone using Firefox or Mozilla will be able to open your page and start editing. You can configure your server to allow users to save using the HTTP POST module -- although you will have to implement your own system for authemtication and storing the posted information.
Mozile is also available as the Mozile Extension, which is an extension (like a plug-in) for Firefox and Mozilla browsers. With the Extension installed, you can add a special button to your toolbar which looks like this 
. When you click on this button, the current page you are viewing will become editable with Mozile! If that server is not configured to allow saving with Mozile, then you will have to save your changes to a local file, or have Mozile display the new source code in a dialog. The Mozile Extension also allows advanced features, like access to your system-wide clipboard for cutting and pasting, and automatic displaying and hiding of the editing caret.
And the two versions of Mozile work together beautifully! If you have the Mozile Extension installed, and you open a page which uses Mozile Server-Side, then you will be given the option to allow the Extension to enhance the Server-Side code, giving you access to the added power of the Extension.
Although Mozile comes in these two different forms, both version use the same shared code base and the same modules. All you have to do is pick which version is right for you. See below for more details on using the two kinds of Mozile.
How to Use Mozile Server-Side
We are always working to make Mozile as simple as possible to use. Here are the steps you must follow to make Mozile Server-Side work in your webpage:
- Download a copy of Mozile from our website and place the files on your server. Mozile is really just a collection of JavaScript files, which extend the functionality of Mozilla browsers.
- In the webpage you want to edit, create a new
script element which points to a copy of the mozile.js configuration file. It should look something like this: <script type="application/x-javascript" src="../core/mozile.js"/> It's very important that the src attribute gives the correct path from your webpage to the mozile.js file.
- Now change the configuration in the
mozile.js file to suit your situation. The default settings should be fine for simple cases. If you want to have more than one page using Mozile, and more than one configuration, then make copies of the mozile.js file, and make sure that the mozileScriptSource setting is correct.
- Now Mozile will load into your document, but you haven't yet defined your editors. The last step is to add editor commands to the
mozile.js file where it says "Create Mozile Editor". By default there is a command which adds a Mozile editor to any element with its class attribute set to editor. You can add other commands which will create editors based on the id attribute of the element, or using CSS selectors.
That's it! If it seems a little tricky, take a look at the source code for this page, which follows the steps above exactly.
There are some things your shouldn't do: It's not recommended to put one Mozile editor inside another one, and it's best to use block-level elements as editors, like div elements.
Using the Mozile Extension
The Mozile Extension is a program that lives inside your web browser, so you have to install it and restart the browser before you can use it. Here are the steps to follow:
- Click on this link to start the installation.
- If your browser warns you that installation is not allowed, you will have to tell it to allow installations from mozile.mozdev.org
- If you are using Mozilla, you can choose to install Mozile into your user profile (which we recommend) or into the shared chrome directory. With Firefox the extension will automatically be installed in your user profile.
- Restart your browser when asked.
Now that Mozile is installed, you can edit any webpage.
- In both Firefox and Mozilla, go to the "File" menu and select "Edit Page Using Mozile".
- In Firefox you can right-click on the toolbar to customize it, and add the special Mozile button which will do the same thing.
You can also adjust the Mozile options, controlling which pages will be enhanced and what enhancements will be active. In Firefox, go to "Tools"->"Extensions", pick "Mozile", and then click the options button. In Mozilla, go to the "Tools" menu and select "Mozile Options".
Security Note: Using the Mozile Extension to enhance webpages gives that webpage certain security privileges. Scripts in the page could read you system clipboard , save files to your hard drive, or overwrite critical files on your computer. For this reason, never enhance pages which you do not trust! If you select "Do not enhance this page" when prompted, you will not be exposed to these risks. You can also find a "Never enhance" option in the Mozile options dialog.
What is Working Now? What's Still in Development?
The version of Mozile which you are using right now is called the Mozile 0.7 series. It is a rewrite of the Mozile 0.6 series, and it does not yet include all of the features which the older version had. However, the new code is much cleaner, better documented, and more extensible. Oh, and it's a whole lot faster too.
Features currently implemented in Mozile 0.7 include all of the basic XHTML editing demonstrated above. It supports modules, and has a number of useful commands for XHTML editing. The new Mozile can be used both server-side and as an extension.
Improvements to the Mozile 0.6 series:
- eDOM replaced with faster, Mozilla-native methods. Many nagging eDOM bugs are gone.
- Both server-side and extension systems, living together in harmony, using a single shared code-base.
- Object-oriented and modular design, much cleaner and better documented than before.
- New customizable command system, much more powerful than the old MES.
- Unit testing suite. Currently incomplete, but it works and it will catch up.
Important features which still have to be reimplemented include:
- Source editing.
- Tag view mode.
Important new features which were not in the 0.6 series, but which are planned for the 0.7 series include:
- XML Validation.
- Proper table editing.
- Localization tools.
- Skinning tools.
Known Issues:
- White-space (especially spaces) might not be handled the way you extect. This is because of the HTML/XML white-space handling rules. I think we just have to live with it...
- Toolbar doesn't always center properly when first activated.
- The three editing modes (HTML, XHTML, and XML) don't yet make any of difference yet, but they will.
- Browser keyboard shortcuts sometimes get in the way of Mozile's keyboard shortcuts.
- Editing caret is automatically detected and turned on in the Mozile Extension, but not in Mozile Server-Side. This requires special privileges.
- Keyboard commands which create popups may get blocked by the Firefox popup blocker.
- Button menuitems should show checkmarks when the corresponding command is active. However, they don't refresh until a mouseover, and detecting colors versus background colors can be a problem. This seems to be fixed in Firefox 1.5 betas.
- The selection sometimes gets lost when changing the block element.
- The focus gets lost when moving the cursor out of link elements, or out of editable areas.
- Tooltips aren't working.
- List tools aren't as robust as they should be.
- The cursor may pause for a moment when entering a new element. The effect is more noticable the more commands are bing used. It should be possible to optimize this, and you can set the toolbarUpdateFrequency to 1 or 0 if it really bugs you.
- Warning before leaving a page should be smarter.
All these things will get done, just as soon as somebody does them! Drop by our web site http://mozile/mozdev.org to find out how you can lend a hand.