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I am usually a little behind on the latest tech news. Many of you may have already noticed that Mozilla’s new browser updates for Firefox 4, which no longer supports the RSS feed icon in the browser’s address bar. This may not be a big deal for some of you, but many may find this an inconvenience to their regular browsing activities. Moreover, I think it is more or less that we are conditioned to using the handy-dandy RSS icon–which was previously located in the address bar–and its removal has pretty much perturbed many people. Myself included.
Mike Beltzner, Director of Firefox Mozilla made a statement to this change in this Youtube video featured by InternetNewsBlog. His statement, “…every page you expect to have an RSS feed, pretty much does. So the decision was made to remove it from the Firefox 4’s address bar because it was considered extras or ‘lucky charms,’ and just isn’t needed anymore.” Hence, time to make good use of the bookmark/subscribe tool in your new Firefox browser.
To bookmark a page in the new Firefox 4 browser, you will now have to click on the orange Firefox tab located in the upper left of your browser window, then go to bookmarks –> Bookmark this page, or use keyboard short CTRL + D. This may be a difficult transition for some, especially if you are unfamiliar to using keyboard shortcuts. Luckily, I found the “how-to” for using the new Firefox browser’s help menu. For convenience, here are a few keyboard short-cuts to help you online while using your Firefox browser:
I’ll have to disagree, somewhat, with Mozilla in regards to removing the convenient RSS icon in the browser address bar. A couple of the complaints I read regarding the RSS’s feed icon removal was “how will we know if a site has the RSS option available on their site?” and that “how can the RSS icon be a “distraction” to the browser users’ view” as reasons for its removal? Still, advanced users find the removal to not be a problem. The fact is that it hasn’t been removed–instead, we just have to get use to the new Firefox bookmarking tool making way for expanding your search engine options while using Firefox 4. Still, I think it was a big mistake to remove it–because sometimes, a person may only frequent a particular site once–and not providing them a convenient an easier option to return to a the site is an irresponsible and cosmetic removal action by Mozilla–in my opinion. It is frustrating to know that the usefulness of the RSS icon in the Firefox address bar was so easily underestimated by Mozilla.
My apologies everyone, I just had to vent on this one.
UPDATE!
You can download a plugin for your FireFox 4 browser which will return the RSS to the address bar.
Image credit: Firefox
We are influencers and brand affiliates. This post contains affiliate links, most which go to Amazon and are Geo-Affiliate links to nearest Amazon store.
When AIDY isn’t writing poetry, she likes to write film reviews. If she is curious about something she seen or heard, she’d maybe write about that, too.