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Is Firefox for Android OS only available in mobile (I use tablet,not phone)?

  • 4 replies
  • 14 have this problem
  • 25 views
  • Last reply by mov1ngONFF

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I want desktop format, not mobile format, for use on my ASUS tablet.

When I mark Android OS in the help page, it automatically puts me in mobile

When I ask for desktop format, it automatically puts me in microsoft.

Is this unavoidable limitation?

I want desktop format, not mobile format, for use on my ASUS tablet. When I mark Android OS in the help page, it automatically puts me in mobile When I ask for desktop format, it automatically puts me in microsoft. Is this unavoidable limitation?

All Replies (4)

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Hi,

I'm not exactly sure of the question you are asking, but I think you want a way to view web pages in desktop mode on your Android tablet. To do that, you can install the following add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/addon/phony/

Then, open the Preferences (swipe left and tap the gear button) and set the User Agent to Desktop Firefox.

Also, you make a good point about the help site not having a 'tablet' option, I'll look into this and find out what we can implement as far as a tablet setting in the Help With menu for an upcoming release.

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Thank you. I wrote a detailed question and got a computer response saying I needed to supply more information.??? What you got is what some computer approved, it would not pass my approval.


1. I wanted to use Chrome as I have on my laptop and PC. I've since read that Google in its wisdom isn't allowing that =- at this point, chrome is for ms, mac or linux. (reminds me of microsoft's didactic pronouncements!) I had hoped that I could do so through Firefox, but your "phony" approach is apparently the only way.

2. I was learning to use Firefox about 18 months ago but my username and password were not recognized. When I tried to re-register, I got message that they already had someone using my requested name/password - one does not need a computer to know they had mine but couldn't access it properly.

3. Just now, therefore, I went back through Firefox help - I got an access denied notice.

4. It would therefore help me if you would be more "step-by-step" please.

a. What steps must I perform before getting to your "installadd-on" process. You must appreciate that the ASUS, a bit like Firefox, doesn't put information in an organized framework preferring to require the user to gain it a teaspoonful at a time. Since neither has a fully presented "cook book" and ASUS is even worse, there is no place to learn except question by question by question.

At this point, Firefox is/was installed on this ASUS tablet, probably version (latest)??? I have no idea why I can't get into Firefox help, nor do know whether can follow your instructions without Firefox open - AND THERE IS NO ORGANIZED PLACE TO FIND OUT OR LEARN - in the age of dinosaurs, we called them manuals and they were written by people who understood what new customers needed to know, and how to communicate clearly.

YOu may have the best answer in the world, but I need to know "ab ovo" every step required from you as there is no where else to find it out. I cannot claim to be newby - have suffered with these things for 20 years largely because there have not been quality manuals around and some of us don't find it fun playing with an illogical and non-intuititvely learned device.

I desperately want to get out of the Microsoft world, as Ithink the only way I"ll keep using these things is in an open environment where I can have just what I need and as little as Bill (and now Eric) want to push onto me.

I appreciate the help I think you can bring me - by the way, did you happen to wonder how someone could write a help site for mobile and not discuss tablets? Precisely my point.

Thank you mov1ngONFF

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Hi,

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation, here are the step-by-step instructions. I'm sorry for the trouble and let me know if there is any step that doesn't make sense so I can clarify it.

1. Start Firefox by clicking the Firefox icon on the Applications (Apps) page on your tablet.

You should see the Firefox Start page appear.

2. Swipe left to open the menu in the sidebar.

You will see a grey sidebar with a button at the bottom right that looks like a round gear.

3. Tap the round gear button to open the Preferences menu.

The Preferences menu appears. In the upper-right you will see three menu items, the third in the list is called 'Add-ons' and has a puzzle-piece icon.

4. Click the Add-ons menu item.

The Menu item will appear blue and the Add-ons screen will appear with a 'Your Add-ons' section and a 'Get Add-ons' section.

5. Tap the search box that is in the Get Add-ons section of the Add-ons screen.

You will see a blinking cursor in the white search box and the keyboard should appear.

6. Type the word 'Phony' into the search box using the keyboard at the bottom of the screen.

Phony 2.02 should appear just below the search box with an icon that looks like a face with glasses, nose, and mustache.

7. Tap on the Phony listing.

Two buttons appear.

8. Click the Add to Firefox button on the lower right.

A blue progress bar appears showing that the Phony add-on is being downloaded and installed. When it completes the installation, Phony should appear in the Your Add-ons section at the top of the screen.

9. Tap the Preferences menu item at the top left of the of the Add-ons screen.

The Preferences screen appears on the right.

10. Tap the Default button in the User Agent row.

A menu appears with different view options.

11. Tap the view you want to use for all web sites (Desktop Firefox).

The menu closes and Desktop Firefox appears in the User Agent row.

12. On your tablet menu bar, tap the Back button to go back to the Firefox Start page. (This is the button on the bottom left on my tablet and it looks like an arrow pointing to the left).

The Firefox Start page should appear.

13. Tap the Enter Search or Address bar at the top of the Firefox Start page.

A listing of all recently viewed pages appears.

14. Select a page from the listing.

The page should load and you should see it as it would appear on your desktop.

Troubleshooting:

-The menus and search bar in Firefox at the top, right, and left can appear and disappear if you swipe up, left, or right. So, try swiping to find them if they aren't viewable.

-If you installed Phony but you don't see the User Agent item on the Preferences list, try going back to the Add-ons menu, tap the Phony Add-on and then tap Disable and then tap Enable. Then, go back to the Preferences to see if you have the User Agent item.

Let me know if you have further questions or if these instructions don't work.

-Michelle

Modified by mluna

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]Michelle - I wonder if you realize that the quality of what you did is not equalled in any computer/techical manual that I have read since I had my first computer in the late 80's. Despite all the fancy numbers about how many jillion of computers are out there, I often wonder how many are like 2 or 3 at friends' homes, unused because they have no one to teach them, no manuals that are methodical enough, techie word free, to refer to. A forum is a time waster - a beginner can't tell if they are reading a wannabe computer whiz, or someone who is way beyond their needs or understanding. Google occasionally does a pretty good job, but it is all fragmented by product and, at times, their corporate product development structure.In a word,it is not integrated, and certainly not relating parts of the knowledge - e.g. when did you ever read, "What we are doing with this e-mail problem, is really almost identical to how one does an "x" kind of search."

I have no doubt you have given me what I need. To the extent I might have a problem, you have anticipated - you probably don't realize this method which you used so well lights a sufficient remedy path; if there is a microscopic point of confusion, the user can see where to go.

As I make the following comments, it is important to preface all by telling you that I spent over half of my business career fixing(not financial engineering) but teaching a large company from the shopfloor up to exec offices, what running a business was about, what was required to manage an organization to make money and positive cash flow while satisfying customers as a way of life; I did this in and for reasonably large private and public companies. I should also say to remove a doubt about my questions, I am very intelligent - my lack of understanding comes from either an industry's failure to truly market their product, which requires consumer education or the fact that, unlike my sons, I didn't have the opportunity or time to play with these machines and their software when DOS was the name of the sandbox. Believe it or not, I did all of the above things successfully without an MBA!

So let's look at what you did and think what it could mean to Mozilla. First, there is a huge need for a product that does what you just did for me. I do not have to do any market research; when you figure people ask me for help with reasonable regularity, the need must be desperate.

Mozilla has the opportunity to do, thru Firefox, the Bibles of the business. /they need to find the 100 most trying, difficult things users run into and write process statements as you did. I think it might well have to be part generic (e.g. Microsoft OS basics) and part brand/individual company structured.

They would give these first 100 pages, in a three ring binder, to any user of Firefox for free. They would then go on to the next 150 difficulty issues (which I think should be enough) and sell that addendum to fit dividers in those notebooks. I would guess at this point, they might even publish such a package.

Then they would have to have a structured page that any customer tech person was trained to follow such that problems beyond the suggested 250 were always formatted so they could go into the master binder. Companies with new products would certainly contract to have the Mozilla-Firefox manual company prepare or rigorously edit manuals or sections for their new product. It is easy for me to see that, every time a new product was launched, there was a marking {"Mozilla/Firefox Manual inside) - apologies to Intel.

Your competence could breed a collateral business that created enormous goodwill and awareness - properly managed, cash.

Take this to your boss or whomever is positive, and has an entrepreneurial bone permanently rooted in his or her soul.


thank you, Stewart Gordon