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Firefox Got Yahoo!
If you've been following Asa's blog, you probably already know that Firefox is well on its way to 25 million downloads worldwide. Well Yahoo! has certainly noticed and believe me, Firefox is very popular here at Yahoo! too.
However, a lot of us also rely on the convenience of Yahoo! Toolbar, and now we can make the switch to Firefox too. For the last month, we've been working with a team of Yahoos from around the company who have provided some Mozilla expertise to build the beta version of the Yahoo! Toolbar for Mozilla Firefox.
There are still some rough edges in this beta. Like any Firefox extension, it may cause your browser to misbehave in unexpected ways. It's been working well for us on Windows, and we're testing on Mac, Linux, and FreeBSD as well. See the release notes for more details.
What's in it?
If you've never used the Yahoo! Toolbar for Internet Explorer, here's a quick list of some of the cool features:
- Easy access to Yahoo! Search
- Bookmarks and custom buttons that follow you anywhere
- Search This Site to find results just for the current web site
- Search History to remember your previous searches
- Translate This Page based on the popular Babelfish tools
- Mail notification when new Yahoo! Mail arrives
- One click access to Yahoo! Games, Finance, News, Sports and any web site you choose
- New Feature: One click "Add to My Yahoo" on sites that provide RSS/Atom feeds
Now this isn't the first Firefox extension that ties into Yahoo!. We recently released our Y!Q contextual search technology that provides related results on the fly in Firefox.
The support and community that continues to grow around Firefox is amazing and we're proud to be part of it. In fact, the Yahoo! Toolbar Beta is just one of many Firefox goodies you can expect to see from us this year, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, please let us know what you think about it. Does it work well for you? Are there features you'd like added?
Duke Fan
Yahoo! Toolbar Product Manager


Comments
When you restart Firefox, it asks you to change your default search engine to Yahoo. I use Google for search. Does that mean just because I want my default search as Google, that I can't use Yahoo toolbar? Plus, Firefox already has built in search box by default. Why have two boxes?
It would be really useful to view buddies who are online, on my Yahoo! Messenegr list. Is this a worthy thing to get implemented? You could have buddy offline/online alerts, without needing to have any messaging feature too. Online status would be enough, consumers would use the Yahoo! Messenger client to interact with friends they were alerted had come online or offline via toolbar.
Posted by: n3td3v | February 9, 2005 11:39 PM
Trying to install the beta and I get an "install script not found" error - help!
Posted by: Alex | February 10, 2005 01:20 AM
The new toolbar looks great! Some more Firefox extensions that work well with Yahoo! are:
http://www.squarefree.com/extensions/search-keys/
http://bettersearch.g-blog.net/
These were put out by third parties, although the first one had Yahoo support added by a Yahoo (yours truly). See http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000044.html
Posted by: Marc Abramowitz | February 10, 2005 01:29 AM
I can't access it with a faked UA. I just enjoy surfing the web as GoogleBot way too much. Would be nice if you could fix this. :)
Posted by: Thomas | February 10, 2005 01:47 AM
If Yahoo is serious about Firefox support why no Launch videos without the annoying workaround?
Posted by: Zak Sharman | February 10, 2005 02:03 AM
Could not install it even if all instructions followed.
Firefox 1.0 (pop-up disabled) on XP Home.
Posted by: DTM | February 10, 2005 04:57 AM
If you are having problems with the beta, checkout the community-developed Companion For Mozilla.
http://companion.mozdev.org
It provides most of the features of Yahoo! Companion, has internationalization support, and has been tested on all the Mozilla platforms.
It's great to see a Yahoo! developed Companion. Please consider the community-developed version if you have problems with the beta.
The current Companion For Yahoo! release is 0.54. A newer version is currently in test and should be released soon.
Brian Erst
Member of the Companion For Mozilla team
Posted by: Brian Erst | February 10, 2005 05:18 AM
Just like the TV commercial "Thank You"
Posted by: Ahorre | February 10, 2005 08:46 PM
Is there a way the toolbar can show when new mail arrives?
Posted by: Fred | February 10, 2005 10:46 PM
Good start, now what about full support for Firefox across the Yahoo site for things like Mail?
Posted by: Paul | February 17, 2005 02:50 AM
Paul:
What doesn't work with Y! Mail and Firefox? Many of us use Firefox to access Y! Mail.
Posted by: Jeremy Zawodny | February 18, 2005 12:22 AM
Icompletly agree , Yahoo Mail should be fully working thru Firefox.
As for Launch my work around is to used it thru the Messenger...But it would be nice to be able to launch the Video thru FF
Posted by: Guillaume | February 22, 2005 03:46 PM
Guys why can't we use firefox on launch ??
Posted by: ahmet | February 28, 2005 10:33 PM
Yes, yes, yes to ahmet and Paul! It's time that Yahoo make all its service Firefox friendly. I use SBC/Yahoo for DSL and because I refuse to use IE I am unable to use some of the services I pay for - most notably Launch. Time to get that fixed.
Posted by: maniakes | March 1, 2005 10:40 AM
Yes, please support Firefox on Yahoo Launch! I'd visit Launch a lot more often if I didn't have to switch to IE every time.
Posted by: Finley Stockton | March 2, 2005 08:20 PM
I use Firefox for Yahoo! mail, but am frustrated because composing messages is limited to plain text. I cannot compose messages using HTML. IE (which I've otherwise abandoned) has support for HTML and plain text message composition with Yahoo! mail. How can we push for HTML mail composition using Firefox?
Posted by: Zup | March 3, 2005 10:55 AM
Is Yahoo considering Launch support in the future? I too have SBC Yahoo and pay for the service. But I don't like switching over to IE, so I don't use Launch very often.
Posted by: pdstone | March 13, 2005 09:50 PM
maybe you could help I have upgraded me to xp. now I'm unable to get to my yahoo mail. Everytime I try to log on I get page cannot be displayed. For some reason yahoo is not accepting my password. I've adjusted my setting and still no luck. At this piont any help is deeply appreciated.Please advise if you know what the major problem is. thank you
Posted by: lynn | March 22, 2005 05:54 AM
I had been using Firefox for yahoo mail (SBC Yahoo) but recently it seems to have stopped working. One I log in, I just get a blank screen no error, nothing. Maybe need to look into establishing a Firefox compliance program.
Posted by: Jeff Norman | March 23, 2005 09:38 PM
I'm using Fx as well for SBC Email, but I don't have the problems you have. I think you know that deleting your cache and cookies could fix it, but if it still didn't work, did you try logging in from any other Yahoo! site?
For those who want launch support for Fx, If you search for it, I think Mozillazine has a guide for partial Launch support.
Great job with the Yahoo! toolbar, but I would like to see streamlined SBC support (The SBC logo beside the Y! on the left). Also can you fix the customize toolbar bug. That's one of the only things preventing me from installing it on my Fx installation.
Posted by: Leon | March 23, 2005 10:26 PM
I have the same problem as Jeff Norman, when I try to log into yahoo mail through Firefox, I get a blank screen. Sometimes if I keep refreshing, the page will eventually come up, sometimes not. Anyone know what's causing this? It just started recently.
Posted by: Colleen | March 24, 2005 05:59 AM
Anyone else having trouble logging into Yahoo mail? I can't even get to the login page, just won't load on IE or Firefox.
Posted by: Steve | March 24, 2005 03:32 PM
I am having trouble with Yahoo! Mail using Firefox. It worked well since the beta until a few weeks ago. Now it never works. Blank white screen when I log in. annoying and forces me to launch IE as I'm not willing to leave my yahoo email address. anyone find a fix for this?
Posted by: Isaac | March 24, 2005 04:49 PM
I've having the sam prob as all above, but when it was working the fancier "buttons" (ones that expand like drop down boxes didn't load properly. No offence to the folks at Yahoo but hotmail has no such issues and I really wouldn't expect them to go out of their way to accomodate a rival browser.
Posted by: Dan | March 27, 2005 01:53 PM
I'm also having some problems with Yahoo Mail! It was working recently until a couple of days ago. After you put in the password, it'll just relaunch the log in page asking for another log-in.
Posted by: Basil Kwuak | March 28, 2005 03:35 AM
I don't think this problem is specific to Firefox. The content frame is empty.
The problems are back at the servers.
Posted by: Gerry | March 29, 2005 05:16 AM
I am able to log on to my Yahoo mail..but the screen is blank where i read the messages. What is wrong?
Posted by: Alan | March 29, 2005 02:04 PM
I get the same blank screen when trying to access Yahoo Mail from Firefox 1.0.1. The error that comes in the javascript console is:
Error: removeCookie is not defined
Source File: http://us.f519.mail.yahoo.com/ym/login?.rand=
Line: 121
Removing all yahoo.com cookies manually allows me to get to the login screen, but then I get the blank page after login with the same javascript error regardless of whether I click "Remember me from this computer" or not
Posted by: J | March 30, 2005 04:56 AM
I'm getting the same blank screen when I try to access Yahoo from Firefox (mail or even the home pages at www.yahoo.co.uk and www.yahoo.com). However, I have not problems at all when I (reluctantly) use Internet Explorer.
Posted by: Terence Joel | March 30, 2005 03:23 PM
I am having problems in accessing my Yahoo mailbox from firefox too. All other yahoo services (games, my yahoo, maps...)work fine. Its just the mail that is not working, for the last 3-4 days. I hate to switch to IE just for yahoo mail. Seems like a lot of people are having the same problem. Does someone from either yahoo or mozilla ever get to see these comments? Didn't find any response from one of these guys
Posted by: Sriram | March 31, 2005 06:49 AM
Having the same problem with FireFox 1.0.2 and Yahoo Mail. Intermittently, when I go to mail.yahoo.com or click on the "Yahoo Mail" link in My Yahoo, the screen will come up blank. I delete my cache, my cookies, my entire history, and the same problem reoccurs. I look at "View Source", and I see a page full of HTML. I go to IE 6, and I can see my mail.
I suspect that there's something screwy going on with JavaScript which is causing a rendering problem.
Other times, I have no problem at all with Yahoo Mail in Firefox. It's intermittent, but along with the occasional "Unable to connect to abc.def.com" message (which is annoying as hell also, and yes, I turned off the IPv6 thing also), it's making me very reluctantly use IE too often.
Posted by: David | April 1, 2005 05:54 AM
Is there any hope that yahoo might offer a reason/solution on how to solve this "blank screen after login" issue -- especially since this blog is their creation and their customer service is horrible about responding to the e-mails that one sends in?
Posted by: Dan | April 1, 2005 09:13 AM
I've been having a similar problem (blank screen/done) with Yahoo mail. But for me it occurred in IE but not Mozilla. The problem resolved when I turned off my AD/Subtract pop up blocker. I then added a custom site filter for yahoo mail and turned Ad/Subtract back on. Works fine now.
But I have been having another problem with Yahoo mail. Whenever I go to the inbox I find previously deleted mail listed. Then each time I subsequently click on Inbox another iteration of previously deleted mail appears until it arrives at the current Inbox. Can't figure it out. Some kind of cache problem? Anybody have an idea.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 2, 2005 08:08 AM
my yahoo mail and hotmail come up blank and read "done". I thought it was a virus. Now I see it is common. I guess I'll go back and try to reset all the changes I've tried. Maybe by updating my windows xp?
Posted by: joel devin | April 4, 2005 05:13 PM
I am getting the blank page/done problem when accesing Yahoo mail. This happen with Explorer, Navigator or Firefox. It would really be nice if we get a help from yahoo on this issue.
Posted by: Ivanhoe | April 4, 2005 06:24 PM
Yahoo mail has stopped working with Firefox again (1.0.2), unless I turn off javascript. I'm getting the blank page on login again mentioned previously. Surely it can't be that difficult to make a webmail system work with Firefox... even Hotmail works!
Perhaps it's time to dump Yahoo mail?
Posted by: Gerald | April 10, 2005 01:35 AM
wtf is up with this bullshit plain text for the mail??
Posted by: Mike | April 10, 2005 06:18 PM
I've also started having problem using yahoo mail since I upgraded to Firefox V1.0.2. Pages within yahoo mail get blanks loaded about 95% of the times. I've tried clearing all the caches except passwords and forms but to no effect.
This appears to be specific to Firefox cause IE and Avant works fine in yahoo mail. I like Avant but I still prefer Firefox for its very customizable features, I'd like not to switch...
Any ideas, anyone?
P.S.
I've found that I "can" access yahoo notepad which provides links back to yahoo mail. If I use the "folders" links to go to yahoo mail I "can" get back in and somehow "jolt" my other folders open, but getting the individual message to load and show consistently is still hit & miss pretty much. It's not a real solution but a bandage is better than nothing!
(see thread in MozillaZine: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=248905&sid=656a5e66b772eb295b73e58a3b3c96ff)
Posted by: LS1 | April 10, 2005 08:07 PM
I have two computers. Phone line to DSL modem, DSL modem to router, router to each computer. One computer gets a blank screen with Yahoo mail, the other works. I have no idea why, but I will keep searching.
Posted by: Mike Feller | April 15, 2005 09:48 AM
My FireFox 1.0.2 running on Win/XP won't read Yahoo or Hotmail E-mail. This has been the case for the last month at least. I get a blank screen and a notice that there the page was empty.
I can't find any suggestions on how to fix the problem
Seems to be affecting a LOT of people. FireFox needs to get this working or we may have to go back to using IE. :( I don't want that but I got's to see my e-mail.
Posted by: David | April 15, 2005 04:15 PM
I found out what was causing my problem (blank page) Like someone else siad it had to do with the add blocker I had blocked yming.com or whatever in an attempt to get rid of those annoying sidebar adds in yahoo. Still while my mistake, yahoo has way too many "scripts" being loaded with the majority of them having to do with ads.
Posted by: Dan | April 17, 2005 03:20 PM
I solved the blank page problem, I started using the K-meleon browser instead, noone at Firefox or Yahoo seems to want to address the problem so it semed to be the only solution.
Posted by: vatanner | April 18, 2005 09:22 AM
i think i've figured out what's going on between FF and ymail. turns out if you are running the adblock extension it can block the ymail page from loading. if you check your adblock preferences you'll see a url(maybe more than one) possibly beginning with "http://us.js1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com...". if you see this url delete it from your blocked items list and ymail should start working again. i am using v1.0.3 and since i did this i've had no problems. hope this helps the anti-IE folks out there ;-)
Posted by: Hanky | April 19, 2005 05:02 AM