Making FireFox default browser, and a nice icon for it

[Kim Briggs]

On 1/4/06, Dave M G <martin at autotelic.com> wrote:
> Ubuntu Users,
>
>         Following advice here, I replaced the Ubuntu 1.0.7 build of FireFox
> available in Synaptic for version 1.0.5, which I downloaded directly
> from Mozilla. This was to alleviate excessive CPU use by the Ubuntu
> build, and it has worked fantastically.
>
>         However, because the version downloaded from Mozilla just unpacks from
> a tar file, it is not integrated into my system. When I click on a link
> in Evolution or Gaim, nothing happens. I assume this is because I have
> not listed my new version of FireFox as a default browser.
>
>         Question #1 is, how to I make it so that FireFox 1.0.5 is the default
> web browser for all web activities?
>
>         Question #2 should be simpler. Is there a place I can get a nice
> FireFox icon to put in my panel? I noticed that even when I had the
> Ubuntu build there was only a globe icon as the default FireFox icon.
>         I did read on this list in someone else's thread that there was some
> issue about licensing or something, which was why there was no default
> icon. But I didn't get a clear picture of whether or not it was possible
> to download an icon oneself from somewhere.
>
>         Thank you for your assistance.
>
> --
> Dave M G
>
Hi Dave,

I'd just like to stand up and be counted and say that using the
version of Firefox that came with Ubuntu 5.10 was making me crazy. 
Holding the scrollbar and pulling down a web page cause the screen to
"skip".  Everything just seemed just a little bit slower.  I installed
the latest version of Firefox fromt their website (I believe it's 1.5)
and noticed a huge difference in performance.

I can't tell you about integrating the application with the gnome
system, but you can surely get an icon in your panel, no problemo. 
Firstly, get a copy of the Firefox icon into the default directory for
these panel icons:

# sudo cp  ...install_path/firefox/chrome/icons/default/default.xpm  
/usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.xpm

Right click on the panel and choose to add a custom application named
whatever you want.
Choose the command as   ...install_path/firefox/firefox
Click on the icon icon and select the world-fox that you just copied over.

cheers,
--
http://kimbriggs.com