• Introduction
• Introduction
• About This Manual
• Before Getting Started
• Open Source
• The Internet
• Installation
• Windows
• Mac OSX
• Ubuntu
• Updating
• Uninstalling
• Basic Usage
• Interface
• Location Bar
• Navigating
• Bookmarks
• Searching
• Home Page
• Configuration
• Tabbed Browsing
• Downloading Files
• Copy-Save-Print
• Toolbar
• Features
• Add-Ons Intro
• Add-Ons
• Managing Plugins
• FireFTP
• Themes
• RSS/Live Bookmarks
• Using Sidebars
• UsingWebForms
• Privacy & Security
• Accessibility
• General Web Security
• Firefox Security Features
• Firefox Privacy
• Help & Support
• Support
• Get Sites to Work
• BugZilla
• Appendices
• Glossary
• Credits

Live Bookmarks

Websites are updated regularly. If you want to keep track of updates from a particular site you ask Firefox to inform you when new content is published. This process is called 'Live Bookmarking' in the Firefox world.

Not all sites can be tracked in this manner. A website has to enable this functionality by using what is also known as 'RSS' (also commonly called a 'feed'). Typically feeds are used on news sites so you can keep track of headlines, however it can be used by any website and RSS is also the technology behind Podcasts.

When you keep track of a website via RSS, this is usually known as 'subscribing' to the content or 'subscribing to a feed'. However Firefox calls this 'Live Bookmarking'.

The advantage of subscribing to content in this manner is that you don't have to keep visiting the website to see what's new. Firefox tracks the site for you and inform you of changes. If you use Live Bookmarking to subscribe to a Podcast then Firefox sends the subscription information to whichever software you have that manages your Podcasts.

When Firefox discovers a feed associated with the web page you are visiting, an orangeblue icon automatically appears in the location bar. To review and subscribe to the website's feed, click the orangeblue web feed icon. A list of all available feeds from the website is displayed.

To subscribe to any listed feed, click its name in the list.

When you select the feed, preview some of its recent content to verify that it contains useful information for you.

• To add the feed as a Live Bookmark, select Live Bookmarks from Subscribe to this feed using list. Then, click Subscribe Now.
• Firefox enables the use of other web feed readers such as Bloglines, My Yahoo!, and Google. To subscribe to the web feed using one of these readers, select it from Subscribe to this feed using list.

If you subscribed using Firefox's Live Bookmarks, the Add Live Bookmark dialog appears.

• Name: Enter a name of your choosing, to refer to the feed as it will appear in your bookmarks.
• Create in: Select where you want to save this bookmark.

Click Add. You are now subscribed to the feed through a Live Bookmark. Live Bookmarks are placed in the same structure as other bookmarks.

Manually adding a Live Bookmark

Using Live Bookmarks

Live Bookmarks are identifiable by the web feed icon next to the bookmark's name.

1. To use a Live Bookmark, select it to view the latest items from the feed.
2. To view a page from the feed, select the item in the bookmark.
   
   
   • To view all listed items in the feed, select Open All in Tabs. Each listed item is opened in a separate tab in the current window.

• To view the feed home page, select Open feed-name (e.g. Open "CNN.com").

Reloading manually

1. Locate the desired Live Bookmark, and right-clickhold down the Ctrl key while you click on it.
2. From the context menu that appears, select Reload Live Bookmark.

Changing the automatic reload rate

By default, Live Bookmarks are set to reload every 60 minutes. To change the reload rate, you need to set a hidden preference:

1. In the Location bar, type about:config, and press EnterReturn.
   • The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.
2. The about:config page will appear. Right-clickHold down the Ctrl key while you click anywhere within the list of preferences. In the context menu, mouse over New, and select Integer.
3. When you get asked to enter the preference name, enter browser.bookmarks.livemark_refresh_seconds.
4. You will then be asked to enter a value. The unit for the value is seconds; so if you wanted the reload rate to be 5 minutes, the value would be 300 (as in 300 seconds).

Note: The minimum accepted value here is 60 (1 minute). If the value you enter is less than 60, Firefox will treat it as 60.