Firefox for windows! (Why photographers should be using it)
 

Contrary to popular belief, Safari is not the only browser to support ICC colour profiles........;) ;)

I’ve discovered that Firefox can be set up to enable colour management profiles. To do this, in the address bar type

about:config

You will be presented with a long list of preferences. You need to add a new preference called “gfx.color_management.enabled”

To add this new preference, right-click anywhere and choose New, then select the type of preference as

Boolean

You will be prompted for the preference name, enter the text

gfx.color_management.enabled

and set the initial value to

True

Close Firefox and then reopen, your browser will now use any colour profiles embedded in images that are displayed.

To reset a preference to its default value or to remove an added preference, right-click on the preference and select Reset. If you added the entry via about:config, the preference will no longer be listed after restarting the program.

My heart leapt when I saw this; unfortunately on mac (OS10.3.9), I get as far as the long list of preferences, but can find no way of adding a new one.

Anyone (like Stephen or Andy) tried this on mac?

Is the right click short for an instruction that can be achieved some other way?

Would love never to see safari again, but at present only option for pics

Sorry, Chris.

I am a staunch Safari user, it just works! No messing around changing this and that simply colours displayed as they should. ;)

Chris,

A fuller description of how to edit config can be found here:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Editing_configuration
Note, it describes "context click", I have no idea how to do this on a Mac, it may make sense to you.

Alternatively, you could just use this add-on
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6891
That way, there's no messing around changing this and that...... ;)

Thank you Duncan

Have tried both ways but it didn't like me messing with the preference list (control click) and has now locked me out of it; and as add-on will only work on V3, which I don't think will work on my system.

There is always Safari ;)

Duncan

Thanks for this Firefox tip, I'm not sure I get the desire for a browser that supports icc profiles?.

OK I understand profiles and colour spaces and I work in Adobe RGB in Photoshop, but before posting any images on the net I always convert to sRGB and so should everyone else. Why? Because if not, the vast majority of viewers will not be using browsers that can read icc profiles and will not therefore see your image as you intend. This <<<link>>> shows the proportions of users with which types of browser - & I bet less than 1% of Firefox users know about Duncan's tip - so ~96% of internet users will not be able to read icc profiles.

Images posted in Adobe RGB colour space will tend to look flat and lacking contrast when viewed without an icc profile. The attached printer test files have had the profiles stripped out of them so you guys using browsers that can read profiles can see how your beautiful profiled images will appear to the majority of the world. sRGB is the web 'standard' and if you use the Photoshop "save for web" option, the default settings convert your images to this - I had to turn the defaults off so you can see the difference ;). If however you are using the usual "save" command you should remember to convert before saving to make sure your images look how you intend.

ICC profiles
 

Thanks for such a clear explanation. Including a direct comparison of the two printer test files without the embedded ICC profiles really helps.

Also found the link to browsers very interesting.

Dave

cheers Clive, some usefull stuff refering to the webage.
cool tip Dunc but looking at them stats, maybe not rqd yet!
J

I suspect that most people with visual awareness and certainly photographers will make up very large sections of the small percentages having better computers and decent screens.

Although your attachments behave as you predict (on mac anyway, will wire up the mouldering PC and try that later), my own actual photos, saved with 'adobe RGB' do not. Firefox on mac is the only place where they look flat. On PC/XP my pics look normal & identical in Safari & Firefox.

There is also the fact that on one's own computer, if you do not have all programmes set to use the same colour space, the same image will appear different according to in which prog a particular stage of editing is taking place. This is nothing to do with printing, where it is the printer colour profile that needs to be matched to printer and, ideally image. Fortunately NX 'soft proof' function works well for that.