Talking to bitcoind thru web browser returns empty JSON document
You need to POST the request according to the JSON RPC specifications. So this will not work using Firefox without any special extension that lets you set POST information. You cannot simply request the page http://user:password@localhost:8332/getinfo and expect bitcoind to return the getinfo. There is no page system, it's not a normal www-server (i.e. pages hyperlinked together), it just uses the HTTP protocol to transport JSON. As long as you make that POST request correctly, I don't think it mattes what page you call.