1) More screen space. Make your icons small. Go to View – Toolbars – Customize and check the “Use small icons” box.
2) Smart keywords.
If there’s a search you use a lot (let’s say IMDB.com’s people search),
this is an awesome tool that not many people use. Right-click on the
search box, select “Add a Keyword for this search”, give the keyword a
name and an easy-to-type and easy-to-remember shortcut name (let’s say
“actor”) and save it. Now, when you want to do an actor search, go to
Firefox’s address bar, type “actor” and the name of the actor and press
return. Instant search! You can do this with any search box.
Method 1: navigate to the site you want to create a quick search for, right-click inside its search box and choose “
Add a Keyword for this Search“:
After that name your search as you prefer and set a keyword for its quick access (for example,
g for Google).
… You are done! Now just type [g seo] in the address bar and you will be instantly brought to Google search results for [seo].
Method 2: (described by SugarRae) useful if the site you want to add doesn’t have any decent search system of its own.
- Search Google [site:yourfavoritesite.com keyword];
- Copy the URL of the search;
- Change keyword in the query string for %s;
- Go: Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks => New Bookmark;
- Create new search bookmark the following way:
Method 3: Install
YubNub search plugin and either use multiple quick searches already created there or
create your own ones using a simple wizard:
3) Keyboard shortcuts.
This is where you become a real Jedi. It just takes a little while to
learn these, but once you do, your browsing will be super fast. Here are
some of the most common (and my personal favs):
- Spacebar (page down)
- Shift-Spacebar (page up)
- Ctrl+F (find)
- Alt-N (find next)
- Ctrl+D (bookmark page)
- Ctrl+T (new tab)
- Ctrl+K (go to search box)
- Ctrl+L (go to address bar)
- Ctrl+= (increase text size)
- Ctrl+- (decrease text size)
- Ctrl-W (close tab)
- F5 (reload)
- Alt-Home (go to home page)
These shortcuts are available from all Mozilla windows:
Command |
Windows |
Mac |
Linux |
Command |
Windows |
Mac |
Linux |
Copy |
Ctrl+C |
Cmd+C |
Ctrl+C |
Paste |
Ctrl+V |
Cmd+V | Ctrl+V |
Cut |
Ctrl+X |
Cmd+X |
Ctrl+X |
Close Window |
Ctrl+W |
Cmd+W |
Ctrl+W |
Delete Next Word |
Ctrl+Del |
|
Ctrl+Del |
Go Up One Page |
Page Up |
Page Up |
Page Up |
Go Down One Page |
Page Down |
Page Down |
Page Down |
Go Up One Line |
Up Arrow |
Up Arrow |
Up Arrow |
Go Down One Line |
Down Arrow |
Down Arrow |
Down Arrow |
Undo |
Ctrl+Z |
Cmd+Z |
Ctrl+Z |
Redo |
Ctrl+Shift+Z |
Cmd+Shift+Z |
Ctrl+Shift+Z |
Find |
Ctrl+F |
Cmd+F |
Ctrl+F |
Find Again |
Ctrl+G or F3 |
Cmd+G |
Ctrl+G |
Find Links As You Type |
' (apostrophe) |
' (apostrophe) |
' (apostrophe) |
Find Text As You Type |
/ |
/ |
/ |
Open search engine page |
Ctrl+Shift+F |
Cmd+Shift+F |
Ctrl+Shift+F |
Open Context Menu |
Shift+F10 |
Ctrl+Space |
Shift+F10 |
Open Main Menu (switches to the first drop-down menu at the top of the window. example: "File" in Windows) |
Alt or F10 |
(Mac OS X: Controlled through keyboard preference in Control Panel) |
F10 |
Move to beginning of line (in a text editing field) |
Home |
Cmd+Left Arrow |
Ctrl+A |
Move to end of line (in a text editing field) |
End |
Cmd+Right Arrow |
Ctrl+E |
Exit Mozilla |
Ctrl+Q |
Cmd+Q |
Ctrl+Q |
Start Navigator |
Ctrl+1 |
Cmd+1 |
Ctrl+1 |
Start Mail & Newsgroups |
Ctrl+2 |
Cmd+2 |
Ctrl+2 |
Start Composer |
Ctrl+4 |
Cmd+4 |
Ctrl+4 |
Start Address Book |
Ctrl+5 |
Cmd+5 |
Ctrl+5 |
Start IRC Chat |
Ctrl+6 |
Cmd+6 |
Ctrl+6 |
4)
General Mozilla Shortcuts
Auto-complete.
This is another keyboard shortcut, but it’s not commonly known and very
useful. Go to the address bar (Control-L) and type the name of the site
without the “www” or the “.com”. Let’s say “google”. Then press
Control-Enter, and it will automatically fill in the “www” and the
“.com” and take you there – like magic! For .net addresses, press
Shift-Enter, and for .org addresses, press Control-Shift-Enter.
5) Tab navigation. Instead of using the mouse to select different tabs that you have open, use the keyboard. Here are the shortcuts:
- Ctrl+Tab (rotate forward among tabs)
- Ctrl+Shft+Tab (rotate to the previous tab)
- Ctrl+1-9 (choose a number to jump to a specific tab)
Auto Toggle Tabs
- This add-on adds a new selection to your "Tools" menu that allows you
to set a time interval that your tabs will automatically change for
you. Great idea for a makeshift screensaver.
Fancy Numbered Tabs
- Fancy Numbered Tabs will remove the "x" from each tab for closing and
replace it with a number. With these numbers in place you can use ctrl
+ a number or alt + a number to change to the tab of your choice. If
you exceed the amount of numbers issued, no matter how many you have,
ctrl + 9 will take you to the last tab.
LastTab
- Ctrl-Tab navigation is altered with this add-on that allows you to
get to the most recently opened tabs first, and also adds a drop down
menu for mouse navigation through your tabs. Great for those who need
to change tabs rapidly on a regular basis.
NumExt - Numbered Tabs
- Numbered Tabs is an easy way to navigate through numerous tabs you
may have open. Num-Ext will number your tabs and you can then use ctrl +
1 - 9 to navigate through the first nine tabs, and alt + 1 - 9 for 10
through 17.
TabNavIt
- TabNavIt allows you to hold down your right mouse button and then use
the scroll wheel on your mouse to navigate through the various tabs you
have open. Unlike other scrolling add-ons, this one can be used from
anywhere in the browser window since it requires the right-click to
work.
Tab Wheel Scroll
- This add-on has one simple duty, and that is to place your mouse in
the tab bar and then use your scroll wheel to move back and forth
amongst the tabs to select the one you want to switch to. Wonderful
extension for those that have numerous tabs open at any given time.
Tab Visualization
Firefox Showcase
- The Firefox Showcase add-on gives you the ability to manage your tabs
as thumbnails in a window, tab or sidebar. Each thumbnailed tab also
receives a label, the ability to drag-and-drop rearrangement, and more.
A great idea for students doing research that need to use multiple
sources.
FishEyeTabs
- This particular tool will magnify a tab for easier reading when you
have too many tabs open and the labels have gotten too small for you to
read.
FoxTab
- FoxTab provides you with five graphical interfaces for displaying
your tabs so that you can browse through them without just having to
stare at the names along the top and hope you remember what the site is
about. This extension could be especially useful to web designers as
you can easily have multiple screenshots displayed at once depending on
the configuration you choose.
Tab Catalog
- Using different commands such as F8 or clicking both mouse buttons at
once, you can launch a thumbnail gallery of all your current tabs with
Tab Catalog. Once the thumbnails are open, you can close any of them or
multiple tabs at once.
Tab Popup
- Tab Popup allows you to simply roll your mouse over a tab to see a
preview of what it contains. Since the previews are larger than a
standard thumbnail, Tab Popup is great for people who need to have lots
of tabs open for research.
Tab Preview
- This popup preview lets you set options such as how long after
mouseover it should display the preview, the size of the thumbnail and
where it should be displayed.
Tab Sidebar
- As the name suggests, Tab Sidebar moves your tabs to the sidebar,
hiding the original tabs menu. The most noticeable difference with this
new placement is that you get a thumbnail preview of each tab in the
sidebar for easier browsing. Other features include updating
thumbnails, navigation for each tab, drag-and-drop movement of the tabs
and more.
Tab Slideshow
- Tab Slideshow will begin scrolling through all of your open tabs
after an amount of time that you set. While this might not be the most
useful add-on, it could be a fun screensaver while you're on a phone
call.
Miscellaneous Tools
Basics
- The name says it all with this add-on that only has one basic
feature, moving the "New Tab" button from the right side of the tab bar
to the left. This makes sense since we English speakers are used to
moving across screen from left to right.
Morning Coffee
- While there are other extensions that let you save tabs to open each
time you start Firefox, Morning Coffee allows you to setup which tabs
open automatically according to which day of the week it is. The
example they give is the web comic Penny Arcade that updates Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, so there's no need to open that site on Tuesday
and Thursday, and that's no problem for this handy application. This is
absolutely perfect for the Internet addicted amongst us, which is
pretty much all of us.
Page Title Eraser
- With Page Title Eraser, you are able to completely erase the title of
the tab from your window so it just appears untitled in your browser.
You can also use it to rename a title if you choose to do so, making it
impossible for anyone to look over your shoulder and get an idea of what
you're looking at.
Send Tab URLs
- This extension will allow you to copy the URLs of all your currently
open tabs to the clipboard or directly to an email program. If you plan
to send the list to email, it can only be 30 addresses long, but the
clipboard allows for unlimited addresses. This is the perfect tool for
people who need to cite the resources they use for projects.
Tab History
- Whenever you open a new tab, it opens up with no history, but with
Tab History all of your new tabs retain the browsing history of their
"parent" tab. This is especially handy if you are splintering off tabs
from the same site over and over to explore different parts of the site.
Tab URL Copier
- This add-on provides you with a new choice in your right-click
context menu that allows you to copy the URLs of all your open tabs to
the clipboard so that you can email them or simply keep track of them
for any research you may be doing.
TabRenamizer-
Ever had sites open in a tab that you would rather not have your boss
or family know you are looking at? Even if you have another tab in the
foreground, the name of the site still appears on the other tab, but
with TabRenamizer you rename a tab to anything of your choosing. Great
tool for anyone that needs to conceal a site they may not want others to
know they are browsing.
6) Mouse shortcuts.
Sometimes you’re already using your mouse and it’s easier to use a
mouse shortcut than to go back to the keyboard. Master these cool ones:
- Middle click on link (opens in new tab)
- Shift-scroll down (previous page)
- Shift-scroll up (next page)
- Ctrl-scroll up (decrease text size)
- Ctrl-scroll down (increase text size)
- Middle click on a tab (closes tab)
This is a list of the most common mouse shortcuts in Mozilla Firefox.
Command
| Shortcut
|
Back
| Shift+Scroll Down
|
Forward
| Shift+Scroll up
|
Zoom In
| Ctrl+Scroll up
|
Zoom Out
| Ctrl+Scroll down
|
Close Tab
| Middle-click on Tab
|
Open link in new Tab
| Middle-click on Link
|
New Tab
| Double-Click on Tab Bar
|
Open in Background Tab*
| Ctrl+Left-click link Middle-click link
|
Open in Foreground Tab*
| Ctrl+Shift+Left-click Shift+Middle-click
|
Open in New Window
| Shift+Left-click link
|
Copy Tab or Bookmark
| Ctrl+Drag tab
|
Reload (override cache)
| Shift+Reload button
|
Save Page As
| Alt+Left-click
|
Scroll line by line
| Alt+Scroll |
7) Delete items from address bar history.
Firefox’s ability to automatically show previous URLs you’ve visited,
as you type, in the address bar’s drop-down history menu is very cool.
But sometimes you just don’t want those URLs to show up (I won’t ask
why). Go to the address bar (Ctrl-L), start typing an address, and the
drop-down menu will appear with the URLs of pages you’ve visited with
those letters in them. Use the down-arrow to go down to an address you
want to delete, and press the Delete key to make it disappear.
Pull down the address bar typed URLs history list, use cursor or mouse
to point the URL or link that you want to delete, and then press
SHIFT-DELETE keys (pressing SHIFT and DELETE keys simulatenously). The
URL or link will be removed from the address bar history.
8) User chrome.
If you really want to trick out your Firefox, you’ll want to create a
UserChrome.css file and customize your browser. It’s a bit complicated
to get into here, but
check out this tutorial.
You can use these hacks to change the appearance of
Firefox by hiding menus, hiding the separator bars, removing menus or
even move the tabbar to the bottom.
This file does not exist by default, so you will have to create it
yourself the first time. If you can’t find the location in the chart I
give you, make sure you are able to view your hidden folders/files,
since I know XP for sure hides them.
To create the userChrome.css file in windows: Open a text editor
(notepad or wordpad) and save the file as “userChrome.css” into a
directory listed below according to the OS your using. To edit
userChrome.css after it’s created just right click on the file and
select ‘Edit’, then edit the file using wordpad or notepad.
Locations to create the userChrome.css file:
- 95/98/ME — c:\windows\Application Data\Phoenix\Profiles\[profile-name]\[#s].slt\chrome\
- NT — %UserProfile%\Application Data\Phoenix\Profiles\[profile-name]\[#s].slt\chrome\
- 2000/XP — C:\Documents and Settings\[USER]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.tea\chrome\
- *NIX — ~/.phoenix/[profile-name]/[#s].slt/chrome/
Now that thats out of the way it’s time to customize Firefox behind
the scenes. All you have to do is copy and paste these settings on a new
line in the userChrome.css file and save the file. Next time you open
up Firefox the settings will be applied until you delete the setting out
of the userChrome.css file.
#toolbar-menubar {
min-height: 12px !important;
padding: 0px !important;
margin: 0px !important;
border: none !important;
}
#nav-bar {
border: none !important;
padding: 0px !important;
}
#PersonalToolbar {
border: none !important;
}
#navigator-toolbox {
border-bottom-width: 0px !important;
}
menu[label=”Bookmarks Toolbar Folder”] { display: none !important; }
#keywordRow { display: -moz-grid-line !important; }
#browser {-moz-box-orient: vertical; -moz-box-direction: reverse}
#sidebar-box {-moz-box-orient: horizontal; -moz-box-direction: reverse}
#appcontent {-moz-box-orient: horizontal}
#sidebar {max-width: inherit !important; min-height: inherit !important}
#sidebar-box > sidebarheader {
-moz-box-orient: vertical;
-moz-box-direction: reverse;
-moz-box-pack: end;
border-left: 1px solid ThreeDHighlight;
margin-left: 1px;
}
#sidebar-box .tabs-closebutton > .toolbarbutton-icon {
padding: 4px 2px !important
}
#sidebar-title {display: none}
#sidebar-throbber {margin-left: 4px}
.tabs-closebutton { display: none !important; }
tabbrowser .tabs-closebutton-box {
display: none; }
#stop-button[disabled=”true”] { display: none; }
#back-button[disabled=”true”] { display: none; }
#forward-button[disabled=”true”] { display: none; }
#bookmarks-ptf {display:block}
#bookmarks-ptf toolbarseparator { display:inline }
tab[selected=”true”] { font-weight: normal !important; }
tab:not([selected=”true”]) .tab-icon {
display: none !important; }
#content tab:not([selected=”true”]) {
-moz-opacity: 0.5 !important; }
.toolbarbutton-1, .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button {
padding: 2px 3px !important;
}
.toolbarbutton-1[checked=”true”], .toolbarbutton-1[open=”true”],
.toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[checked=”true”],
.toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[open=”true”] {
padding: 4px 1px 1px 4px !important; }
tab:focus > .tab-middle { -moz-outline: none !important }
tab{
-moz-appearance: none !important;
border-bottom: none !important; }
menu[label=”Go”] {
display: none !important; }
menuitem[label=”Read Mail (0 new)”] { display: none; }
menuitem[label=”Read Mail (0 new)”] + menuseparator { display: none; }
menuitem[label=”New Message…”] { display: none; }
menuitem[label=”New Message…”] + menuseparator { display: none; }
menuitem[label=”Web Search”] { display: none; }
menuitem[label=”Web Search”] + menuseparator { display: none; }
menuitem[label=”For Internet Explorer Users”] { display: none; }
menuitem[label=”Release Notes”] { display: none; }
#urlbar {
-moz-appearance: none !important;
-moz-border-radius: 3px !important;
padding-right: 1px !important; }
#go-button {
display: none !important; }
#back-button .toolbarbutton-menubutton-dropmarker,
#forward-button .toolbarbutton-menubutton-dropmarker {
display: none !important; }
#search-container {
margin: 0 1px 0 0 !important;
padding: 0 0 0 5px!important;
}
#search-container .searchbar-textbox,
#search-container .textbox-input-box {
margin: 0 !important;
padding: 0 !important;
}
#search-container .searchbar-dropmarker {
margin: 1px 0 0 1px !important;
padding: 0 !important;
}
#search-container * {
width: auto !important;
}
#search-container .textbox-input-box {
width: 0 !important;
}
#search-container:hover .textbox-input-box {
/* width: auto !important; */
width: 200px !important;
padding: 0 0 0 5px !important;
}
#search-container .searchbar-textbox {
-moz-appearance: none !important;
border: 0 !important;
background-color: -moz-dialog !important;
}
#search-container:hover .searchbar-textbox {
-moz-appearance: textfield !important;
-moz-border-radius: 5px !important;
background-color: -moz-field !important; }
#FindToolbar {
border: 0 !important;
border-top: 0px solid !important;
}
window:not([windowtype=”navigator:view-source”]) #FindToolbar {
border-bottom: 0px solid !important;
}
#FindToolbar #find-closebutton:hover {
border-color: transparent !important;
background-image: none !important;
}
#FindToolbar label[value=”Find:”] {
margin: 0 !important;
padding: 2px 2px 3px 5px !important;
border-left: 2px solid !important;
-moz-border-left-colors: ThreeDShadow ThreeDHighlight !important;
}
#FindToolbar #find-field-container {
margin: 0 2px !important;
padding: 0 !important;
}
#FindToolbar #find-field {
margin: 0 !important;
padding: 0 0 0 2px !important;
width: 200px !important;
}
#FindToolbar #find-field[status=”notfound”] {
color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important;
background-color: rgb(255, 240, 224) !important;
}
#FindToolbar checkbox {
margin: 0 2px !important;
padding: 2px 0 1px 4px !important;
border: 0 !important;
border-left: 2px solid !important;
-moz-border-left-colors: ThreeDShadow ThreeDHighlight !important;
}
#FindToolbar checkbox .checkbox-label-box {
margin: 0 !important;
padding: 0 0 0 3px !important;
}
#FindToolbar #find-status-icon[status] {
margin: 0 0 0 2px !important;
padding: 1px 0 1px 4px !important;
width: 22px !important;
height: 18px !important;
border: 0 !important;
border-left: 2px solid !important;
-moz-border-left-colors: ThreeDShadow ThreeDHighlight !important;
}
#FindToolbar #find-status {
font-weight: bold !important; }
9) Create a user.js file.
Another way to customize Firefox, creating a user.js file can really
speed up your browsing. You’ll need to create a text file named user.js
in your profile folder (see
this to find out where the profile folder is) and see
this example user.js file that you can modify. Created by
techlifeweb.com, this example explains some of the things you can do in its comments.
In Mozilla-based web-browsers, you can create and use a \"user.js\" file
to customize preferences. Creating and editing a user.js file is only
recommened for advanced users as it requires manual coding. It is
recommended you use the \"about:config\" (type \"about:config\" into the
address bar, press Enter) unless you know that you need a user.js file.
User.js files override any preferences or configurations you set while
the browser is open.
Instructions
-
-
1
Backup your \"prefs.js\" file first. Creating a \"user.js\"
file copies entries to \"prefs.js\" so a backup is important. Click the
Windows logo on the taskbar, type \"%APPDATA%\\Mozilla\" and then
double-click the \"profile\" folder. Locate \"prefs.js\" file,
right-click it, choose \"Copy,\" switch to the desktop, or another
folder you want to keep for backups. Right-click, then choose \"Paste\"
in your backup folder.
-
2
Create a user.js file using ChromEdit. Go to the ChromEdit
Plus website (see \"Resources\") and scroll down to \"Works in…\" to see
if it is compatible with your browser. If it is, click \"Install\"
beneath the latest version information to install the extension. Restart
your browser once installed, click \"Tools\" then \"ChromEdit Plus\"
and then \"ChromEdit Plus.\" Click \"user.js\" to begin editing your
user.js file, click \"Save\" and then \"Restart\" for effects to take
place.
-
-
3
Create a user.js file manually if you cannot install
ChromEdit. Close your browser, then open a plain text editor such as
Notepad and code your user.js file. Once you have finished your user.js
editing, click \"File\" then \"Save As\" and save to
\"%APPDATA%\\Mozilla\\Profile\" using \"user.js\" as your file name.
10) about:config.
The true power user’s tool, about.config isn’t something to mess with
if you don’t know what a setting does. You can get to the main
configuration screen by putting about:config in the browser’s address
bar. See Mozillazine’s
about:config tips and screenshots.
You may have installed countless add-on in Firefox to enhance your
using experience, but if you want to get the most out of Firefox, you
really have to hack your way into the
about:config.
The
about:config
page contains most (if not, all) of Firefox configuration options. It
is so far the most effective, and the most powerful way to tweak and
enhance your Firefox performance. Here are 28 of the popular tweaks.
Accessing your about:config page
In your Firefox, type
about:config in the address bar.
You will be shown a warning page. Click the “
I’ll be careful, I promise!” button to proceed.
On the main page, you will see a long list of configuration entries. Enter the name of the key you want to update in the “
Filter” field. The list will narrow to only the entries that match your keyword as you type.
To modify the value, simply double click on the entry value field and update the entry. That’s all!
Isn’t that simple? Now, let’s get to the tweaking.
1) Adjust the Smart Location Bar’s Number of Suggestions
In
Firefox 3, when you start typing in the location bar, a drop-down list
of suggestion URLs will be shown. If you want it to show more than 12
suggestions (12 is the default), you can adjust the
browser.urlbar.maxRichResults keys and get it to show the number you want.
Config name:
browser.urlbar.maxRichResults
Default:
12 Modified value:
Set to your desired number of suggestion. If you want to disable it all together, set it to -1
2) Disable the session restore function
Firefox
3 automatically saves your session every 10 secs so that whenever it
crashes, it can restore all your tabs. While this is a useful feature,
some of you might find it irritating. To disable this function, toggle
the value of
browser.sessionstore.enabled to
False
Config name:
browser.sessionstore.enabled Default:
True Modified value:
False if you want to disable the session restore function
3) Adjust the Session Restore Saving Frequency
Same
as above, if you decided to keep the session restore feature on, but
want to reduce the session saving frequency, change the value of
browser.sessionstore.interval so that Firefox will save the session at a longer interval.
Config name:
browser.sessionstore.interval
Default:
10000 (in msecs, equivalent to 10secs) Modified value:
Set it to your desired value. 1000 means 1 sec and 60000 means 1 minute.
4) Enable Advanced Color Profile Support
Firefox
has this advanced color profile features that display higher image
quality. It is not enabled by default as it has a negative effect on the
performance of the browser. If you are concern with the image quality
rather than the performance, you can activated it via the
gfx.color_management.enabled setting
Config name:
gfx.color_management.enabled
Default:
False Modified value:
True (if you want to activate the color profile support feature)
5) Disable Antivirus Scanning
This
is mainly for Windows users. By default, Firefox 3 automatically scan
the downloaded file with the default anti-virus application to make sure
it is free of virus. If you download a big file, it could take a long
time for the whole scanning process to complete. To increase the
performance of the browser, you might want to consider disabling the
anti-virus scanning via the
browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone key.
Config name:
browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone Default:
True Modified value:
False (if you want to disable it)
6) Configuring The Scrolling Tabs
When
you opened many tabs, Firefox will not keep on reducing the tab width.
Instead, it shows a scrolling bar so that the min width (100px) is
conserved and you can scroll to find your tabs. If you are those who
don’t like the scrolling tab function and prefer Firefox to show all the
tabs, regardless how small it is, you can set the value of
browser.tabs.tabMinWidth
to 0 to disable it. Similarly, if you want Firefox to display more tabs
before showing the scrolling button, you can reduce the default value
to a lower value, say 75 pixels.
Config name:
browser.tabs.tabMinWidth
Default:
100 Modified value:
0 if you want to disable the scrolling functions, other values to set the min width value
7) Show/Disable Close button on Tabs
Some people love to see the
Close (the red X) button on every tabs, but some hate it. Whatever is it, you can configure it to your preferences via the
browser.tabs.closeButtons setting.
Config name:
browser.tabs.closeButtons
Default:
1 Modified values:
- 0 – display a close button on the active tab only
- 1- display close buttons on all tabs
- 2- don’t display any close buttons
- 3- display a single close button at the end of the tab strip
8) Extend Scripts Execution Time
In
Firefox 3, a script is only given 10 seconds to respond, after which it
will issue a unresponsive script warning. If you are hooked on a slow
network connection, you might want to increase the script execution time
via
dom.max_script_run_time to cut down on the frequency of the no script warning.
Config name:
dom.max_script_run_time Default:
10 (in secs) Modified value:
20, or any values greater than 10
9) Handling JavaScript Popups
When
you come across a site that executes a javascript open new window
function, and if the popup window is without all the usual window
features, i.e.
back/forward/reload buttons, status bar etc,
Firefox will automatically treat it as a popup and will not open it as a
new tab. However, if you find this to be a nuisance and wanted to open
all new windows in a new tabs, you can specify it via the
browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction setting.
Config name:
browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction Default:
2
– Open all JavaScript windows the same way as you have Firefox handle
new windows unless the JavaScript call specifies how to display the
window
Modified values:
- 0 – open all links as how you have Firefox handle new windows
- 1 – do not open any new windows
- 2- open all links as how you have Firefox handle new windows unless the Javascript specify how to display the window
10) Enable Spell Checking In All Text Fields
The
default spell checking function only checks for multi-line text boxes.
You can get it to spell-check for single line text box as well.
Config name:
layout.spellcheckDefault Default:
1 (spell checker for multi-lines text boxes only) Modified values:
- 0 – disable the spell checker
- 2 – enable the spell checker for all text boxes
11) Open Search Box Results In New Tab
When
you search using the search box at the top right hand corner of the
browser, it will display the search results in the current tab. If you
don’t want the search to interfere with your current tab, you can tweak
the
browser.search.openintab to make it open in a new tab.
Config Name:
browser.search.openintab
Default:
False Modified value:
True (open search box results in new tab)
12) Lower The Physical Memory Used When Minimized
This
tweak is mainly for Windows users. When you minimize Firefox, it will
send Firefox to your virtual memory and free up your physical memory for
other programs to use. Firefox will reduce its physical memory usage,
when minimized, to approximately 10MB (give or take some) and when you
maximize Firefox it will take back the memory that it needs.
The preference name does not exist and needs to be created.
Right click on the background and select
New->Boolean.
Enter the name when prompted:
config.trim_on_minimize Enter the values:
True
13) Speed up your Firefox
Several tweaks required for this
Config name:
network.http.pipelining Default:
False Modified value:
True
Config name:
network.http.proxy.pipelining Default:
False Modified value:
True
Config name:
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
Default:
4 Modified value:
any value higher than 4, but not more than 8
Config name:
network.http.max-connections Default:
30 Modified value:
96
Config name:
network.http.max-connections-per-server Default:
15 Modified value:
32
14) Increase/Decrease the Amount of Disk Cache
When
a page is loaded, Firefox will cache it into the hard disk so that it
doesn’t need to be download again for redisplaying. The bigger the
storage size you cater for Firefox, the more pages it can cache.
Before you increase the disk cache size, make sure that
browser.cache.disk.enabled browser.cache.disk.enable is set to
True.
Config name:
browser.cache.disk.capacity Default:
50000 (in KB) Modified value:
- 0 – disable disk caching
- any value lower than 50000 reduces the disk cache
- any value higher than 50000 increases the disk cache.
15) Select all text when click on the URL bar
In
Windows and Mac, Firefox highlights all text when you click on the URL
bar. In Linux, it does not select all the text. Instead, it places the
cursor at the insertion point. Regardless which platform you are using,
you can now tweak it to either
select all or
place cursor at insertion point.
Config name:
browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll Modified value:
- False – place cursor at insertion point
- True – select all text on click
16) Autofill Address in URL Bar
Other than the smart location feature, you can also get your URL bar to autofill the address as you type the URL.
Config name:
browser.urlbar.autofill Default:
False Modified value:
True (Have Firefox autofill the address as you type in the URL bar)
17) Same Zoom Level For Every Site
Firefox
remembers your zoom preference for each site and set it to your
preferences whenever you load the page. If you want the zoom level to be
consistent from site to site, you can toggle the value of
browser.zoom.siteSpecific from
True to
False.
Config name:
browser.zoom.siteSpecific Default:
True Modified value:
False (enable same zoom preferences for every sites)
18) Setting your zoom limit
If
you find that the max/min zoom level is still not sufficient for your
viewing, you can change the zoom limit to suit your viewing habits.
Config name:
zoom.maxPercent Default:
300 (percent) Modified value:
any value higher than 300
Config name:
zoom.minPercent Default:
30 (percent)
value:
any value
19) Configure Your Backspace Button
In Firefox, you can set your backspace to better use by getting it to either go back to the
previous page or act as
page up function.
Config name:
browser.backspace_action Default:
2 (does nothing) Modified value:
- 0 – go back previous page
- 1- page up
20) Increase Offline Cache
If
you do not have access to Internet most of the time, you might want to
increase the offline cache so that you can continue to work offline. By
default, Firefox 3 caches 500MB of data from supported offline Web apps.
You can change that value to whatever amount of your choice.
Config name:
browser.cache.offline.capacity Default:
512000 (in KB) Modified value:
any value higher than 512000 will increase the cache value
21) Auto Export Firefox 3 bookmarks to bookmarks.html
Unlike the previous version, Firefox 3 backup the bookmarks file in
places.sqlite rather than the usual
bookmarks.html. Since
bookmarks.html
allows us to export and sync our bookmarks with other browser, it will
be very useful if Firefox 3 can backup the bookmark to the
bookmarks.html as well.
Config name:
browser.bookmarks.autoExportHTML Default:
False Modified value:
True (auto export bookmarks file to bookmarks.html)
22) Disable Extension Compatibility Checks
This
is useful if you want to use an extension that is not supported by your
version of Firefox badly. It is not recommended, but you can still do
it at your own risk.
Right click and select
New->Boolean. Enter
extensions.checkCompatibility in the field. Enter
False in the next field.
Right click again and select
New->Boolean. Enter
extensions.checkUpdateSecurity into the field and enter
False into the next field.
23) Disable Delay Time When Installing Add-on
Everytime
you wanted to install a Firefox add-on, you will have to wait for
several secs before the actual installation starts. If you are tired of
waiting, you can turn the function
security.dialog_enable_delay off so that the installation will start immediately upon clicking.
Config name:
security.dialog_enable_delay Default:
2000 (in msec) Modified value:
- 0 – start installation immediately
- any other value (in msec)
24) View Source in Your Favorite Editor
This is very useful for developers who are always using the
‘view source‘ function. This tweak allows you to view the source code in an external editor.
There are two configuration need to be made:
Config name:
view_source.editor.external Default:
False Modified value:
True ( enable view source using external text editor)
Config name:
view_source.editor.path Default:
blank Modified value:
insert the file path to your editor here.
25) Increasing ‘Save Link As‘ timeout value
When you right click and select the
‘Save Link As…‘,
the browser will request the content disposition header from the URL so
as to determine the filename. If the URL did not deliver the header
within 1 sec, Firefox will issue a timeout value. This could happen very
frequently in a slow network connection environment. To prevent this
issue from happening frequently, you can increase the timeout value so
as to reduce the possibility of a timeout.
Config name:
Browser.download.saveLinkAsFilenameTimeout Default:
1000 (1 sec) Modified value:
any value higher than 1000 (value is in msec)
26) Animate Fullscreen Toolbar Collapse mode
In
Firefox’s fullscreen mode, toolbars and the tab strip are hidden at the
top of the screen and only shown on mouseover. To draw attention to
this, there is an animation of the toolbar sliding upwards and
off-screen when fullscreen mode is toggled on. For performance issue,
the animation of the collapse of the toolbar only appear for the first
time. For some reason that you may love/hate the animation, you can
adjust
Browser.fullscreen.animateUp to switch it on/off for every collapse.
Config name:
Browser.fullscreen.animateUp Default:
1 (animate the toolbar collapse only the first time) Modified value:
- 0 -disable the animation
- 2- enable the animation for every collapse
27) Autohide Toolbar in Fullscreen mode
In
fullscreen mode, the toolbar is set to autohide and appear upon
mouseover. If you have a need to view the toolbar at all time, you can
toggle the value of
browser.fullscreen.autohide to
False to always show the toolbar.
Config name:
browser.fullscreen.autohide Default:
True (always autohide) Modified value:
False (always show the toolbar)
28) Increase Add-On search result
If you go to
Tools->Add-ons->Get Add-ons
and perform a search there, Firefox will only fetch and display 5
matching results. If you want Firefox to show more than 5 results (say
10), you can adjust
extensions.getAddons.maxResults to get it to display more results.
Config name:
extensions.getAddons.maxResults Default:
5 Modified value:
any value more than 5
This list of
about:config is definitely not the complete list. If you have any tricks not listed here, please add it in the comment.
11) Add a keyword for a bookmark.
Go to your bookmarks much faster by giving them keywords. Right-click
the bookmark and then select Properties. Put a short keyword in the
keyword field, save it, and now you can type that keyword in the address
bar and it will go to that bookmark.
Create
keyword shortcuts for your favorite search engines,
and for any bookmark.
You can create a
keyword shortcut from a simple site Search form (or any single line form) by right clicking within the form and choosing
"Add a
Keyword for this Search"
(built-in) which will bring up a form similar to this
[picture] The actual location code
(url) generated will include fields that you would not normally be aware of within the search form.
With the "
Add Bookmark Here ²" extension, you can include a
keyword
when you create a normal bookmark as in the dialog at the right. The
extension has several
features including bookmarking the active tab url from a bookmark
folder's context (right-click) menu. The "OpenBook" extension was an
older less featured extension.
You can create a
keyword without an extension using a style "
Keyword addition for Add/Change Bookmark (Fx3) | userstyles.org (9029), but the extension is better.
Without any of the methods above you will not see the keyword or description field
when you create the bookmark, but you can still enter the additional information through the
Bookmark Properties to add/change a keyword.
I have
keyword shortcuts set up for such things as a web
search, search a few selected sites, dictionary, wiki, stock quotes --
things that can use the substitutions for the
%s (with substitution) or
%S (substitution without re-substitution),
usually placed at the end. Using the small %s will result in additional substitutions of
# replaced by %23, % by %25, and / by %2F. No additional substitution will occur with capital %S
(see Bug:
270703)
Difference between (small s) %s and (Capital S) %S
(#fragmentid)
- (small s): %s will have additional substitution replacements: # by %23, % by %25, and / by %2F, @ by %40.
- (Capital S): %S will not have substitutions and allow use of C++ in a Google search, allow use of @ in an email substitution, allow use of a fragment-id in a url substitution index.html#example2, and use of a directory as in code/example2.txt.
Where do keyword shortcuts exist: They are regular bookmarks that have been given a keyword name (see picture at right).
How are keyword shortcuts created: The easiest way is to
create a bookmark with the bookmark star (Firefox version 3), or the
previous methods with "Ctrl+D", or drag the favicon symbol to the left
of the location bar to a bookmarks folder in the "Bookmarks Toolbar"
(personal bookmarks),
the "Bookmarks Menu" or to "Unsorted bookmarks".
Assigning a keyword shortcut to a bookmark: Bring up the
Bookmark Manager ("Ctrl+Shift+B") or the Bookmarks Sidebar ("Ctrl+B"), Right click on the
bookmarklet to bring up
properties and assign a shortcut to it. Suggest including a colon as
shown on mine to reduce errors.
See Bookmark Properties picture
Colon within or at end of a keyword is a very good solution that distinguishes from
location bar searching and from use of tags.
Opera users may have a problem as colon is not allowed in a nickname. The beauty of
Firefox keywords is that there are no restrictions on use of any character and is based on
how used.
Tags was an unwelcome Fx3 feature because it hid usage
of
pre-existing usage of keyword shortcuts, and has made bookmarking
dialogs very unwieldy and confusing to new users and previous Firefox
users alike. While shared tags in sites like
delicious.com
have proven useful because of the wide
range of users it has been a thorn for Firefox users, and made bookmarks
with tags less efficient even though it is in a database.
Besides the shortcut is anything else special: Use of
%s (percent-sign lowercase s)
will be substituted when invoked by whatever you specify whether it be a
filename, words for a search, whatever you include will be included in
the invoked url.
Difference between %s and capitalized %S for substitutions.
Originally %s (lowercase) was the only substitution available in
keyword shortcuts, but since substitutions occurred it made inclusions
of commercial pound sign (#) as used in fragment=id, slash (/) as used in
including a directory, and at sign (@) as used in email impractical as
they were substituted respectively by %23 for #, %47 for /, and %40 for @.
[references:
bug 270703 (2004-11-18),
bug 272359 (2004-11-29),
123006 (2003-03-04)]
The %s (lowercase s) was what was intended by developers, but I'm hard
pressed to find many examples where an htmlified version should be used,
unless Javascript is involved.
The
%S (uppercase S) without additional substitutions appears to be what I need most, if not, all of the time.
Usage: I would be hard pressed to find anything where
that (lowercase s) should even ever be used as much of my usage may
involve substitutions like
ffp: . (directory or default index)
ffp: kws.htm
ffp: firefox.htm
ffp: firefox.htm#ext (use of fragment id)
ffp: code/ (to show the code directory)
g: link:dmcritchie.mvps.org/firefox/kws.htm
gg: dmcritchie.mvps.org/firefox/kws.htm
Null Argument If we assign google: to http://www.google.com/%s (lowercase s), some examples
google: followed by no spaces generates http://www.google.com/%s
google: followed by one space generates http://www.google.com/%s same as before since there is still no operand
google: followed by two spaces generates http://www.google.com/ since the operand is considered empty
google: followed by a period generates http://www.google.com/ which is the directory appears same a null
google: followed by "maps" generates http://www.google.com/maps
images, video, news, maps, gmail, etc.; some will be like http://images.google.com
Quick Demonstration (#quickdemo)
Using the keyword shortcut "
w:") bookmarked to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s for a quick demonstation of how keyword shortcuts work:
(It takes two spaces to enter with a null argument)
- w: what is Wikipedia (notice there is a redirection comment)
- w: who is John
- w: goo
- w: (followed by single space, same as no space meaning no arguments, you will see %s, or %25, in url and in document)
- w: (followed by two spaces, the second replaces the %s)
Character Arguments (#chr): It is possible to search on
"
C++" which Google would normally just treat as the letter "C". Here is a shortcut (source:
Hao2lian),
I created this with a shortcut of ("
g:chr").
javascript:document.location = "http://www.google.com/search?q=" + encodeURIComponent('%s');
Example:
g:chr pl/i c++ "John W Kennedy"
Folder for shortcuts: Suggest putting your
keyword shortcuts in their own folder. Anything after the keyword in the location bar will replace
%s in the shortcut bookmark. My folder is
named K within my
Bookmarks Toolbar.
The folder doesn't have to be readily accessible for use but you want
to have fairly quick access to add items to it, and to help you
“remember”
the shortcuts you created. I choose to put a colon at the end of the
word. The following may be customized for my own use but give you an
idea of what you can use.
Example: Enter
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=%s
on the location bar,
bookmark the resulting url by dragging the favicon picture on the left
of the url within the location bar to within your toolbars or preferably
to within the K folder on your personal bookmarks bar (if you created
one), right click on properties to give it a keyword of "dict:" (with
the colon) and a title of "dict: Dictionary Search". Then you can type
"dict: spelling" on the location bar and get a definition for
"spelling".
New Tab:
You should have Tools, Options, Tabs set so that new windows opens in a New Tab
Use
Alt+Enter keyboard shortcut to open url on location bar in a new tab, also works for keyword shortcuts
In a Google search link add &newwindow=1
In a JavaScript link include new-window as the link for
NT:
User keyword shortcuts:
chrome: userChrome, userContent, launchy
[-- file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Application%20Data/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/default.NOP/chrome --]
use about:cache to help you set up this shortcut keyword (keyword use has a space after colon)
config: about:config [-- about:config --]
documentation can be found at About:config entries - MozillaZine Knowledge Base
g: Google [-- http://www.google.com/search?q=%s --]
gg: Google Groups Advanced Search (*excel*)
[-- http://groups.google.com/groups?as_ugroup=*excel*&num=100&as_q=%s --]
ggff: Google Groups Advanced Search (*firefox*)
[-- http://groups.google.com/groups?as_ugroup=mozilla.support.firefox&num=100&as_q=%s --]
gga: Google Groups Advanced Search Panel (*excel*)
[-- http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=group:*Excel*&num=100 --]
l: Librarians' Index to the Internet [-- http://lii.org/pub/htdocs/search?sm=;search=%S;action=show --]
profile: profile directory (like chrome: must be customized to user's own profile)
[file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Application%20Data/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/default.NOP/]
w: Wikipedia [-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s --]
xl: Excel on local HD [-- file:///c:/localsite/dmcritchie/excel/%s --]
z: search dmoz.org Open Directory of webpages [-- http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Admoz.org+%s --]
There are some special considerations for Google Advanced Search regarding
the keyword shortcuts of gg: and gga: seen above that are covered on
an additional page (
google.htm) in more detail,
and also
Remediation for disatrous Google Beta Groups.
about:
«
builtin keywords for
about:,
about:config,
about:cache,
about:buildconfig,
about:plugins,
about:credits,
about:blank
More informaton on
about:config
preference entries documentation in the
MozillaZine Knowledge Base. This documentation has progressively
degenerated since some decision was made to move things into categories,
for instance
accessibility is no longer in the document (
moved 2006-01-03 06:10:10.
bookmarklets
which have been
also implemented as keyword shortcuts — highlight:(highlight links),
href:, id:, int:(int/ext links), titles:(paren tips), reset:(PF5)
bugzilla
272359,
270703 use of a
fragment id with
%s replacement; (messes up with /, #, @ characters)
Appears to be fixed in Firefox 1.5 -- xlp: join.htm#trimall works as does
archive: http://dmcritchie.mvps.org/excel/join.htm#trimall
Use of fragment-id on a page
can mess up bringing up same page in an editor such as with the
"Launchy" extension, simply remove the fragment-id, refresh, and
try again as this is not a Firefox problem and a fragment-id would be
completely meaningless to an application such as an editor.
Directory in a shortcut: if you have a shortcut such as
xx: pointing to
http://example.com/directory1/directory2/%s -- you can invoke it
as
xx: . with the period to bring up the directory instead
of a specific file,
xx: .. to go back one additional directory,
probably more useful on your local site than on most websites.
problem: since slashes cannot customize a search for —
g: site:mozilla.org inurl:support inurl:firefox
%s
JavaScript
javascript:open("http://mail.google.com/","menubar=yes,toolbar=no,location=yes,directories=yes,status=yes,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes");
Chrome URLs, Jesse Ruderman, to bring up portions of the options menu
— i.e.
chrome://browser/content/pref/pref.xul
See
Keyboard shortcuts in HELP. Useful shortcuts include completing a domain name node to enter it as
.com use Ctrl+Enter, to enter as
.net use Shift+Enter, to enter as
.org
use Ctrl+Shift+Enter — you do not want to waste effort
creating keyword shortcuts for such sites that you know so well. Such
sites addressed by a single word do not need keyword shortcuts.
Also see
Sorting Bookmarks in Firefox,
and an Extension above to sort permanently in your bookmarks.html
Opening a Bookmarked page into a new tab (#newtab)
Just as you can open any link on a webpage into a new tab(/window) with a
keyboard shortcut, you can use
the same keyboard shortcuts to open a bookmark in a new tab(/window) after
modifying about:config so that they match.
You can Alt+Enter to open search from search bar into a new page, or to open a typed in (pasted in) url from the location bar.
Open Bookmarks in New Tab,
After you installed this addon to your Firefox, bookmarks are opened in
new tab always, and because they share their codes, all items in
"History" sidebar panel and "Library" are also opened with new tabs.
I'm using other means to open a folder of bookmaerks.
Making a bookmarked page open automatically in a new page with JavaScript
You can bookmark one of these as "
gmail:" to open your GMail inbox.
I bookmarked both and gave the first one a keyword of "gmail:" opens in Basic HTML
and the second one opens in Standard and has a color theme (view=pu) and I gave it
a keyword of "gmail2:" through bookmark properties.
To invoke the first one simply type
gmail: into the location bar.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html&zy=s
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&fs=1&view=pu&st=themes#inbox
Add Javascript to your bookmarklet so your GMail inbox opens automatically in a
new tab/window.
javascript:void(window.open(location.href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html&zy=s
"))
12) Speed up Firefox.
If you have a broadband connection (and most of us do), you can use
pipelining to speed up your page loads. This allows Firefox to load
multiple things on a page at once, instead of one at a time (by default,
it’s optimized for dialup connections). Here’s how:
- Type
“about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Type “network.http”
in the filter field, and change the following settings (double-click on
them to change them):
- Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
- Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
- Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to a number like 30. This will allow it to make 30 requests at once.
- Also,
right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it
“nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is
the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it
receives.
13) Limit RAM usage. If Firefox
takes up too much memory on your computer, you can limit the amount of
RAM it is allowed to us. Again, go to about:config, filter
“browser.cache” and select “browser.cache.disk.capacity”. It’s set to
50000, but you can lower it, depending on how much memory you have. Try
15000 if you have between 512MB and 1GB ram.
14) Reduce RAM usage further for when Firefox is minimized.
This setting will move Firefox to your hard drive when you minimize it,
taking up much less memory. And there is no noticeable difference in
speed when you restore Firefox, so it’s definitely worth a go. Again, go
to about:config, right-click anywhere and select New-> Boolean. Name
it “config.trim_on_minimize” and set it to TRUE. You have to restart
Firefox for these settings to take effect.
15) Move or remove the close tab button.
Do you accidentally click on the close button of Firefox’s tabs? You
can move them or remove them, again through about:config. Edit the
preference for “browser.tabs.closeButtons”. Here are the meanings of
each value:
- 0: Display a close button on the active tab only
- 1:(Default) Display close buttons on all tabs
- 2:Don’t display any close buttons
- 3:Display a single close button at the end of the tab bar (Firefox 1.x behavior)