Contents

• Accessibility

Firefox Tips

Multimedia

• Enable MMS Protocol Support in Firefox

  Follow the instructions in the MMS Protocal Support in Firefox 1.0 :+) thread in the mozillaZine forums.

Tabbed Browsing

• Close tab on middle click

  Ever wish that you could close tabs just by middle clicking on them? Well you can!

  Here's how:

  1. Type "about:config" in the Location Bar.
  2. Set "middlemouse.contentLoadURL" to "false" by double clicking on it.

  That's all! Now you can easily close tabs using the middle mouse button.

• Make the tab bar show up with only one tab open

  I like having the tab bar visible at all times, even when only one tab is open.

  To make the tab bar visible when only tab bar is open:

  1. Go to the preferences by clicking "Edit" -> "Preferences.
  2. Click on "Advanced".
  3. Uncheck "Hide the tab bar when only one web site is open".

  After you do that, you will have to open and close a tab or restart Firefox to make the tab bar be open with only one tab.

• Make new tabs open next to current one

  It's annoying when you open a new tab in the background and it opens on the far right of the tab you are currently one. But I've found a solution!

  Here's how to fix it:

  1. Install the MiniT extension.
  2. Type "about:config" in the Location Bar.
  3. Set "minit.open_tabs_relative" to "true" by double clicking on it.

  Now tabs will open relative to the current tab, a much nicer behavior.

Accessibility

• Set the minimum font size

  Do you find that most websites seem to use fonts that are too small? If so then you need to set the minimum font size.

  Here's how:

  1. Go to the preferences by clicking "Edit" -> "Preferences.
  2. Click the "Fonts & Colors..." button.
  3. Change the "Minimun font size" to something confortable. I find size 15 to be just about right for me.

  Now you can surf without straining your eyes to read small fonts!

• Wrapping page bookmarklet

  Wrapping Page Bookmark - Have you ever come across a page - especially on a forum - where you have to scroll horizontally? Normally this happens because someone posts a long URL or line of code. A nice workaround has been created in the form of a bookmarklet. This Javascript bookmark will wrap the long lines in a page so that you won't have to scroll from side to side.

• Tab through only form elements

  By default, Firefox will cycle focus through both links and form elements when pressing the Tab button. I find it much more useful to have it only move focus between form elements.

  Here's how set the change the Tab focus:

  1. Type "about:config" in the Location Bar.
  2. Set "accessibility.tabfocus" to "3" by double clicking on it and typing "3" in the blank.

  Now pressing the Tab button will only tab through form elements.

Downloads

• Choose where to save downloads

  Instead of having all downloads saved to the desktop, choose where to save downloads.

  Here's how:

  1. Go to the preferences by clicking "Edit" -> "Preferences.
  2. Click "Downloads".
  3. Select "Ask me where to save every file".

  Now your desktop will be less cluttered and you can organize your downloads by choosing where to save every file.

Navigation

• Scroll using autoscrolling

  Scrolling long pages is much easier using autoscrolling. If you haven't tried it I encourage you to do so.

  To enable autoscrolling:

  1. Go to the preferences by clicking "Edit" -> "Preferences.
  2. Click on "Advanced".
  3. Check "Use autoscrolling".

  Now you can just middle click anywhere on the page and move your mouse in the direction that you want the page to scroll. The farther you move your mouse, the faster the page will autoscroll.

• Easily switch between tabs using the keyboard

  I just learned two very useful shortcuts for Firefox:

  • Press "Ctrl+Page Down" to switch to the next tab on the right.
  • Press "Ctrl+Page Up" to switch to the tab to the left of your current tab.