Firefox Tips

ElijahLofgren

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Firefox Tips

Contents

Tabbed Browsing

Get ultimate control over tabs

Tab Mix Plus bundles together a bunch of useful tab extensions which means you can use it instead of installing a bunch of separate tab extensions.

Enable scrolling between tabs with mouse wheel

Install the MiniT Firefox Extension which allows you to switch between tabs by scrolling the mouse wheel over the tab bar.

This extension is really helpful if you switch between tabs a lot. It makes having a lot of tabs open much easier to manage.

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.

Add new tab button to tab bar and have more control over tabs

Install the Tabbrowser Preferences Firefox Extension which gives you more control over how tabs are handled. For example I have used it to make searches from the search bar open in a new tab. One of the most important things it does is add a new tab button to the tab bar. It is definitely an extension you should try out.

Easily re-open closed tabs

Install the undoclosetab Firefox extension which allows you to undo closing a tab. Do you ever accidentally close a tab? If so then here's an extension that you're sure to like. Just click "Undo Close Tab" on the right-click menu and the last tab that you closed is restored.

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 at all times:

  1. Go to the preferences by clicking "Edit" -> "Preferences.
  2. Click on "Tabbed Browsing".
  3. Click on the "Features" tab.
  4. Uncheck "Hide the tab bar when only one tab 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.

Duplicate Tabs

The Duplicate Tab extension allows you to easily load up a new tab with the same page you are on. You can configure it to show "Duplicate Tab" on the tab context menu, page context menu, or both! You can also just press "Ctrl+Shift+T" on the keyboard. This extension is very useful when creating web pages and comparing two versions side by side after making a change.

My Favorite Greasemonkey UserScripts

Add New Features to Firefox

Install Spell Checker for Firefox

Install the AspellFox Firefox Extension.

Add ability to resize textareas

Install the Resizable Textarea Extension 0.1b.

Website Display

Improve readability of Fonts on Linux in Firefox 2

  1. Click "Edit -> Preferences"
  2. Click on "Content"
  3. Under "Fonts & Colors" click on the "Advanced..." button.
  4. Change the settings to look like this: firefox_fonts.png
  5. Click the "OK" button and then click the "Close" button.

Disable IntelliTXT Ads

I've been running into websites such as TUX Magazine that have those really annoying IntelliTXT ads that automatically create ad links out of certain words. Thankfully I've found a way to disable them:

  1. Install the Greasemonkey extension.
  2. Install the Disable IntelliTXT userscript.

There, now your web surfing will be less annoying.

Webmaster Tools

Web Developer

Installing the Web Developer extension adds a toolbar to Firefox which has many useful tools for webmasters. One of the coolest feature is the ability to edit the page CSS and see you changes rendered on-the-fly as you edit the CSS. If you are a webmaster, I would highly recommend that you check out this extension.

View Source Chart and Html Validator

View Source Chart is an amazing tool which combined with Html Validator makes debugging HTML code much easier. :)

Live HTTP Headers

Installing the LiveHTTPHeaders extension allows you to view the both the request and response HTTP headers of a web page. This is very useful when debugging web applications.

Edit Blogger Comments

Install the Blogger comments editor userscript for Greasemonkey


My Favorite Firefox Extensions

My Favorite Firefox Extensions (outdated)

Tabbed Browsing

  • miniT

    miniT - This extension includes the following features:
    • Tabs can be switched by scrolling the mouse wheel over the tab bar.
    • Tabs can be re-ordered by drag and drop.

    This extension is really helpful if you switch between tabs a lot. It makes having multiple tabs open much easier to manage.

  • Tab Browser Preferences

    Tabbrowser Preferences - Tabbrowser Preferences gives you more control over how tabs are handled. For example I have used it make searches from the search bar open in a new tab. One of the most important things it does - in my opinion - is add a new tab button on the tab bar like Mozilla has. It is definitely an extension you should try out.
  • Undo Close Tab

    undoclosetab - Do you ever accidentally close a tab? If so then here's an extension that you're sure to like. Just click "Undo Close Tab" on the right-click menu and the last tab that you closed is restored.
  • Submit To Tab

    SubmitToTab - I have wanted the ability to submit a form to a new tab for a long time now. I've finally found an extension that allows me to do just that.
  • Duplicate Tab

    Duplicate Tab - This nifty extension allows you to easily load up a new tab with the same page you are on. You can configure it to show "Duplicate Tab" on the tab context menu, page context menu, or both! You can also just press "Ctrl+Shift+T" on the keyboard. This extension is very useful when creating web pages and comparing two versions side by side after making a change.
  • Unread Tabs

    Unread Tabs - This nifty little extension makes unread tabs italic which allows you to easily see which ones you have read and which ones you have not.

Images

  • ImgLikeOpera

    ImgLikeOpera - ImgLikeOpera gives you complete control over the loading of images. You can configure it to load only images that have already been cached by the browser. It allows you to load any image by right-clicking on it and selecting "Load Image". You can also set filters to allow loading of all images on certain sites or pages. This extension is very helpful for those of us on slow dial-up connections.
  • Show Image

    Show Image - This is a really nice extension which allows you to right click on an broken image and click "Show Image" and it will attempt to load the image. This is really helpful since I have dial-up and when an image does not load on a page with many images I don't have to reload the entire page anymore. I no longer use this extension, instead I'm using ImgLikeOpera.
  • Image Show Hide

    Image-Show-Hide - This extension allows you to easily switch between surfing with images turned off and with images enabled. This is especially useful for dial-up users who have slow Internet connections. Using this extension to disable images is one way to speed up your web surfing. I no longer use this extension, instead I'm using ImgLikeOpera.

Webmaster Tools

  • Live HTTP Headers

    LiveHTTPHeaders - LiveHTTPHeaders allows you to view the both the request and response HTTP headers of a web page.
  • Web Developer

    Web Developer - The Web Developer extension adds a toolbar to Firefox which has many very useful tools for those who develop web sites. If you are a webmaster, I would highly recommend that you check out this extension.
  • fireFTP

    fireFTP - A full-featured FTP client that runs in a tab of Firefox! FireFTP makes Firefox an even better tool for those of us who are webmasters.
  • ColorZilla

    ColorZilla - This amazing extension adds a color picker to the bottom left of the status bar. It features the ability to pick any color off anything in the browser window. It even lets you zoom the page. This nifty extension makes getting the color code for any part of a web page a snap!

Page Loading

  • Extended Status Bar

    Extended Statusbar - This is a very nice extension which gives you much more information when a page is loading. It makes your status bar very similar to the status bar on Opera.
  • Reload Every

    Reload Every - Reload Every allows you to set a page to reload automatically at any interval. For example, you could set it to reload a every minute, five seconds, or fifteen minutes.

Page Display

  • Nuke Anything

    Nuke Anything - This has got to be one of the coolest extensions! You can remove any object from any page! Just select what you want to remove and click "Remove selection" on the right-click menu. Nuke Anything is very useful for preparing pages to be printed. Note: I recommend that you use Nuke Anything 0.5 instead of Nuke Anything 0.2 because Nuke Anything 0.2 seems to have stopped working with recent versions of Firefox.
  • Flash Block

    FlashBlock - Want to get rid of annoying flash ads, but still be able to view the flash movies that you want to see? If so, then FlashBlock is the extension for you! Install FlashBlock and all flash movies are replaced with an icon that you can click on if you want to see it. This extension is great for those of use with dial-up because flash files are sometimes quite large.

Bookmarks

  • Open Book

    OpenBook - This small, simple extension saves you time when you bookmark a page. When you click "Bookmark This Page" the folder list is automatically expanded allowing you to easily categorize your new bookmark.

Navigation

  • Plain Text Links

    Plain Text Links - This extension saves time by eliminating the need to copy and paste a plain text link into the address bar and hit enter. Instead you can just select the plain text URL and click "Open selected url in new tab" or "Open selected url" from the right-click menu.
  • Link Toolbar

    Link Toolbar - The Link Toolbar extension adds small site navigation buttons to the status bar. This allows you to easily to up one level or go the the home page of a website. It also shows Previous and Next link buttons if the webpage has supplied them through link tags or if it is able to figure them out by scanning the page for words like "back" or "forward".
  • Document Map

    Document Map - The Document Map extension adds a sidebar which will display a page structure navigation menu based on the page's heading tags. I was going to try to add a page content menu to the top of each of the pages on this site, but with this extension I no longer see the need. This extension is very nice!

User Interface

  • Cute Menus

    CuteMenus - CuteMenus adds icons to most of Firefox's menus which makes them easier to use. The menus look much nicer with CuteMenus installed.

Firefox Tips

Multimedia

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.

Cool Firefox Features

Bookmarks

  • Live Bookmarks

    Live Bookmarks - Live Bookmarks are amazingly cool. You can get the latest updates from any RSS enables site without even going to it! The headlines just automatically appear in a folder of your bookmakrs!

Website Display

Disable Flash with Flashblock

Modified: 2006-08-21 13:16:33

You can install Flashblock so that Flash content will not be loaded by default. You can then click on the Flash object to enable it.

Force a form to remember passwords

Modified: 2006-09-26 20:17:50

Use the remember password bookmarklet.

Open URL in sidebar

Modified: 2006-12-05 18:29:27

  1. Right click on a bookmark and choose properties.
  2. Check the "Load this bookmark in the sidebar" box.
  3. Click bookmark. Enjoy.

Get rid of the Gnome File Chooser in Firefox

  1. Type about:config in the location bar.
  2. Set "ui.allow_platform_file_picker" to "false".
  3. Enjoy not using the Gnome File Chooser.

Reopen an accidentally closed tab - No extensions needed!

Modified: 2007-03-14 16:09:40

Just hit Ctrl-Shift-T :)

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Last Modified: July 1, 2008 09:58 PM

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