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The Theme Site for Firefox

The Extension Site for Firefox

Extensions on Mozdev

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Surprizingly the red panda site (Firefox) isn't down yet.

The Theme Site for Firefox

The Extension Site for Firefox

Extensions on Mozdev

Forums for mozilla

Surprizingly the red panda site (Firefox) isn't down yet.

In that case, you might be pleased to find that there is a way to do this.

If you start ThunderBird with the -p switch, it will start the profile manager. Just create a seperate profile for each user - the next time ThunderBird runs it'll ask you which profile to use.

Actually, you can have it both ways. Note: there is a subtle difference in that Firefox search will always do a domain name search first (if you use the address bar instead of the search bar) but if you have fast DNS hits, there should be no problems.

Yay for business' inalienable right to annoy me with ads...

Some of us are required to us IE at work because the bosses won't let us install anything else.

You don't have to "install" anything in Windows to run Mozilla Firebird. In fact as of version 0.7, Firebird doesn't even have an official Windows installer. Just download, unzip, and double-click!

Firebird is available for MacOS X and has an extension that does just that.

Google Tool Bar? You oboviously aren't aware of the Firebird Google Bar Extension.

I go to read about the 2.7 Linux Kernel and I get an advertisement telling me...

Firebird + Adblock

Problem solved...

I go to read about the 2.7 Linux Kernel and I get an advertisement telling me...

Firebird + Adblock

Problem solved...

...or unless you have Firebird's free Adblock extension.

I use ObjectBar, a little taskbar reskinning program by Stardock. Its part of a greater suit of programs called ObjectDesktop, that basically includes a whole bunch of Windows-skinning programs. I don't use them though, they're kind of resource intensive. Object Bar is bad enough, but the functionality it gives me is irreplacable.

What I did for myself was take an existing theme (Developer link and orignal shot), and rework it to what I liked. Its quite nice IMO Combined with sysmetrix (system data program), it gives me pretty much everything I need. I've got a thin bar at the bottom with Sysmetrix stacked ontop (and skinned to match seamlessly). On that bar, I've got 4 menus: System (Run, Find, Regedit, Console, Logoff, Reboot, Shutdown, etc), Settings (Win Update, Add/Remove progs, Display and System properties, Control panel shortcut, etc), Drives (HDs, CDs, floppies, MyDocs, etc, all with popup lists of their content), and LAN (network settings and access to other comps on the network). I've also got two shortcuts I use a lot (My Computer and Firebird), and the local time.
Of course, above this I have sysmetrix which i've tricked out to the nuts. It gives me CPU usage, CPU speed, RAM load, swap/virt mem loads, temperatures (CPU, CPU diode, case, outside), HD space, Network load (plus transfer rate and total data transfered), one click mail (checks for me every 10 min) and trash access, Win Uptime, and longformat date with three different timezones (GMT/EST/PST - i'm MST, which is on the bar below) and more!
Then i've got my popup sidebar, which shows pretty much everything else. Its got the systray and current applications (since its vertical, I can stack tons more programs into it. Plus, the width of the bar scales with program names, to a point). Then i've got a section with personalized shortcut menus, that I absolutely love. Its got primary menus (Games, Media, Utility, etc) that slide out into sub categories (Unreal Tournament, Media, Utilities, etc) that have drop down lists of commonly used programs. It gives me access to pretty much any program on my HD, but its sorted by program type rather than name, which is something I hate about the start menu. Speaking of which, the start menu popup sits above my own menus, just incase I ever need it (which isn't often). The best thing about the menu though, is that I can change anything I want. Sometimes, if i'm working on a project, i'll give it its own shortcut or side menu. I can drop in links to relevant programs, have popups to certain folders on my HD, etc. Very handy, and it only takes a few minutes to set up (templates are your friend!)

The thing I find lacking about traditional "Start" menus or other pre-defined ways of accessing a system is that they're made by someone else. The best system will always be one made by you, because you know what information you need at your fingertips. So all you really need to do is find a customizable way of organizing things (for your OS), and then go crazy. Yeah, it can take a while to get everything working just right, but the end result is so worth it. Not having to deal with the hassles and frustrations of finding a program or piece of info is priceless IMO, so I look at any time customizing my desktop as an investment. :)


That said, alternative interfaces would be pretty damned cool. I know it was mentioned in a previous post, but the way Minority Report worked (hand gestures) was very, very cool. I think adding more physical interfaces to our computers will be the next big step. Hell, i'm already addicted to mouse gestures in Fir

Are you using Mozilla or Mozilla Firebird?

Get the extension 'AdBlock', which has the option to block flash content from certain sites based on regular expressions.

Firebird version

"Looks like this will push Flash blocking through quickly. :)"

Flash Click to View:

AdBlock for MozillaFirebird will block Flash ads as well as images from urls that match one of your search strings. This works REALLY well, I haven't seen an advertizement in over a month now that I have my filters all set up.

cLive ;-)

And, if you use Mozilla/Firebird, get your handy dandy CSS ad blocking file. It makes heavy use of CSS3-ish stuff, so it can't be used by Opera or IE.

goto your current firebird-profile and create or edit a file called: user.js

enter this:

// This one makes a huge difference. Last value in milliseconds (default is 250)
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);

in the file and save it.

Other speed-improving tweaks to be added to the same file are:

// Enable pipelining:
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 100);

// turn on timer-based reflow management
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);

// sets the allowed time between reflows in microseconds
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 100);

// set the number of reflows to do before waiting for the rest of the page to arrive
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 200);

More tips, extensions and themes for firebird can be found on http://texturizer.net/firebird/

Exactly, One of the best plugins to Firebird (and one of the strongest arguments which made me convert to that bird) is the plugin you no doubt refer to, the "Flash click to view" plugin by Ted Mielczarek.

It blocks all those annoying Flash banners distracting your reading while still allowing you to see them if you really would be so inclined, by left clicking the place-holder of the flash area.
Agreed, some crappy sites still use Flash as a part of their navigation system (a moronic idea as such, but..) so you're still able to use these sites.

Another must-have plugin is the Adblock (which IIRC is nowadays bundled with Firebird). These two plugins alone makes the web so much nicer to navigate.

However great the Gecko browsers might be, it's still to early to completely uninstall IE, as some sites are still too messed up that they only work with Internet Explorer. So at times, the Gecko browsers still can't be used to browse certain (broken) sites...

I would recommend diving into the world of Mozilla. They offer a couple of awesome tools for Javascript and DOM debugging. Check out the following: Venkman Javascript Debugger DOM Inspector Mozilla Firebird Specifically with Firebird, after you have it installed, go check out some of the available extensions at texurizer.net/firebird/extensions and download some of the cool extensions like the 'Web Developers Toolbar'. These pieces of software have proved invaluable to my productivity! I have used them to debug javascript, XUL and everything in between. Good luck!

I just read yesterday in the firebird documentation that it has a 250 millisecond pause built in before rendering so as to not have to reflow the page as much as bytes stream in. It can be deactivated as in the instructions here
So that'll make it a little faster I think

Note: Firebird is meant to be a stripped down browser, but extensible for those who want additional functionality. Thus, I will refer you to many extensions you need to install.

1.) When a link has a target=_blank it opens a new browser instead of a new tab. Cannot express how much this annoys me.

Get Tabbrowswer Extensions

2.) You cannot save a series of tabs to always open everytime you restart the browser.

Again, Tabbrowser Extensions

3.) Can't disable gif animation.

Several ways to do this, but my favorite is the Things they left out extension. Adds in some missing 'zilla pref pages.

4.) Cannot turn on the tab bar by default or always have it on

Can't help you here, don't know what you mean.

5.) Doesn't have zoom feature or a "always use my stylesheet" feature like opera (this is incredibly handy when dealing with sites that insist on impossible-to-read-text)

You can hack your stylesheets, but I'm sure there's an extension or bookmarklet that allows you to override your stylesheet.

6.) cannot change it's indentity like you can in Opera to, say, IE 6.xx -- this is becoming less and less of a deal as fewer websites I go to at least "require" IE 6.x.

Check out User Agent Switcher, or a number of other extensions that change your UA.

HTH

Note: Firebird is meant to be a stripped down browser, but extensible for those who want additional functionality. Thus, I will refer you to many extensions you need to install.

1.) When a link has a target=_blank it opens a new browser instead of a new tab. Cannot express how much this annoys me.

Get Tabbrowswer Extensions

2.) You cannot save a series of tabs to always open everytime you restart the browser.

Again, Tabbrowser Extensions

3.) Can't disable gif animation.

Several ways to do this, but my favorite is the Things they left out extension. Adds in some missing 'zilla pref pages.

4.) Cannot turn on the tab bar by default or always have it on

Can't help you here, don't know what you mean.

5.) Doesn't have zoom feature or a "always use my stylesheet" feature like opera (this is incredibly handy when dealing with sites that insist on impossible-to-read-text)

You can hack your stylesheets, but I'm sure there's an extension or bookmarklet that allows you to override your stylesheet.

6.) cannot change it's indentity like you can in Opera to, say, IE 6.xx -- this is becoming less and less of a deal as fewer websites I go to at least "require" IE 6.x.

Check out User Agent Switcher, or a number of other extensions that change your UA.

HTH

4.) Cannot turn on the tab bar by default or always have it on

That one is handled by Tabbrowser Extensions.

Not 100% sure of a fix for #2.

I'm pretty sure this is all here however...

1.) When a link has a target=_blank it opens a new browser instead of a new tab. Cannot express how much this annoys me.

Easily fixed with a user.js preference.

2.) You cannot save a series of tabs to always open everytime you restart the browser.

Opens tabs you want to use, then
Tools -> options -> general -> user current pages

3.) Can't disable gif animation.

Also located in options.

4.) Cannot turn on the tab bar by default or always have it on

Fixed with the TBE or Tab browser preferences extensions

5.) Doesn't have zoom feature or a "always use my stylesheet" feature like opera (this is incredibly handy when dealing with sites that insist on impossible-to-read-text)

I use this daily. "CTRL +" to increase, "CTRL -" to decrease and "CTRL 0" to reset to default. I believe this has been in Mozilla suite for a loooong time now, and it's been in Mozilla Firebird since it was created.

6.) cannot change it's indentity like you can in Opera to, say, IE 6.xx -- this is becoming less and less of a deal as fewer websites I go to at least "require" IE 6.x.

There are two or three extentions that let you change this on the fly.

It seems to me that everything you listed can be done...You just need to check out the first link I gave to texturizer and look at the tips (kind of RTFM), and then click on the extentions link on the side and fill in any gaps.

Firebird does it already. Even using Shift+Enter for a .net address and Ctrl+Shift+Enter for a .org.

Firebird Keyboard Shortcuts

If you need help installing Flash, check the FAQ.

This feature already exists as a Firebird plugin:

http://texturizer.net/firebird/extensions/#flashcl ick

I just tried this in Mozilla and it seems to work okay. My last Moz update was v1.6a nightly 20031014, two months old now -- enjoying Firebird nightlies these days -- so YMMV.

I feel that in lieu a plug-in control -- as described in the Bugzilla report to which you link -- the ability to disable Flash belongs to either the Flash plug-in itself (not that Macromedia will add this feature), or a browser extension (as linked above), not in the browser itself.

Also, the controls spec-ed out in the Bugzilla report might be too hard for the average (i.e. dumb or lazy) user.

This page documents how you install java and flash. I agree it could be streamlined somewhat in linux.

I haven't seen any of those large boxes at slashdot in a long time since I have added the Adblock extension to Firebird.

Integration of PGP/GPG into Mozilla is called Enigmail. I was going to link to its project page on www.mozdev.org but it's just not loading for me right now. I don't know how well the integration of Enigmail into Thunderbird works, since I can't look it up. However I have used it in Mozilla mail (I don't converse with anyone who gives a shit about encryption so I stopped caring about it) and it works quite cleanly. However, if you want to give it a shot, visit the thunderbird extensions page and click the xpi link.

Among the other helpful comments, please take a look at the tips and tricks page for mozilla firebird (these should apply equally to regular Mozilla too):

FYI, To get Firebird to open popups as tabs, you need the Tabbrowser Preferences extension. Enjoy.

the 'Flash Click to View' plugin for Firebird.
found here (texturizer). Anything Microsoft puts out will hopefully get the same treatment.

I already do. It's only when I go to work and sometimes use IE that I notice that huge page-long banner on the side.

One step ahead of you.

There's also more volunteers than the early days, not just with coding and testing, but with user support too, such as the excellent Mozilla Firebird and Thunderbird Help sites.

But in reality to the end user, it does not matter how many people are developing it, it's the quality of the product that counts, and I think that with recent releases there's nothing that can beat Mozilla in all round usefulness. If you've not tried it for ages then it's worth a try now, features like type ahead find, tabbed browsing and of course pop-up blocking make it an excellent product and make using IE a painful process. The fact is on any platform IE looks like the third rate choice, if you don't like Mozilla then there's always Opera, although personally I hate the interface to it - but others will disagree, choice is good, and having a situation where more people try alternative browsers is good for making sure we don't get tied into a Windows (i.e. IE) only web.

There's also more volunteers than the early days, not just with coding and testing, but with user support too, such as the excellent Mozilla Firebird and Thunderbird Help sites.

But in reality to the end user, it does not matter how many people are developing it, it's the quality of the product that counts, and I think that with recent releases there's nothing that can beat Mozilla in all round usefulness. If you've not tried it for ages then it's worth a try now, features like type ahead find, tabbed browsing and of course pop-up blocking make it an excellent product and make using IE a painful process. The fact is on any platform IE looks like the third rate choice, if you don't like Mozilla then there's always Opera, although personally I hate the interface to it - but others will disagree, choice is good, and having a situation where more people try alternative browsers is good for making sure we don't get tied into a Windows (i.e. IE) only web.

A lifesaver!

cLive ;-)

In terms of stopping annoying advertising, Nuke Anything is the most useful Firebird extension I've ever seen. It sets the display CSS property for the object you've selected to none. Don't like the obnoxious flash ad that's making the text of the page squish into the left 10% of the screen? *ZAP* Gone. And It re-flows the layout. I use it all the time, especially on that obnoxious new /. frontpage ad.

It would be nice to be able to turn on/off Flash/ on a per-site basis.

You mean like in Firebird with the click to view flash extension?

See, what you do is:

- install mozilla firebird (pretty much mandatory given that it's neck and shoulders above other browsers)
- install flash-click-to-view

From then on all flash objects will be replaced by a huge button that says "flash: click to view". And guess what, you click that button to view the flash animation!

The only problem is that some sites use idiotic flash detection scripts that break down because this doesn't even load the flash files from the network if you don't click the box.

you could also use the AdBlock Extension to block *.swf

You can use this css file to block most ads with Firebird/Mozilla. Just put in your profile's chrome subdirectory, and say goodbye to ads. Easy to modify, too, if you know CSS.

Or, if you use Mozilla or Firebird, use css to block ads.

Check out this extension. You just highlight the text, right click it, and select "Open Link in New Tab" (or new window). No its an extra click or two from Mozilla, but I prefer having my middle mouse button open for scrolling the way Firebird does it.

And I really wish more KDE/Linux applications used the middle mouse button as a scroll wheel without any fancy configuring, such as Konqueror or OpenOffice.

Just get mozilla. Plop in a nice usercontent.css, and most ads go away automagically, without needing any 3rd party kludges, like proxies (transparent or otherwise). Plus, it's unwanted popup blocker is far better than any external one - popups are a browser function, and blocking them should be too. As an added bonus, most spyware is totally incompatible with mozilla, and it won't automatically install plugins when you load a page (or try to get you to).

The great thing about mozilla is that it is open source. Not only that but it follows the XUL application model so it's easily extensible. Here is how you can change the icon yourself. Some chillin icons are here and a faithful extension might be found by clicking here. Go easy on the MozDev server, it's already suicidal.

Two of the most important Mozilla/Firebird items from texturizer.net: Flash Click To View and Ad Blocking. The Ad Blocking stuff really works well.

Two of the most important Mozilla/Firebird items from texturizer.net: Flash Click To View and Ad Blocking. The Ad Blocking stuff really works well.