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The Secrets of Firefox about:config
jcatcw writes "While Firefox is very customizable, many of its settings aren't in the Options. Each setting is named and stored as a string, integer, or Boolean in a file called prefs.js and accessed via about:config from the nav bar. Computerworld provides instructions on 20 tweaks for speeding up page loads, making tabs behave, reducing memory drain, and generally making the interface act the way you want it to. Customization also comes through the must-have FF extensions (but be sure to skip these)."
Do not tune stuff that is hidden unless you know what you are doing.
I thought we agreed that ComputerWorld article was mostly crap...
The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
Using Firefox on FC6, the Slashdot firehose stopped working for me a while back.
The thumbs-up/down thingies don't do anything anymore. I tried turning off the NoScript extension, but that didn't seem to help. I also have Adblock+ installed.
Any clues?
Is why useful tweaks are hidden behind and obscure and risky-to-use interface like about:config. If the tweaks are worth doing, shouldn't they have first-class support in the main configuration GUI?
Some of these tweaks cut down on memory usage. Given that there are still plenty of computers with 512MB of ram (e.g. notebook computers), you don't want applications pinning 100% CPU or memory as it slows down the rest of the system. This is more important with notebook computers, since a second lost through CPU usage or hard drive thrashing is a second lost from battery charge.
The notebook I'm using right now has this amount of memory, and was easily available in stores 1 year ago. Last time I checked, a web browser should never require the absolute latest system for day-to-day operations (which include having another application in the background, such as a word processor or even MSVC 2005.)
KDawson is the new Zonk? Given the quality of the articles he is approving these days, he would soon surpass Zonk in crap-o-meter.
Gah. Why is it that these people insist on calling anything not found on the main options page "hacking"? As for the above questions - usually the reason things like that are 'hidden' is to stop people fiddling with them. A good example is the old 'coolbits' entry in the registry for nVidia cards - the overclocking functionality was there, but you had to do something non-standard to enable it. That way, the company's ass is covered if you melt your card; you can't pretend you enabled the options accidentally. Since Firefox is free and nobody is paying tech-support, I'm not sure why these things aren't available - but the fact of the matter is, anyone messing around with fundamental parameters should _not_ be the kind of person who lets random articles on the internet tell them what to change.
Who modded that offtopic? maj1k posted the "print this article" link so we didn't have to wait seven times for ad-ridden pages to load.
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
YOU are the IT expert, not the end user. If they're not following instructions you're suppose to help them, not hang them out to dry or make them an object of ridicule. You have the professionalism and people skills of a grizzly bear.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
So that means when I have a problem with an aircraft requiring a service, I should go find an auto mechanic?
/. to mod me as troll for saying this. Right here, THIS is the reason why Linux isn't on every fucking destkop. Idiotic.
The guy's job was obviously to look at the performance of the system and help users out when they had problems. They might be IT users, but system performance isn't their area. In this context they are end users even if they are also programmers. They just aren't specialists in what this guy does, and it's not their job to do his specialised job on top of theirs.
Trust
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
about:config is the worst method of changing preferences that I have ever seen.
about:config is evidence of feature creep, and hence evidence of Firefox turning into the Mozilla browser.
Past versions of Firefox have added additional features such as image resizing. And guess, what, users are not given the ability to disable this; they must enter into the cryptic about:config.
about:config is an HCI catastrophe.
- about:config has always existed in Firefox and Seamonkey
- It's opera:config in Opera.
I've never seen Mozilla hype this.Here is why Opera doesn't work for me.In particular, the first point is the most important to me.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
404 is an HTTP status code. If firefox cannot find the server you want to connect to, where do you want that 404 to come from?
You know, Microsoft's street address also says a lot about their mentality.