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)."

Comments

While it's nice..

[microbee]

Do not tune stuff that is hidden unless you know what you are doing.

Re:While it's nice..

[hahafaha]

So if these options really make pages load faster, offer less memory drain, and even feed the dog, why aren't they a part of the settings to begin with?

Basically, because, although they may give more speed, they have drawbacks as well. Your question is like asking, ``If people can overclock their processors to so much faster, why isn't it overclocked by default?''

Re:While it's nice..

[RobertM1968]

Why? He's 100% right! Just follow the instructions and you are all set with no chance of there being problems. You see, the instructions on that web page clearly state in bold letters: "Keep a log of everything you change, or make backups."

So, either:

• Firefox acts weird or doesnt run at all, and you restore prefs.js from backup and have no problems
• or it worsens performance, and you restore from backup and have no problems
• or it improves performance and you happily surf away and have no problems

So, because he is correct, he's a fanboy? With IE, you run the possibility of having to do much more than restore a preferences file if you hose something. With Firefox, if you follow the instructions (and something goes wrong), it takes you a few extra seconds to restore the file to original state and "nothing major" happens (other than a wasted few minutes in total trying the tweaks).

So, if he's a fanboy, what does that make you? Just curious.

Extensions to Avoid?

[CharAznable]

I thought we agreed that ComputerWorld article was mostly crap...

A bigger question

[DoofusOfDeath]

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?

Re: A bigger question

[Black Parrot]

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? One philosophy is to nanny the unwashed masses away from "advanced" options. A second is that there's not a lot of reasons to support every possible option in a UI, especially if some of them are rarely used.

FWIW, I used to change some stuff and it would be back to the default next time I started the broweser. Ditto if I changed it in the config file. It finally took when I changed it in the GNOME configuration manager; I guess it was masking the application-specific configs.

Why aren't these real options?

[Sigma 7]

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.)

Hacking Firefox

[Dominare]

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.

Re:I just want

[jonasj]

If it can't find it in DNS, I want it to return a 404

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?