February 24, 2005

An Open Letter on How to Design Firefox Toolbars

02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox

This is an open letter to all designers of Firefox toolbars. It’s awesome that lots of companies like Yahoo!, A9 and Google (whoops, why is there no ‘official’ Google Toolbar for Firefox?) are supporting Firefox with their toolbar efforts. However, I won’t use any of them, thank you.

Why not? Because I value my vertical space. You see, as in print/web media, space “above the fold” (as in the fold in a newspaper or on a web page anything you can see without having to scroll) is WAY more valuable than space below the fold. And obviously, space at the top of the page is THE most valuable (why do you think they put banner ads at the top of the page?). That is why I have reduced the top chrome in my Firefox setup to just one line of UI; Because I want to maximize the amount of vertical space for the content. Adding a toolbar uses up one line of the most valuable UI space. No thank you.

However, there is a solution. Companies, please feel free to design toolbars, because there are plenty of folks that don’t mind giving up even three or four lines of UI to toolbars. Rock on. However, please also “part out” your toolbar by designing separate buttons for all of the elements on your toolbar (buttons are things like Firefox’s default ‘back, ‘forward,’ ‘reload,’ etc.). That way I can choose the functionality I want (as in, I really don’t need a ‘highlight’ button, since Firefox’s Find function already does that) while not using up vertical UI space.

One company that gets this is Furl. They don’t even offer a traditional toolbar, just custom buttons that you can add to your existing UI.

OK, so Yahoo!, A9 and others — gimme some buttons, and I’ll add them to my UI. Until then, your toolbars will go unchecked.

February 23, 2005

Now Is the Time to Promote Firefox

03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet & Firefox

Hello leading websites (except MSN, of course). Get a clue. NOW is the time to start encouraging your users to switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox. Where are the ‘Get Firefox Now’ buttons on your homepages? Where’s the customized Firefox browsers? Come on!!

Why aren’t Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Ebay, et al. doing this? I donno. I guess they must really like having Microsoft control the key piece of Internet client software.

In a perfect world, these companies would get together and start creating some more mind share for Firefox — especially in the minds of the general public. How about a big PR event announcing their ‘partnership’ to promote Firefox? How about each company kicking in some bucks to buy some advertising talking about the benefits of Firefox? How about a ‘Download Firefox’ day where each site dedicates a big chunk of their homepage to encourage downloads?

Do the math. Longhorn isn’t shipping for years, Bill Gates is scared and Firefox has momentum. If Microsoft maintains its hegemony in browser share, you know who to blame.

February 16, 2005

Feedviewer — Don't be Afraid of (Most) RSS Pages in Firefox

09:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox

XML RSS pages don’t render very nicely in Firefox if at all. However, there is an extension to solve this problem called Feedviewer. Feedviewer allows Firefox to render RSS pages in a manner similar to Apples Safari browser. Click here for a demo of how Safari handles RSS pages.

Overall, Feedview works pretty well, but I do get some strange behaviors every now and then. This may be caused by how I have my browser set up. For example, when trying to view En gadget’s RSS page the download menu comes up asking me if I would like to download the page… hum. Feedview works on Zoinger’s RSS page, but sadly doesn’t like Zoinger’s RDF page.

OK, not perfect, but better than nothing.

Mapit — A Handy Firefox Extension

09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox

Mapit is a small, handy extension for Firefox that allows you to select addresses from web pages and quickly generate a map by selecting the Mapit menu item from the context menu (right click menu). Through Firefox’s Extension Manager (Tools -> Extensions), can program which mapping application you would like Mapit to use. Several mapping sites are supported from Yahoo! Maps to Microsoft’s TerraServer. Google Maps is currently not supported.

A better UI experience would be for Mapit to allow you to choose the mapping site at the time of selection instead of having to access the Extension Manager to change sites. Context Search, another Firefox extension, allows you to do this based on your installed search plug-ins.

I haven’t thoroughly tested Mapit, but it seems to fine on the few address I did query.

Rein — A Tight Firefox Theme

08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox

I haven’t been looking to switch themes in Firefox, but I ran across one called Rein when reading about the ScrapBook extension I talked about here. Please note that the Rein site is written in Japanese (I think), so may not render very well in your browser. Hunt around the page for find the link for the install. Here’s a link to the Rein page.

According to the site where Rein is posted, Rein means ‘pure’ in German. Rein’s nice because it changes most of the UI elements to various shades of gray… all the way from black to white. Basically, it helps gets the UI out of your browsing way. After all, isn’t that what browsers are for?

February 14, 2005

Scrapbook — A Neat Firefox Extension

07:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox

I just installed a new Firefox extension called Scrapbook. It’s really neat. I found out about Scrapbook from a recent review of 15 extensions in PCMagazine.

Scrapbook allows you to capture full web pages and create plain text or HTML notes. To aid with filing of this information, you can create folders that are managed in a sidebar interface that resembles Firefox’s default bookmark sidebar. You can capture sites through the context menu (right click menu) or by drag-and-dropping a page into the sidebar. You can also capture individual images from a page by drag-and-dropping an image into the sidebar. The search interface is pretty trick too.

Man, this is one pro extension.

Updated: 2005_02_14
You can also vote for the feature you would like to see next.

February 02, 2005

Firefox — Roll Your Own QuickLaunches and QuickSearches

03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox & PC - Customizing

Man, just when you think you have everything figured out with Firefox, you learn about something new. In fact, sometimes you feel like you’re the last one to learn about it. What “new” features of Firefox am I talking about? That’d be QuickLaunches and QuickSearches (I sort of made those CamelCase words up).

Creating a QuickLaunch
For sites you visit a lot, it’s great to have an easy-to-remember letter or short word that when typed into the address bar tells Firefox to launch a particular site. For example, I have Firefox set up to launch the front page of Yahoo! by simply typing “yhoo” into the address bar and hitting return (actually, I type “cntrl+L” to set the focus on the address bar, and then type “yhoo” and return — no mousing required).

To set the keyword for a site, browse to that site and bookmark it. Then right-click on the bookmark and select Properties from the context menu. This reveals the Properties menu. Type in the keyword you would like associated with that site into the Keyword field, then click the OK button. Easy!

Creating a QuickSearch
But wait, there’s more. QuickSearches allow you to not only tell Firefox to launch a site based on a keyword, but also automatically search on a query. For example, let’s say that I want to search on the term “whatever” in Yahoo!. I have Firefox set up so that all I need to do is type “y whatever” into the address bar and hit return to load this page.

To set up a QuickSearch, you must bookmark the results page for a search engine, substitute in “%s” in place of the query and add your keyword. If this doesn’t make sense, go here to see how the QuickSearch bookmarks for several common search engines are formatted (and don’t forget the keyword).

I have several dozen QuickLanches and QuickSearches set up in Firefox. This saves me a lot of time mousing around and has just about eliminated my use of the search box (located in the upper right corner).

Tip
Don’t just randomly place your keyworded bookmarks into your bookmarks list. If you do, you’ll lose track of them making it almost impossible to look up a forgotten keyword. To solve this problem with Firefox’s weak bookmark managing system, I created a folder called “Keywords,” and created all of my QuickSearches and QuickLaunches within this folder (even if I end up duplicating bookmarks found somewhere else in my bookmarks list). In addition, I add “(=Keyword)” to the end of the Name field in the bookmark’s Properties menu (e.g., the Yahoo! bookmark name field reads “Yahoo! - Search (=y)”). If I forget a keyword, I can open the Keywords folder to see a complete list of my keywords.

February 01, 2005

Two New Firefox Books Coming from O'Reilly

01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox

O’Reilly is coming out with a couple of new books on Firefox, an “advanced” one called Firefox Hacks and an “introductory” book (calling it like it is) entitled Don’t Click on the Blue E!. I checked Amazon, and they have a release date of March 2005, however, you can pre-order now. Let’s hope they come out sooner.

Here’s O’Reilly’s summary of Firefox Hacks:

Firefox Hacks is ideal for power users who want to maximize the effectiveness of Firefox, the next-generation web browser that is quickly gaining in popularity. This highly-focused book offers all the valuable tips and tools you need to enjoy a superior and safer browsing experience. Learn how to customize its deployment, appearance, features, and functionality.(Full Description)

Here’s O’Reilly’s summary of Don’t Click on the Blue E!:

For anyone who has grown disenchanted with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser, Don’t Click on the Blue E! offers help. It gives non-technical users a convenient roadmap for switching to a better web browser—Firefox. As the only book that covers the switch to Firefox, this how-to guide is a must for all those who want to browse faster, more securely, and more efficiently. (Full Description)

January 31, 2005

Stop the Presses: GET THE FUTURE OF FILE SYSTEMS TODAY!!

08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet & Firefox

del.icio.us My bookmarks are going to del.icio.us STAT1. They are going to the-land-of-how-file-systems-should-work. If you want a preview of the future, read this post, and join the chosen before the rush crushes their (his?) service. In a very short time it is almost guaranteed that whomever owns del.icio.us will be very, very well off.

You did read the whole post linked to above before continuing, now didn’t you? I thought so.

Can you imagine combining this functionality (a term which belies the power of this new paradigm) with something like Flickr?

Add the notion of “group” and some file permissioning, and you have the future of file systems2. Game, set and match.

Calling Google’s, Yahoo!’s and Microsoft’s corporate development departments (I didn’t have enough minutes on my plan to waste calling Time-Warner-not-AOL-anymore)… I’ve done your homework. Now get to work.

—————

1 I will say that for the majority of my bookmarks, I really don’t care that everyone can browse them. Whatever. Bookmarks that I use to access really personal websites, I’ll just keep local, and not load them into del.icio.us.

2 With del.icio.us (i.e., bookmarks), it rocks to have no real file permissioning. It facilitates the free sharing of preference. Like peer-to-peer where everyone shares their files as well as downloads files. All are consumers and contributors.

January 28, 2005

Firefox Stability

10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox

I’ve really been messing around with Firefox lately. I’ve been loading bunches of new extensions to try them out, unloading the ones I don’t like, using a CPU-optimized version of Firefox, modifying the configuration files, etc. In all of this, Firefox has remained very stable. That just blows me away. Any other application that you did so much customizing to would end up imploding… forcing me to uninstall it and start all over again. I do get crashes (very rarely), but the frequency of these crashes has remand constant even as I have been tweaking it. Firefox farking rocks.

January 10, 2005

Firefox Customization

05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox & PC - Customizing

Productfirefox_1Firefox is a great browser and a great example of how well open-source development can work. Straight out of the box, it's very usable, and is probably fine for most casual users. Lucky for power users, or users that just like tinkering, the design of Firefox facilitates a wide range of customization options. Add on programs (extensions), custom settings files, themes and even custom binaries for specific CPUs all exist or can be created to modify Firefox specific tastes and needs. Here's some notes on how I've used these items to customize my Firefox install.

CPU-Specific Builds of Firefox
I've just started using (as of 2005_01_26) MOOX's custom build of Firefox. These builds are designed to exploit features of particular processors and/or instruction sets. So far the build I've been using seems very stable. It's a bit faster than the normal Firefox build, but definitely not a huge increase (e.g., a 2x speed increase). Make sure to read this page which guides you through which build is appropriate for your particular CPU (most newer processors use the M3 build). Downloads can be found here.

Oh, here's a couple of quick tips to make your Firefox use more productive.
1) cntrl+Tab scrolls between Firefox's Tabs (cntrl+shift+tab goes the other way)
2) Click on any bookmark, and enter a keyword. Now, Firefox will open this bookmark when you enter this keyword into the address field.
3) You setup Firefox to find an item on the simply by typing your query while focused on the page. To set this up, go to 'Tools/Options,' 'Advanced' and 'Accessibility', tick 'Begin finding when you begin typing'.
4) Cntrl+e locks focus on the search box in the upper right corner.
5) Once focus is on the search box, cntrl+arrowup/down scrolls through your search engines.

Essential Extensions

  1. IEView - Adds "View page in Internet Explorer" links to the content and link context menu. This rocks. Since I don't have Flash installed in Firefox (which is nice for blocking evil UI elements and ads), IEView lets me quickly load the page in IE in all of its Flash glory (or gory). Also good for pages that don't load well in Firefox.

  2. Context Search - Changes the "Web Search for" context item into a menu containing your search plugins.

  3. Compact Menu - Allows you to free up some vertical space my cramming all of the menu controls (i.e., File, View, etc.) under a fish icon.. why the fish, I don't know. Here's a picture of it in action.

  4. Linkification - Makes textual URLs links.

  5. Diggler - Adds a button to the toolbar and a link in the context menu that with tools to easily dig through the directories of the URL you are currently browsing.

  6. Tabbrowser Extensions - Greatly increases control over your tabs. An essential extension.

  7. SpellBound - A feature-rich spell checker for Firefox. Use it in TypePad (just be sure to click on the field you want to check before initiating it). Add-on dictionaires for international language support can be found here.

  8. Scrapbook - Facilitates capture of full or partial web pages and creation of plain-text or HTML notes. You can change the directory that Scrapbook stores its entries in under Tools/Settings/Advance.

  9. ColorZilla - Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies. With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. You can Zoom the page you are viewing and measure distances between any two points on the page. The built-in palette browser allows choosing colors from pre-defined color sets and saving the most used colors in custom palettes. DOM spying features allow getting various information about DOM elements quickly and easily. And there's more...

  10. A9 Toolbar - Has an A9 search box, saves your history and bookmarks online. Really used to receive the A9 discount at Amazon (which is a little over 1%).

  11. Sage - A lightweight RSS and ATOM feed aggregator

  12. Mapit -- Select addresses from a web page and open a map of it using the context menu.

  13. Feedview -- Allows the browser to render RSS feeds. Similar to the functionality found in Apple's Safari browser.

  14. All-in-One Gestures -- This extension allows you to execute common commands using mouse gestures, rocker navigation, scroll wheel navigation and page scrolling.

Optional Extensions
Quick Note -  QuickNote is a note taking-like extension.
ConQuery - translate page -- http://www.cusser.net/extensions/translatepage/
Dictionary Search
Context Highlight
FoxyTunes
Image Zoom
OpenBook
Sage
Bloglines Toolkit
Mozilla Archive Format
Scrollbar Anywhere

SessionSaver - If Firefox crashes, SessionSaver will reload your open tabs at the time of the crash. In addition, you can save your open tabs in SessionSaver kind of like a group bookmark. Also lists recently closed tabs.

Firefox Search Plug-ins

  1. Yahoo!

  2. Yahoo! Shopping

  3. Amazon

  4. Wikipedia

Themes
Rein

I'm currently using the
default Firefox theme. If you are interested in changing the look of
your Firefox install, look here for a new theme.

Speed Enhancement Settings
Look at: http://windowssecrets.com/041202/
User.js
// This one makes a huge difference. Last value in milliseconds (default is 250)
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);

// Stop reusing active windows:
user_pref("advanced.system.supportDDEExec", false);

// disable target="_blank" (open in same window):
user_pref("browser.block.target_new_window", true);

// Change to normal Google search:
user_pref("keyword.URL", "http://google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=");

// Put an end to <blink> tags!
user_pref("browser.blink_allowed", false);

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

// Turn off Automatic Image Resizing:
user_pref("browser.enable_automatic_image_resizing", false);

// 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);

UserChrome.css
UserChrome.css
//
UserChrome.css
(found in C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Phoenix\Profiles\default\wfkd6mnh.slt\chrome)
/*
* Edit this file and copy it as userChrome.css into your
* profile-directory/chrome/
*/

/*
* This file can be used to customize the look of Mozilla's user interface
* You should consider using !important on rules which you want to
* override default settings.
*/

/*
* Do not remove the @namespace line -- it's required for correct functioning
*/
@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"); /* set default namespace to XUL */

/* Kill icons on normal bookmarks */


/*================================================
*   Main Window Edits
*================================================*/
window {
  font-size: 9pt !important;
  font-family: Verdana !important;
}

#sidebar {
  font-size: 9pt !important;
  font-family: Verdana !important;
}

/*============================================
*   Tab Edits
*============================================*/
/* change the font style on the tabs */
.tab-text {
    font-size: 9pt !important;
    font-family: Verdana !important;
}

/* make inactive tabs hardly visible :) */
tab:not([selected="true"]) {
    -moz-opacity: 0.5 !important;
}

/*
.tabbrowser-strip tab:not([selected="true"]) .tab-text {
    font-size: 14pt !important;
    font-weight: bold !important;
}
*/

/* hide the text of the inactive tabs */
/*
.tabbrowser-strip tab:not([selected="true"]) .tab-text {
display: none !important;
}
*/

/* never show "Open in New Window" when right clicking */
#context-openlink {

    display: none !important;
}

/* Don't Display Icons in Bookmarks menu and add Blue to folders */
menu.bookmark-item > .menu-iconic-left {
  display: none;
}

menuitem.bookmark-item > .menu-iconic-left {
  display: none;
}
menu.bookmark-item {
  color: navy !important;
  font-weight: 900 !important;
}

/* Change Active Tab Color */
tab {background-color: white !important; color:black !important}
tab[selected="false"] {color: black; background-color: white !important;}
tab[selected="true"] {color: blue; background-color: yellow !important;}