tweaking the **** out of firefox 3

craigevil · 08-11-2009, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrapefruiTgirl

Fantastic!

Thanks to everyone contributing in here, as it's VERY handy to have all this stuff in one place, saving all the Googling and overlap produced by said Googling.

Great

Sasha

PS - It seems that ONE MEASLY THING I really miss, has been removed from FF-3.5.x, and that is/was when clicking a bookmark, I had it open in a new tab (by Left Click) whereas now, it apparently can only be done by middle-click. Surely I'll get used to it, but I still get miffed when I click a bookmark and it loads in the current tab :/

Install Tab Mix Plus then you can left click

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122

GrapefruiTgirl · 08-11-2009, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigevil

Install Tab Mix Plus then you can left click

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122

Excellent -- you mean my favorite (all-time) extension is now compatible??

YAY! It was not (according to FF when I first installed 3.5. but I'm going RIGHT NOW to get it! I love it, and miss it sorely.

EDIT: TabMixPlus Still not compatible w/FF 3.5.2 though it claims to be.
EDIT2: Despite a red warning that it is not compatible, and the pop-up telling me to uninstall/Disable TMP (which I did) I restarted my browser a while later for unrelated reasons, and upon restart, the sidebar opened, and there was the message: "TMP ready for install; restart FF to complete the install.." And I now have it installed & working fine!? Weird. I have been in touch with the developer and let him know about this.

Thanks to mrclisdue for providing the link in the next post; though I didn't need it in the end, thanks for posting it.

PS: I recall (another moderator I think) who wrote somewhere that they were starting to consider themselves epileptic or some such thing, because (the) animated images were making them agitated. Here's one about:config for you:

Code:

image.animation_mode 	 String 	 Determines how to animate multi-frame GIF images

none= animated images will never play.
once= animated images will play once.
normal (default)= animated images will play as normal.

mrclisdue · 08-11-2009, 10:16 PM

The dev build's compatible:

http://tmp.garyr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9864

[edit]changed url to a more recent build....

cheers,

vrkalak · 01-17-2010, 08:38 PM

I added the Mozilla/Firefox repositories from Launchpad.net to my Xubuntu-Lucid 10.04 Alpha2 /etc/apt/sources.list

So, I am mainly using Firefox 3.7 Alpha 1 . . . it's faster than Chrome browser, but it still has or needs lots of 'tweaking.

I didn't know there was so much 'tweaking' to do . . . thanks, a bunch to all who contributed here.

craigevil · 01-23-2010, 11:20 PM

/* Disable geolocation */
user_pref("geo.enabled", false);

Want the Get more themes to go to the actual Theme page and not Personas?

In about:config
change
extensions.getMoreThemesURL to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...l?sort=popular

catkin · 01-23-2010, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrapefruiTgirl

This time, Imma save my prefs.js file (I think that's the file -- don't quote me) for use with future versions, and/or for total crashes in which it might get lost, or whatever.

You might like to use a user.js file which can conveniently be created by copying prefs.js. Beware; any settings made in about:config that also appear in user.js will not be persistent across Firefox restarts.

GrapefruiTgirl · 01-24-2010, 12:06 AM

Ummm.. Yes they will, as long as you edit prefs.js when Firefox is not running. prefs.js is saved when FF closes, so either make any changes using the about:config interface, and close FF to save them, OR, close FF and edit prefs.js. The settings will stay.

Either way, you're right, a user.js is a better idea though, since that seems to be precisely its purpose.

Sasha

mdg · 01-24-2010, 12:18 AM

The clickable link above doesn't work, but doing copy/paste in the browser does the job.

:edit: sorry, my response was way too slow

slightlystoopid · 01-24-2010, 01:16 AM

how 'bout mounting your entire profile in ram?

http://www.verot.net/firefox_tmpfs.htm

catkin · 01-24-2010, 01:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrapefruiTgirl

Ummm.. Yes they will, as long as you edit prefs.js when Firefox is not running. prefs.js is saved when FF closes, so either make any changes using the about:config interface, and close FF to save them, OR, close FF and edit prefs.js. The settings will stay.

Fully with you on what you write about prefs.js but what about the case where a preference is defined in user.js, FF is started, the same preference is changed using about.config, FF is closed (saving the new setting to prefs.js). AIUI, when FF is next started, the setting in user.js will override the setting in prefs.js ... ?

GrapefruiTgirl · 01-24-2010, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catkin

Fully with you on what you write about prefs.js but what about the case where a preference is defined in user.js, FF is started, the same preference is changed using about.config, FF is closed (saving the new setting to prefs.js). AIUI, when FF is next started, the setting in user.js will override the setting in prefs.js ... ?

Ahhhh, I see what you're saying! And what you're saying makes perfect sense, I understand it now..

But (lol, always a but) -- take a step back for a sec; this (this=FF, not catkin's words) seems to define two scenarios one could use:

1)
"If you want to use a user.js file, then DO NOT use about:config" because it will be pointless (or if not quite pointless, then temporary at least.

or

2)
Use about:config and prefs.js as partners in crime, but don't add a user.js into the mix.

Make sense?

I can see if multiple users might be using the same FF on a given system, then each user having a user.js makes much sense. On e single user system, I feel the about:config interface is the most practical way to set things up.

catkin · 01-24-2010, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrapefruiTgirl

Ahhhh, I see what you're saying! And what you're saying makes perfect sense, I understand it now..

But (lol, always a but) -- take a step back for a sec; this (this=FF, not catkin's words) seems to define two scenarios one could use:

1)
"If you want to use a user.js file, then DO NOT use about:config" because it will be pointless (or if not quite pointless, then temporary at least.

or

2)
Use about:config and prefs.js as partners in crime, but don't add a user.js into the mix.

Make sense?

I can see if multiple users might be using the same FF on a given system, then each user having a user.js makes much sense. On e single user system, I feel the about:config interface is the most practical way to set things up.

Scenario 1 would not be pointless if user.js listed only a subset of settings -- the ones required to be persistent. I imagine that is the most common situation.

Scenario 2 is the most common because user.js does not exist by default and most users will not create it.

I think of it this way: about:config is a GUI editor for prefs.js, unusually (for an editor) not having a "save" feature. The "save" functionality is instead provided when closing FF.

mozillaZine say user.js is "recommended for advanced users only", presumably because of:

potentially confusing behaviour of making some (only some -- really confusing!) changes made via about:config non-persistent across FF restarts.
no default GUI editor for user.js.
potential to mess up prefs.js with bad entries from user.js.

I don't understand "I can see if multiple users might be using the same FF on a given system, then each user having a user.js makes much sense" because, if each user has their own login then they would have their own profile (under ~/.mozilla/firefox/). Perhaps sysadmins could populate the profiles with a user.js but this would be more of a convenience than an enforceable policy because it would be easy for users to change.

Perhaps the most useful benefit of user.js is to mitigate the effects of malware (and user error and file corruption!) changing settings. Also, if FF has to be re-initialised by deleting the profile, a user.js file can provide a good starting point to re-apply the most essential settings (but so could a good backup copy of prefs.js).

craigevil · 05-10-2010, 11:03 AM

A nice tweak for those running on a SSD. Works just as well on a normal harddrive to speed Firefox up just a bit more.

http://www.brighthub.com/computing/l...cles/9170.aspx

Quote:

Firefox puts its cache in your home partition. By moving this cache in RAM you can speed up Firefox and reduce disk writes. Complete the previous tweak to mount /tmp in RAM, and you can put the cache there as well. ( basically you need /tmp to be in ram with a /tmpfs in your fstab)

Open about:config in Firefox. Right click in an open area and create a new string value called browser.cache.disk.parent_directory. Set the value to /tmp.

craigevil · 07-12-2010, 02:18 PM

"Firefox 3 self-signed SSL cert handling was thought up by a dork "
http://www.noah.org/wiki/Firefox_notes

// Self-signed certificate handling is annoying //
user_pref("browser.ssl_override_behavior", 2);
user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.expert_bad_cert", true);

djsmiley2k · 08-25-2010, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slightlystoopid

how 'bout mounting your entire profile in ram?

http://www.verot.net/firefox_tmpfs.htm

This.... is awesome

I'd never thought about what tmpfs was good for really, as I never had a need for it.

On my 2Gb system I'm not sure I'll have enough ram to spare on this* (how big is the profile directory for some of you guys? I'm at work and so can't see mine! :|)

*I run boinc and some of the projects have HUGE memory footprints.