I am somewhat active in regards to Mozilla, a Free Software internet browser that competes with MS Internet Explorer. To quote Playboy, "Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the most popular browser in the world. But it is not the best. That title belongs to Mozilla." I am credited in BannerBlind, a plugin that blocks banners by image size, and I have my share of feedback on mozilla's impressive Bug-Tracking system. You can see my hand-picked top bugs and requests on bugzilla.mozilla.org.
Here's a list of Firefox add-ons I use, presented here as much for me as they are for you. I've rated each one on a 2-5 scale (2 being okay, 3 being good but only occasionally usable, 4 is very useful, 5 is a must-have everyday use add-on).
Here is a list of extensions I use with Mozilla Thunderbird, in order of usefulness.
Install them by downloading them in your browser (right-click, Save As) and then in Thunderbird, go to Tools -> Extensions and press Install and select the downloaded .xpi file from the file selector.
The rest of this page is quite out-dated, though I still use many of the tweaks (specifically, teaks to userChrome.css and userContent.css, which I tend to include via the Stylish add-on so that I don't have to restart the browser after edits).
Here's a list of plugins I use with the Mozilla Suite (Seamonkey). This is as much for my reference as anything else, given the number of computers I use. ...I will likely dump this section in the near future.
Bugzilla is an amazingly powerful bug tracking and patch submission system, available as Free Software for any project. It is used by Mozilla, Red Hat, Openbox, and countless others. Here are some links to the Mozilla project Bugzilla.
These are javascript bookmarks (usually on your personal toolbar for easy access) that help in navigation, etc. Click them to try them out or right click to bookmark (and thus install) them.
Quick Search bookmarks are all search queries with a '%s' in their URIs. This special character is replaced by text following a keyword in the location bar, so you could put "g katz mozilla khopesh" and Google will search for and find this page. Put quick search bookmarks in a folder you'll never see within your bookmarks; by default, you already have a quick search folder. For each item you add as a bookmark, you should specify a keyword. I'm fond of the really short keywords. It is also useful to put the keyword in the bookmark name, as done here.
g is for google english-only 20hits/pg
fm is for freshmeat free(ish) software lookup
i is for IMDb movie/celeb lookup
e2 is for everything2
w is for wikipedia, a free encyclopedia for everybody, maintained by everybody
d is for dictionary.com
ud is for urbandictionary, to look up slang and jargon words
ups is for UPS tracking orders by number
fedex is for track fedex order by number
magic is for magic card rulings at Crystal Keep
a is for acm digital library (only works from Northeastern University campus)
One gripe I've had for a while is mozilla's insistance on opening something with a third-party program. There are two types of culprits here, hypertext documents and plaintext documents. For these two problems, I have written two shell scripts. When the "Open With" dialog comes up, use one of these (substitute the name of the executable, this works for all of them):
moz-viewhtml:
#!/bin/sh
# view hypertext as hypertext, stripping headers
TEMP="$(tempfile -s .html || echo $(date +%s).html)"
cp "$1" $TEMP
exec mozilla-firefox -remote "openurl($TEMP)"
moz-viewsource:
#!/bin/sh
# view raw text without a third party reader
exec mozilla-firefox -remote "openurl(view-source:$@)"
The following should be placed in [Mozilla Profile Dir]/*.slt/chrome/userHTMLBindings.xml* and [Mozilla Profile Dir]/*.slt/user.js and [Mozilla Profile Dir]/*.slt/chrome/userContent.css. Most of this is taken from the Texturizer Tips & Tricks pages for firebird and thunderbird. Another resource can be found at the (dated) Customizing Mozilla page.
* Note: Mozilla bug 201011 prevents this from working. Use the location [Mozilla Install Dir]/res/builtin/platformHTMLBindings.xml instead.
userHTMLBindings.xml stuff
<!-- To make this a systemwide change (or as a workaround to Mozilla bug 201011), use the file
[Mozilla Install Dir]/res/builtin/platformHTMLBindings.xml
For systemwide alteration, put this in the "browser" section rather than making a "browserUser" section.
Also note I can't get the search keys to work.
-->
<binding id="browserUser">
<handlers>
<!-- vim/less section (khopesh) -->
<handler event="keypress" key="g" command="cmd_scrollTop"/>
<handler event="keypress" key="g" modifiers="shift" command="cmd_scrollBottom"/>
<handler event="keypress" key="j" command="cmd_scrollLineDown"/>
<handler event="keypress" key="k" command="cmd_scrollLineUp"/>
<handler event="keypress" key="h" command="cmd_scrollLeft"/>
<handler event="keypress" key="l" command="cmd_scrollRight"/>
<handler event="keypress" key="f" command="cmd_scrollPageDown"/>
<handler event="keypress" key="b" command="cmd_scrollPageUp"/>
<!-- search is broken(?) -->
<handler event="keypress" key="n" command="Browser:FindAgain"/>
<handler event="keypress" key="n" modifiers="shift" command="Browser:FindPrev"/>
<!-- end vim/less section -->
</handlers>
</binding>
user.js browser stuff
// Make sure all pop-up windows can be resized and minimized put in
user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.resizable", true);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.minimizable", true);
// Remove delay in loading pages. Defaults to waiting 250ms before loading page.
// If you have a fast machine and a fast internet connection, use 0 (units are miliseconds)
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
chrome/userChrome.css browser stuff
/* Remove the Go menu (or another of your choice, like Help) */
menu[label="Go"] { display:none; }
chrome/userContent.css browser stuff
/* Change cursor for links that open in new window (test here) */
:link[target="_blank"], :visited[target="_blank"], :link[target="_new"], :visited[target="_new"] {
cursor: crosshair;
}
/* Change cursor for JavaScript links */
a[href^="javascript:"], a[onclick] { cursor: move; }
/* try to get rid of top google ads */
td.ch[onClick] { display:none; }
user.js mail stuff
// use firefox for http and https
user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.http","mozilla-firefox");
user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.https","mozilla-firefox");
// Don't abbreviate newsgroup names
user_pref("mail.server.default.abbreviate", false);
// Remember news server states in folder pane (defaults to always closed)
user_pref("news.persist_server_open_state_in_folderpane", true);
// Change reply mail header
// 0 = ""
// 1 = "[Author] wrote:"
// 2 = "On [date] [author] wrote:"
// 3 = "[authorwrote] [separator] [ondate] [colon]" as defined here
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_type", 3);
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_authorwrote", "%s spake the following");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_ondate", "on %s");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_separator", " ");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_colon", ":");
chrome/userContent.css mail stuff
/* Nested mail quote level colors */
blockquote[type=cite] {
color: navy !important; background-color: #f5f5f5 !important;
border-color: navy !important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote[type=cite] {
color: maroon !important; background-color: #ebebeb !important;
border-color: maroon !important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote[type=cite] {
color: green !important; background-color: #e1e1e1 !important;
border-color: green !important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote blockquote[type=cite] {
color: purple !important; background-color: #d7d7d7 !important;
border-color: purple !important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote blockquote blockquote[type=cite] {
color: teal !important; background-color: #cdcdcd !important;
border-color: teal !important;
}
All content copyright © 2003-08 by Adam Katz unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Page last updated Wed Nov 05 19:16:08 2008.