Firefox info/help thread!

[Underwater Mike]

Hmmm, I'm not seeing any perceptible difference with this.

[CrowdAds]

[SupDawg]

Originally Posted by switch

Just found this extension Fasterfox v1.0.3 at http://fasterfox.mozdev.org/

It speeds up Firefox significantly, only after I had uninstalled the Tweak Network Settings extension.

No comparison. Highly recommended (in turbo mode).

I used it for a while, IMO is is nice.

[Tapir]

Have not noted any difference with this extension. Perhaps ZA may be hindering it???

[X-hellfire]

My bookmarks.html keeps growing and is now over 2MB in size without having zillions of links...

I do got many links to jpg pictures which creates a tumbnail icons that shows up for each tab when opening up let say 20-30 tabs, but they are too small to see what the image looks like anyway, which creates an entry in bookmarks.html

which looks something like this with alot of hexadecimal code which I wont show...

ICON="data:image/x-icon;base64,AAABAAEA
...
...
AAABAAEA"


Is there anyway to turn off this feature as my 1GHz P3 takes 10-15 sek pauses for every entry when I reorganize the bookmarks... ??


EDIT: it´s only the auto created thumbnails of jpg that I would like to disable as the others are useful as you actually see what the icons represent, the google icons etc

[ABoard]

Originally Posted by Cain Crusher

My bookmarks.html keeps growing and is now over 2MB in size without having zillions of links...

I do got many links to jpg pictures which creates a tumbnail icons that shows up for each tab when opening up let say 20-30 tabs, but they are too small to see what the image looks like anyway, which creates an entry in bookmarks.html

which looks something like this with alot of hexadecimal code which I wont show...

ICON="data:image/x-icon;base64,AAABAAEA
...
...
AAABAAEA"


Is there anyway to turn off this feature as my 1GHz P3 takes 10-15 sek pauses for every entry when I reorganize the bookmarks... ??


EDIT: it´s only the auto created thumbnails of jpg that I would like to disable as the others are useful as you actually see what the icons represent, the google icons etc

As far as I'm aware, a thumbnail of the image page you are bookmarking is displayed in the address bar and on the tab, but the relative information about that thumbnail is not stored in the file (as opposed to the "favicon" information). The "favicon", however, does get a placeholder assigned even if the page has no "favicon". For example, look at the code stored in "bookmarks.html" for this image-only page (the image-only page has a "thumbnail" but no "favicon" ... note the presence or absence of the "ICON=" tag) :

- After saving to bookmark, but before clicking it again once it is saved:

<DT><A <DT><A HREF="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnofftalk/html/office
12092002-fig13.gif" ADD_DATE="1143454917" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$VJ.
EV3">office12092002-fig13.gif (GIF Image, 800x600 pixels)</A>

- After saving to bookmark, and after clicking it again once it is saved:

<DT><A HREF="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnofftalk/html/office12092002
-fig13.gif" ADD_DATE="1143454917" LAST_VISIT="1143455140" ICON="data:" LAST_CHARSET
="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$VJ.EV3">office12092002-fig13.gif (GIF Image, 800x600 pixels)</A>

Compare the above to this bookmark that has a "favicon" (again, note the "ICON=" tag):

- After saving to bookmark, but before clicking it again once it is saved:

<DT><A HREF="http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html" ADD_DATE="1143455629" LAST_CHARSET
="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$XJ.EV3">Geek Out with the Original Geek Test ~05:33:40 [07
Mar 2006 15:07]</A>

- After saving to bookmark, and after clicking it again once it is saved:

<DT><A HREF="http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html" ADD_DATE="1143455629" 
LAST_VISIT="1143455677" ICON="data:image/x-icon;base64,AAABAAEAEBAAAAEAGABoAwAAF
gAAACgAAAAQAAAAIAAAAAEAGAAAAAAAAAAAABMLAAATCwAAAAAAAAAAAAD///////////////////////
+QwZG11rb////////////////////////////////////////////////////b69sHaAdPlVD////////
////////////////////////////////////////9//1IkkkAXAAGaQbM4sz/////////////////////
//////////////////////97s3oAXgAAYwAAXQBXnFj//////////////////////////////////////
/+PvpAAYgAAYgAadhkFaQQBZQHA27////////////////////////////////+Ww5YAWgAAZAAAYACUwJ
I0hjQAWgBAjj/+//7////////////////////////////r9OtNlUwAWQAScBLw+PB4r3gAXAAAXwCVwpT
////////////////////////////////8/vxUnFRNlkz////I4McCZgIAYQARbxLS5tH/////////////
///////////////////1+fXp8un////+//4+iz4AXwAAXwAugi/k8OT//////////////////////////
/////////////////+ky6UAXwAAZgAAXQA3iDb9//3////////////////////////+//7///////////
/4/Pcvgi8AYAAAYAA3hzf///////////////////////////////////////////////+ly6UAXwAAXQB
bnVv////////////////////////////////////////+//////////9Ik0cAVABen17/////////////
///////////////////////////+///////////U6NQFZwVMkkz//////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////+qzas9jz37/vv///////////////////////////////////////////
/////////9//7Z69z6+/r///////8AAP//AAD//wAA//8AAP//AAD//wAA//8AAP//AAD//wAA//8AAP/
/AAD//wAA//8AAP//AAD//wAAAAAAAAAA" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$XJ.EV3">Geek
Out with the Original Geek Test ~05:33:40 [07 Mar 2006 15:07]</A>

Anyway, to turn off "favicons" in FireFox, open "about:config" in the browser, and type "icons" in the search bar:

- for browser.chrome.favicons, change the default value from "true" to "false";

- for browser.chrome.site_icons, change the default value from "true" to "false" (the "browser.chrome.favicons" value and the legacy entry, "browser.chrome.site_icons", should be usually kept the same);

If you still want to disable the "image icon" appearing in the address bar and in the tabs bar:

- change the browser.chrome.image_icons.max_size value to "0" (zero, no quotes) to disable the thumbnail; the default value is "1024".

Now, how do you get rid of the favicons already in your bookmarks? Some bookmark synchronizers will strip the favicons from the file during certain operations (without giving you the option to keep them, usually). However, the extension, Bookmarks Synchronizer, if still available, had the option to export with or without favicons (or you might try FavIcon Picker by the same author ... it's being kept up-to-date and has several nice "favicon" features). And finally, AM-DeadLinks (a popular freeware bookmark link checker with various features) has the ability to remove selected favicons or all favicons from the file.

From your post, it didn't seem like you wanted to get rid of "favicons", but I don't see that disabling only the thumbnails is going to reduce the size of the "bookmarks.html" file. Disabling "favicons" and stripping the "favicons" data from bookmarks will definitely get rid of significant bloat.

[X-hellfire]

Originally Posted by ABoard

As far as I'm aware, a thumbnail of the image page you are bookmarking is displayed in the address bar and on the tab, but the relative information about that thumbnail is not stored in the file (as opposed to the "favicon" information). The "favicon", however, does get a placeholder assigned even if the page has no "favicon". For example, look at the code stored in "bookmarks.html" for this image-only page (the image-only page has a "thumbnail" but no "favicon" ... note the presence or absence of the "ICON=" tag) :

- After saving to bookmark, but before clicking it again once it is saved:

<DT><A <DT><A HREF="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnofftalk/html/office
12092002-fig13.gif" ADD_DATE="1143454917" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$VJ.
EV3">office12092002-fig13.gif (GIF Image, 800x600 pixels)</A>

- After saving to bookmark, and after clicking it again once it is saved:

<DT><A HREF="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnofftalk/html/office12092002
-fig13.gif" ADD_DATE="1143454917" LAST_VISIT="1143455140" ICON="data:" LAST_CHARSET
="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$VJ.EV3">office12092002-fig13.gif (GIF Image, 800x600 pixels)</A>

Compare the above to this bookmark that has a "favicon" (again, note the "ICON=" tag):

- After saving to bookmark, but before clicking it again once it is saved:

<DT><A HREF="http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html" ADD_DATE="1143455629" LAST_CHARSET
="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$XJ.EV3">Geek Out with the Original Geek Test ~05:33:40 [07
Mar 2006 15:07]</A>

- After saving to bookmark, and after clicking it again once it is saved:

<DT><A HREF="http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html" ADD_DATE="1143455629" 
LAST_VISIT="1143455677" ICON="data:image/x-icon;base64,AAABAAEAEBAAAAEAGABoAwAAF
gAAACgAAAAQAAAAIAAAAAEAGAAAAAAAAAAAABMLAAATCwAAAAAAAAAAAAD///////////////////////
+QwZG11rb////////////////////////////////////////////////////b69sHaAdPlVD////////
////////////////////////////////////////9//1IkkkAXAAGaQbM4sz/////////////////////
//////////////////////97s3oAXgAAYwAAXQBXnFj//////////////////////////////////////
/+PvpAAYgAAYgAadhkFaQQBZQHA27////////////////////////////////+Ww5YAWgAAZAAAYACUwJ
I0hjQAWgBAjj/+//7////////////////////////////r9OtNlUwAWQAScBLw+PB4r3gAXAAAXwCVwpT
////////////////////////////////8/vxUnFRNlkz////I4McCZgIAYQARbxLS5tH/////////////
///////////////////1+fXp8un////+//4+iz4AXwAAXwAugi/k8OT//////////////////////////
/////////////////+ky6UAXwAAZgAAXQA3iDb9//3////////////////////////+//7///////////
/4/Pcvgi8AYAAAYAA3hzf///////////////////////////////////////////////+ly6UAXwAAXQB
bnVv////////////////////////////////////////+//////////9Ik0cAVABen17/////////////
///////////////////////////+///////////U6NQFZwVMkkz//////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////+qzas9jz37/vv///////////////////////////////////////////
/////////9//7Z69z6+/r///////8AAP//AAD//wAA//8AAP//AAD//wAA//8AAP//AAD//wAA//8AAP/
/AAD//wAA//8AAP//AAD//wAAAAAAAAAA" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$XJ.EV3">Geek
Out with the Original Geek Test ~05:33:40 [07 Mar 2006 15:07]</A>

Anyway, to turn off "favicons" in FireFox, open "about:config" in the browser, and type "icons" in the search bar:

- for browser.chrome.favicons, change the default value from "true" to "false";

- for browser.chrome.site_icons, change the default value from "true" to "false" (the "browser.chrome.favicons" value and the legacy entry, "browser.chrome.site_icons", should be usually kept the same);

If you still want to disable the "image icon" appearing in the address bar and in the tabs bar:

- change the browser.chrome.image_icons.max_size value to "0" (zero, no quotes) to disable the thumbnail; the default value is "1024".

Now, how do you get rid of the favicons already in your bookmarks? Some bookmark synchronizers will strip the favicons from the file during certain operations (without giving you the option to keep them, usually). However, the extension, Bookmarks Synchronizer, if still available, had the option to export with or without favicons (or you might try FavIcon Picker by the same author ... it's being kept up-to-date and has several nice "favicon" features). And finally, AM-DeadLinks (a popular freeware bookmark link checker with various features) has the ability to remove selected favicons or all favicons from the file.

From your post, it didn't seem like you wanted to get rid of "favicons", but I don't see that disabling only the thumbnails is going to reduce the size of the "bookmarks.html" file. Disabling "favicons" and stripping the "favicons" data from bookmarks will definitely get rid of significant bloat.

tnx for the very helpful explanation of how it works



I tried the browser.chrome.favicons , browser.chrome.site_icons and saved the bookmarks.html but it was still 2MB in size.

Installed the FavIcon Picker 0.3 and ran the cleanup guide and it removed av icons

The bookmarks.html is now 495 kb in size and it takes only 1-2 sek to rearrange a bookmark

Have also noticed when opening a 20-30 tabs with jpg images is much much faster with favicons disabled

Now I can enable it again to see some of my favorite icons like Google etc and disable it when opening up tons of jpg and searching for a specific jpg.


Thanks for some very good tips

[Griff]

New update for Firefox 1.5.04.

[BKA]

I'm having an issue with FireFox that maybe someone has had before. I reinstalled XP about a week ago and since then when I receive a notification email about a new reply in a subscribed thread here at ABX and click the link, it takes me to the page okay.

Here's the issue though, the first time I click on the link it takes me directly to the correct post. But when I receive an email about a new reply it still takes me to the post from the first notification email I click on.

To explain better, lets say I receive a notification for this thread and I click the link. It takes me to the correct post. I read through that post on page 3 and all postings since then that continue to page 4.

A few hours go by and a email comes through for a new reply to the same thread. It still takes me to page 3 of the thread and the post from the first email. Its getting kind of frustrating having to click over to the page with the latest post. It does this with every thread too. Takes me the post from the first time I went to that thread.

Another thing which is weird is when I load FireFox and ABXzone is my homepage it knows I'm logged in, but my User CP avatar on the left doesn't show up until I click another link and then come back to the home page.

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling FireFox. Clearing the cache, private data, cookies, etc.. I even installed version 1.5.0.4 from this morning. Same issue.

[BKA]

Has no one had this issue or did I confuse everyone with the wording of the questions?

[chile62]

I have not seen this issue.

For me
Firefox just freezes and will not respond most of the time when I start it up with my laptop. I have uninstalled and reinstalled a few times now with no change. Funny though it will work right after the install but the next time I restart the browser it freezes.

[BKA]

Originally Posted by bka4u2c

I'm having an issue with FireFox that maybe someone has had before. I reinstalled XP about a week ago and since then when I receive a notification email about a new reply in a subscribed thread here at ABX and click the link, it takes me to the page okay.

Here's the issue though, the first time I click on the link it takes me directly to the correct post. But when I receive an email about a new reply it still takes me to the post from the first notification email I click on.

To explain better, lets say I receive a notification for this thread and I click the link. It takes me to the correct post. I read through that post on page 3 and all postings since then that continue to page 4.

A few hours go by and a email comes through for a new reply to the same thread. It still takes me to page 3 of the thread and the post from the first email. Its getting kind of frustrating having to click over to the page with the latest post. It does this with every thread too. Takes me the post from the first time I went to that thread.

Another thing which is weird is when I load FireFox and ABXzone is my homepage it knows I'm logged in, but my User CP avatar on the left doesn't show up until I click another link and then come back to the home page.

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling FireFox. Clearing the cache, private data, cookies, etc.. I even installed version 1.5.0.4 from this morning. Same issue.

Found the culprit. Office 2007 Beta 2, after uninstalling and installing 2003 the problem went away and when I click on the link in outlook it takes me to the correct page.

I not sure whats up with that because I have it installed in Vista and it goes to the correct page. Maybe I'll try reinstalling it later.

[switch_abx]

Morning Coffee - This extension lets you organize websites by day and open them up simultaneously as part of your daily routine. One of the most useful extensions IMHO

Download from here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2677

[PeterT]

Is there an easy way save a bookmark from the "bookmarks" menu to the desktop? Like the "Send to..." function in IE.
TIA.

[SupDawg]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Is there an easy way save a bookmark from the "bookmarks" menu to the desktop? Like the "Send to..." function in IE.
TIA.

Yeah, just drag and drop onto desktop.

[Pasch]

I'm kind of trying to figure out if it's possible to have Firefox open multiple tabs at startup. I know it's possible to have it restore a previous session but what I want is more like having multiple homepages. I want to be able to enter a number of sites that I want it to open up on startup. Does anybody know of a way to do this? I tried looking through this thread the best I could but I couldn't find a way, though it's possible of course I missed something. I thought maybe the "Tabbed browser extension" would have been my best bet but it comes with a warning that it's slow and it doesn't seem to work for firefox 2, which I'm using.