Firefox info/help thread!

[fischyfinger]

There have been a lot of "help with Firefox" threads here at ABXzone and considering today's final release of Firefox 1.0 I thought it would be a good idea to try to centralize things into one place. I have compiled a list of some of the more helpful threads and links that I could find here, but there is no way that I have got them all so feel free to add anything you like.

First off...Get it here, here or here.!

Now...

PCBruiser's guide to updating extensions to work with new releases of Firefox

Firefox search-plugin for ABXzone <--- Cool! (Thanks swannema)

Mozilla Optimizer

A beginners guide to Firefox (Thanks Tweakhound)

Firefox tweaker (Thanks Tweakhound)

Firefox FAQ

Introduction to Firefox

Firefox plugins

More Firefox FAQ from Mozillazine forums

My source for some of these links.
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And some nice extensions... Italics = Manufacture's description, regular text = mine.

Full list of extensions here. Below is a very short list of extensions deemed usefull by me and some other forum members. Your "dream" extension may not be here so I suggest browsing the full list.

The Extensions Mirror has a great list of extensions compatible with Version 1.0.

BBCode extension Adds a context menu for easy access to BBCODE/XHTML/HTML formating in Forums.
(thanks FB -|-+)

Translate extension Small extension that either translates: web pages (via toolbar button) or selected text (via context menu) from several foreign languages into English, as well as 12 other languages. Uses BabelFish and Google translation engines. (thanks PCBruiser)

Spellbound Spell checker (thanks fvbounty)

Tweak Network Settings [Info] (thanks PCBruiser)

Adblock Once installed, it's a snap to filter elements at their source-address. Just right-click: Adblock: done. Filters use either the wildcard character (*) or full Regular Expression syntax. Hit the status-element and see what has or hasn't been blocked. <--No more banner ads, great for dial-up!

Mouse Gestures Allows you to execute common commands (like page forward/backward, close tab, new tab) by mouse gestures drawn over the current webpage, without reaching for the toolbar or the keyboard. You can also use "rocker" gestures. <--Much more powerfull than that description suggests. There are many, many commands that can be programmed into gestures.

Tabbrowser Extensions Adds an insane amount of tabbed browsing customization, too numerous to mention here...really the heart and soul of why I love Firefox.

Toolbar Enhancements Adds toolbar customization and some handy toolbar buttons - available via Toolbars>Customize

WeatherFox Get international weather forecasts from weather.com, and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable extension.

IEView Adds "View page in Internet Explorer" links to the content and link context menu. Handy for previewing pages in IE, loading up IE-only pages when you run across them in Mozilla, etc.

Download Statusbar - View downloads in an auto-hide statusbar. If you want to use a 3rd party download manager, then you want:

DownloadWith Download files with external programs like wget, prozilla, Downloader for X, Flashget, Download Accelerator Plus and GetRight. <-- Or my personal favorite: Meta Products Download Express

Stop/Reload Provides a space-saving combined Stop and Reload toolbar button.

Dictionary Search Simply select the word you want to lookup. Then right click and select "Dictionary Search for ...". A new tab or browser window will open with the meaning of the word you selected.

Spoofstick a simple browser extension that helps users detect spoofed (fake) websites.

Firesomething Thanks to Arutha for manually updating the extension to work with the new release!
All your branding are belong to Firesomething. This extension will give Firefox an identity crisis by generating a new randomized browser name every time you open a new window. Confuse your friends and family with names like "Mozilla Firebadger" and "Mozilla Poweroyster". It's as fun as you want it to be!

I am currently using "Mozilla Spaceplatypus"
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Here is a thread over at the MozillaZine forums that lists extensions that are not compatable with FF1.0 and possible fixes.
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I would like to invite everyone to share their favorite extensions as well!

Have tips/tricks to share? Have questions? Post them here and we will try to sort them out.

[switch_abx]

May be the thread should be called "Firefox Themes and Extensions Thread". That would be more focussed and I believe there is a need for that. In fact your posting already mostly deals with Extensions. If you agree with me you can ask a Mod to change the title.

It even could become a sticky thread, if it will be filled with novelty finds.

[SupDawg]

Yes, I vote for sticky as well, but we need a mod to keep it nice and clean. Only keep the relavent information. Make this thread a sort of FAQ. Also, offer direct links to post questions. I say, we keep this just the information.

Man, I was thinking about doing a thread like that.. You beat me to the punch.

[flex22]

In firefox is there any way to make two columns of bookmarks
my list is a little long and I have to scroll up and down.
When I find what I want at the bottom, then I need something at the top

[PCBruiser]

Nice summary of FireFox resources. I agree and have stuck the thread.

flex, I suggest you create subject folders for your bookmarks and move and sort the bookmarks into the folders by subject. That's the way I do it to keep them organized nicely, and easy to find.

[c_white_wolf]

I came across this site a while back for ad blocking with .css files. The older version had to be updated when I discovered that the wysiwig smiley selector was being blocked.

Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox allow users to create their own custom CSS rules for adjusting font sizes, layouts, colors, etc. to his/her liking. One of the benefits of this is the ability to hide certain elements based on their attributes and values. In the case of banners, the ad-related objects (object, embed, image, etc) are downloaded, just not displayed. You could think of this as the poor-man's ad-filter, but there are many things CSS can do that a proxy cannot, such as handling malformed html and blocking entire <div>'s (like floating "pop-ups"), <table>'s or even <form>'s as this is tied directly into Mozilla. Obviously, each method has pros and cons, sometimes combining them can bring the best results.


* Ad Blocking userContent.css by Mike Hokenson <ads at gozer dot org>
* Additional rules by Neil Jenkins and the mozillaZine.org community
*
* http://www.gozer.org/mozilla/ad_blocking/

I have just added the four .css files to FF1.0 and the adblocking I had previously seems to be working again. I have not looked at the Image Blocking routine yet so I am not sure about it.

EDIT: In the userContent.css look for div[id*="popup"],and delete it. It prevents the popups in the ABXZone WYSIWIG editor from working.

Should you decide to use the additional .css files, the ad_blocking.css file looks like it is just a duplicate of the downloaded userContent.css file so it also contains the same css code which should also be removed.

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EDIT: I also added NeedleSearch to Firefox 1.0. I had to play with it a little bit to get it to work with ABXZone due to the two search fields. Through the help instructions, I found if I entered NeedleSearch1 in the first search field, NeedleSearch would accept the target value. (I left the second search value blank.) Then I had to manually edit the saved search string to replace NeedleSearch1 with NeedleSearch though the NeedleSearch Editor. Once I did that, I was able to do an ABXZone search through the NeedleSearch bar.

[Arutha_abx]

I'm working on updating firesomething, but right now when I update it to 1.0 it just stalls out firefox when you start it.

[fvbounty]

I just installed a spell checker, ( I'm a bad speller ) I didn't see this plug in on the list above so here's the site....

http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/

[Arutha_abx]

Originally Posted by fvbounty

I just installed a spell checker, ( I'm a bad speller ) I didn't see this plug in on the list above so here's the site....

http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/

Just installed it and checking it out. I did a typo and it doesn't check passed your quote. Have you had that happen before? I told it to check entire page, but it just checks the stuff in your quote.

[fvbounty]

I just got it installed haven't had much time to ck it out...

[fvbounty]

Originally Posted by Arutha

Just installed it and checking it out. I did a typo and it doesn't check passed your quote. Have you had that happen before? I told it to check entire page, but it just checks the stuff in your quote.

I'll try it out, it works fine for me....

[PCBruiser]

Originally Posted by fvbounty

I'll try it out, it works fine for me....

FYI, I just tried it as well with a quote and spelling error, and it did work correctly.

[Arutha_abx]

Ok I got the firesomething to work for 1.0 For some reason I get a kick out of this extension. For those that don't know it takes Mozilla Firefox and renames it to so some other animal. For instance mine right now says Mozilla Hypnocamel.
File is in a .rar file extension and looks like you will have to unpack the .xpi file. Let me know if it doesn't work, but its working on my Firefox so it should work for you. Also a big thanks for PCbruiser and his thread on how to modify these extensions...

[Arutha_abx]

Originally Posted by PCBruiser

FYI, I just tried it as well with a quote and spelling error, and it did work correctly.

Hmmm I wonder why it didn't work for me last time. Just tried it and it caught my misspelled wonder(wondir) this time around. I like that extension since I am a horrible speller at times.

[PCBruiser]

It might have lost focus on the text box during the check. I use it because I am a terrible typist.