Love this comic? Go support the artist and buy the t-shirt! Also, be sure to go check out dawnchapel.com for more great art and comics (however, not all Firefox related).

Ever wonder what parts of the Firefox browser navigation get used the most? Mozilla has released a heat map detailing the information they were able to get from Test Pilot submissions back in May of 2010.  Here are the top ten more popular spots in the interface.

Did your favorite part of the Firefox interface make it onto the list?

• 95.6% – Location Bar

• 93.1% – Back

• 89% – Scroll Vertical Bar

• 73.2% – Reload

• 67.9% – Search Bar

• 58.4% – Bookmarks Bar Item

• 54.1% – Forward

• 42.8% – Scroll Horizontal Bar

• 39.2% – Stop

• 37.6% – Home

To check out the full list and more pictures/details about the data they collected, be sure to check out the Mozilla Labs page.

I know I’d pay good money to see it.  Maybe insert some covert Google Chrome or Microsoft spies into the mix?  We have next summer’s blockbuster in the making.

Once FlexBar has been installed, you can very easily configure the visibility of all your menu bars, sidebars, and information bars in Firefox.  You can choose to always show, never show or just hide any toolbar in the Firefox interface too.

Now sure, a lot of what you can do with this extension, you could do by hand – fumbling through the Firefox settings.  The thing FlexBar tries to do right, is it gives you a single location to minimize the Firefox interface.

Here is a little more about the FlexBar add-on, from the developer:

Optionally you can display additional small buttons on left side of the Tab Bar. The navigation buttons offer an identical functionality to the buttons in the Navigation Toolbar. This way a quick page navigation is possible, even when the Navigation Toolbar is hidden. Additionally, there are buttons for quick access to the menu bar and the bookmarks toolbar. This way, even without auto-hide active you can save space by hiding the menu bar and the bookmarks toolbar.

Overall, I like this add-on for Firefox.  Anything that gives me more room to browse and customizes the Firefox interface for me is definitely a good thing.  You can pick up FlexBar on the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Needing an extension-less fix for converting long links into short ones?  Now, we all know there are dozens of Firefox add-ons that could do this for you, but do you really need another extension to your browser? Maybe not. 

I got an e-mail from a Firefox Facts reader who asked…

"What way do you suggest is best for link shortening? I don’t want to install another add-on if possible.  Thanks!"

I’ll share with you the way I handle all my link shortening needs.

I would suggest you go sign up for bit.ly.  They are one of the best link shortening services out there today.  They have been around a while, so you know they are not going away (and breaking all your short links) anytime soon.  They also give you tons of statistics for all the links you shorten too.

The bookmarklet is the best part about the service.  As you can see in my screenshot above, it opens up a pane on top of the page you are looking at with the text all ready to copy, paste and share.  You can even use it to tweet your short link via Twitter too – if needed.

To grab the bookmarklet, all you need to do is register for bit.ly, and then drag the bookmarklet to your links toolbar in Firefox.

So there is your quick and easy extension-less fix for an everyday browsing problem.  While I still fully love all the Firefox add-ons and extensions out there, sometimes there is a better or easier way to do things without installing one more addition to the browser.

Every so often, you might need to find your Firefox profile folder to do some tweaking or maintenance of your own.  In the past, this has lead to diving through your operating system’s folders and after twenty clicks, finding the information you need.  Since Firefox 3.6 there is a much easier way to open your profile folder, with no additional extensions installed.

To open your Firefox profile folder, go to Help in the menu bar:

Next, click on Troubleshooting Information.  This will take you to the about:support information page.  If you can remember, you can also visit this page by typing about:support into the Firefox address bar too.

Under Application Basics, click on the button that reads, "Open Containing Folder" next to Profile Directory, and there you go. Your Firefox profile directory should be opened up.  Going to the profile location by following the folder path to it via your computer still works, but this is a much easier way to get the job done.

Hope this comes in handy next time you want to backup, tweak or change something in your Firefox profile folder.

Firefox makes for an awesome instant search tool for any web site out there that has a search box enabled on it.  When you mix searching in the location bar with keywords for bookmarks, you will find yourself searching at least ten percent faster.  Join me today, as I show you how you too can master keyword searching in Firefox.

To create the smart keyword, follow these steps:

Visit the web page that has the search field on it that you would normally use to search the web site.

Now, right-click in the search box and select, "Add a Keyword for this Search".

Next, in the keyword text box, type in a keyword that you can quickly type out and remember.  I have used ff as an example to quickly search Firefox Facts. Once you are done, hit the Save button.

Now that your smart keyword is in place, let us try searching with it.  In the location/address bar – type in your keyword and what you are searching for.

If all goes well, you should be taken to the search results web page.  This comes in handy to have for web sites you search often, but you can not search via the search box in Firefox itself.

There is a lot you can do with Firefox when it comes to the mouse.  Now, most of the time people focus on all the keyboard shortcuts you can do with Firefox – however, the mouse shortcuts are equally as cool. 

Here are six of my favorite Firefox mouse shortcuts for you to remember:

• Middle click on a link (will open in new tab)
• Holding the Shift key and scrolling down (takes you to the previous page)
• Holding the Shift key and scrolling up (takes you to the next page)
• Holding the Ctrl key and scrolling up (increases text size)
• Holding the Ctrl key and scroll down (decreases text size)
• Middle clicking on a tab (closes that tab)

Have any other Firefox mouse shortcuts you hold near and dear to your heart?  Leave them in the comments and let us know your favorites that you use in your everyday browsing.

Once installed, you can use Xsticky create simple sticky notes on every web site you visit.  Some of the features included are:

• unlimited amount of sticky notes on every web page
• the ability to minimize sticky notes
• set color, font size and transparency of the sticky notes
• create user-defined sizes and positions for the sticky notes

With over 16,000 downloads – this seems to be a sticky note add-on for Firefox that almost everybody enjoys.

Learn more about the Xsticky add-on for Firefox at xsticky.com or download it for yourself on the Firefox add-ons web site.

Want to clear any stored information about one web site in particular, without clearing out all of your browser’s history files?  Hidden deep within the Firefox browser, there is a way to clear Firefox’s history for just one single web site.  You just have to know where to look.

From the Firefox menu bar, click on History and then Show All History. This should pull up the Library window.  Now, in the Library’s search box (located in the top-right corner) type in the name of the web site you want to forget. 

Scroll through your results, till you find the web site you wish to forget and select it.  Now, right-click on the entry and click, “Forget About This Site”.  All history items (browsing and download history, cookies, cache, active logins, passwords, saved form data, exceptions for cookies, images, pop-ups) will be removed only for that site. So be careful with using this choice and only use it if you really want Firefox to forget everything.

Now your browser history is cleared of that one annoying web site.