Although the feature might not get as much love as others, the Live Bookmarks function of Firefox is one to be admired. Live Bookmarks can deliver you the most recent updates to you from any website, right in Firefox.  This is done through the magic of RSS (really simple syndication) and the Firefox browser.  So how can you set up a Live Bookmark and what exactly are they good for?  Let me walk you through the process.

Find the RSS Feed

First, you need to visit a website that has an RSS feed.  Lets use Firefox Facts as our example, because I can always use a few more subscribers.  Click the orange RSS icon, next to the star in the address toolbar.

Subscribe Using the Live Bookmarks Function

Next, you will find yourself on the default RSS page in Firefox. Firefox uses it’s own styling for this page, because if they didn’t – it would just look like a jumbled mess of XML code to most people. On the drop down menu (next to “Subscribe to this feed using”) I want you to select Live Bookmark.

Save Your New Live Bookmark

Firefox will ask you where you want to save the new Live Bookmark and what do you want to call it.  We will just stick it on the Bookmarks Toolbar for now.  This can be moved around like any other bookmark in Firefox, so not too worried about messing this up. Hit the button labeled “Subscribe” to continue.

Using Your New Live Bookmark

There you have it.  Your Live Bookmark has been created.  The idea here is to give you all the recent posts from an RSS feed so that you can easily browse recent articles all from one simple bookmark.  Let us look at the Live Bookmark we just created.

When you click on it, it will show you the ten most recent posts from Firefox Facts, will let you visit the Firefox Facts website directly or will give you the option to open all these recent posts in new tabs.

So there you have it – this is how and why you might want to use the Live Bookmark feature from within Firefox.

Need a quick way to go back to web pages you have already visited?  The TidyFox add-on for Firefox will help you get the job done, and will also organize your visited pages into subpages too.

Once installed, TidyFox adds two new menu bar buttons.  One is to go back and visit your most visited websites and the other is to visit your most recently visited websites.

As you can see from the picture above, each webpage in the TidyFox menu is organized by the URL.  So, if you visited my about page on Firefox Facts, you would see it listed under www.firefoxfacts.com. So, as you can see the add-on does what it set out to do, bravo!

Now, as for the bad side of things – I found two annoyances.  One thing was that it picked up on Google ads for some reason, giving me a chance go to visit doubleclick.net.  There should be some sort of filtering in place for this I would say.  Also, when you click on the “Most Visited” text or the “Last Visited” text in the menus you are taken to a weird page that has little to nothing to do with Firefox.  The least they could do is link to Firefox Facts. (Just kidding!) I would like to see a more useful use of this link, if it is going to be a link at all.

Give it a shot, and let me know what you think.  You can learn more about the TidyFox extension at tidyfox.com and pick it up to use at the Firefox Add-ons website.

If you use the built in feed reading capabilities of Firefox, the Live Bookmarks feature, you might be missing the fact that you do not have an organized list of new entries to go through like you would have in a traditional RSS reader.  The Feed Sidebar add-on for Firefox is here to take your Live Bookmarks and display them all in your sidebar.

After you have installed the Feed Sidebar add-on for Firefox, you will gain a new sidebar for feeds in your browser.  This is really intended to be a lightweight extension of the built in RSS capabilities of Firefox.  When you open the sidebar, you will see all the new updates for all the Live Bookmarks you have subscribed to.

Single-clicking on a headline will bring up a little preview of the article in the bottom half of your sidebar, like this:

Double clicking the headline will take you to the page for that item in your main Firefox window.  Once the page has been loaded, it is removed from your list of new headlines you have not checked out yet.

The toolbar buttons across the top of the Feed Sidebar can also:

• Open All in Tabs
• Mark All as Read
• Set maximum age for feed items
• Stop current update
• Reload feeds
• Change update interval (reload button dropdown)

For updates and news, make sure you follow the developer on his own blog found at chrisfinke.com.  Overall, I think this is a great addition to Firefox, and a definite contender for people looking for a lightweight way to keep up with some of the best feeds out there (like the one for Firefox Facts). You can pick up the Feed Sidebar add-on for Firefox at the Firefox Add-ons website.

All in all, 2009 was a great year for Firefox.  It grew by leaps and bounds, and continues to be the best alternative browser out there.  Firefox Facts did pretty well in it’s own right too – surpassing the 7,000+ RSS subscriber mark.  So with today being the last day of 2009, let us all sit back and revisit some of the best posts of the year.

Here are 10 of the most read stories, tips, tutorials and reviews I have posted here in 2009.  Hope you check out some classics you might have missed, or revisit a favorite post or two.

#10 – Love (or Disable) the New Tab Button in Firefox

Love it, or hate it – Firefox got one more addition to it’s browser that seems to have gotten a mixed reaction from the fans. The open new tab button rests at the end of your tab bar in Firefox 3.5 giving you an easier user interface to open a new tab.

• More Tab Fun – Move the Close Tab in Firefox

#9 – 10 Popular Web Designer Tools for Firefox

Thanks to Firefox and some of the great add-ons that have been developed for it, your browser is your best friend when it comes to web site design.  From CSS tools, to promoting your domain, here are 10 of the most popular web designer tools for Firefox.

• Top 10 Greatness – Top 10 Personas Backgrounds for Firefox

#8 – Add Another Bookmarks Toolbar to Firefox

Have more than a few bookmarks you want to keep handy on the bookmarks toolbar in Firefox but don’t have the room?  Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar, an extension for Firefox, will help you solve that issue by letting you add as many bookmark toolbars as you need.

• Popular Add-ons – Most Downloaded Bookmark Add-ons

#7 – Firefox Private Browsing Mode Help and FAQ

Want to increase your privacy on your PC?  With the release of Firefox 3.5, our favorite browser now has a Private Browsing mode.  Usually your browser remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more.  However, with this newest addition to the Firefox 3.5 feature list, you can now go incognito on the Internet.

• Firefox Tip – Easier Access to Private Browsing Mode

#6 – Convert YouTube Videos to MP3

The experimental add-on YouTube 2 MP3 will convert and download YouTube videos in the .mp3 audio format.  There is no doubt that YouTube has a large collection of music videos, so this type of service was bound to happen eventually.

• More YouTube Tips – 1-Click YouTube Video Downloader

#5 – Speed up Flash Videos in Firefox

Want to speed up your flash video watching?  By default, Firefox takes a sort of “snapshot” of whatever you are doing every ten seconds.  Why?  It is so that the browser can restore itself, just in case of a crash.  Now you might ask, what does this have to do with flash videos?  Well, the snapshot action is what is causing your ten second delay, at times, with watching flash videos on the Web.

• Firefox Hacks – More Fun Tips with About:Config

#4 – 10 Popular Themes That Are Firefox 3.5 Ready

One of the negative side effects of a new version of Firefox rolling out is the fact that some Firefox theme creators neglect to update their themes to the newest versions.  So, when updating our browser, that leaves some of us in the dark, when it comes to using the themes we know and love.  However, this time around many more popular themes have been updated to support Firefox 3.5 and here are my favorite ten for you to choose from.

• Skins Galore – All the Great Firefox Themes I’ve Reviewed

#3 – Skip to the Download on Rapidshare, Megaupload and More!

Want to skip the totally unnecessary “wait to download” pages on Rapidshare, Megaupload and more?  SkipScreen, and add-on for Firefox is here to help.

#2- All About Perspective – Firefox Wallpaper

Firefox wallpaper that I would actually see myself using is hard to find.  The main reason behind third is that I don’t really like text on my desktop, and I really don’t like feeling like a marketing campaign either.  So with that said, what type of Firefox wallpaper does make me happy?

• Desktop Decorations – Five Star Firefox Wallpaper

#1 – Beginner’s Guide to Greasemonkey

In a nutshell, Greasemonkey is an add-on for Firefox that allows you to customize a web site’s look and function.  Now you don’t have to be a coder to use it though, because there are already hundreds of scripts out there available for free that you can use to help you do a number of different things.

• Another Great Guide: Beginner’s Manual to Stylish

I hope you have enjoyed reading all the Firefox Facts tips, tricks and more this year – and you’ll subscribe to the RSS feed, visit daily and be entertained and informed all the way though 2010 and beyond.  This site wouldn’t be a success without you, so thank you for making Firefox Facts on of the most popular Firefox tip related blogs out there today. Happy New Year!

BONUS – Check out the Best of Mitchelaneous (2009 Edition)

The features to love here are plentiful. You can dynamically, show bookmarks by using folder and search terms.  Highlight the bookmarks in any color you would like, sort the bookmarks by name, visit time, last visited and most visited, and a lot more.

Incredible Bookmarks also help you clean house.  It can:

• Run a check to find out duplicate bookmarks in each Incredible Bookmarks toolbar.
• Run a check to check the links in each Incredible Bookmarks toolbar to see which links are no longer available.

This video covers some more of the basics when it comes to using the Incredible Bookmarks add-on for Firefox:

This add-on for Firefox has incredible promise, and I could not find a feature I didn’t like.  My favorite overall feature is the ability to color code your bookmarks and bookmark folders.  I like to keep things neat, nice and organized – so this suits my needs, perfectly.

To learn more about Incredible Bookmarks, check out the official site, and you can download it from the Firefox Add-ons web site.

If you do a lot of work online, being able to take notes as you work is definitely a good thing.  Rather than scribbling on random sheets of paper or bouncing between Firefox and a notepad-like program, keep it all in Firefox with QuickFox Notes. This multi-tab note taking extension is awesome.

Some of the features include:

• Simple & Multi tab
• Auto save notes
• Check spelling
• Changeable font size
• Changeable background color
• Easy search tool
• Various keyboard shortcuts

Another nice feature is that it saves your notes in the bookmark files, so your notes will always be in sync, if you have installed one of the bookmark syncing add-ons like Xmarks or Mozilla Weave. If you are in need of a handy note taking application from within Firefox, give QuickFox Notes a shot.

You get instant access to recently closed tabs, personalized suggested sites and even shortcuts to your desktop applications. 

The most recent release also comes with 7 built in themes, so you have a few more ways to customize it to suit your needs.

There is no reason why, these days, your new tab should be empty and bland.  With the New Tab King add-on for Firefox, you can make the new tab page and the Firefox browser even more functional than it was before.

Here are all the Google services you can quickly show or hide via the extension.

You can customize how much space you want to save with the options across the bottom (by making the menu a toolbar or a drop down menu).  You also have the option of a horizontal or vertical menu.  You can then right-click on your toolbar, go to “Customize” and then drag and drop the GButts Toolbar you created on to your toolbar layout – anywhere you might need it.

If you are a heavy Google user – the GButts add-on should be right up your alley.

The New Tab King extension for Firefox gives you one spot to see all the web sites you use the most.  Instead of getting a blank page when you open a new tab, the New Tab King add-on delivers to you  the web sites and bookmarks you have visited the most in the past 30 days.  Each site is displayed with its description text and the web site’s favicon.

This add-on for Firefox could definitely become a fan favorite over time.  So if you want to replace your new tab screen with something a little more useful, give New Tab King a shot.

Bonus – check out our second look at New Tab King, and their new features!

Here are some of the important files you might seen in your profile folder and what they are used for.

• search.sqlite and the searchplugins folder – The first file, search.sqlite stores the order that your search engines (for the search box) are sorted. Inside of the searchplugins folder you can find all the extra search engines you have installed.
• mimeTypes.rdf – your preferences with respect to what Firefox does when it comes across known file types.
• formhistory.sqlite - this is where information that you have searched for or entered into forms on web sites (think autocomplete) is stored.
• places.sqlite – this is the file that contains your bookmarks and previously visited web sites.
• cert8.db – all your security certificate settings and any SSL certificates you have imported are stored here.
• permissions.sqlite – the file here stores site specific preferences, such as if you allow it to install add-ons, show images, display popups or any special orders you have allowed for that domain.
• key3.db and signons3.txt – these are the files that store your password information you have saved.
• persdict.dat – this file will hold your words you have personally put into Firefox’s built in spellchecker.
• cookies.sqlite – your web site cookies are stored here.

Now, I do know there are more files – however, these are the files that are most important for you to know about, just in case something bad might happen.  Hopefully, this additional documentation will come in handy when troubleshooting your own Firefox issues or problems.