Ready for a new theme for Firefox to start the new year? How about a theme that doesn’t just give you one skin to choose from, but rather two?
GrayFox, a new theme for Firefox does exactly that.
Tag Archives | customize
Get the Date and Time in the Status Bar
Telling you what time it is seems like a trivial task for any modern browser, however many leave the job to your operating system.
However, if you have hidden your clocks and need a way to tell what time it is from Firefox, Statusbar Date is the perfect add-on for the job.
Unique Browser Backtracking
Need to quickly navigate back in the browser history? Now sure, you could click the actual backwards button, in the Firefox navigation toolbar. I have another alternative for you to try though. MileWideBack is an add-on for Firefox that will let you click on the left border of your Firefox window to go back to the previous web page you were viewing.
What does does this extension for Firefox allow you to do? Well, if you can navigate forward if you right-click with your mouse on the Firefox border too. If you are using tabbed browsing, middle-click on the left border to close the current tab, or rotate the mouse-wheel to cycle through your current tabs.
To learn more about how to tweak this add-on, check out this tutorial:
So if you are looking for way to make your browsing experience more user friendly or unique, MileWideBack is well worth your time. Give it a shot, and let me know if you find browsing this way is better or worse than your more traditional methods.
Second Look at a New Tab King
It has been a while since I checked out the New Tab King add-on for Firefox, and I have to say I am impressed with the progression of the Firefox extension. For those of you who don’t know, New Tab King replaces your blank new tab with a much more functional page of tools.
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.
Use Firefox to Customize Your Web
I think everybody, at times, would like to be able to customize certain web sites to better meet their goals. Now, I am not talking about simple visual edits – like making the background black and the text white. How about adding keyboard shortcuts for certain web site links and navigation elements? You an do that and more with the Customize Your Web add-on for Firefox.
So do you want to customize web sites without writing one single line of code? Check out this video tutorial for a little more information about the Customize Your Web add-on for Firefox.
Some of the other customizations featured include:
- Removal and rearrangement of elements (cut / copy / paste behavior)
Modifying of elements in every possible way (changing size, color, default values etc.) - Definition of keyboard shortcuts / shortstrings for any clickable element (shortstrings are multi-character shortcuts, e.g. "SO" for a "Sign out" Button)
- Adding keyboard navigation support for any list of elements (e.g. for the result entries of search)
- Insertion of arbitrary HTML and JavaScript code
- Definition of small macros which are triggered by a shortcut
- Automatically triggering actions on page load (e.g. for automatic click on a login button or focusing a special field)
I am just having fun playing around with this add-on figuring out all the things I can do with it. For some, it might seem a little complex, however there is extensive documentation to help you along.
You can pick up the Customize Your Web add-on for Firefox from the Firefox Add-ons site or from Mouseless.de.
Shrink the Left-Hand Links in Gmail
Wanting to save some space in Gmail, or perhaps you’re just tired of the text-based main links to browse around your e-mail account?
The GMail Compactor user script will help you reclaim that space with style.
As you can see, from the picture above, after you install this Greasemonkey user script, everything from your Compose Mail link down to your Contacts link are now minimized into very pretty icons. As an extra benefit, you also still get the count of how many new messages are in some of your folders, such as Spam. If you want to maximize the vertical real estate in Gmail, then pick up the Gmail Compactor user script. (found via Lifehacker)
Get the Best of Firefox on FirefoxFacts.com
Have you seen the new menu item on FirefoxFacts.com? I have gone through the four years of archives I’ve posted here to find all of the “best of” Firefox-related posts. Here is just a small sample of the posts you will find there:
- Tweak up the Bookmarks Bar in Firefox
- 10 Popular Web Designer Tools for Firefox
- Turn Your Firefox into an Arcade
- 10 Great Money Saving Add-ons for Firefox
- 7 Amazing Musical Add-ons for Firefox
Be sure to check out the new “Best of Firefox” page via FirefoxFacts.com, for a true collection of every best of list I have put out there over the years.
Beginner Guide to Stylish
Have you ever looked at a web page and thought to yourself, “it would look better if I could only move this over there, or change the color of that or..” well, there are a lot of things you could change about a lot of the Web’s most popular web sites. One tool for Firefox lets you customize the look and feel of Firefox and the Web, Stylish.
Using what is called “user styles” the Stylish add-on for Firefox can empower your browsing experience by letting you personalize or fix the features of Firefox or the Web in general that bug you the most.
How do I get started with Stylish?
Once installed, all you have to do is right-click the status bar icon, select “Write Style” and then choose if you want to write a style for the URL you are on right now, or create an empty style not related to any web site, for now at least. You can also tag your style, giving it a few descriptive words.
Now how do you know what to put into the window, to customize Firefox (as I have done in the screenshot above) or your favorite web site? I suggest checking out userstyles.org.
Where can I find and learn to create user styles?
Not only is userstyles.org a great repository of scripts others have written that you can use, it is also a place where you can view the code they used, so you can try it out when you create your own user style.
Here are a few resources to get you started finding the user style that you need or want to use:
There is also a user styles blog and set of forums for you to follow too. If I had a top 10 list of my favorite Firefox add-ons, Stylish would be in the top 5, at least. Anything that helps the users of Firefox customize the Web or Firefox to meet their needs better is a winner in my book.
Tab Mix Plus
It has been a long time since I have taken a look at Tab Mix Plus. I know a lot of people who use it, and it continues to be one of the most popular Firefox add-ons out there. So the first question to ask is, what makes it so darn special?
Well, the main goal of Tab Mix Plus is to give Firefox’s tabs more capabilities. You can quickly duplicate tabs, control the tab focus, you get all kinds of tab clicking options, undo tabs and windows, and that is just scratching the surface.
It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combinations of opened tabs and windows.
Need help using one Tab Mix Plus’s features? They have a handy set of user forums here:
All in all, Tab Mix Plus is still a great addition to the Firefox browser if you need to do “more” with your tabs than the default Firefox install or any other add-ons give you.
Remove the Resizer “Thingy” in Firefox
Why does Firefox have that little resizer corner thingy? The one that rests in your status bar, on the far right side. I am not even sure what to call it. It has no point, because I can grab Firefox from all four corners to resize it to the size I want. So the question remains – how do I remove it?
I now turn towards my favorite Firefox modification tool, Stylish to do the job for me. Go check out ffox 3 no resize”thing” in the lower right corner and load that into Stylish (or Greasemonkey). Now, you should have a little more status bar room.
As an extra bonus, if you want to make your status bar appear more flat, and remove the borders between things – copy and paste this into Stylish.
/* ::::: flat statusbar ::::: */
.db_downbar, statusbarpanel, .statusbarpanel-iconic,
.statusbarpanel-iconic-text, .statusbarpanel-menu-iconic,
.progressmeter-statusbar, progressmeter {
-moz-appearance: none !important;
border: none !important;}
Credit for that tip goes to the mozillaZine forums. Doing so should remove the junk and leave things with a cleaner look.
