Instantfox does much more than just eliminate the need for the search box.  You can also get results instantly as you type and loads up content on the fly.  There is some memorization needed to remember the quick search key-letters to type on to the address bar to do your searches.

g » for Google Search
i » for Google Images
m » for Google Maps
y » for Youtube
t » for Twitter
w » for Wikipedia
a » for Amazon
e » for eBay
c » for Calculator

Now, while some might see this as a drawback – I actually see this as a useful feature. This means I can use Instantfox when I see fit and it doesn’t totally replace the way Firefox handles the address bar. In everyday use, the Firefox address bar is the same as it always was.  However, if you type in g then a space and then type out a keyword – you are searching Google instantly.  I like that.

Want to learn more about this amazing little add-on for Firefox? Head on over to Instantfox.net.

To get started, make sure you have the Stylish extension installed for Firefox, and then head on over to the userstyles.org website.  You can choose from these four sizes when installing.

• 60px
• 80px
• 120px
• 150px

Once you select the minimum width you want your active tab to be (for reference, the default size is 100px) hit the button labeled, "Install with Stylish" and follow the on screen instructions.

Sometimes it is the little tweaks that are the most impressive.  You can pick up FF3+ Increase active tab minimum width from the userstyles.org website.

Barlesque is a Firefox 4+ extension that will do the job.  Once installed, make sure you have the Add-on Bar turned on (by going to View > Toolbars > Add-on Bar under the Firefox button).  You should then see that the Add-on Bar is no longer across the bottom of the window.  It is now collapsed into the corner of the screen.  This way the add-on bar will only take up a fraction of your overall screen real estate.

You have the option to place the icons from the Add-on Bar either to the bottom left or bottom right parts of the screen too.

You can pick up Barlesque from the Mozilla Add-ons website.

So what are some of the Firefox settings and details you can tweak?

• Move Status Bar icons to any location
• Use Movable Firefox Menu Button (puts Firefox Menu Button in toolbar button so you can move it wherever you want)
• Display Page Title in Title bar while using Firefox Menu Button
• Add "New Tab" Option to Tab Context Menu

I have a feeling we are going to see a lot more add-ons for Firefox like this one.  Firefox 4 is leaps over bounds better than the version before, however the one thing that will hold it back will probably be the number of complaints about the user interface and how people like the older design better. Thankfully, Mozilla makes it easy for tweakers like us to fix or change things to look and feel the way we want them to.

You can pick up the Firefox 4 UI Fixer from the Firefox Add-ons website.

Once installed, this add-on will put the Firefox button in your tab bar as a default.  However, you can still move it around by right-clicking on the menu toolbar, then going to "Customize".  After doing so, you can drag the Firefox button to any location you want in the browser. 

Want to restore it to the default location? Simply uninstall the Movable Firefox Button add-on.

This will hopefully give those who want a little more control in Firefox 4 when it comes to customization a early Monday morning present.  There are other add-ons out there that will let you do more all-in-one tweaking to the Firefox 4 toolbar layout, but if you simply need to move the Firefox button then the Movable Firefox Button add-on will do the job for you.

You can pick up this add-on from the Firefox Add-ons website.

We all have questions about how Firefox works and how we can tweak it to make it better.  That is the single greatest aspect of this fantastic browser. So, with the end of the year coming up quick I thought it was about time we took a look back at the 25 most popular browser tweaking tips, customizations and tutorials I have posted on Firefox Facts over the years.  These 25 posts you see are the most visited topics from all of the support related articles I have written.

You voted for these with your mouse clicks over the past year, so let us check out the most popular Firefox support posts of 2010.

Change Default Search in Firefox

Tired of having Google as the default search engine in Firefox? Maybe it is another search engine’s turn to be on top?! If you feel the urge to dethrone Google as the default search engine for your Firefox search box – this is how you can get it done.

How to Backup Firefox Bookmarks

Backing up your bookmarks is one of those chores you have on your to-do list but never get around to it.  Then when they are lost, you say – I wish I would have.  Here are a few Firefox bookmark backup techniques to help you out.

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.

about:robots – Firefox 3 Secret!

For those of you playing with Firefox 3 – Beta 5, try typing about:robots into your address bar and hit enter.

Firefox 3.6 Fix – Open New Tabs in Far Right

New to Firefox 3.6, when you are on a page, and you want to open a link in a new tab – rather than opening the link in the far right of the tab bar, Firefox will now open the link right next to the tab you are in.  Now, while this might be convenient for some, it is a feature I don’t really need.  So here is how you can disable the new “Insert Related Tab After Current” tweak in Firefox 3.6.

Need help distinguishing which tab is which in Firefox? OK, maybe telling where one tab ends and another begins really is not that hard.  However, it would help if each tab was colored.  ColorfulTabs, one of my favorite add-ons for the Firefox browser – does that with style. 

Once installed, your tabs are automatically transformed from bland vanilla tabs to colorful and easily distinguishable tabs.  The colors really don’t interrupt the overall look and feel of the Firefox navigation experience either.  Some of the features included are:

• Beautiful colors — We promise you’ll fall in love with these colors.
• Unique Hues — Unique hues help you easily differentiate between various tabs and intuitively remember each tab. It’s surprising to realize how it just works.
• Coloring by site domain — Color each tab depending on its server/domain for identifying the website. You can tell which site is in which tab by just looking at the colors.
• Custom tab color — And just incase you prefer to tag the tabs with a custom color feel free to give your tabs a color of your choice right from the context menu of the tab.
• Generate colors on demand — This mode allows you to color only the tabs you want colored. The rest start the default shade.
• Enhanced tab highlighting — While we are theming the tabs how about some transparency effects? Fade the background tabs to as much as you want to highlight the currently selected tab. Let’s go a step further — place a beautiful background-pattern on the tab-strip for an enhanced effect.

I few years ago, I even got the chance to speak with the author of this fantastic extension.  You can check out that interview here:

A Chat with the Man Who Makes Your Tabs Colorful

You can pick up the ColorfulTabs add-on for both Firefox 3.6 and Firefox 4 from binaryturf.com.

For those of you using Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you probably have already noticed that by default, Firefox does not have the cool glass effect that some of your other programs might have.  You can make Firefox a little more transparent though, with the Glasser add-on.

Now, I’ll be honest – I didn’t think it would make that much of a change for me.  Sure, some more of Firefox is transparent – so what?  However, after giving this add-on a try finally, I might decide to keep it.  I like the fact that it gives the bookmarks toolbar a little ‘bit more highlight and makes it stand out a ‘bit more too.

Overall, I think it does make the Firefox 3.5/3.6 interface a lot sleeker.  You can pickup this interface changing extension from the Firefox Add-ons website.

Want to give Facebook a more minimalist look and feel?  If so, I have found the perfect Greasemonkey script for you to install and use.  The simply named, Minimalist Facebook userscript removes several annoying (and space wasting) features of the Facebook website.

After installing this user script, here are the elements that were changed or removed on the Facebook website:

• unnecessary right column gone
• feed column and comment boxes extended
• chat info on left column gone
• chat dock is partly transparent

It is a big improvement.  I like the wider content area – seems to make things easier to read.  You can pick up the Minimalist Facebook userscript for Greasemonkey on DeviantArt or UserScripts.org.

This is a handy browsing trick I just learned about recently.  Usually in my Firefox browser, I have the menu bar hidden, to save on screen real estate.  However, there comes a time (every so often) when I need to get it back.  Rather than un-hiding it, getting what I need, then hiding it again – I have found a much quicker way to bring the menu bar back for just a minute.

Let me start first with the steps you will need to take to hide the menu bar in the first place.  You will want to right-click on the navigation toolbar, then uncheck the menu bar.

Menu Bar Recovery Secret

Now that the menu bar is out of the way, I can share with you my resent keyboard shortcut I found.  To pull the menu bar back up for a few seconds, all you have to do is hit the Alt key on the keyboard. To hide it again, click anywhere else on the screen.

There you have it.  Now you can hide your menu bar and bring it back whenever you need it.  Have another interface tweaking tip to share?