Tag Archives | links

Shrink the Left-Hand Links in Gmail

May/01 in Greasemonkey, Hacks and Tweaks

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.

Shrink Gmail's Main Folders

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)

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Shrink a Link with Foxy URL

Apr/28 in Add-ons Reviews

Need a new way to shorten your links?  Foxy URL hopes to be the extension you turn to, in that situation.  This add-on for Firefox keeps it nice and simple.  After you install it, you just add the icon for it to your navigation toolbar.  Once that is done, click on the icon and your link is shortened.

Foxy URL link shortening in action!

Click the “copy to clipboard” button and you are ready to share your link with the world.  That is it.  No fancy features, no unwanted fuss.  You can pick up the Foxy URL add-on for Firefox at the Firefox Add-ons site or via their own web site at FoxyURL.com.

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Looking Back at the Most Popular Firefox Facts

Apr/23 in Best of Firefox, Resources

While checking out my Google Analytics stats for Firefox Facts, I thought it might be fun to look back and see what (so far) have been the top ten most popular items posted here on Firefox Facts.  We have some classics here, so I hope you enjoy.

Have a favorite post of yours that didn’t make it on the list?  Feel free to share it in the comments, and maybe we can put together a user’s list of some of the favorites we have had here over the years.

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Better Way to Make Tiny Shareable URLs

Apr/15 in Add-ons Reviews

In need of shortening a long URL into a short one?  Now, I don’t have to tell you that there are a plethora of services out there to do this for you, however I think I may have found my new favorite way of doing so in Firefox.

Shorten URL extension for Firefox

Shorten URL, an extension for Firefox will do this for you.  From the context menu, you can quickly shorten any link or web page’s URL into one that is easier to share.  Once installed, you can launch the link shortener in a number of different ways.  Right-clicking any link will give you the “Shorten this link URL” in the context menu.  Also right-clicking on any page will do the same.  You can even even launch the link shortener for a specific frame too.

Here are some of the other Shorten URL features:

  • Automatically copy to clipboard (disabled by default)
  • Automatically post to Twitter (disabled by default)
  • Supports 35 URL shortening services

To learn more or to install, be sure to check out their Google code profile or their page on the Firefox Add-ons site.  It has become my new favorite way to shrink a link.

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Get Rid of the Diggbar (with a userscript!)

Apr/13 in Greasemonkey, Hacks and Tweaks

Stop the Diggbar

Not a big fan of Digg’s new Diggbar?  Thanks to a little help from Firefox and a few fine Greasemonkey scripts, you can kill it off and never have to see it again.  Try these two scripts out:

Neither will kill off the Diggbar totally, but they should help you automatically redirect to the page and address you want to see.  Why would you want to kill the Diggbar?  Well, some have said there is concern about Digg stealing SEO (search engine optimization) linkage from sites. Also, some people just don’t like new things.  (source: Download Squad)

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Skip to the Download on Rapidshare, Megaupload and More!

Apr/02 in Add-ons Reviews

Skip the download clock!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.

I always hate reaching a download page that tells me I have to wait five seconds, ten minutes, three hours before I can start downloading a file.  Why is it there?  Well, it is a trick to be used to make you look at their advertisements. 

What free file hosting services does SkipScreen allow to to skip?

  • Rapidshare
  • Megaupload
  • DepositFiles
  • Divshare
  • Linkbucks
  • Link-protector
  • and more are on the way…

If the developers need a list to work from, I have found more than a few free file hosting alternatives myself. Here is a screen shot of SkipScreen in action, helping you to start the download before the “your download will begin shortly” even gets going.

SkipScreen in Action

So, what if these free file hosting services update themselves to break the SkipScreen add-on?  While that is a possibility, SkipScreen adjusts to the changes at these sharing sites, and updates to match their updates.

As the developer puts it, “Why click through ad-laden pages and wait for countdowns when your computer can do it for you?”.  That is a good question, and now thanks to the SkipScreen add-on for Firefox, you will not be wasting anymore of your time waiting for the download to begin.

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Twitbin – Best Twitterer for Firefox?

Feb/20 in Add-ons Reviews

Twitbin Need an add-on for Firefox that will allow you to keep up with the latest news or posts from your Twitter friends?  Twitbin is probably the best and most popular Twitter extension for Firefox.  Now let me tell you why.

Twitbin sits in your Firefox sidebar, showing you all the latest tweets from your friends.  You can join in the conversation yourself too.  You can send messages, receive messages, share links and more. 

Some features of the newest 2.0 version of Twitbin include:

Apart from design changes, you can now favorite people as well as view only facorited posts. You can now Retweet by clicking the icon under the avatar, as well as favorite, @ reply, and go to the persons homepage (if they have one).

Here is a video showing you the how Twitbin works:


Twitbin Screencast from brbreslin on Vimeo.

You can pick up the extension on the Twitbin.com web site or the Firefox Add-ons site.  If you are new to Twitter, or if you just want to see what I am up to, feel free to follow me there as well. 

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Best Firefox Facts of October 2008

Nov/01 in Resources

October is over, and now it is time to start talking turkey.  Before we get the plates set for Thanksgiving though – lets us take a look back at the highlights of October 2008 and the glorious posts that happened then.

Firefox Themes and Design 

 Tips and Tweaks for Firefox

 Mozilla and Firefox Related News

 Best of the Firefox Add-ons and Extensions

Which was your favorite and what would you like to see me talk more about going into November?  Remember, you are my boss – and not the other way around so let me know how you feel and what you think.

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Fennec, Ubiquity Tweaks and Minefield Gets Faster

Oct/26 in Firefox News

Time to check out some of the other Firefox sites and stories that are making news…

Mozilla Minefield: Yes, It’s Fast. Really Fast.

There’s been some talk around the blogosphere about Mozilla Minefield, the superfast and super cool-sounding browser by the folks who bring us Firefox. I decided to give it a whirl and see what it was really about.

Drag & DropZones Turns Right-Clicks into Gestures

Drag & DropZones is a clever interface tweak that allows you to perform nearly any action or search by dragging any page element—a link, email address, image, or page itself—onto a transparent grid you set up.

Turning Bookmarklets into Commands for Ubiquity

The main problem with bookmarklets is that they don’t provide a scalable solution for accessing their functionality. You can only have so many buttons on the toolbar before they become an unusable outbreak of pimples that clutter the browser’s interface.  With a new utility function in Ubiquity, it’s now trivial to turn any bookmarklet into a Ubiquity command.

(Firefox Add-on Developers) It’s that time again…

With the release of the first beta of Firefox 3.1 today comes everyone’s favorite release-time festivity: extension compatibility updates!  If you’re an extension developer using a maxVersion of 3.0.* or less, please test your extension before declaring 3.1b1 compatibility. Some of the changes for extension developers are listed here.

Mozilla releases Mobile Firefox Alpha – For Mac, Windows and Linux?

Mozilla has released the first Alpha version of Fennec, the mobile web browser which currently runs on the Nokia N810 internet tablet, and which will soon run on Windows Mobile. Fennec is just a code name. Eventually the browser will probably be called something like Firefox Mobile. And there’s a good reason for that. If you can view web content in Firefox, you can pretty much view it in Fennec.

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8 Ways to Open Text as a Link

Oct/17 in Add-ons Reviews, Best of Firefox

Turn Text to Links in Firefox One of those pesky things that bug me is when somebody writes a link in that I want to click, but there is no HTML code included to make it into a click-able link.  Thankfully several add-ons for Firefox have figured out how to turn URLs and e-mail addresses not marked up as a link into things I can click on.

There are eight add-ons for Firefox that do this job very well.  The only problem is that there is not that much difference between them.

Know of a number nine I might have missed?  I wouldn’t be surprised.  This seems like a very popular idea to do for a Firefox extension for some reason.  Since today is my birthday, just consider these eight gems your present from me.

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