Move Tabs to the Sidebar

Comments (1) · July 15, 2008 at 6:37 am · Tabbed Browsing

The Tab Sidebar add-on for Firefox does a simple change, but after I can promise you you’ll get a whole new perspective for the way Firefox works.  It acts more like a replacement for the tab bar and includes an always visible thumbnail preview of all the tabs you may have loaded up.

Here are some of the other Tab Sidebar features:

• Provides navigation options for each tab including history, stop and reload
• Allows you to move tabs around with drag and drop
• You can drop links, local files and bookmarks anywhere you like
• Displays the security status of tabs
• Automatically refreshes the tab preview whenever the page changes

To activate the extension, just go to View and then Tab Sidebar to see it.  On the down side, some have complained that CPU usage goes way up when using this addition.  On the good side though, hey - you get pretty thumbnails for all of your tabs!  In the “what would I like to see” I would like to see if work flawlessly with the scroll wheel on your mouse. 

There is a lot of promise and a lot to already love, so give Tab Sidebar a download either via the Firefox Add-ons site or the official web page for the extension.

Plant Google Reader in Your Sidebar

Comments (1) · May 16, 2008 at 6:17 am · Firefox Hacks

Time for another one of those awesome, put “insert web site here” in the Firefox sidebar tips.  This time around, it is the Google Reader iPhone version we are going goofy about.  Open up this link here:

http://www.google.com/reader/i/

After doing so, drag it to your links bar or bookmark it.  Then right-click the bookmark, and select the Load this bookmark in the sidebar checkbox.  Now save and your good to go. 

Compose a New Gmail Message in Firefox Sidebar

Comments (3) · May 4, 2008 at 5:20 am · Firefox Hacks

You should know I love the “Open a Tool in Firefox’s Sidebar” tips by now. 

This one crossed my feed reader, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to send it to all of you.  With a ‘bit of a work around you can now open your “compose a new e-mail” link from Gmail in as a Firefox sidebar.  Here is how to get it done:

You’ll want to login to Gmail, and then click on the “Compose Mail” link.  When the new message page comes up, you want to click on the popout icon in the upper right corner.  When the popup comes at you, go to the address bar of the new window and copy the URL for it. 

If you can’t see the address bar then just right click on the page, and select “Bookmark this Page”.  Add the bookmark to a location you can remember and hit the “OK” button.  Then you need to right-click the bookmark, select Properties and then hit the check mark to “Load this bookmark in the sidebar”. 

There you have it, now you can compose Gmail messages right from your Firefox sidebar.  Thanks goes out to Digital Streets for pointing this neat sidebar hack out.  Does this work better for you, or would you rather have the popup?

Undock the Firefox Sidebar

Comments off · April 16, 2008 at 7:51 am · Firefox Usability

Want to separate the Firefox sidebar window that comes up when you browse your bookmarks or history into it’s own separate window?  We all have plenty of desktop space right?  Why not spread things out a little?  If your desktop space is just itching for another window then you too might want to pick up the Ez Sidebar add-on. 

Once installed, you can easily undock and unlock the sidebar in Firefox from the Firefox browser window.  You can then move it around the the position where it might be best for you.  The undocked sidebar can raise on top always, and collapse or expand itself automatically by mousing over it.

Here is a little more about the extension from the developer:

This provides the “Sidebar” toggle button to the toolbar. It shows/hides the Sidebar on click. And, you can switch the sidebar panels from the dropdown list of the button directly.  This allows to take web pages into sidebar panels directly like Mozilla Seamonkey. They will be listed in the “Sidebar” menu and the list of the “Sidebar” button, same as built-in panels, Bookmarks, History, or others. (Firefox can load bookmarks into the Sidebar, so this feature will be no use for some people.)

If you have been searching for a way to separate your sidebar from your browser, Ez Sidebar will do the trick.

Put iGoogle in Your Sidebar

Comments (1) · February 27, 2008 at 7:37 am · Most Wanted

I got an e-mail from a Firefox Facts reader the other day that wanted to know if I knew of an easy way to add more of the iGoogle startpage tools in their sidebar. After seeing my other various Google sidebar tips and tricks.

Now we all know that iGoogle is probably not the best start page out there, but it does offer some unique plugins and tools that make it handy to have easily accessible. So what do you do, if you want to use iGoogle but perhaps you are a Netvibes fan?

The iGoogle Sidebar extension makes it to where you can enjoy the iGoogle experience in a side bar optimized to make it all look good.

Some of the features include:

• Un-squeezed modules - makes them fit in better to the sidebar
• Remove header, search box and footer; removed margins; (optional) reduced font size

It might also be worth making note of the fact that only the modules on the left side of your iGoogle page are visible in the sidebar. So you might have to do some customization and moving around before you use the iGoogle Sidebar extension.

Google Calendar in Your Sidebar (again!)

Comments (41) · December 6, 2007 at 10:16 am · Firefox Hacks, Firefox Usability

Update - looks like this is no longer working. As an alternative, I would suggest using this: Google Calendar in Your Sidebar (iPhone Version)

I love my Google Calendar, but loading up the official web site each time I want to check it out is sometimes a burden.

Since I use it much more as a to-do list rather than actually setting up events and times I needed a quicker way to access. So I thought, why not figure out a way to open it in the sidebar in Firefox?

Here are the steps to get it done:

1. Create a new bookmark (right-click and select “Bookmark this link…”) for this address or drag it to your bookmarks toolbar:

   Mini Google Calendar

2. Right-click on that bookmark and select “Properties”.
   
3. Check the box that says, “Load this bookmark in sidebar” and you are good to go! I promise you this is a tip that is easy enough for anybody to use and setup.

Now you can access your Google Calendar and upcoming events on your agenda without pulling up a new web page.

Bonus: Check out my previous Google Calendar/Sidebar hack using the iPhone friendly version of Google Calendar. Also you can open Google Notebook to your sidebar too. Don’t forget about adding Google Talk to your sidebar!

Google Calendar in Your Sidebar

Comments (4) · September 25, 2007 at 6:12 am · Firefox Hacks

I like to use Google Calendar much less as a time organizer and more as a big to do list. Now I hadn’t really given two thoughts to the mobile version because I don’t really browse the Web on too many mobile devices. After having a look though - I thought to myself - this would make the perfect sidebar for Firefox.

This is how you can get it added to your own browser:

1. Browse to http://calendar.google.com/m

2. Bookmark that web page, or drag the link to your links toolbar.

3. Right-click on the bookmark, select “properties” and then click the checkmark for “load this bookmark in sidebar”.

I don’t know about you but this just makes the application a little more usable for me. Big fonts, big colors and a guide of what I need to do over the next few days. Also it acts as a great reminder tool for folks who like to make sure they are getting things done.