Tag Archives | windows

Bringing Purity Back to Firefox

Nov/12 in Best Themes

Purity Theme for Firefox

This inspirational theme, created for the Firefox browser, is one of the most attractive themes I have seen in some time.  Designed with the idea in mind that simple/flat designs tend to be more appealing than overly decorated ones; Purity is ready to refresh your browsing experience.

The author of the theme notes that some of the theme is still a work in progress, as many of the dialog icons are from the stock Aero theme.  However I have high hopes for this unique browser skin.

You can download and install the Purity theme for Firefox (Windows only) at the Firefox Add-ons web site.

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Speed Up Firefox 3.5 Start up Times on Windows

Jul/15 in Firefox Support

Speed up Start Times in Firefox 3.5 Does it seem that Firefox 3.5 is a little sluggish when it starts on your Windows-powered machine?

Due to some unknown reason, Firefox on Windows pulls certain file locations for security reasons.  In turn, having too many temporary, history or recent document files will slow down Firefox 3.5’s data generation process.  A bug has been filed about this, but in the mean time – the best thing you can do to help fix it is to do a little house cleaning.

The fix here is to browse through and clear both Internet Explorer’s history and cache and Firefox’s history and cache as much as you can.  You can find more help with this process at these resources:

I had not noticed this problem too much – then again, I have my Firefox temp files set to clear every time I close the browser and I hardly ever use Internet Explorer.  How about you?

UPDATE:

This problem was fixed in Firefox 3.5.1.  To check for updates, be sure to go to Help > “Check for Updates…” in Firefox.  Thanks to the Firefox development team for the speedy update!

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Split Up Your Browser

Sep/24 in Add-ons Reviews, Usability

Split Browser, the add-on for Firefox, splits up the content area of the browser in as many windows as you like.  Each window you see, also has its own mini browser inside.

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This is a really helpful extension for those people out there that work on multiple pages at the same time and down want to have two Firefox windows open side by side or don’t want to switch between tabs.  There are several ways you can decide to split your window too.

Ways to become more productive by splitting up your browser…

  • Choose the "Split Browser to" menu in the context menu.
  • Choose the "Load in Split Browser" menu in the context menu on link.
  • Click popup-button on top/bottom/left/right edges of the content area.
  • Drop links, bookmarks, etc. to popup-button on top/bottom/left/right edges of the content area while dragging.

too-many-windows There is no limit to the number of windows you can open inside of your browser.  Of course, adding too many might get a little on the silly side.  Click the picture to your right to see an example of the madness that can happen with a few too many windows open.

Another great use for this, would be to view one page normally, and then load up a mobile or sidebar-friendly page and squeeze it down so everything fits in nicely.  You can pick up the Split Browser add-on for Firefox on the Firefox Add-ons web site or learn more about it on the official Split Browser web site.

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Vixpa Theme Has Vista Style is XP Feeling

Aug/16 in Best Themes

The Vixpa theme for Firefox is an attempt to refresh the Windows XP-style icons with the more polished Windows Vista feeling.  Your not getting the same old icons though.  All icons have been redrawn from the ground up, with a few original icons to replace those of XP’s. 

Here you have Vixpa with the normal sized icons:

vixpa-lrg-toolbar

Here you have Vixpa with the small sized icons:

vixpa-smal-toolbar

Well worth checking out if you are missing that old Windows XP look and feel.  You can download the Vixpa theme over at the Firefox Add-ons web site.

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Firefox 3 – Vista Theme Preview

Feb/22 in Best Themes

Thanks to Percy over at Mozilla Links, we now have a Firefox 3 Vista preview worth gawking at (theme-wise anyways):

vista_theme

My first thoughts were “oh, it’s shinny and blue” but it does the job it sets out to do. It does fit into the Windows Vista look and feel pretty well, don’t you think?

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Drag Tabs Between Windows

Jul/07 in Tabbed Browsing

planet_mir-4.jpgHey, here is a cool new tip I just found out about. Say you have two Firefox Windows open with both having multiple tabs. You can drag a tab from one Firefox browser window to the next. Here is a better description of the cool tab tip from the source:

Users who have tabs open in multiple Firefox windows can drag and drop tabs across separate browser windows. Using this technique you can consolidate all of your tabs into a single window. Keeping all of your tabs will make Firefox (and the rest of your system slower) but also let you make the most of a the “restore session” feature.

Thanks to Lifehacker and Be Lazier for the information.

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Firefox Tabs vs Firefox Windows

Feb/14 in Usability

Which one gives you a better performance? Is it better to have multiple tabs open in one window or just have multiple Windows open? The Firefox Guru did all of the scientific work on this one, and has found out the results for us.

Over on Go Firefox!, an interesting question was posted: Which uses less system resources (memory)?

My theory is using tabs would use less resources then having the same sites opened in separate windows. My reasoning is each window has to load the entire browser interface, not just the page content. So, I did a little experiment. First using Firefox 2.0.0.1 with a clean profile (no extensions, no plug-ins and default theme) and imported my bookmarks from another profile.

+ Want to See the Results? Check Out the Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog!

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Paul Thurrott Gets it Wrong

Jan/20 in Firefox News

Now I don’t really mind Thurrott because I don’t know him or his writing very well.

It sounds like to me though he is just trying to get attention by being anti-Firefox when the rest of the world is swinging in the other direction. As Asa points out he has it all wrong on some of Firefox 2′s new features.

Paul Thurrott, in his somewhat late review, takes a look at Firefox 2′s new features. Unfortunately, and something I didn’t expect from Paul, it’s either the most intentionally misleading review of Firefox, or it’s a completely unserious piece of writing. Which of those two, I can’t say, but either way, it’s a disservice to his readers.

Rather than go through the whole review and try to correct it all, something that could take far more time than I’m willing to give it, let’s just look at Paul’s analysis of the Firefox 2 Phishing Protection feature.

This is not the first time Paul has gotten it wrong though. As Asa’s comments brought to light, he also said that Windows ME was exceptional.

+ Read the Rest of What Asa Dotzler Had to Say!

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Where is my Firefox Profile Folder?

Jan/01 in Firefox Support

This is a question we get time and time again, so I thought I would post the full listing for where your profile folder is for Mozilla Firefox based on your operating system of choice…

Windows 95 (without Desktop Update)
C:WindowsMozilla

Windows 95 (with Desktop Update)/98/Me
C:WindowsApplication DataMozilla

C:WindowsProfiles<Windows login/user name>Application DataMozilla

Windows NT 4.x
C:WinntProfiles<Windows login/user name>Application DataMozilla

Windows 2000 and XP
C:Documents and Settings<Windows login/user name>Application DataMozilla

Windows Vista
C:Users<Windows login/user name>AppDataRoamingMozilla

Unix
~/.mozilla/

Mac OS X
~/Library/Mozilla/

~/Library/Application Support/

Looking for an easier way to access your profile folder?  You can do so right from the menu bar, if you know where to look for it.  Make sure you check out this tutorial for an even easier way to find your profile folder:

Find Your Firefox Profile Folder, The Easy Way!

Hope that helps you locate your Firefox profile folder.  If there is a location I missed, be sure to let me know and I will get it added.

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Stop Browser Resizing In Firefox

Dec/02 in Hacks and Tweaks

I just hate it when a Web site tries to resize my browser window.

There’s a simple little fix that prevent webpages from resizing your Firefox browser that I put in every time. There’s nothing I hate more than a website that resizes my whole browser to the size of a 40×40 ad, forcing me to expand it back to my regular 1024×768 size.

+ Stop the Browser Resizing in Firefox!

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