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One of the big superiority of Firefox on IE is that it is entirely customizable to your needs.

Of course you can download many themes and extensions. But you can also change a lot of behaviors by typing about:config in the address bar:

Check it out. the list of parameters that appear is impressive.

Here are my picks : (just copy the text below, search for it in your about:config page and edit the value by double-clicking on it).

1/ Save Web Pages as text files:

browser.download.save_converter_index :
Select 2 to save web pages as Text.

2/ Add spell check to all forms:

layout.spellcheckDefault
Select 2 to to add spell check in input fields as well as in text areas.

3/ Refresh your RSS Feeds:

browser.bookmarks.livemark_refresh_seconds
Get your feed refreshed more often : change the number of seconds between Live Bookmark checks. Values under 60 are assumed to be 60 (=1 minute) ; default is 3600 (1 hour).

4/Sort your bookmarks alphabetically:

browser.bookmarks.sort.direction
Sort bookmarks in the Bookmarks Manager :
by default, it’s Unsorted. Enter “natural”: it will go alphabetically (A-Z) or “ascending”( Z-A ).

5/save or not the text in search fields:

browser.formfill.enable
Set to False to avoid saving information entered in web page forms and the Search Bar.

6/Always open searches in a new tab

browser.search.openintab
True : searches from the Search Bar open in a new tab.
False (default): searches open in the current tab/window.

7/Display or not the close buttons on tabs

Browser.tabs.closeButtons
Controls how close buttons can be displayed on tabs.
0: Display a close button on the active tab only
1: (default) Display a close button on each tab
2: Don’t display any close buttons
3: Display a single close button at the end of the tab bar (My own setting !). (See this post about the close tab button).

8/ Open tabs in the background

Browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground
Set to True to open a bookmark in a new tab in the background without changing your current tab.

9/Close all tabs without warning!

browser.tabs.warnOnClose
Set it to False: when more than one tab is open, no warnings will be given when closing the browser…

10/ Triple click to select paragraph ! (seems to have been removed in FF 2 - see comments)

browser.triple_click_selects_paragraph
True (default) will select the entire paragraph under the mouse cursor when triple-clicking. False will only select the line.

11/ Auto fill text

browser.urlbar.autoFill
Matching entries you have previously typed appear after the text you are typing : set to True. Disabled by default.

12/ Disable Gifs

image.animation_mode
none: animated images will never play.
once: animated images will play once.
normal (default): animated images will play as normal.

13/ Two last tips for opening new tabs :

Double click the empty space on the Tab bar to open a New Tab.
“Middle click” (Mouse Wheel Click or click both mouse buttons at the same time) on a link will open that link in a new tab.

Source : Mozillazine Knowledge base.

I hope it helps. Give me feedback or spread the word..

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 1:03 am and is filed under Real Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.