Misreply.org

With today’s imminent OFFICIAL release of Firefox 2.0, I thought I’d post some things to make everybody’s favorite browser faster and easier to use.

This is nowhere near a complete list of everything that is awesome in Firefox.

Keyboard shortcuts:

• ALT + D (or CTRL + L) – selects the URL bar.
• ALT + D (when in URL bar) – selects the entire text
• CTRL + A – selects the entire URL
• CTRL + Backspace – deletes a word
• CTRL + Z and CTRL + Y – offer multiple level undo and redo functionality
• F11 – toggles full screen/windowed mode
• CTRL + K – takes you to the search box

Cool about:config tweaks:

• browser.urlbar.autoFill -> true – This turns on inline autocomplete
• browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped -> true – This makes the inline autocomplete only match things YOU typed, and not every link you ever visited
• keyword.URL -> http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q= – You can change the search provider if you wish, but this will change the default behavior for typing things into the address bar that are not URLs. For example, if I would type “firefox extensions” into the URL bar, it would default to an “Im feeling lucky” type of search. Changing the keyword.URL to this will forward you to a normal google search instead. Pretty much gives you the same behavior as the search box, at this point.
• For those with broadband internet connections, the following changes will increase the speed of Firefox:
• network.http.max-connections -> 48
• network.http.max-connections-per-server -> 16
• network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy -> 8
• network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server -> 4
• network.http.pipelining -> true
• network.http.pipelining.maxrequests -> 8
• browser.tabs.closeButton – > 3 Get rid of the close button on every tab, and put a single close button at the end of the tab row.

Extensions:

• Adblock Plus – Can’t live without it. Ads…gone forever. Gives you the option to subscribe to various list services that are regularly updated to give you maximum ad protection. It also lets you filter images and frames with wildcards with custom filters.
• DownThemAll – mass downloader for Firefox. Makes stealing downloading page content quick and easy.
• Flashblock – Ok, maybe I am biased toward flash…but I like to keep it turned off. Flashblock also allows you allow all flash from a certain domain, which is good for YTMND sites, as well as the certain few that have actually useful flash.
• Greasemonkey – custom user scripts and a ton of people that have already made scripts make Greasemonkey a valuable addition.
• IE Tab – because SOME developers still have no idea what standards compliance is.
• Tab Mix Plus – New version is available on the TMP forums that allow it to work with Firefox 2.0. This has an extensive amount of tab controls…many more that are built into Firefox. Don’t get me wrong…Mozilla is on the right path with tab options in Firefox 2.0…but I’m a tweaker, so I like the options available in TMP.
• Web Developer – cool little toolbar that lets you manipulate elements on a page at will. You want to block javascript? Go for it. Dont want Java loading? Lets you disable it. Want to see where all the tables are, see the CSS, outline elements…it is all here.
• Firebug – Let’s you inspect elements, gives a nice, useful javascript console, allows you watch XMLHTTPRequests, and has javascript debugging. it’s really powerful.

Source: various shacknews threads by Zero|DPX, dodob, Hatta, et al

Firefox download link: (http://www.mozilla.com/firefox)

Firefox, Software

This news is not official yet according to Mozilla, but the binaries for Firefox 2.0 have been posted on their ftp.

Official announcement to come tomorrow.

Link here: http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/2.0/

According to an inside source, the code is pretty much the same as RC3. The only thing that really bugs me (although some people might like it) is the “close tab” button being on every tab. To change this behavior, put “about:config” in your address bar and look for the option that says “browser.tabs.closeButtons”. I like to use option 3, which is the old Firefox behavior, and puts the close button on the far right of the tab bar. Change should be instant.

Firefox, Software

What does one post in the inaugural blog entry?

Should I post a sad life story, or a description of myself, or should I just keep asking questions?

Better yet, let us define what this blog will NOT be about, Fight Club style:

• This blog is not my diary. I personally don’t care for blogs that consist of somebody’s day to day life. Additionally, I do not think my day to day is particularly interesting.
• This blog is not a definitive source of programming or technical knowledge. Sure, I may post a code snippet or a commentary here or there; I may post some instructions for installing/configuring/uninstalling a particular piece of software or feature, but this is not a blog dedicated to that.
• This blog is not about work. Work stays at work, I usually don’t want to hear of it outside of the office, and Im sure anyone that reads this also does not care. Needless to say, there may be a commentary here or there about particularly interesting things.
• This blog will not get updated daily. Read the first bullet point.

What will it be about? Pretty much anything, I have no idea where this is going. I may choose to insult people for no reason, I may choose to criticize things, or I may choose to share knowledge. I dont often plan so far ahead.

Updates