Editing Firefox Configuration

about:config

Many of the tips and tricks mentioned on this site require you to use about:config. To access about:config, type about:config in the Firefox address bar, and press Enter. This will display a list of used preferences, as well as a search bar at the top.

Double-click on a preference to change its value. To do add a new preference, open the context menu (right-click) on any existing preference, go to the New menu, and select the type of preference.

Some preferences may require that you restart Firefox in order to take effect.

Configuration Files

userChrome.css

This file sets the display rules for various elements in the Firefox user interface and is located in the sub-folder called chrome in your profile folder. This file does not exist by default, so you need to create it before you can start adding your preferences. There's actually an example file that exists by default, called userChrome-example.css. Basically, you can just rename that file by removing the -example part.

userContent.css

This file sets the display rules for web content and is located in the sub-folder called chrome in your profile folder. As with userChrome.css, this file does not exist by default, so you need to create it before you can start adding your preferences. As with userChrome.css, there is an example file that exists by default, called userContent-example.css. Basically, you can just rename that file by removing the -example part.

user.js

This is the main preferences file for Firefox and is located in you profile folder. The file does not exist by default, so you need to create it before you can start adding your preferences. In almost all cases, edits made using the user.js can be done via about:config, which is the recommended method.

Windows users: If you know how to create a file, just skip this section. Before you can create the file, you must make sure that you can see the file type extensions in Windows. Start Explorer (just click on the My Computer icon on your desktop) and select Tools > Folder Options.... Click the View tab and uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types option. Now, go to your profile folder and select File > New > Text Document. The default name New Text Document.txt should be displayed. Change the name to user.js (click Yes on the file type warning that appears).

Linux users: I assume that you know how to create a file if you're running Linux. Just create user.js in your profile folder.

Information from mozilla.org

Firefox tips and triks 1.

Browser Appearance
Use your own background image for the toolbars
In addition to changing themes, you can personalize Firefox even more by using your own toolbar background image. Add the following code to your userChrome.css file:

/* Use a background image for the toolbars:
(Substitute your image file for background.gif) */

menubar, toolbox, toolbar, .tabbrowser-tabs {
background-image: url("background.gif") !important;
background-color: none !important;
}

It's easiest to place the image file in the same location as the userChrome.css file. The image can be of any image format supported by Firefox.

Don't use bold text on the active tab

If you don't want the title of the active tab to be bold, add the following code to your userChrome.css file:

/* Make the active tab not bold */
tab[selected="true"] {
font-weight: normal !important;
}

Customize the display and location of the close tab button in the tab bar

You can customize the display and location of the close tab button in the tab bar by using about:config to edit the preference browser.tabs.closeButtons. Values:

0

Display a close button on the active tab only

1

(Default) Display close buttons on all tabs

2

Don't display any close buttons

3

Display a single close button at the end of the tab bar (Firefox 1.x behavior)

Remove items from the main menu

Some people like to place all their toolbar items on the same row as the menu. In order to save horizontal space, you can remove top menu items that you don't use. Add the following code to your userChrome.css file:

/* Remove the Go and Help menus
Id's for all toplevel menus:
file-menu, edit-menu, view-menu, go-menu, bookmarks-menu, tools-menu, helpMenu */
#go-menu, #helpMenu {
display: none !important;
}

Remove extra padding from the Navigation Toolbar

This tip will make the toolbars use less space around the buttons, allowing Firefox to use more space for the actual web pages. This also affects additional toolbars such as the Googlebar. Add the following code to your userChrome.css file:

/* Remove extra padding from the Navigation Bar */
.toolbarbutton-1, .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button {
padding: 2px 3px !important;
}
.toolbarbutton-1[checked="true"], .toolbarbutton-1[open="true"],
.toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[checked="true"],
.toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[open="true"] {
padding: 4px 1px 1px 4px !important;
}

Change the window icon

You can change Firefox's default window icon to any icon you want, by following these steps:

1. Go to the folder you installed Firefox in (e.g. C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\) and then go to the subfolder chrome.
2. While in chrome, create a new subfolder called icons, then go to that folder and create yet another subfolder called default. The full path to this folder could be C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\icons\default\.
3. Choose the icon you want to use (on Windows use .ico files, on Linux use .xpm files) and then place it in this folder and rename it to main-window.[ext], e.g. main-window.ico on Windows and main-window.xpm on Linux.

In addition to the main window, you can also change the icon on the Bookmark Manager and JavaScript Console. The icon names are bookmark-window.[ext] and jsconsoleWindow.[ext], respectively.

After this is done, restart Firefox and you should be able to see your chosen icon in the title of the browser windows.

Display Sidebar on the right

To display the Sidebar on the right side of the window instead of the left, add the following code to your userChrome.css file:

/* Place the sidebar on the right edge of the window  */
hbox#browser { direction: rtl; }
hbox#browser > vbox { direction: ltr; }

Change the width of the Search Bar

By default, the Search bar on the toolbar is relatively small. To specify your own width in pixels, add the following code to your userChrome.css file:

/* Make the Search box flex wider
(in this case 400 pixels wide) */
#search-container, #searchbar {
max-width: 400px !important;
width: 400px !important;
}

Information from mozilla.org

Firefox extensions.AdBlock Plus.

AdBlock Plus is a killer for banners and other unwanted content. Saves a bunch of nerves!=) After installation of Adblok you can select a subscription (automatically updated list of filters)-after installation and rebooting Firefox in window click "Add another subscription "-->select subscription you want and click "Subscribe". After that, you can block elements of pages by clicking on the right mouse button and selecting "AdBlock Plus: image block (or object). Feel free to replace parts of the banner’s address by wildcards (* — the star symbol) to make the filter block other banners with similar addresses as well. For more information you can read Writing Adblock Plus filters.

About Firefox additions

Additions it is the small modules changing either supplementing appearance or functionality Firefox. There are two kinds of additions: extensions and themes.

Extensions add new functionality in Firefox. They can add anything you like from the button on the control panel up to absolutely new functionality. They allow to adjust (set up) the application according to personal inquiries of each user, allowing to reduce to a minimum the size of the application.

Themes change Firefox appearance. They allow you to change a kind and interface of Firefox, adjusting them according to your needs. The theme can simply change appearance of buttons or it can change Firefox appearance completely.


Happens, that extension is not compatible to the current version of a browser. You can correct it in the different ways:
1. To install extension Nightly Tester Tools and in its options to allow to install incompatible extensions and to make extension compatible to the current version of Firefox.
2. To type in an address line about:config , in Filter to type extensions.checkCompatibility and change value of parameter on false. Or to add in a file user.js of profile a line

// Switching-off of check of compatibility of expansions
user_pref ("extensions.checkCompatibility", false);

Unfortunatelly some incompatible extensions can work incorrectly.

Firefox profiles

Mozilla Firefox stores all personal information of the user, such as bookmarks, cookies, passwords, expansions, magazine of visitings, themes, a cache and adjustments in a unique profile. At first start Firefox the profile by default is created, additional profiles can be created by Profile manager. The adjustments forming a profile are stored in a special folder on your computer, named Profile folder.

The Profile folder is located:

Windows 95/98/ME C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\
or C:\Windows\Profiles\\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\

Windows NT 4.x C:\Winnt\Profiles\\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\

Windows 2000/XP C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\ или %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\

Windows Vista C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\

Unix ~/.mozilla/firefox//

Mac OS X ~/Library/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles// или ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles//

Information from wiki.mozilla-russia.org

My Firefox

Why I have decided to do blog about Firefox? Because for me it is the best browser for today to conformity to standards, security, expansibility. In this blog there will be news about Firefox, the description of various adjustments and expansions of FF, useful advice and references, and also the information on other products of Mozilla.

Picture taken here