Diff: MozillaFirefoxNotes - Waikato Linux Users Group

Differences between version 30 and predecessor to the previous major change of MozillaFirefoxNotes.

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Newer page:	version 30	Last edited on Thursday, August 18, 2005 9:56:30 am	by CraigBox	Revert
Older page:	version 29	Last edited on Wednesday, January 5, 2005 3:29:36 pm	by AristotlePagaltzis	Revert

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@

-! !! Useful Extensions

+!! Useful Extensions

Some extensions you may find useful:

[Google Bar | http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=33]:

@@ -16,17 +16,17 @@

~TinyUrl brings the http://tinyurl.com functionality into your browser. It takes a long [URL] as input, and gives you a short [URL] to use in its place.

[Wikalong | http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=251]:

A roaming wiki embedded in the sidebar of your browser, indexed off the [URL] of your current page. It is probably most simply described as a wiki-margin for the Internet.

-! !! Magic Firefox startup script

+!! Magic Firefox startup script

See MozillaFirefoxStartupScript.

-! !! Hidden settings

+!! Hidden settings

If you type <tt>about:config</tt> into the address bar, you get a screen with all the browser settings and can change them by doubleclicking. Since 0.7, you can also filter the list to get at specific settings quicker.

-! !! Exploit your connection for faster browsing

+!! Exploit your connection for faster browsing

These settings should give you a boost by themselves:

* <tt>network.http.pipelining</tt>: true

@@ -45,21 +45,21 @@

With a fast connection to the server, pages should now render blazingly fast.

Note that this requires you to be on a fast connection. With a MoDem connection, too many simultaneous connections would be counterproductive. Pipelining is still beneficial, though, in fact, it will probably improve the browsing experience for MoDem users more than for those with broadband.

-! !! Tweaking the render delay

+!! Tweaking the render delay

-~~MozillaFirebird~~ often feels snappier than the [Mozilla] WebBrowser because it has the <tt>nglayout.initialpaint.delay</tt> option (see "Hidden settings" above) set to around 250ms, as opposed to [Mozilla]'s 500-1200ms. This controls the delay between receiving intial page data and repainting, and is designed to give the web page layout time to settle so it doesn't jump around. By setting it lower, ~~MozillaFirebird~~ feels slightly quicker than [Mozilla]. Some people set it to .

+Firefox often feels snappier than the [Mozilla] WebBrowser because it has the <tt>nglayout.initialpaint.delay</tt> option (see "Hidden settings" above) set to around 250ms, as opposed to [Mozilla]'s 500-1200ms. This controls the delay between receiving intial page data and repainting, and is designed to give the web page layout time to settle so it doesn't jump around. By setting it lower, Firefox feels slightly quicker than [Mozilla]. Some people set it to .

-! !! Restore plain (non-feeling lucky) [Google] search in the addressbar

+!! Restore plain (non-feeling lucky) [Google] search in the addressbar

Change the value of the <tt>keyword.URL</tt> setting (see "Hidden settings" above) to <tt>~http://www.google.com/search?&q=</tt>.

-! !! Have multiple home pages

+!! Have multiple home pages

In the preferences, specify URLS seperated by <tt>|</tt> characters. (You can do this in [Mozilla] too.) Note that you can get an empty tab by putting two seperators together.

-! !! The easy way to enable <tt>mailto:</tt> [URL] handling and vastly improve your Firefox experience

+!! The easy way to enable <tt>mailto:</tt> [URL] handling and vastly improve your Firefox experience

Install the [MozEx extension | http://mozex.mozdev.org/], bring up its options, enter the name of your [MUA] program in the appropriate box, possibly using %-expandos to pass the desired parameters in the desired locations, and enjoy life. Note that getting there takes some effort in versions past 0.8 -- the "official" [XPI] has not been adapted to the extension manager. You want to get the [repackaged MozEX 0.7 XPI from the Extensionmirror | http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/lofiversion/index.php/t70.html] instead.

You can also define handlers for several other common protocols and a catch-all handler for not specifically handled protocols. F.ex, if you aren't using a particular NewsReader, try putting

@@ -73,11 +73,11 @@

Any changes you make take effect immediately, without restarting the browser.

You can also define an external editor to be used for textareas in forms (invokable from the context menu in the textarea). That way you can bring the full power of [Vim] or [Emacs] to bear on web forms.

-! !! The hard way to enable <tt>mailto:</tt> [URL] handling

+!! The hard way to enable <tt>mailto:</tt> [URL] handling

-MozillaFirefox ~~(and Firebird)~~ don't have a working mailto handler out of the box, but this can be fixed by changing the <tt>network.protocol-handler.app.mailto</tt> setting. Its value should be the path to a helper script. The setting may not show up in <tt>about:config</tt> -- in that case, you have to place a line like <tt>user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.mailto", "/path/to/helper-script.sh");</tt> in the <tt>[user.js | http://www.mozilla.org/catalog/end-user/customizing/briefprefs.html ]</tt> file in your profile directory.

+Old versions of MozillaFirefox don't have a working mailto handler out of the box, but this can be fixed by changing the <tt>network.protocol-handler.app.mailto</tt> setting. Its value should be the path to a helper script. The setting may not show up in <tt>about:config</tt> -- in that case, you have to place a line like <tt>user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.mailto", "/path/to/helper-script.sh");</tt> in the <tt>[user.js | http://www.mozilla.org/catalog/end-user/customizing/briefprefs.html ]</tt> file in your profile directory.

In either case, you have to restart MozillaFirefox for the setting to take effect.

Here's a helper script which invokes MozillaThunderbird (Debian users will have to change "thunderbird" to "mozilla-thunderbird"):

@@ -100,4 +100,10 @@

</verbatim>