Online business Toolkit

Ten tips for fine-tuning Firefox

Jack Wallen Tech Republic

Published: 05 Jun 2009 13:28 BST

...in all text boxes. Search for spellcheckdefaultand you should see:

layout.spellcheckDefault: Change this to 2

5. Open search-bar results in new tab

When you use the search bar, the results display in the current tab. This feature can be a nuisance because it navigates you away from your current page. To make sure Firefox always opens search results in a new tab, search for openintab and you should see:

browser.search.openintab: Change this to true

6. Auto-export bookmarks

In Firefox 3, bookmarks are automatically saved and exported for you. The only problem is that by default, they are saved as places.sqlite instead of the more convenient bookmarks.html. To change this setting so they can be easily reimported, search for autoExportHTML and you should see:

browser.bookmarks.autoExportHTML: Change this to true

7. Disable extension-install delay

One of the few gripes I have with Firefox is the silly countdown you must endure every time you want to install an extension. Fortunately, this feature can be disabled. Search for enable_delay and you should see:

security.dialog_enable_delay: Change this to 0

8. View source code in an external editor

When you need to view the source of a page, it opens up in a browser pop-up. Most developers would probably like to have that opened in their favourite editor instead of having to cut and paste. To do this, there are two entries to modify. Search for view_source.editor and you will see:

view_source.editor.external: Change this to true

view_source.editor.path: Change this to the explicit path to your editor of choice

9. Get more add-on search results

When you do a search in the Add-on window, you will see only five results. You might find it more efficient to increase this number. Search for getAddons and you should see:

extension.getAddons.maxResults: Change this to 10, or higher, if you want to see even more results

10. Redefine the backspace button

Did you know you can configure Firefox to use the backspace button to either go back a page or go up a page? This feature keeps power users from having to go back and forth from the keyboard to the mouse. Search for backspace and you will see:

browser.backspace_action: Change this to 0 for previous page and 1 for page up

Your turn
Do you have your own favourite hacks that make Firefox even more useful? If so, share them below.

Credit: 10 handy Firefox about:config hacks from TechRepublic.com