Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
May 6, 2007

Volume 2, Number 47 — Sunday, May 6, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

3.  Firefox Customizations

Firefox, my web browser of choice (which ouught to be yours, too — ) has a very large number of possible customizations. You can install Firefox Add-on's (previously called Extensions) to add additional functions or revised functions to firefox. You can also customize Firefox by adding additional Themes. A theme can change the look of the Firefox windows and dialog boxes. It can also change the look of Firefox's icons on its toolbar. This week, reader Valerie Mitchell wrote about some problems she was having with Firefox — and with the screenshots that I had shown in a recent newsletter. Hers were different...

Hi Terry. Was trying to adjust my cache as per your recent news letter. I've never been able to figure out why your toolbar on Firefox looks different than mine. As you can see from the screen shot of mine (attachment)....my privacy button doesn't look like yours and does not give me the same options as yours. I have the latest version of FF 2.03.
Do you know why this is?
Thanx Terry
v.mitchell

Valerie sent this screenshot of her Firefox Options dialog box for me to see. Compare that with the standard theme and you'll see how it as immediately confusing...

(click on the image for a larger version)

(click on the image for a larger version)

I wrote back to Valerie to tell her that I use the default Firefox theme. Since she had a black background, that's a good hint that she had changed her theme. The button shapes are part of the themes, which can also change the dialog boxes' looks in Firefox's own internal dialog boxes.

To change themes, open the Add-ons dialog box (on the Firefox menu bar, select Tools and then Add-ons. At the top are two buttons for selection — Extensions and Themes.

It's easy to keep your favorite Add-ons up-to-date. When Firefox starts, it checks to see if there's a newer version of Firefox available. It also checks to see if there are updated versions of the installed Add-ons.

If either a newer version of Firefox or a newer version of an installed add-on is available, Firefox gives you a chance to install it.

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4.  My Favorite Firefox Add-On's (Firefox Extensions)

The standard version of Firefox 2 is an improvement over Internet Explorer, in my opinion. When they add the ability for me to pick and choose any number of Add-ons for additional functions, I think it is a great improvement.

The Mozilla web site (mozilla.org) hosts a large number of independently developed add-ons for Firefox.

To find Add-ons, your first step is to open the Add-ons dialog box in Firefox. You'll find it via the Firefox menu bar, then Tools, Add-ons.

Some add-ons that I use are useful for almost any type of user:

• Google Photos Screensaver - allows you to add feeds to the Google Photos Screensaver through the Firefox right-click menu.
• Image Zoom - adds zoom functionality for images (I use this frequently)
• OpenBook - allows for customization of the Add Bookmark dialog box.
• Tab Mix Plus - one of my favorite Firefox extensions. I used a different tab extension until Clif (Clif's Notes Newsletter) told me about Tab Mix Plus
• TinyURL Creator - easy access to the tinyurl.com site's tool for creating small URLs to replace long ones

A lot of the add-ons that I use are related to web design. These are:

• Colorzilla - Advanced eyedropper, color picker, page zoomer and more
• DOM Inspector - inspects the structure and properties of a window and its contents
• Live HTTP Headers - view HTTP headers of a page and while browsing
• Search Status - display the Google PageRank and Alexa ranking with search-related tools
• SEO for Firefox - SEO Information inline with Google and Yahoo! search results
• Squidoo - an extension fro Squidoo Lensmasters
• View Source Chart - one of my most recent finds, this creates a colorful chart to help with understanding a web page's source code
• Web Developer - indispensible! Plenty of tools in one easy-to-use toolbar.
• Whois - get the whois data on domains - who owns them, etc.

That's the list of Firefox Add-ons / Firefox Extensions that I have installed.

If you're using Firefox, give some of these a try. If you're not using Firefox, get it!

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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Volume 2, Number 47 — Sunday, May 6, 2007

Copyright © 2007 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.