MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Firefox 3 and Extensions You can't live without

DMcCunney · 06-14-2008, 09:56 PM

I run FF3 RC2 as my "production" browser. the biggest challenge was finding updates to my preferred extensions that worked on it.

Back in the FF 1.X days, I had an "Everything including the kitchen sink" profile that loaded 115 extensions. It was mostly a test to see if I could, and it actually worked. It did take 45 seconds to load and initialize...

These days, I'm a lot more minimalist, and periodically look at what I have installed and ask "Am I actually using this one?". If not, I uninstall it.

My current selection is the following, with some commentary: (Click on the extension name to visit the home page.)
Enabled Extensions: [17]
- All-in-One Sidebar 0.7.5
Enhanced functionality for the Sidebar, including hide/reveal and integration of other functions, like displaying Add-0ns and Downloads in the sidebar.

- Better Gmail 2 0.5
A collection of tweaks for GMail, based on a combo of several other extensions.

- CustomizeGoogle 0.72
A collection of tweaks for Google.

- CuteMenus - Crystal SVG 1.8.2.1
Icons for just about every menu item in Firefox.

- Dict 0.6.71
Access to dict servers. Highlight a word, right click, select Define, and get a definition back from your preferred dict server.

- Firebug 1.2.0b3
JavaScript console on steroids, with comprehensive debugging facilities. (My employer is a streaming video shop, and everyone uses it in development.)

- Gmail Notifier 0.6.3.4.1
A notifier for new GMail, with auto-login ability.

- Greasemonkey 0.8.20080609.0
Allows you to run arbitrary JavaScript (known as UserScripts) on pages loaded into the browser. UserScripts can be specific to pages, domains, or global, and are triggered when the page is loaded.

- Image Zoom 0.3.1
Image zoom control I wish was built into FF to begin with.

- MR Tech Toolkit 6.0a29
An extension to help manage extensions and themes. Includes the ability to automatically save a local copy of the XPI when you install a these or extension. This list was produced with it.

- NoScript 1.6.9
Security tool for Firefox. Blocks all Javascript execution, unless the site is in a whitelist you maintain. Can also block Java, Flash, and Silverlight.

- Prism for Firefox 0.2
A utility to generate shortcuts that can run a desired web page in Prism.

- Sage-Too 1.0.0
My preferred RSS reader extension.

- SpiderZilla 1.6.0
A utility to download websites using httrack (included in the extension). Go to a page, select Tools/Download this website, and a mirror of the page and links from is is created on your local drive.

- Stylish 0.5.7
Greasemonkey for CSS. Allows you to apply arbitrary CSS rules (called USerStyles) to pages, domains, or globally. Changes are seen immediately, and don't require a browser restart.

- Tab Mix Plus 0.3.6.1.080416
Comprehensive control over tab functions. If you want to force everything to open in a new FF tab, Tab Mix Plus is your friend.

- Web Developer 1.1.6
A comprehensive set of tools for web developers, including links to code validators to check syntax and standards compliance.

A few notes on the above:
One of the problems with Firefox updates is extensions that don't work. Often, the extension will work, but FF doesn't know that. Each extension includes an install file that tells FF what to do with it, and the install file has fields which contain the oldest and newest version of FF the extension works with. A new version of FF may be released, but the extension developer hasn't updated the install file. The extension will work, but the FF version is outside the range specified in the install file, and FF says "incompatible" and won't install it. The MR Tech Toolkit lets you disable version checking when installing an extension, so you can install extensions FF thinks aren't compatible. They may actually be incompatible if FF has changed enough (FF3 changed some APIs and broke some older extensions), but you can at least test them and use them if they do work.

Lost of folks like AdBlock Plus. I don't. I use Stylish and custom CSS instead. Part of AdBlock is "Filterset P", a set of custom CSS rules that defines various things as adds. Things defined in Filterset P simply aren't rendered by Firefox when the page is displayed. AdBlock goes farther, actively scanning the page for things that might be ads and letting you further define things, as wll as blocking ad content from being downloaded in the first place. I have a fast broadband connection, and don't care about the bandwidth. I do care about the additional overhead involved in actively scanning every page. I'm not interested in eliminating all ads (especially those relevant to what I'm doing.) I simply want to clean up ad heavy sites toi make them readable. Stylish enables Filterset P, and the CSS does fine.

One of the core components of Firefox is the Gecko rendering engine. Gecko is used by all Mozilla products, including FF, Thunderbird, Sunbird, SeaMonkey and NVU, and a copy is included with each program. Gecko understands and renders HTML and CSS and interprets JavaScript. It also understands and renders XUL (pronounced "zool"), and XML language for creating user interfaces. When you run FF, the program you see on your screen is defined by XUL, CSS, and graphic elements, with JavaScript providing the functionality.

One of the current efforts by Mozilla's developers is to break out teh Gecko engine as a stand-alone runtime called XUL Runner. Instead of have Gecko included with every Mozilla program, you would have one copy, and Firefox would simply be an instance of something it rendered. This will make it possible for Gecko to underlie things that aren't browsers. There are already a few programs based on Gecko, like the Songbird cross-platform media player, and ActiveState's Komodo programmer's IDE. This will make that simpler.

One of the fruits of the effort is Prism, a lightweight version of Gecko designed designed to render specific pages. The extension mentioned above creates a shortcut on your desktop for the page you use it on, letting you click the shortcut and view the page without the overhead of the full browser. I use it here to display my router's config page and to open up GMail, without having to run full FF3 to do it. See http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/10/prism/ for more Prism info and downloads.

One annoyance with FF3: in FF3, Mozilla moved away from bookmarks.html, and went to an sqlite database called places.sqlite as the container for bookmarks. This broke an important feature for me. I have multiple Firefox profiles defined, as well as installed versions of SeaMonkey and Netscape. I want them all to use the same bookmarks file, so adds and changes I make in one browser show in the others. In FF2 and before, that was easy. Firefox kept the location of the bookmarks file on the prefs.js file in the profile directory. Prefs.js is maintained by the browser and should not be manually edited. If a user.js file exists in the profile directory, things defined in it will override what is in prefs.js. A one-line user.js file, copied into each profile directory, specifying the bookmarks file I want to use did the trick. (Things could get hairy if I had more than one browser active at once - which wins when an update is made? -- but in practice, I don't do that.)

FF3 provides no way to specify a copy of places.sqlite to use, and the Mozilla devs have no intention of addressing this. Since I run XP, with NTFS 5, I have a work around: I can create a hard link in each profile directory to the desired places.sqlite file. The same can be done in Linux. But it's a PITA to have to, and requires technical knowledge most users wont have. Ah, well.
______
Dennis

06-14-2008, 09:56 PM	#26
DMcCunney New York Editor Posts: 6,384 Karma: 16540415 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7	I run FF3 RC2 as my "production" browser. the biggest challenge was finding updates to my preferred extensions that worked on it. Back in the FF 1.X days, I had an "Everything including the kitchen sink" profile that loaded 115 extensions. It was mostly a test to see if I could, and it actually worked. It did take 45 seconds to load and initialize... These days, I'm a lot more minimalist, and periodically look at what I have installed and ask "Am I actually using this one?". If not, I uninstall it. My current selection is the following, with some commentary: (Click on the extension name to visit the home page.) Enabled Extensions: [17] - All-in-One Sidebar 0.7.5 Enhanced functionality for the Sidebar, including hide/reveal and integration of other functions, like displaying Add-0ns and Downloads in the sidebar. - Better Gmail 2 0.5 A collection of tweaks for GMail, based on a combo of several other extensions. - CustomizeGoogle 0.72 A collection of tweaks for Google. - CuteMenus - Crystal SVG 1.8.2.1 Icons for just about every menu item in Firefox. - Dict 0.6.71 Access to dict servers. Highlight a word, right click, select Define, and get a definition back from your preferred dict server. - Firebug 1.2.0b3 JavaScript console on steroids, with comprehensive debugging facilities. (My employer is a streaming video shop, and everyone uses it in development.) - Gmail Notifier 0.6.3.4.1 A notifier for new GMail, with auto-login ability. - Greasemonkey 0.8.20080609.0 Allows you to run arbitrary JavaScript (known as UserScripts) on pages loaded into the browser. UserScripts can be specific to pages, domains, or global, and are triggered when the page is loaded. - Image Zoom 0.3.1 Image zoom control I wish was built into FF to begin with. - MR Tech Toolkit 6.0a29 An extension to help manage extensions and themes. Includes the ability to automatically save a local copy of the XPI when you install a these or extension. This list was produced with it. - NoScript 1.6.9 Security tool for Firefox. Blocks all Javascript execution, unless the site is in a whitelist you maintain. Can also block Java, Flash, and Silverlight. - Prism for Firefox 0.2 A utility to generate shortcuts that can run a desired web page in Prism. - Sage-Too 1.0.0 My preferred RSS reader extension. - SpiderZilla 1.6.0 A utility to download websites using httrack (included in the extension). Go to a page, select Tools/Download this website, and a mirror of the page and links from is is created on your local drive. - Stylish 0.5.7 Greasemonkey for CSS. Allows you to apply arbitrary CSS rules (called USerStyles) to pages, domains, or globally. Changes are seen immediately, and don't require a browser restart. - Tab Mix Plus 0.3.6.1.080416 Comprehensive control over tab functions. If you want to force everything to open in a new FF tab, Tab Mix Plus is your friend. - Web Developer 1.1.6 A comprehensive set of tools for web developers, including links to code validators to check syntax and standards compliance. A few notes on the above: One of the problems with Firefox updates is extensions that don't work. Often, the extension will work, but FF doesn't know that. Each extension includes an install file that tells FF what to do with it, and the install file has fields which contain the oldest and newest version of FF the extension works with. A new version of FF may be released, but the extension developer hasn't updated the install file. The extension will work, but the FF version is outside the range specified in the install file, and FF says "incompatible" and won't install it. The MR Tech Toolkit lets you disable version checking when installing an extension, so you can install extensions FF thinks aren't compatible. They may actually be incompatible if FF has changed enough (FF3 changed some APIs and broke some older extensions), but you can at least test them and use them if they do work. Lost of folks like AdBlock Plus. I don't. I use Stylish and custom CSS instead. Part of AdBlock is "Filterset P", a set of custom CSS rules that defines various things as adds. Things defined in Filterset P simply aren't rendered by Firefox when the page is displayed. AdBlock goes farther, actively scanning the page for things that might be ads and letting you further define things, as wll as blocking ad content from being downloaded in the first place. I have a fast broadband connection, and don't care about the bandwidth. I do care about the additional overhead involved in actively scanning every page. I'm not interested in eliminating all ads (especially those relevant to what I'm doing.) I simply want to clean up ad heavy sites toi make them readable. Stylish enables Filterset P, and the CSS does fine. One of the core components of Firefox is the Gecko rendering engine. Gecko is used by all Mozilla products, including FF, Thunderbird, Sunbird, SeaMonkey and NVU, and a copy is included with each program. Gecko understands and renders HTML and CSS and interprets JavaScript. It also understands and renders XUL (pronounced "zool"), and XML language for creating user interfaces. When you run FF, the program you see on your screen is defined by XUL, CSS, and graphic elements, with JavaScript providing the functionality. One of the current efforts by Mozilla's developers is to break out teh Gecko engine as a stand-alone runtime called XUL Runner. Instead of have Gecko included with every Mozilla program, you would have one copy, and Firefox would simply be an instance of something it rendered. This will make it possible for Gecko to underlie things that aren't browsers. There are already a few programs based on Gecko, like the Songbird cross-platform media player, and ActiveState's Komodo programmer's IDE. This will make that simpler. One of the fruits of the effort is Prism, a lightweight version of Gecko designed designed to render specific pages. The extension mentioned above creates a shortcut on your desktop for the page you use it on, letting you click the shortcut and view the page without the overhead of the full browser. I use it here to display my router's config page and to open up GMail, without having to run full FF3 to do it. See http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/10/prism/ for more Prism info and downloads. One annoyance with FF3: in FF3, Mozilla moved away from bookmarks.html, and went to an sqlite database called places.sqlite as the container for bookmarks. This broke an important feature for me. I have multiple Firefox profiles defined, as well as installed versions of SeaMonkey and Netscape. I want them all to use the same bookmarks file, so adds and changes I make in one browser show in the others. In FF2 and before, that was easy. Firefox kept the location of the bookmarks file on the prefs.js file in the profile directory. Prefs.js is maintained by the browser and should not be manually edited. If a user.js file exists in the profile directory, things defined in it will override what is in prefs.js. A one-line user.js file, copied into each profile directory, specifying the bookmarks file I want to use did the trick. (Things could get hairy if I had more than one browser active at once - which wins when an update is made? -- but in practice, I don't do that.) FF3 provides no way to specify a copy of places.sqlite to use, and the Mozilla devs have no intention of addressing this. Since I run XP, with NTFS 5, I have a work around: I can create a hard link in each profile directory to the desired places.sqlite file. The same can be done in Linux. But it's a PITA to have to, and requires technical knowledge most users wont have. Ah, well. ______ Dennis