Become a Net Goddess: make Firefox Do Your Will
I’ve been an enthusiastic advocate of Firefox for several years, and it was really, really infuriating when the release of FF 4 turned out to be such a faceplant. As many of you undoubtedly know, when you install Firefox 4, it looks like an insane nightmare force has rearranged a beloved browser and hidden all the important controls. (Actually, it looks like Chrome. I don’t use Chrome. If I wanted Chrome, I would already be using it, get that, Mozilla?)
I installed the thing earlier this year, shrieked with horror, and then reverted it. I finally re-installed the sidegrade (not an upgrade) last month - after locating a reliable set of instructions on how to make Firefox 4 look and act (almost entirely) like Firefox 3.6.
So I thought I’d share. *g*
First step: bookmark this page: http://www.computertechtips.net/64/make-firefox-4-look-like-ff-3-6/
It’s my source for most of these directions. It includes screencaps and helpful stuff; if my directions get you lost, grab that bookmark and go follow his.
Second step: go to the Help menu and download the new version. Install it. Grit your teeth. Start your browser. Fear not, the horror will only last a short time.
Fix the tabs and bars:
- Up in the blank space by the menu bar, right-click. You’ll get a context menu that says ‘Menu bar’ on the top and ‘Customize’ on the bottom. If you don’t get that menu, move your cursor around and keep right-clicking until you do.
Make sure that these items are checked:
Menu bar
Navigation Toolbar
Bookmarks Toolbar
Add-on Bar
Uncheck ‘Tabs on Top’. Very important.
Now, go to the Tools menu and select ‘Add-ons’. A tab will open, called the Add-ons Manager. Select the top item on the left, where it says ‘Get Add-ons’.
You’ll see a box on the upper right, that says ‘Search all add-ons’. One at a time, type (or copy and paste) the following items into this Search box:
Status 4 evar
Back forward dropmarker
Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4
Popup ALT attribute
Type one in, search for it, select it, install it. Don’t restart your browser every time you add one! It’s not necessary. Load them all, then restart once. Yes, you get a little dialogue box after each one, asking to restart. Dismiss it! Tell it 'later', like a cranky child. Unlike a cranky child, it will listen.
When you search for this one: Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4 -- this is not the same as Firefox 3 Aero theme for Firefox 4. This will make the browser look the same as before in terms of colour scheme; if that doesn’t matter to you, skip it. Personally, I’m fed up with having gratuitous changes in appearance stuffed down my throat, so there.
If you aren’t already using these next items, I encourage, nay beg you to add them too:
Adblock Plus
Flashblock
Lazarus Form Recovery
Once all that is loaded, restart your browser.
If you just installed Adblock Plus for the first time, you’ll get a tab asking you to add a ‘subscription’. Choose EasyList. This add-on will block most ads from appearing in the browser; the subscription will keep it reasonably up to date as new companies surface with new ads. Not only will the browser be less cluttered, you’re now blocking the #1 vector for computer infections. Easy, eh?
Final step, with the browser reopened:
Go back to that right-click menu (which should be easier to find, now that the menu bar is in the right place). Select ‘Customize’ at the bottom of the menu.
This does two things: it opens a screen with a bunch of added controls that you can drag and drop into the browser toolbar, and - this is the biggie - it allows you to drag and reposition the existing controls.
Depending on what version of Firefox you’ve got, the Reload (blue arrow circle), Stop (red X) and Home (yellow house) buttons will probably be over to the right on the toolbar. One at a time, grab the, drag them, and drop them over on the left, where they used to be. If you ‘lose’ one, it should appear on the Customize Toolbar palette, and you can grab it again and drag it into place.
Very important: from that Customize Toolbar palette, grab the Flexible Space button and drop it between the Reload (blue arrow circle) and Stop (red X) buttons. If you don’t, they fold up into each other.
I also like to put my Adblock and Flashblock buttons all the way over to the right of the toolbar.
Before you close this view: make sure the little + sign for a ‘New tab’ is where it belongs, to the right of the last tab in the browser. If it isn’t there, look for it way over to the left; grab it and drag it back into place. You may need to drop it all the way over to the right, in which case it will settle into place when you’ve finished customizing.
Finished customizing? Close the Customize Toolbar palette.
Your browser should look a lot less alien now. :-)
Details on what each add-in does:
Status 4 evar - restores the Status bar, at the bottom of the browser
Back forward dropmarker - restores the little arrows on the Back and Forward buttons
Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4 - restores the colour scheme, especially for the controls and icons
Popup ALT attribute - allows you to see mai hilarious mouseover text on LOLMac (and xkcd, etc.)
Adblock Plus - blocks ads! YES!!
Flashblock - blocks Flash items from automatically playing, replacing them with a little button with the letter ‘f’ on it. Click the ‘f’ button to play the Flash item.
Lazarus Form Recovery - can (usually) recover stuff you’ve typed into online forms, if/when your browser crashes or freezes. This includes Long Epic Comments in LJ! The data is stored locally - you aren’t sharing your personal information with the world. Well, unless it’s in the comment and you post it.
I've done this upgrade-and-configure on a dozen computers so far, and it takes me about three minutes at most now. I hope it will be as easy for you.
If you try to follow these directions and find that I've been opaque, please let me know so I can fix the instructions. And hey, if it works, let me know that too, so we can bask together in teh awesome.
'Beth
ETA on Flashblock: You can configure it so that it will allow Flash to play, without intervention, on a given page or site. I have mine set to allow Flash to play at will on ff.net, because the stats pages run on Flash.
I installed the thing earlier this year, shrieked with horror, and then reverted it. I finally re-installed the sidegrade (not an upgrade) last month - after locating a reliable set of instructions on how to make Firefox 4 look and act (almost entirely) like Firefox 3.6.
So I thought I’d share. *g*
First step: bookmark this page: http://www.computertechtips.net/64/make-firefox-4-look-like-ff-3-6/
It’s my source for most of these directions. It includes screencaps and helpful stuff; if my directions get you lost, grab that bookmark and go follow his.
Second step: go to the Help menu and download the new version. Install it. Grit your teeth. Start your browser. Fear not, the horror will only last a short time.
Fix the tabs and bars:
- Up in the blank space by the menu bar, right-click. You’ll get a context menu that says ‘Menu bar’ on the top and ‘Customize’ on the bottom. If you don’t get that menu, move your cursor around and keep right-clicking until you do.
Make sure that these items are checked:
Menu bar
Navigation Toolbar
Bookmarks Toolbar
Add-on Bar
Uncheck ‘Tabs on Top’. Very important.
Now, go to the Tools menu and select ‘Add-ons’. A tab will open, called the Add-ons Manager. Select the top item on the left, where it says ‘Get Add-ons’.
You’ll see a box on the upper right, that says ‘Search all add-ons’. One at a time, type (or copy and paste) the following items into this Search box:
Status 4 evar
Back forward dropmarker
Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4
Popup ALT attribute
Type one in, search for it, select it, install it. Don’t restart your browser every time you add one! It’s not necessary. Load them all, then restart once. Yes, you get a little dialogue box after each one, asking to restart. Dismiss it! Tell it 'later', like a cranky child. Unlike a cranky child, it will listen.
When you search for this one: Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4 -- this is not the same as Firefox 3 Aero theme for Firefox 4. This will make the browser look the same as before in terms of colour scheme; if that doesn’t matter to you, skip it. Personally, I’m fed up with having gratuitous changes in appearance stuffed down my throat, so there.
If you aren’t already using these next items, I encourage, nay beg you to add them too:
Adblock Plus
Flashblock
Lazarus Form Recovery
Once all that is loaded, restart your browser.
If you just installed Adblock Plus for the first time, you’ll get a tab asking you to add a ‘subscription’. Choose EasyList. This add-on will block most ads from appearing in the browser; the subscription will keep it reasonably up to date as new companies surface with new ads. Not only will the browser be less cluttered, you’re now blocking the #1 vector for computer infections. Easy, eh?
Final step, with the browser reopened:
Go back to that right-click menu (which should be easier to find, now that the menu bar is in the right place). Select ‘Customize’ at the bottom of the menu.
This does two things: it opens a screen with a bunch of added controls that you can drag and drop into the browser toolbar, and - this is the biggie - it allows you to drag and reposition the existing controls.
Depending on what version of Firefox you’ve got, the Reload (blue arrow circle), Stop (red X) and Home (yellow house) buttons will probably be over to the right on the toolbar. One at a time, grab the, drag them, and drop them over on the left, where they used to be. If you ‘lose’ one, it should appear on the Customize Toolbar palette, and you can grab it again and drag it into place.
Very important: from that Customize Toolbar palette, grab the Flexible Space button and drop it between the Reload (blue arrow circle) and Stop (red X) buttons. If you don’t, they fold up into each other.
I also like to put my Adblock and Flashblock buttons all the way over to the right of the toolbar.
Before you close this view: make sure the little + sign for a ‘New tab’ is where it belongs, to the right of the last tab in the browser. If it isn’t there, look for it way over to the left; grab it and drag it back into place. You may need to drop it all the way over to the right, in which case it will settle into place when you’ve finished customizing.
Finished customizing? Close the Customize Toolbar palette.
Your browser should look a lot less alien now. :-)
Details on what each add-in does:
Status 4 evar - restores the Status bar, at the bottom of the browser
Back forward dropmarker - restores the little arrows on the Back and Forward buttons
Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4 - restores the colour scheme, especially for the controls and icons
Popup ALT attribute - allows you to see mai hilarious mouseover text on LOLMac (and xkcd, etc.)
Adblock Plus - blocks ads! YES!!
Flashblock - blocks Flash items from automatically playing, replacing them with a little button with the letter ‘f’ on it. Click the ‘f’ button to play the Flash item.
Lazarus Form Recovery - can (usually) recover stuff you’ve typed into online forms, if/when your browser crashes or freezes. This includes Long Epic Comments in LJ! The data is stored locally - you aren’t sharing your personal information with the world. Well, unless it’s in the comment and you post it.
I've done this upgrade-and-configure on a dozen computers so far, and it takes me about three minutes at most now. I hope it will be as easy for you.
If you try to follow these directions and find that I've been opaque, please let me know so I can fix the instructions. And hey, if it works, let me know that too, so we can bask together in teh awesome.
'Beth
ETA on Flashblock: You can configure it so that it will allow Flash to play, without intervention, on a given page or site. I have mine set to allow Flash to play at will on ff.net, because the stats pages run on Flash.