Firefox 4 -- how to fix annoyances in UI

Darren Dirt · March 23, 2011, 09:34:55 AM

http://lifehacker.com/5784783/how-to-fix-annoyances-with-firefox-4s-new-look
in case anyone has upgraded and is put off by the signficant changes in the new look.

Lazybones · March 23, 2011, 09:50:38 AM

More change hate... I think you are getting old...

Melbosa · March 23, 2011, 09:55:07 AM

LOL Lazy... you read my mind.

Darren Dirt · March 23, 2011, 10:06:27 AM

I don't hate change.

But I am skeptical of "change for the sake of change".

I haven't installed FF4 yet, but the visual changes in the LH article do seem a bit odd, at least some of them. Might be a solid reason behind them, but luckily FF includes easy configuration options to return things the way most people are used to having them. M$ could learn something from that.

and yes, I am getting older and am mortal. So are you. Deal with it. :raspberry:

Mr. Analog · March 23, 2011, 10:13:06 AM

If they made Firebug for Chrome I don't even think I'd have FF installed at all, they lost me at 3

Hah, reading some comments regarding FF4 I guess a lot of extensions are broken, guess that's the downside to extensions

Darren Dirt · March 23, 2011, 10:35:34 AM

Quote from: Mr. Analog on March 23, 2011, 10:13:06 AM
If they made Firebug for Chrome I don't even think I'd have FF installed at all, they lost me at 3

Hah, reading some comments regarding FF4 I guess a lot of extensions are broken, guess that's the downside to extensions

Firebug lite for Chrome. I swear by it.

http://getfirebug.com/releases/lite/chrome/

missing a few features, but incredibly handy for most things a developer, or a techie web surfer, likes/needs to do.

Mr. Analog · March 23, 2011, 10:39:46 AM

Quote from: Darren Dirt on March 23, 2011, 10:35:34 AM
Quote from: Mr. Analog on March 23, 2011, 10:13:06 AM
If they made Firebug for Chrome I don't even think I'd have FF installed at all, they lost me at 3

Hah, reading some comments regarding FF4 I guess a lot of extensions are broken, guess that's the downside to extensions

Firebug lite for Chrome. I swear by it.

http://getfirebug.com/releases/lite/chrome/

missing a few features, but incredibly handy for most things a developer, or a techie web surfer, likes/needs to do.

You know I played with it a while ago and found there was some stuff missing that I needed, I should check it out again.

But yeah! I dumped FF back in the 3.x cycle because I found that it was just so effing slow all the time (even stripped down). Likely I will upgrade to 4 to see what it's like but I'm not expecting miracles.

Lazybones · March 23, 2011, 10:52:31 AM

Quote from: Darren Dirt on March 23, 2011, 10:06:27 AM
I don't hate change.

Quote from: Darren Dirt on March 23, 2011, 10:06:27 AM
I haven't installed FF4 yet,

Haven't installed it, haven't tried it, haven't tried living with the new model for at least a week... No hate there.

FYI for Firefox 4 I highly recommend you backup your bookmarks, uninstal the previous version go into the app data folder and delete the mozilla folder and start clean... Some previous FF3.x hacks I had carried over, even though I had set remove setting when I removed 3.x. Starting clean on 4 makes a big difference... If you installed the bookmark sync plugin in during 3.x you should be able to re-import everything and sync back up.

Still using Chrome, however I have FF4 and IE 9 running as well.. I jump between them a little to try them out... FF plugins seem to be more powerful than Chrome plugins still so once 4 has been out for a while I might go FF 4 full time again.

Mr. Analog · March 23, 2011, 11:00:50 AM

How is it for speed?

I know FF3 was butt slow starting up and had real trouble on script-heavy pages.

Lazybones · March 23, 2011, 01:18:53 PM

Launch time to the start page is similar to that of chrome.. The UI takes a little longer to load but the search page is instant, where chromes UI loads instantly then delays showing its dashboard... Total time to load is about the same... AGAIN I cleared ALL legacy settings and plugins prior to installing.. Currently running only AdBlock Plus and its helpers along with IE tab, so I have very few extensions loaded.

Also as IE 9 has taught me make sure you go to add remove programs and remove the skype toolbar plugins, the slow down all of the browsers.

Mr. Analog · March 23, 2011, 02:25:25 PM

Yes, how I loathe the Skype toolbar...

Lazybones · March 24, 2011, 03:14:21 PM

FYI to give the new browsers a fare test, I gave xmarks.com a try. It has a sync plugin for all of the big browsers and works very well... Too bad that Mozilla sync only works with Firefox and Chromes google sync only works with chrome.

xmarks has some interesting features:
- Full SSL option
- host your own server
- sync tabs
- Force override of the local bookmarks or the server bookmarks (essential for first time installs) Chrome was my primary so I first setup the server with it, then forced an override of local boomarks in IE and Firefox.. This avoided syncing those default bookmarks all the browsers come with.
-Profiles (don't sync your personal bookmarks with your work computer for example.)