Web Browser News and Reviews » Firefox 3

Video: How to Disable Firefox 3 Extensions Compatibility Check

Ethan Piekarski — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:00:47 +0000

If you’re like me, you probably lost a few extensions during the upgrade to Firefox 3 because the original author simply disappeared and never updated his extensions, or perhaps you came up against a problem and all the solutions seem to point towards an extension incompatible with Firefox 3.

In either case, it’s very annoying not to be able to install or use the extensions that you want/need. This is when disabling the add-on compatibility check comes in handy. All it takes is adding one entry into your about:config, which I’ll show you in the video/steps below.

Watch Full Size Video in HD.

1. Go to about:config
2. Right click > new > boolean
3. Set the preference name to extensions.checkCompatibility and the value to false
4. Restart Firefox.

And there you go! No more extension compatibility checks. To make sure it’s working look for the warning that appears in your add-ons manager. I used this to allow me to install both Snaplinks and MIME edit.

Alternatively, you can install the Nightly Tester Tools extension and use its Force Install feature if you’re uncomfortable editing your about:config.

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Firefox 3 (3.1) vs. Google Chrome vs. Safari 3 vs. Opera 9.5 vs. Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) vs. Internet Explorer 7 (IE7)

Vygantas Lipskas — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:50:16 +0000

John Resig did a great job by comparing Firefox 3, Firefox 3.1, Google Chrome, Safari 3, Opera 9.5, Internet Explorer 8 and 7 JavaScript performance.

JavaScriptCore: The engine that powers Safari/WebKit (up until Safari 3.1).
SquirrelFish: The engine used by Safari 4.0.
V8: The engine used by Google Chrome.
SpiderMonkey: The engine that powers Firefox (up to, and including, Firefox 3.0).
TraceMonkey: The engine that will power Firefox 3.1 and newer (currently in nightlies, but disabled by default).
Futhark: The engine used in Opera 9.5 and newer.
IE JScript: The engine that powers Internet Explorer.

Feel free to check his post here.

Internet Explorer 8 Slices for Firefox 3

Vygantas Lipskas — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 08:04:46 +0000

Not so long time ago Microsoft introduces web slices feature for IE8. However, if you don’t want to use Internet Explorer 8 yet, there’s a Firefox 3 add-on which allows you to subscribe to any web page section. Add-on developers aren’t sleeping.

Download WebChunks.

Mozilla Firebug 1.2 Released

Vygantas Lipskas — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:37:20 +0000

Good news from the web developers. Firebug 1.2 Final is now released and can be downloaded here. As you may find out from the changelog, there were plenty of changes made.

What was changed?

== Enablement UI ==
* Disable always: when the Firebug UI is not active on any page, the debugger is disabled (minimal overhead)
* Instant on: when the Firebug UI is active, HTML, CSS, DOM views activate (minimal overhead)
* Script panel user-activation: initially disabled or enabled always
* Net panel user-activiation: initially disabled or enabled always
* Console panel user-activation: initially disabled or enabled always. Controls ShowXMLHTTPRequest, consoleListener
* Bug Icon gray unless some page has Script or Net panel activation
* Multipanel enablement.
* No Allowed-sites/Disable for Site: no longer needed.
* Suspend/Resume Firebug in status bar context menu
* List pages that enable Firebug on the Context menu tooltip.
The UI for this feature is being refined; overhead tests have not been completed.
We are interested in feedback on this UI change.

== Javascript Debugging ==
* Written/cleaned up eval support
* Performance on eval better, easier to support.
This feature is complete; Bug reports on javascript debugger welcome.

== Net Panel ==
* Net timing more accurate
* Only real network requests displayed.
* Limit for number of requests (configurable in preferences).
* Additional columns for: request method, status response + text
* Cache tab has expiration time in Net panel
* The Response tab has a hack to prevent extra requests to the server. Users must click on a button to force the request.
The hack will not be needed in the next release of Firebug.

== Console ==
* Redesigned to use events/attribute passing.
tests/console/joes-original/test.html mostly passes

== Command Line ==
* Redesigned to avoid using evalInSandbox.
tests/console/commandLineObjects.html mostly passes
commandLineAPI functions, ok.

== DOM Panel ==
Works for FF3pre after about 2008041406 (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=425139)

== Misc ==
Secure updates via signed update.rdf with xpi updateHash values.

== Localization ==
* Hu-hu by Zoltan Papp (issue 749)

And tons of the bug fixes.

Mozilla Firebug or Opera Dragonfly, what’s your choise?

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How to Speed Up Firefox?

Vygantas Lipskas — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:04:48 +0000

Here is a great tip from shashank on how to make Firefox 10 times faster.

1. Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit enter. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”

set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

Source

Change Firefox Theme Color Scheme

Vygantas Lipskas — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:31:51 +0000

Are you tired of your current Firefox skin? It’s so well made that you just don’t want to change it with any other one? How about a small modification?

With Firefox add-on AnyColor 0.2.0 you can change Firefox 3 theme color scheme.

As it says:
A dynamic theme that lets you customize its appearance on the fly.

Visit AnyColor 0.2.0 Add-on Page

Via FirefoxFacts

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9 Firefox 3 Location Bar Tweaks

Vygantas Lipskas — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:43:26 +0000

Time for some tips and tricks. Percy Cabello wrote a great article on how you can tweak your location bar. For example: make autocomplete menu show only typed addresses and not visited or bookmarked, how to change the number of suggestions displayed in the autocomplete menu and more.

If you want to play with Firefox 3 location bar a bit, this can help you a lot.

Firefox 3 Final Released

Vygantas Lipskas — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:21:02 +0000

As promised by Firefox team, its newest version was just released. There were a lot of pleasant changes since Firefox 2. Gecko 1.9 (web rendering platform on which Firefox 3 is based) received more than 14 000 updates, as a result: its performance as well as stability was improved. Most important, memory usage was reduced and a lot of memory leaks were fixed.
Firefox 3 also includes various security updates, malware Protection, upgraded download manager, plugin management, platform integration (new look), and much more.

For a complete list of changes, check “What’s New in Firefox 3” page.

To sum it up, Firefox 3 is:

More Secure
Easier to Use
More Personal
Has Improved Platform for Developers
and Improved Performance

Download Firefox 3 Final.

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Firefox 3 Release Candidate 3 (RC3) Released, Firefox Final Soon to Come

Vygantas Lipskas — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:16:03 +0000

The third Firefox 3 Release Candidate is now released and available for download. It contains a single change for Mac OS X users only; there is no change for users running previous Firefox Release Candidate versions on Windows or Linux.

Also, Firefox 3 Final will be released on Tuesday, June 17th.

Firefox 3 vs. Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) vs. Safari 3.1

Vygantas Lipskas — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:45:36 +0000

Some time ago Damien Virulhapan from GadgetZone.com.au sent me an email with the link to article called “Group Test: Firefox 3 vs IE 7 vs Safari 3.1“. Feel free to check it.
I don’t know why Opera wasn’t tested, haven’t got any reply since then.