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General discussion

Firefox help please!

Mar 29, 2006 11:09PM PST

I realize this is not a BOL topic exactly, but you three are constantly touting it, so the way I see it, you are a little responsible for tech support if you encourage me to switch.

So, I decided to drop my beloved (and perfectly functional) Safari and give it a try. I experienced much grief and extension installing to make it look and act like Safari, and do the basic stuff that I expect should be preinstalled in a browser (enlarge text? autofill forms? hello!)

I need one last recommendation. For some reason the developers felt that the autocomplete function when you are typing URL's should only include stuff from your history and not from your bookmarks... WHAT?!?!?

So which ext. do you use to include your bookmarks in this feature? there are so many and I have gone through enough trial and error to deserve a freebie.

thanks Happy

Discussion is locked

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Bookmark keywords
Mar 31, 2006 4:47AM PST

Well, one thing you could do is put keywords in your bookmarks. For example instead of typing in http://forums.cnet.com/ I could type in say, cnet in the address bar and the page would load.

You just right click on a bookmark, click properties and put in a keyword for that site.

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Font Increase
Mar 31, 2006 8:45AM PST

I don't know if there is an equivalent for this on the Mac, since I am using a PC with Linux & Windows. But, on here I can simply do a Control + to enlarge and a Control - to decrease the size.

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yes, the keyboard commands work
Mar 31, 2006 9:06AM PST

but I don't like to use keyboard commands for my web browser. I prefer the text buttons to be in the toolbar. I had already found extensions to add buttons for text, adding bookmarks, autofill,spellcheck, snapback, and adding close buttons for every tab, but your help is appreciated none the less.

I also answered my own question and found the extension called Autocomplete manager, which does the job. if anyone else comes up with one that they partuculary like, I'd love to hear it.

thanks.

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You're Welcome
Mar 31, 2006 9:21AM PST

Some extensions that I would recommend:

Tabbrowser Preferences
TinyURL Creator
Gmail Notifier

Those are just a couple that I would highly recommend, mainly because they are the only ones installed at the moment. I usually have a lot more installed, but I just installed my OS again not too long ago, so still re-building.

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Suggestions...
Mar 31, 2006 9:09AM PST

I just started using the extension Autocomplete Manager which seems to do the job pretty well. It can match by bookmark URL as well as title and is completely customizable. The downside is that if you have a large number of bookmarks it can slow Firefox down, as others have complained of. Personally I haven't encountered the issue, but it has been confirmed by the author and a fix is pending.

The other option is AutoMarks, which does not slow the browser down. Its downside is that it does not search by bookmark name, only URL.

Hope this helps,
John


P.S. You may also want to take a look at Camino, a Mac-only spinoff of Firefox and another creation of the Mozilla Foundation. I've never used it myself, but from what I've read it may well be worth it.

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Thanks John
Mar 31, 2006 10:01AM PST

I did install Autocomplete manager earlier today and it is working well. I haven't noticed any slowdown. Does the slowdown only affect your autofill results, or does it actually bloat the browser performance?

Oh great, now you've got me thinking about Camino. I read a few threads in the Camino Forums and it sounds pretty impressive. I had heard of it before but never tried it out. Oh no. I just settled into Firefox. Maybe now is a good time to Compare Camino and Firefox. the only negative for Camino I've read is that a few "Firefox only" sites like Ajaxwrite have popped up that don't allow Camino. The first test will be appearance. I am one of the few that likes the brushed metal look of Safari. Wink

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I don't know about the Mac version, but...
Apr 1, 2006 10:11AM PST

With a mouse with a wheel, Ctrl+move the wheel, changes the text size. And Shift+move the wheel goes back and forward.

Very cool

dgr

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On a Mac it's
Apr 1, 2006 10:28AM PST

Command+wheel. yes, very smooth.

Now if only they would fix it so hitting the spacebar would page down. grr.