6 userscripts and userstyles you should really try out

A major plus that enhances the usability of a web browser is the ability to customize web pages to look and behave the way you want them to. This is done by using userscripts, little snippets of javascript code, and userstyles, their CSS counterparts. While userscripts change the way sites behave, userstyles change the way sites look.

In Firefox, userscipts can be used thanks to the powerful Greasemonkey extension. Others browsers, like Opera, come with this enhancement built-in. I already showed a quite good example of a userscript. Userstyles can be used in Firefox with the Stylish extension. Stylish, unlike Greasemonkey, cannot only modify web pages, but it can modify the look of Firefox itself.

Userscripts can also be used out-of-the-box with Opera and with an addon called Creammmonkey on Safari.

1. Pagerization

I know I've mentioned this before, but now that I've been actually using it for a few days, I just have to say, this one HELL of a userscript. It works on an enourmous amount of pages... from Google, to forums, to almost everywhere. It's just so damn useful. My next-button-clicking days are now over!

2. Combine Stop/Reload buttons

This userstyle is great if you want to go minimalistic. When the page is loading, only the stop button is showed. When it finished loading, it only shows the reload button. That's one less toolbar button cluttering your browser!

3. Greased Lightbox

This script enhances image search sites like Google Image Search or Flickr by letting you see the original image in a very Ajax-y and useful way. I can't really explain it very well -- you have to use it to understand it. It's simply amazing. However, after using it for a while, I have to say it can sometimes be a bit intrusive.

4. Folders4Gmail

This script is pretty cool in that it allows you to nest labels in Gmail -- emulating the feeling of 'folders' other mail clients have. I can't believe how I could live without this for so long!

5. GMailTo

Another must-have if you use Gmail. With this, every time you click on a mailto: link it will open a new Gmail compose window instead of the default desktop program (Evolution on Ubuntu or, God forbid, Outlook Express on Windows).

6. Bookmarklet Favicon

If you use bookmarklets as much as I do, you will find this extremely useful as well. It changes the favicon of bookmarklets to a javascript icon to make them easier to distinguish.


What about you? What are your favourite userscripts and userstyles? Which ones can't you live without? Leave a comment telling us!

Firefox 3 gets full-page zoom

The long-awaited page zoom feature has finally been implemented. The latest Firefox 3 nightly build now supports full-page zooming like Opera and Internet Explorer 7.

Finally! This goes to show how awesome Firefox 3 will actually be, and how dedicated the developers are.

Go read my Firefox 3 Alpha 6 review

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Trip down memory lane: Firefox 0.9

You may not believe this, but I am currently blogging from Firefox 0.9. Today, whilst organizing my chaotic collection of CD-ROMs I stumbled upon an old backup disk with the installer for this quite outdated version of Firefox. This was also the first version of Firefox I ever used (well, the first version anyone used for that matter, it wasn't called 'Firefox' until this version, but this was the first version of the browser I used, Phoenix, Firebird or Firefox). Anyway, I'm extremely impressed at how awfully fast this browser is. This just goes to show how bloated software becomes with the years. Also, I think the tabs in this version are the best in the whole of Firefox history (in looks, but unfortunately not functionality). They're simply... native.


Firefox 0.9 boasts a great array of features, including:

• Built-in search box
• Minimalistic user interface
• Tabbed browsing
• Themable
• Extendable
• A pop-up blocker
• A Download manager (which really hasn't changed at all since then)
• Cotumizable toolbars
  

So, in escence, Firefox hasn't changed much. It's just gotten bloated. Firefox 2 is way too slow. Firefox 3 is a little faster. But the question remains: will it ever be as fast as it was in its beginings?

And don't forget: Cookies are delicious delicacies.

(Please forgive any spelling mistakes in this post: Firefox 0.9 has no spellchecker. :) )

Featured Firefox Addon: Pagerization userscript

Lifehacker shares the simply amazing Pagerization userscript that allows Greasemonkey users to automatically load the next page in say, a Google search, or a list of blog posts (the blog included). To use this script, you need the Greasemonkey extension.

9 things Safari has that Firefox doesn't? Yeah, right.

I've recently read an article called 9 things Firefox should steal from Safari. However, most of the items on that article are things Firefox already has, at least on the latest Gran Paradiso Alphas. Here are my views on the 9 points.

1. Highlight the current text field: The author's right, there is a problem with the way XUL renders text forms, and it should be fixed to be native. Thankfully, Firefox 3 will correct this issue, at least on OSX, but not on Linux yet. Meanwhile, you could take a look here


2. Font rendering: If you use OSX, then Apple anti-aliasing should be used. If you use Windows, ClearType should be used. If you use Linux, then the native anti-aliasing should be used instead. Again, it's a clear matter of Firefox-is-not-native-enough.


3. The downloads dialog: Well, I think Firefox's is much more useful.


4. Rendering speeds: Have you tried Gran Paradiso lately?


5. The bug reporter: He's right, Firefox's bug reporter should and will be improved.


6. The Find dialog: There should be an extension for this; it looks very, very useful. Take a look here to see if this helps a little.


7. Detachable tabs: No thanks. One window cluttering my desktop is more than enough. Why was tabbed browsing created for anyway? And, if it's really absolutely necessary, that monstruosity called Tab Mix Plus has it anyway.


8. Draggable Images: Firefox 3 on Linux has this, pretty graphics and all. Not on Windows, though. Must be the version of Cairo.


9. Resizable Text Areas: You're absolutely right about this too. That what bookmarklets, userscripts and extensions are for.

So, to sum it up: Firefox needs to be more native, and you need to wait for Firefox 3. Nuff said.

How to: Make Firefox 3 Alpha 6 (or any pre-release version for that matter) portable

Now that Firefox 3 is approaching its beta milestone, more and more people are enthusiastic about trying out its new features. In a previous post, I mentioned some of the novelties Gran Paradiso Alpha 6 offers. Now, I will teach you how to make this new and improved version of Firefox portable so you can run it from a USB flash drive or an iPod on any Windows or Linux-with-Wine computer.

Step 1: Get Firefox Portable

Go to the PortableApps website and download the current (2.0.0.4) version of Firefox Portable.

Run the installer and extract Firefox Portable to any directory you want, like your flashdrive. For the purposes of this tutorial, this directory will be G:\FirefoxPortable

Step 2: Download and install Firefox pre-release version

This can be Gran Paradiso Alpha 6, or the latest Minefield Nightly Build, or any other version of Firefox that you want.

If you downloaded a Win32 .exe installer, just install it on any folder in your computer, say C:\Program Files\Gran Paradiso.

If you downloaded the Nightly Build in the .zip archive, it's even easier. Just unzip it to the most convenient location you have at hand, like your desktop.

Step 3: Delete Firefox 2 files from Firefox Portable

Go to the place where you installed Firefox Portable (say, G:\FirefoxPortable) and delete every file in the \App\firefox directory. That will leave you with just the Firefox Portable launcher, but no Firefox program.

Step 4: Copy pre-relase files to Firefox Portable

Go to the folder where you installed Gran Paradiso or Minefield and copy all the files there to the G:\FirefoxPortable\App\firefox directory (or wherever you installed Firefox Portable).

Step 5: Enjoy!

That's it. Just run the FirefoxPortable.exe launcher now, and after a couple of seconds Gran Paradiso or Minefield should start.

So, to sum it all up...

1. Download & install Firefox Portable


2. Download & install Minefield or Gran Paradiso


3. Replace Firefox 2 files with pre-release files on Firefox Portable

Hope this was helpful, and remember: only use Alpha and pre-Alpha software at your own risk!

Review: First look at Firefox 3 Alpha 6

For those who haven't heard, the new alpha for Firefox 3, Gran Paradiso Alpha 6, was released a few days ago. I've been using Alpha 5 on Linux for a while now, and I can say that it's pretty fast, much faster than Firefox 2. Since Alpha 6 was recently released, I decided to download it and test it out.


If you look at the screenshot, you can see that it's not much different from Firefox 2. That's because most of the changes on Gran Paradiso are not visible by the user.

All but one (Adblock Plus) of my previous extensions were disabled because they were not compatible with this new version. However, as GP enters beta testing and the final version draws near, most developers will upgrade their extensions to work with it. If you just can't wait, there's an extension called Nightly Tester Tools that can force incompatible extensions to work.

There is, however, a new feature in the Addons Manager that will most probably make life easier for extension and theme fans: a permanent "Restart" button. Previously, this button only appeared when you installed new extensions and themes. This way, you can easily disable and re-enable extensions and change themes.

But that's really the only visible change in Firefox 3a6. The rest of the changes are 'under the hood'.

One of them is a new version of SQLite. You've probably heard that Firefox 3 will feature a faster Bookmarks/History/Feeds engine built on this database (know as 'Places'), so a newer version means better performance and new features.

Another simply AWESOME feature it has is that when you change the text size on a webpage (for example, by holding Ctrl and moving the mousewheel), the setting are preserved. The next time you open that webpage, the text size will be the same as you configured it the last time. I've been waiting for this feature for a VERY long time.

There have also been changes to rendering engine to make text look better. If you read lots of Thai pages, for example, the script should be better supported in this version. Also, the Download Manager has been improved somewhat. For the whole list of changes, check out the release notes.

Overall, this version of Firefox, although it is an Alpha still, is extremely stable and very fast. It is certainly NOT Alpha quality; it's more like Release Candidate quality. However, the recommendation is to not use it for other than testing purposes, since it is still in an early step of development and might be prone to lots of serious bugs.

The Four Best Firefox Extensions

Let's face it: the best, most unique feature the famous Mozilla Firefox browser has is its enormous collection of extensions. Firefox may be slow, lagging, and memory-hogging (especially on Linux), but the only reason I keep using it is because of the many extensions that make web browsing much more fun and productive. These are my all-time top 4.

1. All-in-One Gestures

The ultimate must-have for Firefox in my opinion. The only reason I haven’t switched to other faster browsers like Epiphany is this extension. It’s actually a collection of extensions all packed into one convenient package. I actually don’t use the typical mouse gestures (right-click and drag) but rather a mixture of rocker gestures and scrollwheel navigation. This extension makes browsing so much faster, and best of all, it’s completely custumizable! If you haven’t tried it yet, do so. You won’t regret it.

2. Adblock Plus

This, along with one or two filter subscriptions, will make your browsing experience 99.9% ad-less. It’s just amazing. Removes text ads, image ads, and just about any other annoyance you might find on a webpage.

3. Foxmarks

If you use Firefox on multiple computers, this is EXTREMELY useful. With it, your bookmarks will be the same on any computer you use. I use some 4 different computers, and this is the only way that I can keep everything with me. And, if you have to use a public computer or for some reason you can’t use the extension, you can access your bookmarks online!

4. StumbleUpon

This is definitely NOT a must-have like the other 3, but it is extremely fun to use! It’s very addictive: you can easily press the ’stumble’ button many times in a single minute. It’s the best way to discover new pages related to things you like. It’s got to be the most fun Firefox extension ever.