Forum Moderators: phranque
But what gets me enraged everytime is: the extensions!
Don't ask me why, but certain combinations of extensions block themselves, lock themselves, even lock the whole Firefox UI. If you have something in the range of 10 extensions, chances are good that two are interlocking themselves. Sometimes the full functionality vanishes, sometimes only partial functionality.
One of my most needed extension is called "Synchronize Bookmarks". Normally, it downloads a bookmark file from an FTP server on startup, and uploads it upon exit. Thus, I can synchronize my bookmarks among 3 Firefox installations (home, office, laptop). BUT every once in a while, a (new) extension blocks partial functionality. Sometimes it doesn't work automatic but only in manual mode, sometimes the upload-on-exit is blocked. Then the "Web Developer Toolbar" - a new update was announced today. And after I installed it, Firefox locked up completely until I unistalled the WebDev AND a few other extensions.
OK, Mozilla does a gret job with the extension repository. But have you EVER tried to contact something "Mozilla official"? I KNOW they don't support 3rd party extensions, but they should at least know (or maintain) some forums etc.? But finding a contact address is even harder than sending an email to eBay or Amazon! No mail addresses listed, and those few you find have big "Do Not send Bug Reports" labels next to it.
It's hard to believe that I am the ONLY person experiencing extension-interlocks. But a Google search reveals almost nothing, AND I'm browsing mozilla.org up and down and find nothing.
What's wrong?
I don't have any answer for you, but this does come back to what I've been saying for awhile now. Mozilla needs to choose a small set of extensions that will supply the vast majority of extension-related needs, exercising very strict quality control over these extensions. I think it's safe to say this list could be down around five or ten total extensions and would meet at least 90% of the needs of users - and incompatibility problems would be much less common.
Sorry I couldn't be more help - could you post a list of all the extensions you're using?
but this does come back to what I've been saying for awhile nowToo true, but where does one voice such opinions? My impression is that the FF-(developer-)community is full of - sorry - geeks. And while being geeky to a certain extent myself, I have the impression that stability and real-world useability is not their foremost priority...
could you post a list of all the extensions you're using?
Umm... I uninstalled quite a few already. Let's see - those are the ones still installed:
And those are the ones uninstalled in the meantime:
And on my office PC (yet to be synchronized):
Only the first list is complete - the other two lists are from memory. I might have forget one or two...
Too true, but where does one voice such opinions?
Mozillazine Forums [forums.mozillazine.org] are a good place to ask for help with Firefox and its themes and extensions. You also can request features and discuss possible bugs there. Do bear in mind that most of the forum members are just ordinary users, but some of the developers, extension authors and theme designers hang out there too.
The MZ forums are also very good for sorting out Gecko-specific problems with your website -- there's no issue with posting URLs, as there is here.
As with most support forums, bear in mind that comments that don't invite constructive replies aren't welcome.
[edited by: asquithea at 9:25 pm (utc) on Jan. 2, 2006]
If you're not running 1.5, I suggest you go download it, install to a new location, create a new profile, and reinstall your extensions, cutting out any that you've found you don't actually use. If you are running 1.5 but haven't created a new profile for a few versions, give that a try. It really doesn't take long and performance is much better. (Be sure you know how to keep your bookmarks, etc.)
Too true, but where does one voice such opinions? My impression is that the FF-(developer-)community is full of - sorry - geeks. And while being geeky to a certain extent myself, I have the impression that stability and real-world useability is not their foremost priority...
I couldn't agree with you more, at least with the usability part. Stability is good without many extensions installed, or once you've learned how to keep extensions playing nicely together. Progress is being made toward making Firefox more appealing to non-geek users and others who prefer not to have to tweak their browser all the time, but there's still a lot of room for improvement. For myself, I don't mind spending a half hour on an evening off to install the latest version, make a new profile, install extensions, and tweak settings. Most people I know would rather do a lot of things other than that with their free time.
I'm not sure if I did a clean install of the 1.0.7, it's more likely that I upgraded it from 1.0.5.
Can I run 1.5 and 1.0.7 concurrently?
Still, I would upgrade to 1.5 anyway. There should be a way to still use the Synchronize Bookmarks extension. At the extension page on UMO [addons.mozilla.org], "Dave" posted a URL to a fixed version. Also, installing Nightly Tester Tools on 1.5, then Sync Bookmarks, will probably work. 1.5 is definitely the fastest and most stable release out yet.
And tabbed browsing in 1.5 is finally only one extension from full functionality, too! ;)
My current extension list:
- Add Bookmark Here
- Adsense Notifier
- Amazing Media Browser
- Bookmarks Synchronizer
- ColorZilla
- CustomizeGoogle
- Download Manager Tweak
- Fasterfox
- FirefoxView
- Flat Bookmark Editing
- FoxClocks
- GeoURL
- Gmail Notifier
- Google Toolbar for Firefox
- IE View
- MeasureIt
- MR Tech Local Install
- refspoof
- Resizeable Textarea
- SearchStatus
- SEOpen
- SwitchProxy Tool
- User Agent Switcher
- Web Developer
But - as you said - new Windows still keep popping up :-(
Out of the box, Firefox doesn't allow you to open a new tab by double-clicking on other tabs. This is annoying when you have many tabs open and no more open space on the tab row. Tab Clicking Options allows you to configure what should happen when you double click, middle click and right-click on tabs and the tab row. You can open new tabs, close tabs, or duplicate tabs (complete with history) depending on what clicking action you take. It's a real timesaver if you use a lot of tabs at once. And that functionality is about all (in my opinion) that Firefox's native tabbed browsing still leaves to be desired.
Another extension I came accross during my recent extension spree is the IEtab extension, which allows switching the rendering engine from Gecko to IE on a tab-by-tab basis. Basically the same thing for FF what Netscape made for the recent Netscape browser. And it obsoletes the "IE View" extension.
Unistalled it - but it hasn't vanished completely! Some of its settings persisted even though it was uninstalled! What can I do?
Many extensions change built-in settings.
Enter about:config into the address bar, and click on the Status column to bring the customized settings to the top. Right-click on individual settings and choose Reset to revert to their original value.
The question however is: how do I get COMPLETELY rid of extensions, and what is a safe way of testing extensions without breaking a working install?
Guess I need to make a new profile, install and configure anaything from scratch again?
@asquithea: Great! I knew about "about:config" but your tip was really useful!
Update: the about:config idea didn't work for the specific problem :-(
Update 2: Works now. Looks like the extension sets an internal FF variable acessiable vie the normal settings menu. Thanks for your help though...
