More Firefox Tweaks »
Once I got started tweaking Firefox, I really wasn't able to stop. Not that I was looking for anything - I just managed to stumble upon a few things while I was browsing.
The first tip allows you to enable an extra tabbed browsing option. Firefox allows you to open new links requested from other applications in new tabs, but what about those on web pages? Not possible without installing this line in your user.js file:
// Reveal more tab/window options:
user_pref("browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs", true);
Once in place, you can go to the Tools > Options > Advanced screen, where you will have the option to change the behavior of opening new links from a web page. If you do this, you might also be interested in this tip:
/* Force New Windows Restrictions
0: Default - Divert *all* new windows to current tab/window or new tab
1: Don't divert *any* windows spawned by JS
2: Don't divert JS windows that include size/placement/toolbar info */
user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction", 2);
This setting allows you to divert those new windows. The value 0 means that all windows go to the selection, while a 1 diverts all but Javascript windows, and a 2 diverts Javascript, but not those that include size/placement/toolbar information. Very sweet. I've found that a setting of 2 here works well.
One other tip has to do with the rendering of the page. By default, Firefox will wait 250 milliseconds (a quarter of a second) prior to displaying anything. Change this value to the value you like and you should see some speed gains:
// Last value in milliseconds (default is 250)
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
Each of these changes goes into the user.js file, which you can find in your profile directory. If you can't find it there, just create a new one. You will need to exit and restart prior to seeing the changes take effect.
In each case, the comment (the part inside the /* */ marks) isn't really needed - it just helps to show you what values you can use and what the option does for you, for when you look back in a few months and have no idea why you added it.
