How to Make Firefox Suck Less

In the last entry I talked about using Greasemonkey to make the Facebook experience more enjoyable. One problem that I lamented very briefly was that this script didn't function in Greasekit, a program used to run Greasemonkey scripts in Safari and WebKit. Because of this I ended up spending some time in Firefox, which is something I rarely do. Truth be told, I despised Firefox (or at least it's unaltered form) even though I was a longtime user on Windows. I was, for the most part, a Safari user -- and even then only because of the dismal state of Chrome and Chromium on Mac.

Since I had to use Firefox for a bit though, I decided to make the best of it. How do you make the best of Firefox? Make it as much like Chrome on Windows as possible. Although Chrome is struggling to reach feature parity with Firefox, it truly is a more innovative browser. Features like it's Omnibox make me wonder what browser developers were even thinking with a separated address and search bar. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry. The purpose of this entry is to get you a better Firefox.

First, there are seven add-ons that you should add to Firefox in order to get an ideal experience. Note that this is my opinion and as I will be providing you descriptions of each Add-on, it is up to you which ones you install. I do suggest them all though. Make sure that you have the latest stable version of Firefox installed.


Install:
* Adblock Plus - An add-on that blocks many online advertisements and keeps itself up to date automatically.
* Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper - An addition to Adblock Plus that allows for the blocking of Elements. This helps to block text ads.
* Download Statusbar - Ditch that antiquated, clunky download window. This opens a bar at the bottom of your browser when you download files. Watch download progress and launch files easily. Lots of customization options.
* Fast Dial - A visual bookmark system. This allows you to have a start page or new tab page much like the new Safari or Chrome browsers have. Very intuitive. After install, set your homepage to 'about:blank' in order to use this feature when the browser starts up. Sites must be added manually by clicking on the empty slots.
* Fission - Displays the loading bar for websites behind the address bar. This is very similar to what Safari does.
* Greasemonkey - Allows users to run scripts in order to customize their web experience. Many scripts can be found at userscripts.
* Smart Stop/Reload - Combines the browsers Stop and Reload buttons. Why would you need to reload while a page is loading, and why would you need to stop once the page is fully loaded? Combine the buttons and save the space.


Now we need to make a few changes to the way Firefox works. Note that whenever I say something like Paste or go to 'bla', I mean that you will paste only what is between the marks, excluding the marks themselves.

Tweaks:
* Combine the Search and Address bars - Why would you want to click into a separate box in order to do a Google search? In order to do searches and direct URL entry from the same bar we need to edit Firefox's configuration. Go to 'about:config' in the address bar. You should be greeted by a dialogue that prompts you to hit 'I'll be careful, I promise.' Click on this button. Now use the new search dialogue at the top to search for 'keyword.URL' and right click on this value once it is displayed. Select 'Modify' and paste 'http://www.google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=' for the value. Close that tab, because we're done with it.
* Now to remove unwanted interface items. Go to 'View' > 'Toolbars' > 'Customize...' From here you can drag the shorter search entry field into the new gray box that has appeared in order to remove it. From this point on, entering anything into the main address bar with a domain name (like .com, .org) will take you to a website, while anything else (like 'how to canoe,' 'what is water,' 'why am I alive?") will give you Google search results. This is similar to Google Chrome.
* I also chose to remove the 'Home' button, the Adblock Plus icon, and the Fast Dial icon in the same way that I removed the search field (View' > 'Toolbars' > 'Customize...' and then drag them off).
* Lastly, Click on the 'View' menu and select 'Status Bar.' This should uncheck the Status Bar and make it disappear. With the add-ons we have selected, this bar is just a waste of pixels.

When all is said and done your Firefox install should look something like this (Click to enlarge, slightly different on Windows):



That's it. Now you have a version of Firefox that doesn't suck nearly as bad as it used to. Because of these changes I now use Firefox as my default browser. I'll stick with it until Chrome for Mac is stable enough to handle my everyday needs.