firefox 4

Video: TabCandy is coming -- and it's like a virtual desktop manager for Firefox

Submitted by admin on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 18:15

 

With our Web browsers becoming more and more like an OS -- or actually becoming an OS as with Chrome -- it's not surprising to see developers turning their eye toward features which provide a desktop-like experience. Over at Mozilla, they've been working away at TabCandy -- which offers a whole new way to manage your Firefox tabs.

TabCandy is a bit like a full-featured virtual desktop manager -- think of Web pages as applications and browser windows as desktops. Install TabCandy and a button is added to your Firefox toolbar. Click it, and you'll see a view like the one above. You can group tabs, label them, and move tabs between groups with a simple drag-and-drop.

The layout is totally customizable -- resize group boxes however you want and reposition them, and the thumbnails automatically resize and re-order themselves. You can also add a new tab to a group by clicking the icon in the bottom-left corner. Click a thumbnail, and the page zooms into the foreground.

Want to see TabCandy in action? Check out my brief screencast after the break!

The extension is still unfinished, but TabCandy has come a long way since I first checked it out -- and it's definitely fun to play with now even if it's not quite ready for prime time. You can find the TabCandy.XPI on Mozilla's server (it's near the bottom of the list).

Who knows -- you could be looking at the tab management interface for Firefox 4!

(worth noting: Mozilla's Aza Raskin has gotten in touch with Sebastian and reports that the .XPI is somewhat out of date. Still, it's the easiest way to play with TabCandy if you're so inclined.)

Make Firefox 4's UI slimmer than Google Chrome - no add-ons required!

Submitted by admin on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 10:00

 

Since the release of the Firefox 4 beta, I've been happily using it as my default Web browser once again. Google Chrome had been my primary browser for quite some time, but Firefox 4's improved speed and the fact that it can do three things I've wished Chrome could do for ages have won me back.

The three things? A real download manager (plus great add-on options like DownThemAll and Automatic Save Folder), being able to right click an image and set it as my wallpaper, and the euphoria-inducing ability to copy and paste in our CMS once more (with Chrome, you have to right click, paste, paste into a pop-up window, then click OK -- it's a security thing, supposedly, but rather cumbersome).

One thing I don't like about Firefox 4 is that big, orange button and all the wasted space it creates along the top. I like Chrome's minimalist UI -- and with Firefox's awesome array of customization options it's easy enough to mimic without a theme or addon!

All I did was add a few lines to my userchrome.css -- using Sebastian's ugly button removal code as a starting point. Here's my code:

 
#appmenu-button-container {
width: 92px;
position: fixed !important;
}
#appmenu-button {
padding: 3px 8px 3px 8px !important;
margin-top:0px !important;
background-color: rgba(200, 200, 200, 0.4) !important;
}
#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] #TabsToolbar {
padding-left: 95px !important;
}
#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] #TabsToolbar {
padding-left: 98px !important;
padding-top:1px !important;
padding-right:98px !important;
}

.tabbrowser-tab {
height: 20px !important;
padding-right: 4px !important;
}
.tabbrowser-strip {
height: 20px !important;
}

Basically, I've trimmed a few pixels here and there and made two adjustments via customize > toolbar layout. To the right side of the tab bar, I added a flexible space -- to keep the Windows minimize/restore/close buttons from overlapping any of Firefox's UI elements.

Got your own clever userchrome hacks? Share 'em in the comments, we'd love to see them!