Firefox4
Firefox 4 may be getting tabs in title bar option
As with Google Chrome, your tabs will only move to the topmost area of the window when maximized. The feature has yet to be delivered to the Firefox 4 nightly builds, but you can download experimental versions from developer Bill Gianopoulos. Windows and Linux versions are available at the moment. Gianopoulos states "These builds are essentially the same as the corresponding Official Trunk Nightly Builds" but notes that his builds include "not yet landed fixes for some MathML issues, and User Interface changes planned for Firefox 4, as well as bugs that I am currently working on or find particularly annoying."
Video: TabCandy is coming -- and it's like a virtual desktop manager for Firefox
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(worth noting: Mozilla's Aza Raskin has gotten in touch with Sebastian and reports that the .XPI is somewhat out of date.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!
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!