Tweakers guide to Firefox 3

June 27, 2008 at 5:06 pm (Computers) (, , , , )

  1. Auto complete in the address bar as you type an address.
    Majority of the people out their seems to have a love-hate relationship with the Firefox3’s new address bar (that Mozilla likes to call as the awsome bar). In a humble attempt to tame this address bar we give you some hacks that can reform the smart bar to become the real smart bar.

    • Enter about:config into the address bar and hit enter.
    • Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
    • Enter browser.urlbar.autoFill into the Filter text box. Double click on that preference value and change the value to true to enable autofill.

    Now, as you type in an address, you can see that not only the drop down list is shown, but the address bar itself is auto completed for you.

  2. Enabling spell check in text-fields
    By default Firefox does spell checking only in multi-line text boxes. If you want the Firefox to spell check the single line text entry fields too, this hack is for you:

    • Enter about:config into the address bar and hit enter.
    • Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
    • Enter layout.spellcheckDefault into the Filter text box. Double click on that preference value and change the value to 2.
  3. Tweaking the full screen mode
    By default Firefox 3 hides the location bar and tab bar when you enter the full screen mode. Here is how to disable this behavior.

    • Enter about:config into the address bar and hit enter.
    • Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
    • Enter browser.fullscreen.autohide into the Filter text box. Double click on that preference value and change the value to false to disable hiding of location and tab bar.
    • If you just want to disable the hiding animation, set browser.fullscreen.animateUp to 0.
  4. Turn On Color Profile Support

    The Good news is that (unlike Firefox2) Firefox3 contains a built-in advanced color profile support, which makes Firefox 3 compete easily with any desktop image viewers/editors in terms of color support. The bad news is that this mode is disabled by default. This is what you should do to enable the color profile support.

    • Enter about:config into the address bar and hit enter.
    • Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
    • Enter gfx.color_management.enabled into the Filter text box. Double click on that preference value and change the value to true to enable color profile support.
  5. Always display the go button
    By default Firefox 3 displays the Go button only when you are editing the address in the location bar. This is how you can display it always.

    • Open userChrome.css file in your profile directory using notepad.
    • Add the following line to the end of the file: #go-button { visibility: visible !important; }
    • Restart Firefox.

    If you don’t want to tamper with the userChrome.css file, here is an extension that does the same for you.

  6. Make the location bar display only typed addresses
    Dont want the location bar to show entries in your bookmark or history? Here is what you should do.

    • Enter about:config into the address bar and hit enter.
    • Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button
    • Enter browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped into the Filter text box. Double click on that preference value and change the value to true.
  7. Change the number of suggestions displayed in the Location bar menu
    By default Firefox 3 displays upto 12 results in the drop down list as you type an address. Here is how to change this number.

    • Enter about:config into the address bar and hit enter.
    • Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
    • Enter browser.urlbar.maxRichResults into the Filter text box. Double click on that preference value and change the value to any positive number.
  8. Hide RSS feed icon from the location bar
    If you feel that little rss icon is taking up your precious screen real estate, you can easily disable it.

    • Open userChrome.css file in your profile directory using notepad.
    • Add the following line to the end of the file: #feed-button[feeds] { display: none !important; }
    • Restart Firefox.
  9. Hide the star icon from the location bar
    You may be a keyboard junkie or you may be too used up to the old ways that you’ll never use the star icon sitting up in the location bar. If you never use it, why let it be there? Here is how to remove the star icon from location bar.

    • Open userChrome.css file in your profile directory using notepad.
    • Add the following line to the end of the file: #star-button {display: none !important;}
    • Restart Firefox.
  10. Disable single-click-select-all in the location bar.
    One of the real pain in the neck feature of Firefox is that it automatically selects the entire address in the location bar if you click anywhere near it. You just wanted to correct a typo in the address, but instead of putting the cursor at the clicked location, Firefox selected the entire address. Without looking into the screen, you corrected the typo and now the entire address is gone. Now buddy, start typing again, says Firefox. Here is how to make the behavior more ‘humane’.

    • Enter about:config into the address bar and hit enter.
    • Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
    • Enter browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll into the Filter text box. Double click on that preference value and change the value to false.
  11. Reduce the size of the back button

    This may not be that evident at first, but will soon reveal to be a no-brainier once you know it. This is all you have to do: Right-click on Firefox’s toolbar, and choose Customize. In the dialog box, select “Use small icons.”
  12. Disable blinking text
    Here is how to stop all blinking text:

    • Enter about:config into the address bar and hit enter.
    • Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
    • Enter browser.blink_allowed into the Filter text box. Double click on that preference value and change the value to false.

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Shortcut Keys for Firefox

June 25, 2008 at 4:44 am (Computers) (, , , , )

Everyone loves Firefox.  With the recent release of Firefox 3, I feel I needed another post about Firefox.  So here is one.

Favorites:

CTRL-ENTER: In the address box, enter google, then CTRL-ENTER and the address turns into www.google.com.

CTRL-F: Find on the page.  Looking for a specific word, use CTRL-F.

CTRL-N: opens a new Firefox window.

ALT-LeftArrow & ALT-RightArrow: Simulates the Firefox Back and Forward button.

Keyboard Shortcuts (cont.)

Command

Shortcut

Add Bookmark

Ctrl+D

Back

Backspace
Alt+<-

Bookmarks

Ctrl+B
Ctrl+I

Caret Browsing

F7

Close Tab

Ctrl+W
Ctrl+F4

Close Window

Ctrl+Shift+W
Alt+F4

Complete .com Address

Ctrl+Enter

Complete .net Address

Shift+Enter

Complete .org Address

Ctrl+Shift+Enter

Copy

Ctrl+C

Cut

Ctrl+X

Decrease Text Size

Ctrl+-

Delete

Del

Delete Individual Form Auto-Complete Entry

Shift+Del

DOM Inspector

Ctrl+Shift+I

Downloads

Ctrl+J

Find Again

Ctrl+G
F3

Find As You Type Link

'

Find As You Type Text

/

Find Previous

Ctrl+Shift+G
Shift+F3

Find in This Page

Ctrl+F

Forward

Shift+Backspace
Alt+->

Go Down One Line

Down

Go Up One Line

Up

Go Down One Page

PageDown

Go Up One Page

PageUp

Go to Bottom of Page

End

Go to Top of Page

Home

Full Screen

F11

Help

F1

History

Ctrl+H

Home Page

Alt+Home

Increase Text Size

Ctrl++

Move to Next Frame

F6

Move to Previous Frame

Shift+F6

New Tab

Ctrl+T

Next Tab

Ctrl+Tab
Ctrl+PageDown

New Window

Ctrl+N

Open File

Ctrl+O

Open Link

Enter

Open Link in New Tab

Ctrl+Enter

Open Link in New Window

Shift+Enter

Open Address in New Tab

Alt+Enter

Page Source

Ctrl+U

Paste

Ctrl+V

Previous Tab

Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Ctrl+PageUp

Print

Ctrl+P

Redo

Ctrl+Shift+Z
Ctrl+Y

Reload

F5
Ctrl+R

Reload (override cache)

Ctrl+F5
Ctrl+Shift+R

Restore Text Size

Ctrl+0

Save Page As

Ctrl+S

Save Link Target As

Alt+Enter

Select All

Ctrl+A

Select Location Bar

Ctrl+L
Alt+D

Select Next Auto-Complete entry in text field

Down

Select Previous Auto-Complete entry in text field

Up

Select Next Search Engine in Search bar

Ctrl+Down

Select Previous Search Engine in Search bar

Ctrl+Up

Select Tab [1 to 8]

Ctrl+[1 to 8]

Select Last Tab

Ctrl+9

Stop

Esc

Toggle Checkbox

Spacebar

Undo

Ctrl+Z

Web Search

Ctrl+K

Mouse Shortcuts

Command

Shortcut

Back

Shift+Scroll down

Close Tab

Middle-click on tab

Decrease text size

Crtl+Scroll up

Forward

Shift+Scroll up

Increase Text Size

Ctrl+Scroll down

New Tab

Double-Click on Tab Bar

Open in Background Tab

Ctrl+click
Middle-click

Open in Foreground Tab

Ctrl+Shift+click
Shift+Middle-click

Open in New Window

Shift+click

Paste URL and Go

Middle-click on Tab

Reload (override cache)

Shift+Reload button

Save Page As

Alt+click

Scroll line by line

Alt+Scroll

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20 Disposable Email Websites

June 25, 2008 at 2:45 am (Computers)

Spam is a big issue nowadays for users.  You want to sign up on a site, but fear getting spammed by them.  Below is a list of some of the best disposable email services that you can use to avoid spam.

  1. Mailinator is one of the best and top rated disposable email services that gives you a temporary mailbox on the following address format e.g. something@mailinator.com
  2. MyTrashMail is another good temporary mail service that gives you a mailbox in the address format e.g. something@trashymail.com and also gives you secure temporary mailbox if you signup
  3. MailExpire stands out in the crowd by giving you the option to have a temporary inbox ranging from 12 hours expiry to as long as 3 months
  4. TemporaryInbox is yet another simple and easy to use temporary email service that gives you an email address in different formats
  5. MailEater gives you a free temporary email inbox in the format e.g. something@MailEater.com
  6. Jetable not only allows you to set the life span of your temporary email inbox but also allows you to forward the mails in your temporary inbox to your real email address
  7. SpamBox gives you a temporary email address in the format e.g. something@spambox.us and also allows you to set the lifespan of your inbox
  8. GuerillaMail lets you generate a temporary email which expires in a time of 15 minutes and also tell you how to offer a temporary email service on your site.
  9. SpamHole provides you a 2 hour long temporary email inbox at the address format e.g. something@spamhole.com
  10. 10MinuteMail generates an easy 10 minute email inbox for your temporary email needs
  11. DontReg is one bigger, better, faster and safer temporary email inbox solution
  12. TempoMail is one new temporary email inbox services that give you spam-free mailbox
  13. TempEmail aims to give you a fast, anonymous yet secure temporary email inbox
  14. PookMail is a multi-language temporary email inbox service that gives an email address in the format e.g. something@pookmail.com
  15. SpamFree24 is a new multi-domain temporary email inbox service which is growing rapidly
  16. KasMail requires registration, allows up to 25 aliases, can set aliases to expire after a certain amount of time.
  17. SpamMotel requires registration, provides mail forwarding, mail can be accessed through desktop e-mail clients, can reply to e-mail from your real e-mail address using SpamMotel e-mail.
  18. GreenSloth requires no registration, receive-only, e-mail expires automatically after a week
  19. AnonInbox requires no registration, simple, no frills.
  20. Spam.la is a fast disposable email service which requires no registration, no frills. You can see all spam being sent to all Spam.la accounts, or just your own.

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5 Useful google search features for students

June 25, 2008 at 2:42 am (Computers) (, , , , , )

Google is hands down the best search engine.  Not only does it bring the best search results, it can also do a myriad of other things that others can’t.  Below are 5 search features that could be of use to college students:

1. Calculator

Well, you should be able to compute simple calculations on your own, like 25 plus 40, but if it’s a complicated math problem then it’s time to use Google’s calculator feature.

Here are some examples:

You can find a list of shortcuts from this site.

2. Unit Conversion

Here are some examples:

Once you are familiar with the different operators on Google’s hidden calculator, you can try more complicated ones like knowing your weight in the moon.

3. Dictionary Definition

There are two ways for Google to help you know the definition of a word. The first one, is by putting a space between define and the word you are looking for, i.e. define cooperative, define exhilarating. This will yield to several pages that define that word, and then you choose which page you want as a resource.

There are some instances though that some pages in the search results don’t really define the word, but just have those two keywords on the page. Thus, using the other shortcut is better wherein you get a list of definitions from various online resources. You can do this by putting a colon, instead of a space, between define and the word, i.e. define:cooperative.

4. Spell Checker

5. Fill in the Blank

Google will fill in the blank for you. Just type an asterisk (*) after the phrase you want Google to complete.

Here are some examples:

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Place to put music, movies, and pictures for free

June 25, 2008 at 1:01 am (Computers) (, , , , )

FileFront – http://www.filefront.com
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files, Video, Audio, Other
Description: An excellent site that supports a wide support of images capable of being uploaded to their server. In addition to being able to upload and share your files with other users, FileFront has an extensive network of servers to host the files and download time is always extremely fast.

Flickr – http://www.flickr.com
Supported files: Photos
Description: An excellent site and community that enables its users to post their personal photos on their site easily. In addition to posting and allowing others to view your photos, there are millions of other people’s photos that can be seen.

ePhotoSpace – http://ephotospace.com/
Supported files: Pictures and video
Description: Great location for users to store their personal pictures and videos. In addition to storing your pictures the company also provides you with a free personal web address and the ability to show your pictures in a slideshow.

Google Video – http://video.google.com
Supported files: Video
Description: Google’s site which allows users to post their own video files on their servers and share them with others.

ImageShack – http://imageshack.us
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files
Description: A good site for posting small image files.

Photobucket – http://www.photobucket.com
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files
Description: Another great site to post your photos and image files for other people to view.

Putfile – http://www.putfile.com
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files, Video, Flash, Audio
Description: A great site that enables users to post almost all types of files he or she may want to share with other users.

SnapDrive – http://www.snapdrive.net/
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files, Video, Audio, Other
Description: Fantastic location to upload, store, and share your files. 20MB for anonymous uploads and up to 2GB of free space with registration.

Veoh – http://www.yeoh.com/
Supported files: Video
Description: A good site that enables users to post their own video files on the Internet. What makes Veoh different from other video sharing sites is that users can post full-screen quality video and allow other users to download it.

Upload2.net – http://www.upload2.net/
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files, Video, Audio, Other
Description: Great place to store almost any type of file up to 25MB and does not require registration.

UploadingIT.com – http://www.uploadingit.com/
Supported files: Photos, Other Image files, Video, Audio, Other
Description: Another great place to post files up to 100MB you may need to transfer, move, and/or share.

YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/
Supported files: Video
Description: An excellent site with a great community that enables users to post their own movie files on their server for everyone to view.

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