Category: firefox

  • Syncing Firefox History, Bookmarks and Possibly More Across Profiles

    When firefox fans start installing multiple addons at least one of them will slow down firefox to a point at which they decide to switch to chrome.

    Some users find that running “firefox -P” or “firefox -profilemanager” will show a dialogue which can be used to create a new firefox profile (which will function as a fresh installation of firefox)

    But then, when you create multiple profiles you run into the issue of syncing history, passwords, bookmarks, cookies…

    You can solve this problem using no addon, no plugin, no dropbox integration, no internet at all. The answer is symbolic links.

    Linux users must be familiar with symbolic links, but it’s available in windows too.
    (For those who don’t know how a symbolic link is different from a shortcut: If you make a symbolic link on your desktop to a file in a remote corner of your external hard disk, the OS will treat that file as being present on the desktop itself, but the actual location (in terms of magnetic memory) will be, as you guessed, the other device. This works for folders too)

    Here‘s more about symbolic links (and making them)

    Now, exploiting it for syncing firefox.

    • If you are not already using firefox, switch to it.
    • Start firefox with -P parameter. (“firefox -P”)
    • Create a new profile, named “fresh”
    • Open the firefox profile directory (Help –> Troubleshooting information)
    • Backup your deafult profile (if you care about it) (just copy it to a new name)
    • Copy this post to notepad (or leafpad) and close firefox (I think this’s important because firefox won’t allow you to touch its files at least while it’s alive)
    • In the directory of the fresh profile find files like bookmarks.html, cookies.sqlite, downloads.sqlite, formhistory.sqlite, permissions.sqlite, places.sqlite, prefs.js, search.json, search.sqlite, signons.sqlite and folders like searchplugins, and the folders of whatever extension you love.
    • Delete them! (Moving to trash will be wise)
    • Create symbolic links to the corresponding files and folders in the default profile.
    Done!

    Now, for making sure you haven’t connected the superior venacava to the aorta:

    • Run firefox, first with ‘fresh’ profile.
    • Check that you can access history, etc.
    • Quit and run the default profile.
    • Make sure you haven’t lost years worth of history there.
    Statutory warning: Messing up sqlite files is known to cause irrecoverable damage. But I’ve been extremely happy with this particular workaround. If you can find the right way using the internet when you’re in doubt, you can definitely try this at home.

    And, happy browsing.

  • Have A Rocking Browsing Experience (for Firefox users)

    If you are a firefox user, which most probably you are (and if you’re not you should download and install it before reading the rest of this post) you already have a rocking browser. And after you read this post you will know how to make the impossible happen out of it.

    See the screenshots below to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

    This is my orkut home page. (The theme for which once I was ready to switch to live)

    This is my facebook page

    And finally these are my google pages.

    Want to make your browser too so attractive or why not even better?

    Here are some useful addons you will certainly need.

    1. heaven.cube theme: Just so attractive. Though this simple, dark theme is full of cubes (starting from the back – forward buttons to the scroll bars) it is certainly the best theme I’ve used until now.
      Installing: Go to heaven.cube, select add to firefox, click install again, sit back and relax.
      If you ever feel like going back to the default theme (which you probably won’t, OK for trying personas or so) just go to Tools –> Addons –> Themes –> Default –> Use theme

    2. Personas: If you are not for themes, personas has it for you. It is a nice extension that adds colour to your firefox toolbars by using specially designed persona wares. But I am not using it right now because as I’m going to reveal by this post how, I don’t have status bar or menu bar so personas won’t work so well, and also personas won’t feed my appetite for an overall great appearance.
      Installing: Install personas from mozilla addons, then wear grabs by using the personas menu, or going to the personas gallery and selecting wear this on any ware.

      If you are deciding to use personas, here are some skins you should check out

    3. Stylish: This is the real reason why I’m making this post. Stylish is a great extension that allows stylising the websites that you visit (you heard it right, not just the browser, even the sites that you visit). And that is how I got that wonderful theme for orkut and a dark background for google and facebook.
      The way stylish works is a little complicated. Still if you are for the technicalities here’s how. Every website depends upon CSS for their styles. What Stylish does is load a preset CSS for your websites. Now the default CSS won’t work and stylish begins the work.
      Installing: Stylish is like personas. You should first install stylish extension. Then install separate codes from the stylish resource site. This is very simple just go to the page of any stylish style and select install to stylish
      If you’ve finished installing stylish here are the styles you should try out

    4. Hide Menubar: Can be skipped if necessary. Hides the Menubar (File, Edit, View, and all) until you press ALT.
    5. Fission: Progress bar in your address bar.

    Done. These little tools can make your day.

    P.S. Don’t forget to comment if you find better styles.

  • That’s One Great Browser for fans, One Billion Downloads for stats

    Spread Firefox Affiliate Button Yeah, you said it. Firefox has crossed the billion mark and it’s still going strong.

    Now for all those who want to know how much a billion is, here is what one billion + you says,

    • A bowl big enough to fit one billion goldfish would be as big as a stadium.

    • One billion stacked coins would reach nearly 1,000 miles high.

    • One billion centimeters is approximately the distance from Chicago to Tokyo.

    • One billion seconds is roughly 31.7 years.

    Every new version of Firefox brings you lot more security, functionality and speed. So, switch to Firefox (and upgrade).

    Happy Firefoxing

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