Ubuntu 7.04 - How I set up Firefox

Posted by Sam Lesher

April 21, 2007

Here is a screenshot that shows the way I configure my Firefox toolbars, etc: (click the thumbnail for a larger image):

I use the Tiny Menu extension to condense Firefox’s main menu (File, Edit, View, etc) into one item so that I get that screen real estate back. I then drag my bookmarks up to the top row so that I can disable Firefox’s Bookmark Toolbar (again, gives me more screen real estate).

Sun Java and Adobe Flash
I install the Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Flash plugin and the Sun Java plugin from the repositories using aptitude:

$ sudo aptitude install sun-java5-plugin flashplugin-nonfree

Playing embedded video
I use the MediaPlayerConnectivity extension to automatically find all embedded videos and turn them into an icon that I can click to launch them into the video player of my choice (I use mplayer). I detailed how I installed mplayer and set up all of the codecs in this post.

My Favorite Extensions
Here is a list of the Firefox extensions that I use:

Adblock Plus
Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.

Add Bookmark here
Allows you to add bookmarks to any folder in the bookmarks menu like in Opera.

Download Statusbar
Despite its compact size, Download Statusbar packs in more useful features than the standard download window. The fully customizable interface auto-hides when not in use, allowing full control without interruption.

DownloadThemAll
DownThemAll is all you can desire from a download manager: it features an advanced accelerator that increases speed up to 400% and it allows you to pause and resume downloads at any time.

MediaPlayerConnectivity
Allows you to launch embed video of website in an external application with a simple click.

Tab Mix Plus
Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox’s tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combinations of opened tabs and windows.

Tiny Menu
Replace the standard menu bar with a tiny menu popup.

Ubuntu