Appearance
Browsers
A window to the internet.
Settings for an optimal session.
Firefox
Running multiple browsers with different profiles helps keeps active references in the right place. When the work is finished, just close that browser. Good for keeping memory free.
If you need a browser context for a specific task / job
firefox -p does the trick!
If no relevant profile is available, just create one.
Be sure to set Menu -> Settings -> Restore previous session.
Ensure "Ctrl+Tab cycles through tabs in recently used order" option is unchecked.
Pick your preferred search engine while you're at it!
Tab Suspender
'Auto Tab Discard' does what I'm after. Closest working alternative to 'The Great Suspender'
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-discard/
This feature goes by many names, including:
Tab Sleep, Tab Snooze, Tab Freeze, Tab Suspend, Tab Discard or Tab Hibernation.
/search?q=firefox+tab+suspender
https://www.askvg.com/tip-disable-or-enable-tab-sleep-or-tab-snooze-feature-in-web-browsers/
May be a similar feature built in to Firefox
in about:config browser.tabs.unloadOnLowMemory
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=great+suspender+firefox&t=canonical&ia=web
great suspender firefox at DuckDuckGo
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/374gx3/chromes_the_great_suspender_for_firefox/
Chrome's 'The Great Suspender' for firefox? : firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/unload-tabs/
UnloadTabs – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
this one didn't work so well for me.. major memory usage
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ff-tab-suspender/
Tab Suspender – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
Ad Blockers
Instead of adblock, I have been exploring a more general filter / tracking blocker:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/
Beware of false immitations:
Tom's Hardware: Popular Ad Blockers AdBlock and uBlocker Deemed 'Fake'.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/adblock-ublock-fake-google-chrome-browser-extensions,40422.html
https://disconnect.me/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/disconnect/
Tab Links
When creating documentation, it is useful to be able to copy all open tabs in a window.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/copy-all-tabs/
Copy All Tabs :: Add-ons for Firefox
have used this in the past as well:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/copy-urls-expert/?src=search
and this may have similar functionality
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-mix-plus
OneTab?
Copy Selection as Markdown
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/copy-selection-as-markdown/ Copy Selection as Markdown – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
I prefer to change a few of the default settings:
Uncheck the following:
"Prepend quote (>) to the selection" "Include link to source page in the copied text"
Be sure to still give attribution!
Code block style
let code == "fenced";
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=firefox+extension+copy+html+as+markdown&ia=web firefox extension copy html as markdown at DuckDuckGo
Profile Management
If you make frequent use of profiles, it can help to create a default profile.
Locate where your profiles are stored: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
Available on about:support using the "Open Directory" button in the "Profile Directory" section.
~/.mozilla/firefox
or under snap at
~/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/firefox
How to backup and restore profiles:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
Recommendation is to use built in Firefox Profile manager to create a new profile first, then copy the contents of your default profile in to the newly created directory. That way all of the configurations in the browser are set up correctly.
If you need to update the order, try manually editing:
~/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini
(make a backup first!)
A template Firefox profile that tracks these notes is available here:
https://gitlab.com/charlesbrandt/firefox-profile
mkdir repos
cd repos/
git clone git@gitlab.com:charlesbrandt/firefox-profile.git
cd .mozilla/firefox/
# Create the new profile via Firefox
rm -r hn95wtr8.example/*
cp -r ~/repos/firefox-profile/* hn95wtr8.example/
New Tab
This is optional.
Tabliss is a clean minimal alternative to the default new tab page.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tabliss/
https://github.com/joelshepherd/tabliss
An open source, pluggable New Tab web extension written in TypeScript, React and Redux.
No special permissions required!
Snap
Newer versions of Ubuntu are shipping Firefox as a snap package. This leads to annoying "Close the app to avoid disruption messages".
It looks like it is possible to run the update manually:
killall firefox;
sudo snap refresh;
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1412140/how-to-solve-pending-update-of-firefox-snap-close-the-app-to-avoid-disruptio
How to solve "Pending update of "firefox" snap. Close the app to avoid disruptions" error? - Ask Ubuntu
Themes
Colorway themes can be helpful for distinguishing one Firefox context from another, especially if they get spread across multiple workspaces.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/personalize-firefox-colorways
Menu -> Add-ons and Themes
Not configured in "Settings".
Chrome / Chromium:
For non-linux machines, go with Chrome: https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/
Otherwise: http://www.chromium.org
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
Settings
Change "On startup" to:
"Continue where you left off"
to restore previous session.
Extensions
The Great Suspender!
Suspend Tabs after a certain period of inactivity This is great! Saves so much memory and resources! Wish I could find something equivalent that works for Firefox...
https://github.com/deanoemcke/thegreatsuspender
Copy Tabs
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/djdmadneanknadilpjiknlnanaolmbfk?hc=search&hcp=main
need to configure the format to be equivalent to copy all urls
right click, options, $url $title