• My script from today’s SUMO screencast

    June 20th, 2008 by seth bindernagel with no comments »

    Here’s a summary of the script I created for Support Day live screencast.  Thought I would pass it along to see how I prepared for it and then give everyone the notes for some cool tips in Firefox 3.

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    We started by taking people through how to create another profile in Firefox, in case you have multiple users or want to test something or just want to have multiple profiles for something like home and work use.  Here is a nice SUMO article that shows how to do this.

    Profile management out of the way, I guided people through some keyboard shortcuts that I think power users either use all the time or could start using if they don’t already.  In this post, these are PC specific.

    • ctrl + K — takes a user directly to the search box in the upper right corner of the browser
    • ctrl + L — takes a user to the URL bar
    • alt + enter — opens the forthcoming results from the URL bar (or the search box) into a new background tab
    • ctrl + T — new tab
    • ctrl + shift + T –  “uncloses” a tab
    • ctrl + tab (shift) — takes user through tabs in the right direction; holding shift and ctrl + tab takes user left through all tabs
    • ctrl + 1 (or 2, 3, 4…) — takes user to first tab (or second, third, fourth…)
    • ctrl click — opens new background tab
    • ctrl shift click –  opens new foreground tab

    Here is a great SUMO article about keyboard shortcuts.

    A section I thought all power users should know well is the “Options” menu (or “Preferences” for Mac users).  You can get there by clicking on Tools –> Options. (Firefox –> Preferences for Mac)

    We looked at setting up multiple start pages in the “Main” section of the UI (just add a | after the URL shown in the Main section and type in your next URL.  At startup, you’ll have two pages load in tabs.

    And then Content –> Enable Javascript –> advance…  One example I gave was that every now and again I visit a site that automatically resizes my broswer when that site gets focus.  That’s annoying! Ever have that happen to you?  Well, go into the advanced settings above and uncheck “move or resize existing windows”.

    about:config

    Most of the presentation was spent discussing how to tweak various things in “about:config” in the browser.  One big caveat that Asa and I really tried to hammer home:  DON’T PLAY WITH ABOUT:CONFIG UNLESS YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU’RE CHANGING.  There are lots of tips on the Web that tell you to go into About:Config and do this or that and then Firefox will make you your morning coffee.  Watch out for this snake oil.

    For some background on about:config, you can check out this Mozilllazine article: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_About:config_Entries

    At first, I just showed people how to get to about:config and then how to look through stuff and sort by different categories so a user can find what he or she wants.  We gave a quick preview on how to edit stuff and discussed the different between the default preferences and the bolded “user set” prefs.

    I then took the audience through a few features to tweak the Awesome bar so it does different things.  Many power users like the “old” URL bar of FF2 and before.  I pointed everyone to the “Oldbar” extension that presents the URL bar in the more traditional way.   Here is that oldbar add-on.

    Awesome bar power users can also change the number of results that appear when a user starts to key in familiar sites.  Here’s how you do that:

    • Enter about:config
    • Press the “I”ll be carefull. I promise!” button. (Because you will be.)
    • Enter browser.urlbar.maxRichResults in the Filter field to reach this preference.
    • Set it to your desired number of suggestions.

    Staying close to about:config, I then showed how to enable better color management, if you’re really into color images on the web…this is the trick for you.  (Forewarning, it may impact performance, so if that is a concern, then don’t enable this)

    • Enter gfx.color_management.enabled into the Filter field in about:config
    • set the boolean to true
    • if a user wants to explicity override the profile that the OS gives to Firefox, then you’ll have to enter “gfx.color_management.dipslay_profile” into the filter field and type that profile in the string
    • This extension also does all this for you…

    Finally, I tried to wrap up with some random tricks for users:

    And then, of course…the cool Easter Egg, about:robots.  Type about:robots into your URL and see what happens!

    Hope you enjoyed the demo.  Ping me with questions or suggestions.

    And, THANKS A MILLION TO Asa, Cww (irc nick), zxcc (irc), and Lucy for helping me with this. Couldn’t have done it without you.

  • Tips and Tricks for Power Users

    June 20th, 2008 by seth bindernagel with no comments »

    In about 15 minutes (1:15 PM Pacific Time UTC- 7), Asa and I will be hosting a live session on Firefox 3 tips and tricks for power users.

    It is all part of the Support Day, that has been going on all day.

    You can tune into the broadcast here:  http://www.mogulus.com/sfd

    Tune in…let me know how I do.  We’re hoping that it will be somewhat casual and like a variety radio show…but Asa and I have been gathering a bunch of cool tips all morning to show you