Tag Archives: Mac

A few extensions for Firefox 3 on Mac OS X

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Firefox 3 has gigantic improvements for Mac users, but they left out a few things that would have made it fit in better. Here are a few extensions I installed to make Firefox 3 on Mac OS X a little more Mac like.

  • Fission – Combines the address bar and progress bar like Safari. I like this since it is easier to notice when a page finishes loading.
  • firefox-mac-pdf – Ever wanted to view PDF’s in the browser like Safari? This extension is the first PDF viewer to integrate into Firefox on Macs (Adobe Reader works if your lucky and if you like bloat). It uses PDFKit (the part of OS X that handles PDF’s) and works just as slick/fast as Safari when it comes to handling PDF’s. For an early version, this works very well.
  • Favicons on Firefox 3 for Mac – Mozilla for some reason does not like having favicons on the bookmarks toolbar for Mac versions of Firefox. This fixes it.

There are also themes for Firefox 3 that look more Safari like.

Add Favicons on Bookmarks Toolbar for Firefox 3 [Mac OS X]

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Great tip on Lifehacker for how to add favicons to the bookmarks toolbar in Firefox 3 for Mac OS X.

One of few things I do not like in Mac versions of Firefox is the fact that there is no favicons on the bookmarks toolbar. I am a visual person, so having favicons on the bookmark toolbar really helps me pick out bookmarks quickly. This resolves that issue.

If your interested in voting for the bug in Bugzilla regarding this, the bug # is 348719.

Clear entire print queue in OS X with a Terminal command

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If you need to clear your entire print queue in Mac OS X for whatever reason, there is a simple terminal command you can type to do the job.

Simply:

  1. Launch Terminal
  2. Type cancel -a -
  3. Success!

All print jobs in the print queue should now be gone!

I have only tested this in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. I assume it will work in 10.4 Tiger as well.

Daring Fireball on Firefox 3 vs. Safari 3

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Daring Fireball makes some interesting points on Firefox 3 vs. Safari 3 on Macs.

I continue to struggle picking between the two browers. I love the integration Safari has with OS X (Keychain, Dictionary lookup, searching for bookmarks, etc.). Given that I will be getting an iPhone at the end of the year, this integration is important. Safari 3.1 continues to improve compatibility with web sites, almost to the point where I do not have to worry about it anymore.

Yet I keep getting drawn back to Firefox. I always have had a soft spot for Firefox, given that I was one of the first people to try it out back in the Phoenix nightly-build days. Extensions are important. Built-in support for web-based RSS readers is a big feature for me. The new awesome bar has really changed my perspective on bookmarks and I hope Safari adds something similar in the future. Firefox 3 is also very close to fitting in as a Mac application, it isn’t completely there, but is close.

I did resolve one Safari issue I have always had. Single-window support for tabs is now possible. That was a big issue for me that essentially erases Firefox’s advantage in tabbed browsing.