Atistr

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’ve fallen head over heals in love with the latest beta of FireFox 3. Beta 5 is easily the fastest and most feature rich web browser I’ve ever used. And because of that, I’ve spent a fair amount of time getting to know it. Even though it’s the fifth and final beta, it is still only recommended for developmental purposes though. If your willing to take the plunge and download it, this guide will teach you everything you need to know (for windows at least).

The first thing you are likely to notice is the phenomenal speed increase from FireFox 2, or even the last beta. Mozilla has significantly increased javascript speed, so apps like Gmail will load quicker. The memory leaks in Firefox that can result in over 200 megabytes of RAM being used are plugged. Read on after the jump to learn how to get off the ground running with FireFox 3 beta 5. (long read warning).

Installation

There are two major options for installing beta 5. The first is to go here and download and install it from the firefox website. This will leave your firefox 2 install untouched, but it will share the same profile. All your bookmarks and history will be available, but your incompatible extensions will be too. When you change something to tweak beta 5, firefox 2 will be tweaked too. If you choose to uninstall firefox 2, this won’t be a problem.

The second method, and my person recomendation, is installing it as a portable app. A portable app is an application that can be run from a thumb drive on any windows computer. In this case, we would be installing it onto a folder on the desktop, or somewhere else. The key thing about this is that it won’t mess with the windows registry, or your firefox 2 profile. The downside is that this will be a fresh start, without your extensions.

To get a portable copy of firefox 3 beta 5, you can visit portableapps.com and navigate to the page for beta 5 here (link). Before you continue, you have to close all versions of firefox. Run the .exe, and choose a folder to install it into. The desktop is a good choice. Once you’ve installed it, navigate into the folder it created called “FirefoxPortableTest.” To start firefox, execute the file called Firefox Portable. If you want to, create a shortcut on your desktop to the file. It’s up to you to install it on a folder on your computer or on a thumb drive. Note: Lifehacker has detailed a way to import your profile to beta 5, and more in their “Complete Field Guide to Testing Firefox 3″ (link)

Getting Started With Extensions

Firefox 3 is fast, yes. The latest beta is almost entirely stable. If you want, you can uninstall Firefox 2 now. Just be warned, don’t delete the folder you installed Firefox Portable in, if you do, you’ll be stuck without a browser. Now let’s get our hands dirty.

Firefox isn’t firefox without AdBlock Plus, so lets get that. Oh no! The current version of AdBlock Plus isn’t compatible with beta 5! Don’t worry though, if you’re willing to use a developer version of  the extension there’s a solution. The latest dev build of AdBlock Plus is compatable with Firefox 3! Horray! To get it, head to adblockplus.org/devbuilds and download the latest version of Adblock Plus. Again, this isn’t a complete release, so use at your own risk.

A project that’s been getting some buzz lately has been “Gmail Redesigned (by Globex Designs).” This completely redesignes the “meh”ish gmail interface into a slick web 2.0 theme. If you use gmail, there really isn’t a reason not to take advantage of Firefox 3 beta 5’s faster javascript handling and use the theme. First off, we’re going to need an extension called Stylish, which lets users edit the CSS of a webpage, and install premade scripts from a repository called “userstyles.org”. It’s the Greasemonkey of CSS. Luckily, this extension works with Firefox 3 beta 5, so head over to addons.mozilla.org and install it.

Then go the the stylish script page and get the script. There are tons of other redesigns and UI changes available for stylish too, so check it out. Unfortunately, it’s brother extension Greasemonkey, which does the same thing except with javascript, isn’t compatable with Firefox 3 beta 5 yet.

Two more must have extensions that are compatible with beta 5 are NoScript, which makes firefox safer by blocking scripts on a white-list basis, and Download Status Bar, which adds a status bar for downloads. Both of these are a must on any firefox installation.

Bonus: for those who use the Firebug extension, which isn’t compatible with firefox 3 beta 5, Firebug 1.2 alpha has just been released. Get it here. It’s awesome, or at least as awesome as a tool to look at and edit web pages in real time can be. I suggest that you disable it unless your using, it has a tendency to make firefox crash. I found this in the time it took me to write this post via Wired: Compiler.

Customize with me!

Now that you have firefox set up with the must have extensions, lets mess with the options. First  is a “hack” to get more browsing space. Simply right click any where on a toolbar and select “customize.” Now you can drag and drop your toolbar items!

The home button is kind of pointless if you have your homepage set to Google because of the built in search bar, so get rid of it. See the bar underneath the address bar with your bookmarks called the Bookmarks Toolbar? You can drag your bookmarks to appear above your address bar and then right click and uncheck “Bookmarks Toolbar” to get some extra space.

Who needs a mouse?

Novice users will prefer to use the mouse and the navigation buttons on the toolbar, but they aren’t necessary. It is possible to see huge performance boosts by navigating using the keyboard. As such, I’ve listed my favorite keyboard shortcuts. Memorize them, and you can navigate quickly and accurately. You get the added bonus as laughing as you see someone futily trying to get around the screen with a trackpad.

1. Quick Search: Firefox has an amazingly useful find as you type feature that can be accessed with one stroke.  Key: /
2. Scrolling down: You can navigate up and down the page one line at a time with the arrow keys, or a page at a time with the Spacebar. Shift Spacebar will take you up a page.
3. Tabs: CTRL+T opens a new tab, and CTRL+W closes your current tab.
4. Google: get to the search box by pressing CTRL+K. This is a lifesaver.
5. Address Bar: get the the address bar by pressing CTRL+L.
6. Links: find links on a page by pressing the ‘ button. Press enter to follow a link.
7. Refresh: press F5 to refresh the current page.
8. Copy and paste: CTRL+C and CTRL+V.
9. Switch Tabs: Press CTRL+ a number. The first open tab is 1, the second is 2, etc.
10. Select All: CTRL+A.

Bonus #2: Lifehacker found an awesome Easter egg. Check it out by typing “about:robots” in the address bar.