Mar Mod is a free Firefox add-on that can be described as an advanced tweaker for Firefox. The add-on can be used to change core features of the browser effortlessly.

Once it has been installed and the browser restarted, you will notice differences at once. Unlike other add-ons that tweak Firefox, it applies some of its tweaks right away.

You will for instance notice that the Firefox menu bar button has been modified and moved to the tab bar, or that the add-on manager is now using less height for each listing so that more add-ons are displayed on the screen at any time.

When you open the add-on options you will notice the tabbed interface that divides all tweaks into groups for easier access.

Lets take a look at each group of tweaking options in detail:

• Icons: Allows you to change the Firefox icon set and to user alternate checkmarks and radio buttons. A preview and import / export option is provided here.
• Favicon: Options to allow replacement favicons or prevent websites or the Firefox web browser to replace favicons automatically.
• Navigation: Enable the RSS button in the address bar, ability to undo tabs with a midde-click and drop marker navigation. Configure what you see when you open a new tab in Firefox (blank page, homepage, specific url)
• Appearance: Make the status bar movable, change the Firefox title button, add a restart menu option and show the download file size.
• Extensions: Show versions and icons, in toolbar or title bar. Check for extension updates at the start of Firefox, change the check interval, install extensions automatically and restart the browser automatically after updates have been installed.
• Translator: Enable an online translator, add the translator to the toolbar and the context menu.
• Backup: Backup various Firefox settings, including add-ons, preferences, bookmarks, Greasemonkey scripts, AdBlock Plus filters and personal icons.

Some of the options that are enabled by default may irritate you. I’m for instance using a classic compact menu in Firefox, and the Firefox tweaker added the new Firefox single button menu to the tab bar despite of that.

You may need to change some tweaks in this regard to restore your original settings and preferences. This should not take longer than a few minutes tops though.

Mar Mod for Firefox is definitely an interesting add-on. Firefox users who want to modify several of the listed settings can download and install the Firefox tweaker directly from the Mozilla Add-on repository.

I was checking out Lifehacker and a user called Bugmenot21 has posted a way to use your old extensions in Firefox 3. Now, I’m not a fan of this method since I prefer to wait till the developers themselves release compatible versions. Still, if you’re interested, you can give this a shot. I’m not guaranteeing anything though.

• Open Firefox and type ‘about:config’ (without the quotation marks) in the address bar.
• Right-click anywhere in the window and select New > Boolean. A box named new boolean value will open. Type extensions.checkUpdateSecurity in the preference field. Click OK. Set its value to False.
• Similarly, create another new boolean value entry. This time, type extensions.checkCompatability. Like earlier, set the value to False.

That’s it. Now, all your extensions that were previously incompatible or did not secure updates should work in the Beta version. Be warned though that this is not a foolproof solution to the problem. Don’t be surprised if one or more of your extensions stats behaving strangely.

Do you know of any other ways to get extensions working in Firefox 3? Or would you prefer to wait till it becomes stable?

I should probably start with some basic information on how you edit the Firefox configuration at all. This is actually pretty simple: Enter about:config in the address bar and hit enter. A large preferences list should appear. Every option has a preference name, a status, a type and a value.We are using the name to find the option in the large list. Status defines if it is still the default value or has been edited by the user, type defines which values are accepted in the value field. For boolean it would be true or false, integer a number and so on. To filter the list enter part of the name into the Filter text field, the results get updated on the fly. On to the tweaks..

Change location of bookmarks file

• key: browser.bookmarks.file
• default: not existing, create new String by right-clicking and entering the above key
• value: path to bookmark.html, for instance e:\bookmark.html

You might want to change this if you want to use a removable drive to store your bookmarks for instance.

Middlemouse Paste

• key: middlemouse.paste
• default: false
• change to: true

Setting this option to true makes it possible to paste text into any text field in Firefox.

Hide Go Button

• key:browser.urlbar.hideGoButton
• default:false
• change to:true

If you set this value to true the Go button will be removed giving you more space in that bar. No one uses the go button anyway, just hit enter, this has the same effect.

Click Selects all in url bar

• key:browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll
• default:true
• change to:false

This is useful if you often copy only part of the url. The default behavior selects the complete url first if you click into the url bar and you have to click and select again to copy part of the url only.

Open Search Results in a new Tab

• key:browser.search.openintab
• default:false
• change to: true

Opens the search results always in a new tab instead of the currently active tab.

Spellcheck for textareas

• key:layout.spellcheckDefault
• default:1
• change to: 2

This activates the spell check for textareas and input fields as well.

Autofill in url bar

• key:browser.urlbar.autoFill
• default:false
• change to:true

Known urls are automatically completed while entering them.

Disable extension compatibility check

• key:extensions.checkCompatibility
• default: not existing, create new Boolean with the above name
• value: false

Setting this value to false means that Firefox will not check installed extensions for compatibility. Great during updates, could lead to problems with incompatible extensions though.