Flybar, Hides Urlbar In Firefox, Replaces It With OnDemand Popup
Removing toolbars from a web browser is an efficient option to increase the available screen estate for websites in that Internet browser.
This is usually more interesting to users who work on low resolution screens, but users who like a minimalistic browser interface benefit from it as well.
Popup Url and Search Bar (now called Flybar) is a new add-on for the Firefox web browser that hides the urlbar and searchbar in the web browser so that the displaying toolbar can be removed from the interface.
The add-on provides keyboard shortcuts to display the urlbar and searchbar on the screen in a little popup overlay. Users can press Ctrl-L or Alt-D for the urlbar and Ctrl-K for the searchbar. Instructions are provided by the developer to re-bind the keys with Firefox add-ons such as KeyConfig or KeySnail.
The bars appear directly on the page. The form is activated so that it is possible to begin typing right away. All the features and traits of the urlbar and searchform are retained and available, including suggestions.
Even better is the fact that it is possible to move the popup bars to any location on the screen. The new location is instantly saved and will be available from that moment on, even after browser restarts.
Popup Url and Search Bar is an interesting add-on for users who want to save space by removing the navigation toolbar from the browser. It may take a few sessions before the new way of opening the url bar and entering websites becomes a fluid process, but it can be well worth the transition phase.
The only problem with this new way of opening websites is that the url of the actual website is not displayed anywhere on the screen. You need to press the shortcut to open the urlbar to see the address.
The add-on is available for download at the official Firefox add-on repository.
Update: The add-on does not work anymore in recent versions of Firefox as some interface elements cannot be moved anymore. There is no comparable add-on available at the time of writing.
uhm, try f11? why do we need another add on for a feature that is already there?
so F11 places the urlbar and searchbar exactly where you want them to be on the screen?
i think it’s doesn’t like F11 because when i use F11 it is uncomfortable to me very much because it doesn’t show a taskbar below. anyway i like this addons.