Firefox

Configuration

• Last visited tab with Ctrl-Tab — Go to about:config, and set browser.ctrlTab.previews to true [1].

Keyboard shortcuts

• Keyboard shortcuts on mozilla.orgP

Alt-Shift	Access key. Eg. Alt-Shift-F to go to search box in MediaWiki
Ctrl-Shift-C	Open console and debugger tools.

Extensions

Candidates

Extension I might install in the future:

• Extension to suspend tabs. ! Careful, this may lead to loss of work if you typed text in a form and the page gets suspended

• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/suspend-tab/
• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/dormancy/
• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/unloadtab/
• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/auto-unload-tab/

• Suggested by Mozilla

• Tabby
• Simple Tab Group
• other tips for better tabs management

textern

Textern allows for using any external editor to edit editbox...

Installation

• Install the plugin
• Download and install the native app:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/jlebon/textern
cd textern
sudo make native-install LIBDIR=/usr/lib

• Configuration:

• External editor: ["gnome-terminal", "--geometry=118x62+0+0", "--wait", "--", "nvim", "+call cursor(%l,%c)"]
• Shortcut: Ctrl+I
• Extenstion: .txt

• In Vim mediawiki plugin, adapt the ftdetect line:

au BufRead,BufNewFile *%2Fmediawiki%2Findex.php* set filetype=mediawiki

tridactyl

Tridactyl is the new extension similar to pentadactyl but working with recent Firefox.

Install native on offline Windows (for Vim edition)

• Download .xpi file.
• Install XPI and run :installnative on a Windows machine connected to Internet.
• Export registry key at HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\NativeMessagingHosts\tridactyl to a file.
• Copy that file and content of %userprofile%/.tridactyl to offline pc.
• Install .xpi on offline PC, and run reg file.

pentadactyl

DISCONTINUATED

• Pentadactyl no longer works since Firefox 57.
• To keep using pentadactyl, use Firefox 56 (debian package available here).
• For firefox 57+, consider using tridactyl.

pentadactyl is an add-on that turns Firefox into a powerful vim-like browser.

Repositories

• willsALMANJ/dactyl on GitHub Up-to-date fork (Firefox 54.x)
• on GitHub Original repository, but inactive sinch March 2017 (Up to Firefox 53.x)

http://5digits.org/nightlies Nightly build.

Installation from source (on Firefox 48)

• See also detailed instructions at http://5digits.org/coding
• Get source from github:

git clone https://github.com/5digits/dactyl.git

• Make project

cd dactyl/
make -C pentadactyl xpi

• Then in Firefox, go to add-on tab, and select install .xpi from file located in dactyl/downloads.

Installation

• First disable add-on signature policy. Go to [about:config] and set xpinstall.signatures.required to false.
• Download the latest nightly build and install it

I installed pentadactyl-20160121.xpi on Firefox 44.

• Restore add-on signature policy

Usage

• See :help for quick help
• ^i uses vim/nvim for editbox (external editor).
• ^t uses built-in vim for editbox.
• f show hints and follow a link.
• y current location.
• p paste new location.
• H L history back/forward.
• ^n ^p next / previous tab.
• ^v — Enable passthrough (next) (only next key press)

Tip: To paste text, press ^v twice.

• ^z — Enable passthrough
• :mkp to save current configuration
• To print:

ha[rdcopy][!] to print a given page.

:ha[rdcopy][!] >{filename} to print to a file.

:dialog printpreview to display the print preview dialog.

:dialog printsetup to display the print setup dialog.

Customization

I prefer to use ^j ^k to go to next/previous tab, like I do to navigate between buffers.

:map -builtin -description "Next tab" <C-j> <C-n>
:map -builtin -description "Previous tab" <C-k> <C-p>
:mkp

Configure passthrough

Configure passkeys to tell Pentadactyl what keys must be passed through (k)

:set passkeys+=gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/:<Up><Down><Left><Right>

Use auto-commands to make Pentadactyl alway pass all of your keys through for a particular URL [2]:

:autocmd LocationChange 'https://cloud.digitalocean.com/droplet/console/*' :normal! <C-z>

Troubleshooting

• Error ...: options is undefined, usually when entering some commands, like gg or G.

Workaround — just enter and leave command mode (: then Esc).

Tab Groups

Excellent extension for managing tabs.

Video DownloadHelper

The best video downloader on Firefox.

• Slower but better download success rate than other extensions (for instance, works on RTBF Auvio, especially combined with AdBlock Plus).
• Can convert on-the-fly.
• Requires local companion application installation.

AdBlock Plus recommended to skip initial video ad.

AdBlock Plus

Excellent to skip video ad.

More extensions

More extensions to consider installing:

• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/textern/
• GhostText
• edit-with-emacs

Tips

Tab management

See Mozilla — Tab groups removal.

Interesting extensions:

• Tab Groups
• OneTab

Disable Firefox update

Recent FF doesn't allow disabling update, and keeps nagging you about update, even though your PC is offline and never connected to Internet.

To disable [3]:

• Create a folder to store the policy file.

• On Linux, create a folder /etc/firefox/policies (system-wide) or a folder /usr/bin/distribution (where /usr/bin is the installation directory of firefox).
• On Win10, create a folder distribution where Firefox EXE is located (typically C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\distribution).

• In that folder, create a file policies.json (see available policy template):

{
    "policies": {
        "DisableAppUpdate": true
    }
}