7 steps to a minimalist Firefox setup
I have my Web browser of choice, Firefox, set up in a minimalist fashion. It has everything I need and nothing more: only the necessary controls for browsing are visible and I can search my bookmarks, Web history and favorite search engines right from the address bar. Any extras are only a click or two away.
Here’s how you can get it:
1. Install Chromifox Basic.
OK, this part is totally optional. I just like the blue look. You can skip this step, so I guess this guide is really six steps.
2. Get rid of unnecessary buttons.
Right-click in the toolbar area and choose “Customize.” Drag everything you don’t want into the box that pops up to get rid of it. I even got rid of my Home button, although not everyone will want to.
3. Install Stylish and the Combine Stop/Reload Buttons style.
This will make Stop and Reload one button to further reduce the number of buttons.
4. Install Fission.
This turns your address bar into a progress bar.
5. Install URL Tooltip.
This lets you see URLs of links by hovering over them.
Once you have this and Fission, you no longer need the Status bar. Hide it by unchecking it under the “View” menu.
6. Set up Firefox to quickly search the Web from the address bar.
On the dropdown menu of your search box, choose Manage Search Engines.
Here you can assign a keyword to each search engine. For example, if you assign the keyword “g” to Google, you simply have to type “g [your search term]” in the address bar to search Google.
Since there’s no more need for a search box, you can get rid of it just like you got rid of your other buttons in step No. 2.
7. Ditch all the toolbars except the navigation bar.
Right-click in the toolbar area and uncheck everything except “Navigation Toolbar.”
If you need the menu bar, you can hit the “Alt” key to temporarily show it again. You won’t need the bookmarks menu because you can simply search for your bookmarks in the address bar, also called the Awesome Bar.
That’s it!
If you need a bookmark or a Web history entry, start typing it into the Awesome Bar and let Firefox find it for you. If you need the menu bar, just press Alt.
Clean and uncluttered.
