Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 109

amit_talkin@yahoo.

com

About protocol links


There are a few special URLs, which begin with about:, that you can type into the
Location Bar.

• about: — The same page as "Help -> About".


• about:about — Lists all these about: URLs (Mozilla Suite only).
• about:blank — A blank page. Useful for setting as your homepage.
• about:bloat — Displays BloatView output (disabled in release builds).
o about:bloat?new
o about:bloat?clear
• about:buildconfig — Reveals details about your Mozilla build options.
• about:cache — Displays cache statistics.
o about:cache?device=memory — Lists memory cache entries.
o about:cache?device=disk — Lists disk cache entries.
• about:cache-entry — Shows information about a cache entry. Used in about:cache
links. Requires paramaters.
• about:config — GUI for modifying user preferences (prefs.js).
• about:credits — The list of contributors to the Mozilla projects.
• about:logo — Displays the Mozilla logo (Mozilla Suite only).
• about:kitchensink — Was never included in Mozilla for the reasons listed in Bug
122411 ("Mozilla does not have a kitchen sink"). You can install an extension that
adds it though :)
• about:license — shows the Mozilla Public License and the Netscape Public
License for the piece of software. ( Only in products based on Gecko 1.8 )
• about:mozilla — The famous Book of Mozilla.
• about:plugins — Lists all your plugins as well as other useful information

Ultimate Tips

How To Modify Hidden Preferences Using


about:config
• Adding New Preferences
• Editing Existing Preferences
Adding New Preferences
1. Enter about:config in the Location Bar to display the list of user preferences.

2. Open the context menu of any of these preferences.

3. From the New submenu, select the type of preference you wish to create. Choose
String if its value will be textual, Integer if it will be a number, or Boolean if it
will be either true or false.

4. Enter the name of the preference in the dialogue that follows. Be careful to get it
right.
5. Enter the value of the preference in the next dialogue.

6. Note that some preferences will require a restart to take effect.

Editing Existing Preferences


1. Enter about:config in the Location Bar to display the list of user preferences.

2. Open the context menu of the preference you wish to edit and select the Modify
command.
3. Modify the value of the preference in the subsequent dialogue.

4. Note that some preferences will require a restart for the change to take effect.

About:config Ultimate Guide!!!


About:config entries
The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct
title is about:config entries.

This is not the place to modify your about:config settings. This is a reference to the
entries in about:config.

about:config is a list of preferences that you can change. This article is meant to be a
partial documentation of those preferences. Alternative lists can be found at the
Preferential project, Mozilla's networking documentation, and Mozilla's embedding
documentation. See also Editing configuration and User.js file.

Many of the entries that appear in Firefox will also apply to Mozilla Suite and vice versa.

Note: Spaces between the dots in preference names exist purely for word-wrapping. They
are actually not present and should not be thought as so. Editors of this page must take
care to follow this convention in order to not force users to horizontally scroll this article.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Accessibility.*
• 2 Advanced.*
• 3 Alerts.*
• 4 App.*
• 5 Bidi.*
• 6 Browser.*
• 7 Config.*
• 8 Content.*
• 9 DOM.*
• 10 Editor.*
• 11 Extensions.*
• 12 Font.*
• 13 General.*
• 14 Intl.*
• 15 JavaScript.*
• 16 Layout.*
• 17 Middlemouse.*
• 18 Mousewheel.*
• 19 Network.*
• 20 NGLayout.*
• 21 Plugin.*
• 22 Print.*
• 23 Privacy.*
• 24 Profile.*
• 25 Security.*
• 26 Signon.*
• 27 Snav.*
• 28 UI.*
• 29 Update.*, Update_notifications.*
• 30 XPInstall.*
• 31 Miscellaneous

[edit]

Accessibility.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

True (default): Using an accesskey will have the


same effect as clicking on the applicable element
accessibility.
Boolean with the mouse.
accesskeycausesactivation
False: Using an accesskey will only focus the
applicable element.

True: A caret is present in the browser window


accessibility. to use to select text with the keyboard.
Boolean
browsewithcaret False (default): No caret is present.
This can be toggled using the [F7] key.

True: Disable caching in the MSAA


accessibility. disablecache Boolean implementation
False (default): MSAA cache is active

accessibility. True: Disable MSAA calls to IEnumVARIANT


Boolean
disableenumvariant False (default): IEnumVARIANT support is active

accessibility. tabfocus Integer Determines which web page elements can gain
focus when [Tab] key is pressed.
1 (default in OS X): Text field form controls
only
2: All form controls except text fields
3: All form controls
4: Hyperlinks and hyperlinked images
7 (default): All form controls and hyperlinks
Note: In Firefox 1.5 on Mac OS X, the browser's
behavior is determined by the "Full keyboard
access" system preference unless this preference
has been user-set (see bug 187508).

True (default in Mac OS X): Allows XUL


elements to gain focus from [Tab] according to
accessibility.
Boolean accessibility.tabfocus (see bug 277516).
tabfocus_applies_to_xul
False (default everywhere else): Opposite of the
above

True: Activates Find As You Type.


False (default): Disables Find As You Type.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Advanced → Accessibility →
accessibility. typeaheadfind Boolean
Begin finding when you begin typing" and
actually does what
accessibility.typeaheadfind.autostart is supposed
to do.

True (default): Find As You Type will start


automatically when typing starts and a form
control like a text area or text box does not have
focus.
accessibility.
Boolean False: Find As You Type will only start when /
typeaheadfind. autostart
is pressed for any word and when ' is pressed
for link searching.
Note: This preference has no effect in Firefox
(see bug 254592).

accessibility. True (default): Find As You Type will play a


typeaheadfind. Boolean sound when the typed in search phrase is not
enablesound found.
False: Find As You Type will not play any
sounds.

True (default): Find As You Type will end after


a set time if no keys are pressed.
accessibility.
False: Find As You Type will not end due to a
typeaheadfind. Boolean
timeout. To end a search use the escape key.
enabletimeout
Note: In Firefox, this preference currently does
nothing (see bug 260562).

0: Don't flash the Find Toolbar when a result is


found
accessibility.
Integer 1: Flash the Find Toolbar's search field when a
typeaheadfind. flashBar
result is found
Note: Firefox only.

True: Find As You Type will only search links.


accessibility.
Boolean False (default): Find As You Type will search
typeaheadfind. linksonly
all the text.

The sound to play when Find As You Type does


not find a match.
accessibility.
String (filename): .wav file to play for the error sound
typeaheadfind. soundURL
default (default): The default sound
beep: System beep

True: When finding links, the search will only


accessibility.
match links from the beginning of the link's text.
typeaheadfind. Boolean
False (default): The search will match any part
startlinksonly
of a link's text.

The number of milliseconds that Find As You


accessibility.
Integer Type will wait between key presses before
typeaheadfind. timeout
ending an active search. Default value is 5000.

accessibility. Specifies the Braille display module to use.


String
usebrailledisplay Default value is an empty string.
Note: Currently unused. Planned for future use.
Note: Currently unused. Planned for future use.

Specifies the text-to-speech module to use with


accessibility. the browser (e.g. "ViaVoice"). Default value is
String
usetexttospeech an empty string.
Note: Currently broken.

True (default): You will be prompted to confirm


accessibility.
Boolean enabling caret browsing.
warn_on_browsewithcaret
False: Opposite of the above.

[edit]

Advanced.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

Pref removed (unused). Holdover from early Mozilla


advanced. Suite versions. Replaced by
Boolean
always_load_images network.image.imageBehavior and then
permissions.default.image. Default value is true.

True: Use a specified email address (the value in


network.ftp.anonymous_password) as the password for
advanced. mailftp Boolean anonymous FTP servers
False (default): Send default "mozilla@example.com"
for password

Previously used (before Firefox 0.9) to open links from


external sources as tabs in a single window. Currently
advanced. system.
Boolean deprecated in favor of preferences under "Tools →
supportDDEExec
Options → Advanced → Tabbed Browsing". Default
value is true.

[edit]

Alerts.*
Note: These apply to the "Downloads Complete"- and "Updates Available"-style alerts,
not regular JavaScript alert() dialogs.

Name Type Meaning of Values

alerts. height Integer Height in pixels of the alert box. Default value is 50.

How many pixels to move per step when "sliding".


alerts. slideIncrement Integer
Default value is 1.

alerts. How many milliseconds per step of "slide"


Integer
slideIncrementTime movement. Default value is 10.

How many milliseconds to show the alert. Default


alerts. totalOpenTime Integer
value is 4000.

[edit]

App.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

Pref to be removed (obsolete). Previously: Date of build


app. build_id String
in YYYYMMDD format

Pref removed. Previously:


app. extensions.
String Browser version given to extensions to check for
version
compatibility

Pref to be removed (obsolete). Previously: The GUID


app. id String corresponding to the program. Default value for Firefox
is {ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}.
If automatic background update downloads are enabled,
determines how to treat the update when the download is
complete.
app. update.
Integer 0 (default): Install update without prompting
autoInstallMode
1: Prompt before installing update
2: Prompt before doing anything
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

True (default): Periodically check update.mozilla.org in


the background for updates to the browser
app. update. False: Disable all checks for browser updates
Boolean
autoUpdateEnabled Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Advanced → Software Update →
Periodically check for updates to Firefox"

True (default): Allow updates to the browser


app. update. False: Disable browser updates
Boolean
enabled Note: Probably deprecated in favor of
app.update.autoUpdateEnabled

Determines when to skip the "extensions/themes


incompatibility" alert
0 (default): If there are updates available to newer
app. update. versions of installed addons that resolve the
Integer
incompatible. mode incompatibilities
1: If there are VersionInfo updates available to installed
addons that resolve the incompatibilities, not newer
versions.

Determines time between checks for application updates.


In Firefox 1.0.x and below, default value is 86400000
app. update.
Integer (milliseconds in 1 day).
interval
In Firefox 1.5 and above, default value is 86400 (seconds
in 1 day)

app. update. Time of last update in UNIX epoch format (seconds


Integer
lastUpdateDate since 1970-01-01)
True (default in nightlies): Log activity of update service
app. update. to file
Boolean
logEnabled False: Disable logging
Note: Nightlies only.

app. update. Time in seconds before prompting the user to download


nagTimer. Integer a new version that is available. Default value is 86400 (1
download day).

Time in seconds before prompting the user to restart to


app. update.
Integer install the latest downloaded update. Default value is
nagTimer. restart
1800 (30 minutes).

True: Browser updates have been installed this session


app. update.
Boolean False (default): No browser update has been performed
performed
this session

Milliseconds between checks for all registered update-


app. update. timer Integer related timers. Default value is 600000 (10 minutes).
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

True: The update manager has found updates


app. update.
Boolean False (default): There are no updates to download or
updatesAvailable
install

URL for browser update notification. Default value is


app. update. url String localized from
chrome://mozapps/locale/update/updates.properties.

A URL the user can browse to manually if the update


app. update. url.
String service fails. Localized by default from
manual
chrome://mozapps/locale/update/updates.properties.

String User-settable URL to override app.update.url for


app. update. url.
testing purposes. Localized by default from
override
override chrome://mozapps/locale/update/updates.properties.

Pref to be removed (obsolete). Previously: Version


app. version String
number

[edit]

Bidi.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

True: Allows the browser interface to use a bi-


bidi. browser. ui Boolean directional language set
False (false): Opposite of the above

How the browser determines the character set to use


bidi. characterset Integer 1 (default): Document-specified character set
2: Default character set

How controls are used


bidi. 1 (default): Logical
Integer
controlstextmode 2: Visual
3: Container

Select direction of text


bidi. direction Integer 1 (default): Left-to-right
2: Right-to-left

How numerals are displayed


0 (default): Nominal numerals
1: Regular context numerals
bidi. numeral Integer
2: Hindi context numerals
3: Arabic numerals
4: Hindi numerals
Select provider of bi-directional support
1 (default): Mozilla
bidi. support Integer
2: OS
3: Disable

Type of text
1 (default): Charset
bidi. texttype Integer
2: Logical
3: Visual

[edit]

Browser.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

The default color for active links as a hex code. Default


browser. active_color String
is #EE0000.

The default color for links as a hex code. Default is


#0000EE
browser. anchor_color String Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → General → Fonts & Colors → Unvisited
Links".

Determines the behavior of the backspace key


0: Goes back in history
browser. backspace_action Integer 1: Acts as Page Up
2 (and above): Does nothing
Note: Mozilla Suite only (see bug 301248)

True (default): Use of the blink tag or CSS's text-


browser. blink_allowed Boolean decoration: blink will result in blinking elements.
False: Blinking is disabled.
Keeps track of whether a root folder for system
(imported) bookmarks has been created in
bookmarks.html.
browser. bookmarks. True: The root folder has been created
Boolean
added_static_root False (default until import complete): Create the root
folder (unless we're using dynamic bookmarks -
browser.bookmarks.import_system_favorites), and
then set this pref to true.

True: Links with target set to _blank will open in the


current tab instead of a new window.
browser. block. False: Links with target set to _blank will open in a
Boolean
target_new_window new window.
Note: No longer in use. Use
browser.link.open_newwindow instead.

The full path and filename of your bookmarks file


(bookmarks.html). In Windows, the path separator
must be two backslashes (e.g.
browser. bookmarks. file String
"C:\\Path\\To\\bookmarks.html") if the value is
being set in user.js or prefs.js instead of within
about:config

Determine the system bookmark strategy.


True: Enable a "live view" of system bookmarks which
is read-only
browser. bookmarks.
Boolean False (default): Opposite of above.
import_system_favorites
Note: Setting this to "true" will prevent "Imported IE
Favorites" folder from being deleted where applicable
(see bug 22642).

The number of seconds between Live Bookmark


browser. bookmarks.
Integer checks. Values under 60 are assumed to be 60; the
livemark_refresh_seconds
default is 3600 (1 hour).

browser. bookmarks. True: The original bookmarks.html file is missing or


Boolean
restore_default_bookmarks corrupted; retrieve one of the dated backups
False (default): Do not perform bookmarks restoration
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only

The order in which to sort bookmarks in the Bookmarks


Manager
descending (default): Unsorted
browser. bookmarks. sort.
String natural: Alphabetically, A-Z
direction
ascending: Alphabetically, Z-A
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Bookmarks
→ Manage Bookmarks... → View"

The RDF source to use when sorting the bookmarks in


the Bookmarks Manager
rdf:http://home.netscape.com/NC-rdf#Name
(default): by bookmark name
rdf:http://home.netscape.com/NC-rdf#URL: by URL
rdf:http://home.netscape.com/NC-
rdf#ShortcutURL: by bookmark keyword
rdf:http://home.netscape.com/NC-rdf#Description:
browser. bookmarks. sort. by description
String
resource rdf:http://home.netscape.com/NC-
rdf#BookmarkAddDate: by bookmark creation date
rdf:http://home.netscape.com/WEB-
rdf#LastModifiedDate: by bookmark modification
date
rdf:http://home.netscape.com/WEB-
rdf#LastVisitDate: by date of last visit
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Bookmarks
→ Manage Bookmarks... → View"

How often to check the remote page for a newer version


than what might be in the cache
0: Check once per browser session
browser. cache.
Integer 1: Check every time I view the page
check_doc_frequency
2: Never check (always use cached page)
3 (default): Check when the page is out of date
(automatically determined)

Amount of disk space allowed for the browser's cache


browser. cache. disk. capacity Integer
(in KB). Default is 50000.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Privacy → Cache"

True (default): Use disk cache, up to capacity specified


in browser.cache.disk.capacity
browser. cache. disk. enable Boolean
False: Disable disk cache (same effect as setting
browser.cache.disk.capacity to 0)

Full path to the directory used for storing the browser's


cache. In Windows, the path separator must be two
browser. cache. disk.
String backslashes (e.g. "C:\\Path\\To\\Cache") if the value
parent_directory
is being set in user.js or prefs.js instead of within
about:config

True: Cache content received via SSL (security risk!)


browser. cache. disk_cache_ssl Boolean False (default): Do not cache content received via SSL
Note: See bug 205921 for more information

Determines how the browser uses RAM for cache.


-1 (default): Automatically set size of capacity as a
browser. cache. memory.
Integer percentage of physical RAM
capacity
0: disables the memory cache device entirely
(n): Set the maximum RAM used to n KB.

True (default): Use memory cache, up to capacity


specified in browser.cache.memory.capacity (if set);
otherwise, use a percentage of physical RAM (see bug
browser. cache. memory. enable Boolean
105344)
False: Disable memory cache (same effect as setting
browser.cache.memory.capacity to 0)

True (default): Load and display "favicons" residing in


the current page's site root directory
browser. chrome. favicons Boolean False: Opposite of the above
Note: This should be set to the same value as
browser.chrome.site_icons for legacy reasons.
If an image's height or width is greater than this number
(in pixels), the image will not have a thumbnail placed
browser. chrome. image_icons. in its tab (or the Location Bar). Setting it to 0 will
Integer
max_size prevent thumbnails from being used altogether. The
default value is 1024 pixels.
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

0 (default): Never load site icons/favicons when


displaying bookmarks in menus (overrides
browser. chrome.
Integer browser.chrome.site_icons)
load_toolbar_icons
1: Load site icons/favicons when they've been cached
2: Always load site icons/favicons

True (default): Load and display site icons specified by


link element(s) in the web page
browser. chrome. site_icons Boolean False: Opposite of the above
Note: This should be set to the same value as
browser.chrome.favicons for legacy reasons.

Set toolbar style for browser


0: Pictures Only
browser. chrome. toolbar_style Integer
1: Text Only
2 (default): Pictures and Text

Determines tooltip behavior for chrome elements.


True (default): Show tooltips for toolbars and
browser. chrome. toolbar_tips Boolean
bookmarks. Display the name and URL for bookmarks
False: Hide tooltips for chrome elements

Location of browser's UI chrome; launched at browser


browser. chromeURL String
startup. Default value is chrome://browser/content/

The default color for the background of browser content


browser. display. as a hex code. This affects blank tabs, web pages whose
String backgrounds are not explicity set, and XUL error pages.
background_color
Default value is #FFFFFF.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → General → Fonts & Colors"

The default color for the background of focused


browser. display. elements as a hex code. Default value is #117722.
String
focus_background_color Requires that browser.display.use_focus_colors be
true

True: Display the focus ring (normally only shown on


browser. display.
Boolean links) on anything
focus_ring_on_anything
False (default): Display the focus ring on links only

Determines the display of the focus ring around focused


elements.
0: Hide focus ring
browser. display.
Integer 1 (default): Dots around focused elements will be
focus_ring_width
displayed with a 1 pixel border
(n): Display dots with a width of n pixels around
focused elements

The default color for the text of focused elements as a


browser. display.
String hex code. Default value is #ffffff. Requires that
focus_text_color
browser.display.use_focus_colors be true

True: Force broken images' alt text to be displayed


inline
browser. display.
Boolean False (default): Show an icon if rendering in Quirks
force_inline_alttext
Mode and there is no alt text, or if rendering in Quirks
Mode and the image has a size specified.

The default color for the foreground of browser content


as a hex code. This affects web pages whose text colors
browser. display. are not explicity set and XUL error pages. Default value
String
foreground_color is #000000.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → General → Fonts & Colors"
Determine method of calculating line-height (leading)
in layout
-1: Uninitialized
browser. display.
Integer 0: Don't include external leading
normal_lineheight_calc_control
1: Use what the font vendor provides
2 (default): Compensate leading if vendor's leading is
insufficient

DPI of display device. Affects CSS absolute length


units (e.g. pt, mm).
-1: Unable to determine the resolution (assume
preference is not set)
browser. display.
Integer 0: Force use of operating system's logical resolution
screen_resolution
(n): Assume screen DPI of n. Default value is 96.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → General → Fonts & Colors → Display
Resolution"

True (default): Show placeholders while image is


browser. display.
Boolean loading
show_image_placeholders
False: Opposite of above

True (default): Allow documents to specify colors to


use
browser. display. False: Opposite of above
Boolean
use_document_colors Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → General → Fonts & Colors → Always use
my colors"

0: Never use document's fonts


1: Allow documents to specify fonts to use
browser. display. 2: Always use document's fonts (deprecated)
Integer
use_document_fonts Note: In Firefox, this can be changed (between 0 and 1)
via "Tools → Options → General → Fonts & Colors →
Always use my fonts"

browser. display.
Boolean True: Set colors on focused items according to
use_focus_colors preferences
False (default): Do not set colors on focused items
False (default): Do not set colors on focused items

True: Use colors specified by OS to display documents


False (default): Opposite of above
browser. display.
Boolean Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
use_system_colors
Options → General → Fonts & Colors → Use system
colors"

True: Disables emulation of IE's document.all


browser. dom. document. all. collection
Boolean
disabled False (default): Enable undetectable document.all
support in quirks mode (see bug 248549)

True: Disable the more agressive emulation of IE's


browser. dom. "IDs directly accessible in the global scope" behavior.
Boolean
global_scope_pollution. disabled False (default): Automatically add IDs to the global
(window) scope in quirks mode.

browser. dom. window. dump. True: Enable JavaScript dump() output


Boolean
enabled False: Opposite of the above

Holds the path of the default download directory


browser. download. determined from browser.download.folderList. Not
String
defaultFolder set by default; set after the user configures their
download options.

The last directory used for saving a file from the "What
browser. download. dir String
should (browser) do with this file?" dialog.

Determines the directory to download to when


browser. download. downloadDir String browser.download.useDownloadDir is false. Appears
to mirror browser.download.dir.

Which of several internally-specified locations to use


browser. download. folderList Integer
for the default download directory
0 (default): the desktop
1: the downloads folder
2: the last folder specified for a download
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Downloads → Download Folder → Save all
files to this folder"

True (default): In the Download Actions dialog,


browser. download. remove entries where no file extensions are associated
Boolean
hide_plugins_without_extensions with a plugin.
False: Opposite of the above.

Path to the last directory used for a download via "Save


browser. download. lastDir String
As."

True (default): warn the user attempting to open an


executable from the Download Manager
False: display no warning and allow executable to be
browser. download. manager.
Boolean run
alertOnEXEOpen
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed by checking the
"Don't ask me this again" box when you encounter the
alert.

True: Close the Download Manager when all


downloads are complete
False (default): Opposite of the above
browser. download. manager.
Boolean Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
closeWhenDone
Options → Downloads → Download Manager → Close
the Download Manager when all downloads are
complete"

Number of times to flash the Download Manager's


browser. download. manager.
Integer taskbar entry when the DM is not in the foreground. Set
flashCount
to 0 to disable flashing. Default value is 2.

True: Set the Download Manager window as active


browser. download. manager. when starting a download
Boolean
focusWhenStarting False (default): Leave the window in the background
when starting a download
If a download takes less than this number of
browser. download. manager. milliseconds to complete, do not open the Download
Integer
openDelay Manager window. Default value is 0 (always show
Download Manager window).

When to remove downloaded files' entries from the


Download Manager
0: Upon successful download
browser. download. manager.
Integer 1: When the browser exits
retention
2 (default): Manually
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Privacy → Download Manager History"

browser. download. manager. Number of milliseconds after downloads complete to


Integer
showAlertInterval show the "completed" alert. Default value is 2000.

True (default): popup window at bottom right corner of


browser. download. manager.
Boolean the screen will appear once all downloads are finished.
showAlertOnComplete
False: the popup window will not appear.

True (default): Show Download Manager window


when a download begins
browser. download. manager. False: Opposite of the above
Boolean
showWhenStarting Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Downloads → Download Manager → Show
Download Manager window when a download begins"

True: Use the Download Manager window for


downloads
False: Opposite of the above
browser. download. manager.
Boolean Note: In Firefox, this is effectively the same as setting
useWindow
browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting to
false; the Download Manager is used for downloads
regardless of the setting

browser. download. The format to save web pages in


Integer
save_converter_index 0: Web Page (Complete)
1: Web Page (HTML Only)
2: Text
Note: In Firefox, this setting is remembered from the
option you choose in the Save As dialog.

True (default): In the Download Actions dialog, display


browser. download.
Boolean actions and filetypes associated with installed plugins.
show_plugins_in_list
False: Opposite of the above.

True (default): Without asking a location, download


files to the directory specified in
browser.download.folderList
browser. download.
Boolean False: Ask where to save every file
useDownloadDir
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Downloads → Download Folder → Ask me
where to save every file"

True (default): When viewing an image not in a web


page, the image will be resized to fit in the browser
window if it is too large for the browser window. The
browser. image can be shown in its real size by left clicking on it.
Boolean
enable_automatic_image_resizing False: Images are always shown in their real size.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Advanced → Multimedia → Resize large
images to fit in the browser window"

Pref removed. Previously:


The number of words per feed item to display. Default
browser. feedview. articleLength Integer value is 50.
Note: Feedview functionality was present for only a
short while prior to Firefox 1.5 Beta.

Pref removed. Previously:


Determines how often in seconds to reload the currently
browser. feedview. reloadInterval Integer rendered feed. Default value is 0 (never reload).
Note: Feedview functionality was present for only a
short while prior to Firefox 1.5 Beta.

browser. feedview. showBar Boolean Pref removed. Previously:


True (default): Display the options settings in feed
view.
False: Opposite of the above
Note: Feedview functionality was present for only a
short while prior to Firefox 1.5 Beta.

Pref removed. Previously:


True (default): Display images embedded in feed items
in-line.
browser. feedview. showImage Boolean
False: Opposite of the above.
Note: Feedview functionality was present for only a
short while prior to Firefox 1.5 Beta.

Pref removed. Previously:


True (default): Display a menu alongside rendered
feeds with relevant functions
browser. feedview. showMenu Boolean
False: Opposite of the above.
Note: Feedview functionality was present for only a
short while prior to Firefox 1.5 Beta.

Pref removed. Previously:


Determines how often to refresh the feed. Default value
browser. feedview. timerInterval Integer is 0 (no refresh).
Note: Feedview functionality was present for only a
short while prior to Firefox 1.5 Beta.

Pref removed. Previously:


Path to a custom CSS file to apply to feeds. Default
browser. feedview. externalCSS String value is an empty string.
Note: Feedview functionality was present for only a
short while prior to Firefox 1.5 Beta.

True (default): Try to fix up http://foo to


browser. fixup. alternate. enabled Boolean http://(prefix)foo(suffix)
False: Do not second-guess the user

The prefix to prepend when attempting to fix an entered


browser. fixup. alternate. prefix String URL. Default is "www." (includes full stop). Requires
browser.fixup.alternate.enabled be true.
The suffix to append when attempting to fix an entered
browser. fixup. alternate. suffix String URL. Default is ".com". Requires
browser.fixup.alternate.enabled be true.

True (default): When attempting to fix an entered URL,


do not fix an entered password along with it (i.e. do not
turn http://user:password@foo into
browser. fixup. hide_user_pass Boolean
http://user:password@(prefix)foo(suffix) but instead
http://user@(prefix)foo(suffix))
False: Include entered password in fixed URL

True (default): Save information entered in web page


forms and the Search Bar
False: Opposite of the above
browser. formfill. enable Boolean Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Privacy → Saved Form Information → Save
information I enter in web page forms and the Search
Bar"

True (default): Leave off mandatory Content-


Transfer-Encoding header when submitting HTML
forms
browser. forms. submit. False: Send header as the spec requires
Boolean
backwards_compatible Note: Sending the header "used to cause Bad Things,
including server crashes" according to comments in the
Mozilla source (see bug 83065). Eventually this pref
may disappear.

True (default): Enables the display of HTML frames


browser. frames. enabled Boolean False: Opposite of the above; displays <noframes>
content instead

True (default): If a normal DNS lookup times out, try


hitting Google
browser. goBrowsing. enabled Boolean
False: Opposite of the above
Note: No longer used
True: Always ask what to do with an unknown MIME
browser. helperApps. alwaysAsk. type, and disable option to remember what to open it
Boolean
force with
False (default): Opposite of above

A comma-separated list of MIME types to open directly


browser. helperApps. neverAsk.
String without asking for confirmation. Default value is an
openFile
empty string.

A comma-separated list of MIME types to save to disk


browser. helperApps. neverAsk.
String without asking what to use to open the file. Default
saveToDisk
value is an empty string.

The chrome:// URL for the hidden window. Used in


browser. Mac OS X for when the browser is running but has no
String
hiddenWindowChromeURL windows open. Default value is
chrome://browser/content/hiddenWindow.xul

How to group entries in the history window (not


browser. history. grouping String applicable for Firefox's History sidebar). Default value
is day.

Number of days to remember visited pages in history.


Default value is 9.
browser. history_expire_days Integer Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Privacy → History → Remember visited
pages for the last ___ days"

The collective state of several other preferences;


namely, dom.event.contextmenu.enabled,
dom.disable_window_move_resize,
dom.disable_window_flip,
browser. jsannoyances. disabled Boolean dom.disable_window_open_feature.status, and
dom.disable_window_status_change. Used by the
preferences dialog for tracking; changing the value of
this preference manually does not change the tracked
preferences.
True: Consider all of the above preferences to be true
(except dom.event.contextmenu.enabled, which is
considered to be false)
False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

Where to open links sent to the browser from an


external application
2: Opens external links in a new window
3: Opens external links in a new tab
browser. link. open_external Integer 1 (or anything else) (default): Opens external links in
current window
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Advanced → Tabbed Browsing → Open
links from other applications in:"

Where to open links that would normally open in a new


window
browser. link. open_newwindow Integer 2 (default): In a new window
3: In a new tab
1 (or anything else): In the current window

Firefox only. Source: The Burning Edge.


0: Force all new windows opened by JavaScript into
tabs.
1: Let all windows opened by JavaScript open in new
windows. (Default behavior in IE.)
2 (Default): Catch new windows opened by JavaScript
browser. link. open_newwindow.
Integer that do not have specific values set (how large the
restriction
window should be, whether it should have a status bar,
etc.) This is useful because some popups are legitimate
— it really is useful to be able to see both the popup and
the original window at the same time. However, most
advertising popups also open in new windows with
values set, so beware.

Determine which new window open options are


browser. link. open_newwindow.
Integer available from the UI. No longer used in Firefox 1.0.
ui
Default value is 3.
Status of the "Work Offline" option
True: Attempt to retrieve pages from cache. Do not
make external connections to retrieve resources.
browser. offline Boolean False (default): Assume a connection is present and
retrieve resources where necessary.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "File → Work
Offline"

True (default): Show an icon in the status bar when a


browser. popups. popup has been blocked.
Boolean
showPopupBlocker False: Do not show an icon in the status bar when a
popup has been blocked.

Determines which tab in the Advanced section of the


preferences is visible.
browser. preferences. advanced.
Integer 0 (default): General
selectedTabIndex
1: Update
2: Security

True (default in Mac OS X): When switching prefs


panels, change the height of the window and fade the
browser. preferences. new panel in over about a second.
Boolean
animateFadeIn False (default everywhere else): Do not animate
switching pref panels
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

True (default in all platforms but Windows): Changes


to preferences are active immediately. The preferences
window is not modal. Instead of "OK" and "Cancel"
browser. preferences.
Boolean buttons, there is only a "Close" button.
instantApply
False: Changes to preferences occur after clicking
"OK" button. The preference window is modal.
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

Which part of the preferences window was displayed


the last time it was closed. In Firefox:
browser. preferences. lastpanel Integer
0: General
1: Privacy
2: Web Features
3: Downloads
4: Advanced
Note: In Firefox, this is determined by the section of
"Tools → Options" you are viewing when you close the
dialog.

Determines which tab in the Privacy section of the


preferences is visible.
0 (default): History
browser. preferences. privacy. 1: Saved Forms
Integer
selectedTabIndex 2: Passwords
3: Download History
4: Cookies
5: Cache

Automatically load "What's Related" for a given URL


0: Always
1 (default): After first use (default)
browser. related. autoload Integer
2: Never
Note: This is not used in Firefox (there is no "What's
Related").

A comma-separated list of domains for which "What's


browser. related. Related" is disabled. Default value is an empty string.
String
disabledForDomains Note: This is not used in Firefox (there is no "What's
Related").

Setting for "What's Related"


True (default): Enable
browser. related. enabled Boolean False: Disable
Note: This is not used in Firefox (there is no "What's
Related").

The URL to retrieve "What's Related" data from.


Default value is http://www-rl.netscape.com/wtgn?
browser. related. provider String
Note: This is not used in Firefox (there is no "What's
Related").
Version number used to determine which search engine
browser. search. basic. min_ver String plugins should be installed/displayed. Default value is
0.0.

browser. search. Default search engine plugin to use. Default value is


String
defaultenginename Google.

URL to prepend to search terms. Default value is


browser. search. defaulturl String http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-
8&oe=UTF-8&q=

True: When performing a search from the Search Bar,


open the results in a new tab.
browser. search. openintab Boolean False (default): Open search results in the current
tab/window.
Note: Firefox nightly trunk builds only.

(digit) is used to weight the search engine specified by


browser. search. order. (digit) String
the value for sorting in the list of search engines.

browser. search. order. (name) (. Used for weighting search engine entry sorting. Points
String
digit) to .properties file.

browser. search. param. (name). Used for adding arbitrary variables to the search query
String
(digit). ("custom" or "default") of the (name) search plugin.

browser. search. selectedEngine String Name of currently selected search engine plugin

Name of currently selected search engine plugin in the


browser. search.
String search dialog (used when the Search Bar is hidden)
selectedEngineInDialog
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

browser. search. update Boolean True (default): Automatically check for updates to
search plugins.
False: Opposite of the above.
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

True: Cache the content viewer (when


browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers is greater
browser. sessionhistory.
Boolean than 0) for subframes
cache_subframes
False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

The maximum number of pages in the browser's session


browser. sessionhistory. history, i.e. the maximum number of URLs you can
Integer
max_entries traverse purely through the Back/Forward buttons.
Default value is 50.

Determines the maximum number of content viewers to


cache for "bfcache" (fast back/forward navigation).
browser. sessionhistory. Default value is -1 (calculate based on available
Integer
max_total_viewers memory). All values less than 0 are equivalent.
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only. Supersedes
browser.sessionhistory.max_viewers.

The number of content viewers to cache for "bfcache"


(fast back/forward navigation). Default value is 3.
browser. sessionhistory.
Integer Note: Deer Park/Firefox 1.5b1 only. Functionality has
max_viewers
been replaced by
browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers.

Check the OS' default browser on startup.


True (default): Check to see if the browser is set as
browser. shell. default; if not, ask if the user wants it set that way
Boolean
checkDefaultBrowser False: Do not perform the check
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → General → Default Browser"

URL of homepage, or pipe (|)-separated list of URLs to


open in tabs when going to the homepage
browser. startup. homepage String
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → General → Homepage"
browser. startup. Stub for browser.startup.homepage_override (used in
Boolean
homepage_override. 1 Netscape 4.x). No longer used. Default value is false.

The last browser version (milestone) this profile was


browser. startup.
String loaded with. If it differs from the current version, pref is
homepage_override. mstone
changed to current version.

If, during installation, the user requested that their


browser. startup. homepage be reset, get the new homepage value from
String
homepage_reset this location. Default value is
resource:/browserconfig.properties

Page to open on browser startup


0: Blank
browser. startup. page Integer
1 (default): Home (a.k.a. browser.startup.homepage)
2: Last (probably does not work)

Behavior for the tab bar when only one tab exists
True (default): Hide the tab bar
False: Always show the tab bar
browser. tabs. autoHide Boolean
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Advanced → Tabbed Browsing → Hide the
tab bar when only one web site is open"

Display of the tab bar


True: Hide the tab bar
False: Show tab bar normally
browser. tabs. forceHide Boolean
Note: This is not used to enable/disable the tab bar. It's
used internally to decide whether or not to show the
tabbed bar.

True: When you open a bookmark in a new tab then


that tab will load in the background without taking
browser. tabs. focus from the current tab.
Boolean False (default): When you open a bookmark in a new
loadBookmarksInBackground
tab then that tab will become the current tab.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Advanced → Tabbed Browsing → Select
New Tabs from Bookmarks or History"

Determines behavior of pages normally meant to open


in a new window (target="_new" or from an external
program), but that have instead been loaded in a new
tab.
True: Load the new tab in the background, leaving
browser. tabs.
Boolean focus on the current tab
loadDivertedInBackground
False (default): Load the new tab in the foreground,
taking the focus from the current tab.
Note: Setting this preference to True will still bring the
browser to the front when opening links from outside
the browser.

True (default): When opening a folder of bookmarks in


tabs, the existing tabs will be replaced by the new
browser. tabs. bookmark pages.
Boolean
loadFolderAndReplace False: Existing tabs will be preserved when loading a
folder of bookmarks. The bookmark pages will be
loaded in tabs that are appended to the current tabs.

0: Append group to current tab set


browser. tabs. loadGroup Integer 1 (default): Replace current tab set with group
Note: Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey only.

Focus behavior for new tabs


True (default): Do not focus new tabs opened from
links (load in background)
browser. tabs. loadInBackground Boolean False: Opposite of above
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Advanced → Tabbed Browsing → Select
new tabs opened from links"

Determines what will be displayed in a new tab


-1: Browser startup page
0 (default): Blank page
browser. tabs. loadOnNewTab Integer
1: Homepage
2: Last visited page
Note: Does not work in Firefox 1.0 (see bug 269664).
Controls if a clicked bookmark will open in a new tab
browser. tabs. opentabfor. when middleclicked.
Boolean
bookmarks Note: Pref removed (obsolete). Functionality proposed
as enhancement request.

Determines the behavior of a link when middle-clicked.


browser. tabs. opentabfor.
Boolean True (default): Opens link in new tab
middleclick
False: Opens link in new window

Determines whether to create a new tab for the search


browser. tabs. opentabfor. results from queries entered in the search dialog (used
Boolean
searchdialog when the Search Bar is hidden)
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

Pref removed (unused). Previously:


Determines the behavior of pressing Enter in the
address bar or clicking the Go button.
browser. tabs. opentabfor. urlbar Boolean
True (default): Open URL in new tab
False: Open URL in current tab
Note: Functionality proposed as enhancement request.

browser. tabs. opentabfor.


Boolean Pref removed (obsolete).
windowopen

Determines whether to display "Single Window Mode"


settings in preferences (see bug 266759).
browser. tabs. True: Show "Force links that open in new windows to
Boolean
showSingleWindowModePrefs open in..." options under "Tools → Options →
Advanced → Tabbed Browsing"
False (default): Opposite of above

True (default): The browser will prompt for


confirmation when closing the browser when more than
one tab is open.
browser. tabs. warnOnClose Boolean False: No warnings will be given when closing the
browser with more thanone tab.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Advanced → Tabbed Browsing → Warn
when closing multiple tabs"

True (default): The browser will prompt for


browser. tabs. confirmation when closing all other tabs from the tab
Boolean
warnOnCloseOther context menu ("Close Other Tabs")
False: Opposite of the above

Indicates what URL to load when the throbber is


browser. throbber. url String clicked. Default value is
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html

browser.
Boolean Unused
trim_user_and_password

True (default): Select the entire paragraph under the


mouse cursor when triple-clicking.
browser.
Boolean False: Select the line under the mouse cursor when
triple_click_selects_paragraph
triple-clicking
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

Pref removed (obsolete). Previously:


Determined whether to load browser in "Turbo Mode"
(aka "quick launch") (Windows/Mozilla Suite only)
browser. turbo. enabled Boolean True: Load some Mozilla code into memory on
Windows boot
False (default): Load browser normally on program
execution

Determines default text-decoration of anchor elements.


True (default): Underlines links
False: Opposite of above
browser. underline_anchors Boolean
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → General → Fonts & Colors → Underline
links"

browser. update. resetHomepage Boolean Determine whether to reset homepage during browser
installation
True: Reset homepage in browser.startup.homepage to
value in browser.startup.homepage_reset
False (default): Do not reset homepage

True: Enables inline autocomplete.


browser. urlbar. autoFill Boolean
False (default): Opposite of above.

True (default in non-Unix builds): Select the contents


browser. urlbar. clickSelectsAll Boolean of the address bar when it is clicked
False (default everywhere else): Opposite of above

Determines behavior of autocomplete in Location Bar


browser. urlbar. True: Only matches typing against URLs specifically
Boolean
matchOnlyTyped typed into Location Bar
False (default): Match against history

The default color for visited links as a hex code. Default


is #551A8B
browser. visited_color String Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → General → Fonts & Colors → Visited
Links"

Set what should be displayed in a newly created


window
browser. windows. -1: Browser Startup Page
Integer
loadOnNewWindow 0: Blank Page
1 (default): Your Homepage
2: Last Visited

True (default in Firefox 1.5 and above): The browser


browser. xul. error_pages. will use error pages.
Boolean
enabled False (default in Firefox 1.0.x and below): The browser
will use error alert boxes.

[edit]

Config.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

Windows-only. Determines how Windows handles


memory for the browser when minimizing. Setting to
False will often prevent delays when restoring the
config. window (see bug 76831).
Boolean
trim_on_minimize True (default): Allow Windows to trim the working
set when the browser is minimized
False: Prevent Windows from trimming the working
set

True: Use preferences set by operating system (e.g.


config. proxies, accessibility)
Boolean
use_system_prefs False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: Seems to be unused in Firefox 1.0

True: The system is configured with accessibility


config.
features; use them
use_system_prefs. Boolean
False (default): Opposite of the above
accessibility
Note: Seems to be unused in Firefox 1.0

[edit]

Content.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

content. True (default): Enable interruption of parsing to return to the


interrupt. Boolean application's event loop from time to time
parsing False: Opposite of the above

Determines time in microseconds after which parsing is


content. max.
interrupted to return to the application's event loop. Default
tokenizing. Integer
value is 3×content.notify.interval. Synchronize as a multiple
time
of content.notify.interval for best results.
Determines (in part) when to display a new portion of text to
the layout from the buffer (the maximum number of text runs
content.
Integer that may fly by before doing a notification). Value is in
maxtextrun
kilobytes. Default value is 8191. For more information, see
bug 77540.

Determines the number of initial reflows during timer-based


content. notify. rendering. After this number of reflows, the page is only
Integer
backoffcount reflowed when the calculation of the layout of larger parts of
the page is finalized. Default value is -1 (never).

Determines time steps for the initial reflows defined by


content.notify.backoffcount in microseconds. Default value
content. notify.
Integer is 120000. Values below 100000 are not recommended.
interval
Synchronize with nglayout.initialpaint.delay for best
performance.

True (default): Enable timer-based reflows during page


content. notify.
Boolean rendering
ontimer
False: Opposite of the above

Determines how long to wait for user input (mouse movement


or typing) in microseconds until switching to low frequency
content. switch.
Integer interrupt mode. (High frequency interrupt mode provides
threshold
better UI responsiveness at the expense of load time.) Default
value is 750000.

[edit]

DOM.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

Determines which close() operations are


dom.
Boolean legal.
allow_scripts_to_close_windows
True: Any script may close any window
False (default): Only windows opened via
script may be closed via close().

Determines whether scripts may change the


.src member of image objects (effectively,
whether images can be changed via
JavaScript)
True: Scripts may not modify .src of
dom. disable_image_src_set Boolean images
False (default): Opposite fo above
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via
"Tools → Options → Web Features →
Enable JavaScript / Advanced → Allow
scripts to change images"

If a popup will be created as the result of a


setTimeout() or setInterval() JavaScript
call and the delay specified is smaller than
dom. disable_open_click_delay Integer
this value (in milliseconds), handle the popup
according to the current popup blocker
settings. Default value is 1000.

Determines popup blocker behavior


True (default): Block popup windows
created while the page is loading
dom. disable_open_during_load Boolean False: Allow popup windows
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via
"Tools → Options → Web Features → Block
Popup Windows"

Determines whether windows can be


focus()ed via non-chrome JavaScript.
True: Windows may not be set as active via
JavaScript
dom. disable_window_flip Boolean False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via
"Tools → Options → Web Features →
Enable JavaScript / Advanced → Allow
scripts to raise or lower windows"
Determines whether windows can be moved
or resized via non-chrome JavaScript.
True: Windows may not be moved or resized
via JavaScript
dom.
Boolean False (default): Opposite of the above
disable_window_move_resize
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via
"Tools → Options → Web Features →
Enable JavaScript / Advanced → Allow
scripts to move or resize existing windows"

Web Page authors can disable many features


of a popup window that they open. Setting
these preferences to true will override the
author's settings and ensure that that feature
is enabled and present in any popup window.
close: Prevents the close button from being
disabled.
directories: Prevents the bookmarks toolbar
from being hidden.
location: Prevents the address bar from being
hidden
menubar: Prevents the menubar from being
dom. hidden.
disable_window_open_feature. Boolean minimizable: Prevents popup window
* minimization from being disabled.
personalbar: Prevents the bookmarks
toolbar from being hidden.
resizable: Prevents popup window resizing
from being disabled.
scrollbars: Prevents the scrollbars on a
popup from being disabled.
status: Prevents the status bar from being
hidden.
titlebar: Prevents the title bar from being
hidden.
toolbar: Prevents the navigation toolbar from
being hidden.

Determines whether the text in the browser


dom. status bar may be set by non-chrome
Boolean JavaScript.
disable_window_status_change
True (default): JavaScript access to
window.status is disabled
False: Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via
"Tools → Options → Web Features →
Enable JavaScript / Advanced → Allow
scripts to change status bar text"

Determines whether the oncontextmenu


event can be caught by non-chrome
JavaScript (e.g., in an anti-right-click script).
True (default): the opposite of below.
False: Webpages will not be able to affect
dom. event. contextmenu.
Boolean the context menu event, thus allowing to
enabled
access the context menu all the time.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via
"Tools → Options → Web Features →
Advanced → Allow scripts to disable or
replace context menus"

Determines the maximum amount of time in


seconds a script can run. Default value is 5.
dom. max_script_run_time Integer Negative values are ignored and 5 seconds is
used instead.
Note: Requires a browser restart.

A space-separated list of the events that are


allowed to create popups. Default value is
"change click dblclick mouseup reset
submit". A presumably complete list of
events from
mozilla/content/events/src/nsDOMEvent.cpp:
Form events:

dom. popup_allowed_events String select:


change:
input:
submit:
reset:

Other events:

keydown:
keypress:
keyup:
mousedown:
mouseup:
click:
dblclick:
error:
The maximum number of simultaneously
dom. popup_maximum Integer
open popup windows. Default value is 20.
[edit]

Editor.*
These settings affect libeditor (i.e. Composer and Mail). Most have no effect in Firefox.

Name Type Meaning of Values

Determines the default units for CSS rules.


cm: centimeters
em: ems (width of the capital letter "M" in
typography, but line height in CSS)
ex: ex (height of the lower-case "x")
editor. css.
String in: inches
default_length_unit
mm: milimeters
%: percentage of parent element
pc: picas (1/6th of an inch)
px (default): pixels
pt: points (1/72nd of an inch)

editor. The column at which HTML source wraps. Default


Integer
htmlWrapColumn value is 72.

The default offset, both X and Y, of absolutely


editor. positioning. offset Integer
positioned elements. Default value is 0.

Originally meant to be a temporary preference to


editor.
Boolean control the behavior of plaintext quotations inserted
quotesPreformatted into email.
True: Wrap quoted email text in a pre element
False (default): Wrap quoted email text in a span
element

Determines the behavior of resizing images in


Composer.
editor. resizing.
Boolean True (default): Preserve ratio of image while
preserve_ratio
resizing
False: Allow free resizing of height and width

Determines the behavior when pasting content


containing newlines into single-line text boxes.
0 (default in Linux): Paste content intact (include
newlines)
editor. singleLine.
Integer 1 (default everywhere else): Paste the content only
pasteNewlines
up to (but not including) the first newline
2: Replace each newline with a space
3: Remove all newlines from content
4: Substitute commas for newlines in text box

Determines the preferred method of formatting


content.
editor. use_css Boolean
True (default): Use CSS styling where appropriate
False: Use non-CSS methods of styling content

Determines whether to use user-specified colors for


content.
editor.
Boolean True: Use colors specified in editor.* preferences
use_custom_colors
for content
False (default): Use the default colors

[edit]

Extensions.*
This branch of preferences is usually used to hold settings for installed extensions, but
there are a few that deal with extensions and themes in general.

Name Type Meaning of Values


Specify a custom description for the extension
extensions. {GUID}.
String whose GUID is specified (see Localize extension
description
descriptions for application).

Indicates whether obsolete extensions have been


extensions.
Boolean disabled as a result of a change in the browser
disabledObsolete
version.

True: Enable dynamic skin (theme) switching.


False (default): Require a browser restart when
extensions. dss. enabled Boolean switching themes.
Note: Switching themes dynamically is buggy (see
bug 226791).

True: Non-dynamic theme switch pending a


extensions. dss.
Boolean browser restart
switchPending
False (default): Opposite of the above

extensions. Determines the URL used for the "Get More


String
getMoreExtensionsURL Extensions" link in "Tools → Extensions" dialog.

extensions. Determines the URL used for the "Get More


String
getMoreThemesURL Themes" link in "Tools → Themes" dialog.

True: Prevent extensions system from using last-


modified file metadata when determining whether an
extensions.
Boolean extension is new (and should therefore be registered)
ignoreMTimeChanges
False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: Nightlies only.

The last version of the browser to successfully load


extensions.
String extensions. Used to determine whether or not to
lastAppVersion
disable extensions due to possible incompatibilities.
True: Enables some extra extension system logging
extensions. logging. (can reduce performance)
Boolean
enabled False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: Nightlies only

True: The user has viewed and agreed to the privacy


statement for the Report Broken Website tool, so
extensions. reporter.
Boolean don't show it again.
hidePrivacyStatement
False: Display the privacy statement when opening
the Report Broken Website tool.

True: Automatically download and install available


extensions. update. updates
Boolean
autoUpdate False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: Not implemented

True (default): Allow automatic checking for


extensions. update.
Boolean updates at the specified interval
autoUpdateEnabled
False: Opposite of the above

extensions. update. The number of extension/theme/etc. updates


Integer
count available. Default value is 0.

True (default): Allow checking for updates


extensions. update. False: Opposite of the above
Boolean
enabled Can be overridden on a per-extension basis by
setting extensions.{GUID}.update.enabled.

Determines how often to check the update URL for


updates. Can be overridden on a per-extension basis
by setting extensions.{GUID}.update.interval.
extensions. update.
Integer In Firefox 1.0.x and below, default value is
interval
604800000 (milliseconds in 1 week).
In Firefox 1.5 and above, default value is 86400
(seconds in 1 day).
When the last extension update occurred, in UNIX
extensions. update.
Integer epoch format (seconds since 1970-01-01). Default
lastUpdateDate
value is 0.

The number of pending Extension/Theme updates


extensions. update.
Integer you can have before the update notifier goes from
severity. threshold
low to medium severity. Default value is 5.

Determines the URL queried when polling for


extension updates. Can be overridden on a per-
extension basis by setting
extensions. update. url String
extensions.{GUID}.update.url. Default value is
pulled from
chrome://mozapps/locale/update/update.properties.

[edit]

Font.*
The majority of the font.* entries are of the form:

font.(font property).(font type).(language code)

The (font property) indicates that the value of the entry is one of the following:

name-list
A comma-and-space-delimited list of font names corresponding to the (font type)
and (language code) (String)
name
A font name (String)
size
The font size, in pixels (Integer)

The (font type) indicates which CSS generic-family is being referenced in the value, or
simply whether the font is fixed-width or variable-width. The (font type) is one of the
following:

serif
(e.g. Times)
sans-serif
(e.g. Helvetica)
cursive
(e.g. Zapf-Chancery)
fantasy
(e.g. Western)
monospace
(e.g. Courier)
fixed
Any fixed-width font
variable
Any variable-width font

The (language code) is an ISO 639-2 value.

Other font.* entries are listed below.

Name Type Meaning of Values

The default generic-family to use. If a language code is


font. default (. specified, the preference only applies to that language.
String
language code) serif (default): Serif
sans-serif: Sans-serif

The user's language group. Pulled from the localized data


font. language.
String at chrome://global/locale/intl.properties by default on
group
installation.

Unused (obsolete). Previously:


font. size. True: In Windows, adjust rounding of some pixel font
Boolean
nav4rounding sizes to match Netscape 4.x's (incorrect) rounding
False (default): Display fonts normally

[edit]

General.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

general. autoScroll Boolean Status of the autoscroll option (middle-clicking on a web


page produces a scrolling icon and will automatically
scroll the page based on the pointer's relative location to
the icon)
True (default): Activate autoscroll
False (default in *nix): Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Advanced → Browsing → Use autoscrolling"

general. config. A .cfg file to parse and read for AutoConfig. Unset by
String
filename default.

An integer to use when obscuring the AutoConfig file


general. config.
Integer saved to and read from disk. Default value is 13
obscure_value
(effectively, ROT-13 the content).

general. config.
String A vendor ID associated with the AutoConfig file.
vendor

The current skin used by the browser. Default value is


general. skins. classic/1.0.
String
selectedSkin Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Themes"

Status of ths smooth scrolling option (scrolling on a web


page moves page content pixelwise rather than line-by-
line)
general. True: Activate smooth scrolling
Boolean
smoothScroll False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Advanced → Browsing → Use smooth
scrolling"

True (default): When launching Mozilla, load the


browser component
general. startup.
Boolean False: Opposite of the above
browser
Note: This preference has little to no significance in
Firefox, as it is only a browser.
general. useragent. The content locale ISO 639-2 value specified in the User-
String
contentlocale Agent string

Allows an arbitrary number of strings to be added to the


general. useragent. end of the User-Agent string. By default,
extra. (product String general.useragent.extra.firefox is defined and set to
name/version) Firefox/(version). See bug 274928 for more information.
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

general. useragent. ISO 639-2 value representing the user's language for the
String
locale User-Agent string

general. useragent. A complete User-Agent string to use in place of the


String
override default.

Security level of the browser in the User-Agent string


general. useragent. N: No security
String
security U (default): Strong security
I: Weak security

Vendor in the User-Agent string. Default value depends


general. useragent.
String on browser (Firefox in Firefox 1.0).
vendor
Note: No longer specified by default in Firefox 1.5.

Vendor substring in the User-Agent string. Default value


general. useragent.
String depends on browser version (1.0 in Firefox 1.0)
vendorSub
Note: No longer specified by default in Firefox 1.5.

[edit]

Intl.*
Name Type Meaning of Values
Character sets in which to accept data. Default
intl. accept_charsets String
value is iso-8859-1,*,utf-8.

ISO 639-2 values of languages to accept. Default


intl. accept_languages String value is determined by localized information in
chrome://navigator/locale/navigator.properties.

Determines the default character set. Default


intl. charset. default String value is chrome://global-
platform/locale/intl.properties

Determines which locale URI sets how character


intl. charset. detector String
set are detected in the browser

intl. charsetmenu. browser. A comma-and-space-delimited list of cached


String
cache character sets for the browser

intl. charsetmenu. browser. Number of character sets to cache. Default value


Integer
cache. size is 5.

A comma-and-space-delimited list of character


sets to display in the character encoding menu
intl. charsetmenu. browser.
String Note: In Firefox, these menus are viewable via
more*
"View → Character Encoding → More
Encodings"

A comma-and-space-delimited list of character


sets to always display in the character encoding
intl. charsetmenu. browser.
String menu.
static
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "View
→ Character Encoding → Customize List"

intl. charsetmenu. browser. A comma-and-space-delimited list of Unicode


String
unicode character sets to display in the character encoding
menu
Note: In Firefox, this menus is viewable via
"View → Character Encoding → More Encodings
→ Unicode"

intl. charsetmenu. composer. A comma-and-space-delimited list of cached


String
cache character sets for Composer

Determines the layout of the Character Coding


intl. charsetmenu. mailedit String
menu in Mozilla Mail/News (message editor)

intl. charsetmenu. mailview. A comma-and-space-delimited list of cached


String
cache character sets for Mozilla Mail/News (main view)

A workaround to get correct column sorting in


Mozilla Mail in Japanese builds of Linux. Default
intl. collationOption String value is an empty string. Setting it to
useCodePointOrder enables the workaround (see
bug 18338).

intl. content. langcode String Default content language code

intl. fallbackCharsetList. Determines the substitute character set if


String
(character set) (character set) is unavailable.

Determines the map to use for JIS X 0208


CP932 (default in Windows): Use a CP932-
intl. jis0208. map String compatible map
IBM943 (default in OS/2): Use an IBM943-
compatible map

True: Allow different windows to retain their


intl. keyboard.
Boolean own keyboard locale settings (see bug 186549)
per_window_layout
False (default): Opposite of the above
Determines how to decide locale
intl. locale. matchOS Boolean True: Use the locale the OS is using
False (default): Opposite of the above

intl. menuitems. Specifies URI to determine if access keys are


String
alwaysappendaccesskeys appended to menu items

Specifies URI to determine if there is a space


intl. menuitems.
String before the paranthesis of the accesskey in the
insertseparatorbeforeaccesskeys
menu's label (see bug 298712).

[edit]

JavaScript.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

Determines whether JavaScript can be executed in


javascript. allow. Mozilla Mail/News.
Boolean
mailnews True: Enable JavaScript
False (default): Disable JavaScript

Determines whether JavaScript can be executed in


the browser.
True (default): Enable JavaScript
javascript. enabled Boolean
False: Disable JavaScript
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools →
Options → Web Features → Enable JavaScript"

Determines whether chrome errors should be


javascript. options. displayed in the JavaScript Console.
Boolean
showInConsole True: Show chrome errors in the console
False (default): hide errors
Determines whether to enable strict JavaScript
javascript. options. warnings in the JavaScript Console.
Boolean
strict True: Enable strict JavaScript error reporting
False (default): Opposite of the above

[edit]

Layout.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

Determines whether or not to replace backslashes with


Yen signs in documents encoded in one of Japanese
layout.
Boolean legacy encodings (EUC-JP, Shift_JIS, ISO-2022-JP)
enable_japanese_specific_transform
True: Replace backslashes
False (default): Opposite of the above

Determines whether frame noresize attribute is


honored.
True: All frames will be resizable, resulting in a
layout. frames. force_resizability Boolean
movable separator between frames.
False (default): The resizability of frames is determined
by the web page.

layout. reflow. async. True: Use asynchronous reflows


Boolean
duringDocLoad False (default): Opposite of the above

Upper bound on time spent reflowing (in microseconds).


layout. reflow. timeslice Integer
Default value is 1000000 (1 second).

Determines how the caret behaves when a selection


exists (see bug 299417)
0 (default): Use platform default
layout. selection. caret_style Integer 1: Caret moves and blinks as it does when there is no
selection
2: Caret moves to selection edge and is not visible
during selection
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

Determines whitespace selection behavior when double-


clicking a word
layout. word_select.
Boolean True (default): Select the space up to but not including
eat_space_to_next_word
the next word along with the word
False: Just select the word with no extra whitespace

Determines punctuation selection behavior when double-


clicking a word
layout. word_select.
Boolean True (default): Don't select punctuation automatically
stop_at_punctuation
with the word
False: Select the punctuation as well as the word

Determines how to output unstyled XML data in the


browser
True (default): Run the XML through the "pretty print"
layout. xml. prettyprint Boolean XSLT at
chrome://communicator/content/xml/XMLPrettyPrint.xsl
False: Attempt to parse it in-browser or download,
depending on the MIME type sent

[edit]

Middlemouse.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

Determines how to handle middle-clicks in the content


area.
middlemouse. True (default in Linux): Go to whatever address is
Boolean
contentLoadURL currently in the clipboard
False (default in all but Linux): Handle middle-clicks
normally.

middlemouse.
Boolean Determines behavior of
openNewWindow middlemouse.contentLoadURL when that preference
is true.
is true.
True (default): Open links that are middle-clicked in a
new window
False: Opposite of the above.

Determines behavior of middle-clicks when text fields


or text areas have focus.
True (default in Linux): Middle-clicking a text field or
middlemouse. paste Boolean
area will paste whatever is in your clipboard into the
text field or area.
False (default in all but Linux): Opposite of the above

Determines behavior of middle-clicks in the scrollbar.


True (default in Linux): Center the scroll position on
middlemouse.
Boolean the scrollbar at the coordinates of the middle-click
scrollbarPosition
False (default in all but Linux): Don't move the scroll
position on middle-click

[edit]

Mousewheel.*
These fall into two groups, vertical and horizontal scroll. The general form is:

• mousewheel.(modifier key).(type)
• mousewheel.horizscroll.(modifier key).(type)

Type is then one of:

action
integer value that determines the type of action:

• 0 - Scroll document by a number of lines (given by the numlines property)


• 1 - Scroll document by one page
• 2 - Move back/forward in history
• 3 - Make text larger/smaller

numlines
number of lines to scroll by (if relevant)
sysnumlines
use system preferences to determine how many lines to scroll by
[edit]
Network.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

True (default in Windows): Use SSPI instead of GSSAPI for


Kerberos-based authentication
network. auth. use-sspi Boolean
False: Opposite of the above
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

Help Windows NT, 2000, and XP dialup a RAS connection


network. autodial-helper. when a network address is unreachable.
Boolean
enabled True: Launch dialer when address is unreachable
False (default): Display error message

Enable automatic use of the operating system's NTLM


implementation to silently authenticate the user with their
network. automatic-ntlm- Windows domain logon with proxy servers. (See Integrated
Boolean
auth. allow-proxies Authentication for more information)
True (default): Automatically authenticate with proxy servers
False: Prompt for authentication

A comma-and-space-delimited list of URIs with which to


network. automatic-ntlm- automatically authenticate via NTLM (Windows domain
String
auth. trusted-uris logon). Default value is an empty string. (See Integrated
Authentication for more information)

Determines whether to accept session cookies (kept for the


duration of the browser session, then removed) if
network. cookie.
Boolean network.cookie.lifetimePolicy is 1.
alwaysAcceptSessionCookies
True: Accept session cookies without prompting
False (default): Prompt before accepting session cookies

True: Allow sites to set cookies unless the user has removed
network. cookie. cookies set by the site
Boolean
blockFutureCookies False (default): Removed cookies do not affect future cookie
acceptance.
Determines how the browser should handle cookies.
0 (default): Enable all cookies
1: Allow cookies from originating server only
network. cookie. 2: Disable all cookies
Integer
cookieBehavior 3: Use P3P policy to decide
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools → Options
→ Privacy → Cookies → Allow sites to set cookies / for the
originating web site only"

network. cookie.
Boolean Seemingly unused.
denyRemovedCookies

Determines how Mozilla Mail/News should handle cookies.


network. cookie.
Boolean True (default): Reject all cookies in Mozilla Mail/News
disableCookieForMailNews
False: Accept cookies normally

True: Delete all cookies at the end of the browser session


False (default): Opposite of the above
network. cookie.
Boolean Note: This setting is deprecated in favor of
enableForCurrentSessionOnly
network.cookies.lifetimePolicy (setting that to 2 is the
equivalent of this preference set to True)

Determines the number of days to keep cookies if


network. cookie. lifetime. days Integer
network.cookie.lifetimePolicy is 3. Default value is 90.

Determines how browser sets cookie lifetimes.


0 (default): Use supplied lifetime
1: Ask before accepting
network. cookie. 2: Accept for session only
Integer
lifetimePolicy 3: Cookies last for the number of days specified in
network.cookie.lifetime.days
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools → Options
→ Privacy → Cookies → Keep Cookies"

Determines the maximum amount of cookies to be stored.


network. cookie. maxNumber Integer Valid range is from 0-65535 (RFC 2109 and RFC 2965
require this to be at least 300). Default value is 1000.
Determines the maximum amount of cookies to be stored per
network. cookie. maxPerHost Integer host. Valid range is from 0-65535 (RFC 2109 and RFC 2965
require this to be at least 20). Default value is 50.

Determines the browser's P3P handling. An 8-character


string. Default value is ffffaaaa. Each position in the string
may be one of the following:
f: Flag the cookie
d: Accept the cookie, but downgrade it to a session-only
lifetime
a: Accept the cookie
r: Reject the cookie
The character positions are as follows:
1st position: First party cookies from sites with no policy
2nd position: Third party cookies from sites with no policy
3rd position: First party cookies from sites that collect
network. cookie. p3p String personal information without permission
4th position: Third party cookies from sites that collect
personal information without permission
5th position: First party cookies from sites that collect
personal information only with permission
6th position: Third party cookies from sites that collect
personal information only with permission
7th position: First party cookies from sites that don't collect
personal information
8th position: Third party cookies from sites that don't collect
personal information
Note: P3P functionality is not present in Firefox and will
probably be removed from Mozilla Suite (see bug 225287).

Security level of filtering for cookies


0: Low (use afafaaaa)
1 (default): Medium (use ffffaaaa)
network. cookie. p3plevel Integer 2: High (use frfradaa)
3: Custom (use value in network.cookies.p3p)
Note: P3P functionality is not present in Firefox and will
probably be removed from Mozilla Suite (see bug 225287).

network. cookie. Indicates whether some cookie preferences — previously


Boolean
prefsMigrated stored in deprecated preferences — have been migrated to
current preferences.
True: Consult current preferences for cookie prefs
False (default): Read deprecated preferences, update current
preferences, then set this preference to true

How to format directory listings (e.g., from FTP servers)


1: Raw — exactly what comes off the network
2 (default): HTML
network. dir. format Integer
3: application/http-index-format (requires code to
parse/display that is not present by default in Firefox; it is
present in the Mozilla application suite)

Determines whether to perform IPv6 name lookups (see bug


68796)
network. dns. disableIPv6 Boolean
True (default in OS X): Do not perform lookups
False (default in all others): Opposite of the above

A comma-separated list of domains for which DNS lookups


network. dns.
String are for IPv4 addresses only (see bug 68796). Default value is
ipv4OnlyDomains
.doubleclick.net.

Determines the maximum number of entries to keep in the


network. dnsCacheEntries Integer
DNS cache. Default value is 20.

Determines the maximum number of seconds to cache


network. dnsCacheExpiration Integer
resolved DNS entries. Default value is 60.

Determines whether to use IDN (International Domain Name)


support in the browser
True (default): Enable IDN support
network. enableIDN Boolean
False: Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox 1.0, this preference did not "stick" (see bug
261934). Fixed in 1.0.1.

Determines whether the browser is allowed to perform proxy


network. enablePad Boolean
autodiscovery
True: Autodiscovery enabled
False (default): Opposite of the above

Password to use when connecting to anonymous FTP servers.


network. ftp.
String Sent instead of "mozilla@example.com" if advanced.mailftp
anonymous_password
is true. Not set by default.

network. ftp. Time in seconds until an idle FTP connection is dropped.


Integer
idleConnectionTimeout Default value is 300.

Pref to be removed (obsolete). Previously: News server for


network. hosts. nntp_server String
Mozilla Mail/News. Default value is news.mozilla.org.

POP (incoming mail) server for Mozilla Mail/News. Default


network. hosts. pop_server String
value is mail.

SMTP (outgoing mail) server for Mozilla Mail/News. Default


network. hosts. smtp_server String
value is mail.

Comma-separated list of encoding types to accept from


server. Sent with HTTP requests in Accept-Encoding
network. http. accept-
String header. Default value is gzip, deflate.
encoding
Note: compress is not a supported encoding (see bug
196406).

Comma-separated list of MIME types to accept from server.


Sent with HTTP requests in Accept header. Default value is
network. http. accept. default String text/xml,application/xml,application/xhtml+xml,text/html;
q=0.9,text/plain;q=0.8,image/png,*/*;q=0.5. (The space is
actually not present and was only inserted to make it wrap.)

Pref removed (unused). Previously: determines how long to


network. http. connect.
Integer wait for a response until registering a timeout. Default value
timeout
is 30.
Determines the socket type to be used for normal HTTP
network. http. default-socket-
String traffic. Default value is an empty string, indicating a normal
type
TCP/IP socket type. Seems to be unused.

Determines whether to use HTTP Keep-Alive connections. If


more than one request is made, the browser attempts to reuse
open connections that have been kept alive.
True (default): Send Connection: keep-alive header and
Keep-Alive header based on contents of network.http.keep-
network. http. keep-alive Boolean
alive.timeout
False: Opposite of the above (recommended in case of
problems)
Note: This preference is effectively obsolete, as all
connections are considered keep-alive in HTTP/1.1.

network. http. keep-alive. Requested timeout for Keep-Alive connections in seconds.


Integer
timeout Default value is 300.

Determines the maximum number of simultaneous HTTP


network. http. max-
Integer connections. Default value is 24. Valid values are between 1
connections
and 65535 inclusive.

Determines the maximum number of simultaneous HTTP


network. http. max- connections that can be established per host. If a proxy server
Integer
connections-per-server is configured, then the server is the proxy server. Default
value is 8. Valid values are between 1 and 255 inclusive.

If network.http.keep-alive is true, and if a proxy server is


configured, then a new connection will only be attempted if
network. http. max-persistent-
Integer the number of active persistent connections to the server is
connections-per-proxy
less than this preference. Default value is 4. Valid values are
between 1 and 255 inclusive.

If network.http.keep-alive is true, and if a proxy server is


network. http. max-persistent-
Integer not configured, then a new connection will only be attempted
connections-per-server
if the number of active persistent connections to the server is
less than this preference. Default value is 2. Valid values are
between 1 and 255 inclusive.

A number between 0 and 255. Warn the user if we load an


network. http. phishy- URL containing a userpass field (e.g.,
Integer
userpass-length http://user:pass@example.com/) unless its length is less than
this threshold. Default value is 1.

Determines whether to use HTTP/1.1 pipelining.


True: Enable pipelining
network. http. pipelining Boolean False (default): Disable pipelining
Note: Pipelining is not well-supported by some servers and
proxies. Things may break — use with caution.

network. http. pipelining.


Boolean Pref removed (unused)
firstrequest

Determines the maximum number of HTTP requests in the


network. http. pipelining. pipeline (sent sequentially without waiting for a response).
Integer
maxrequests Values greater than 8 are assumed to be 8; values less than 1
are assumed to be 1. Default value is 4.

Determines whether to use HTTP Keep-Alive connections


when a proxy server is configured. If more than one request is
made, the browser attempts to reuse open connections that
have been kept alive.
True (default): Send Connection: keep-alive header and
network. http. proxy. keep-
Boolean Keep-Alive header based on contents of network.http.keep-
alive
alive.timeout
False: Opposite of the above (recommended in case of
problems)
Note: This preference is effectively obsolete, as all
connections are considered keep-alive in HTTP/1.1.

Determines whether to use HTTP/1.1 pipelining when a


network. http. proxy. proxy server is configured.
Boolean
pipelining True: Enable pipelining
False (default): Disable pipelining
Note: Pipelining is not well-supported by some servers and
proxies. Things may break — use with caution.

Determines which HTTP version to use when a proxy server


is configured. Default value is 1.1, though 1.0 is
network. http. proxy. version String
recommended for some finnicky proxies (such as the
Junkbuster proxy).

Determines how many consecutive HTTP redirects the


browser will follow. Default value is 20. Setting it to 0 will
network. http. redirection-
Integer stop all redirects from occuring.
limit
Note: These are header-based redirects, not (for example)
<meta http-equiv="refresh"> HTML-based redirects.

Determines amount of time (in seconds) to suspend pending


requests, before spawning a new connection, once the limit
on the number of persistent connections per host
(network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server) has
network. http. request. max-
Integer been reached. However, a new connection will not be created
start-delay
if max-connections (network.http.max-connections) or
max-connections-per-server (network.http.max-
connections-per-server) has also been reached. Default
value is 10.

network. http. request. Pref removed (unused). Previously: HTTP-specific network


Integer
timeout timeout. Default value is 120.

Determines when to send the Referer HTTP header.


network. http. 0: Never send the referring URL
Integer
sendRefererHeader 1: Send only on clicked links
2 (default): Send for links and images

Determines how to handle Referer HTTP header when


navigating between secure (HTTPS) hosts.
network. http.
Boolean True (default): Send referring URL normally (default for
sendSecureXSiteReferrer
compatibility reasons, see bug 141641)
False: Send no referring URL
Determines whether to enable caching of HTTP documents.
Appears to be unused.
network. http. use-cache Boolean
True (default): Enable caching
False: Opposite of the above

network. http. version String Determines which HTTP version to use. Default value is 1.1.

Determines how to display IDN hostnames in the Location


Bar (see bug 282270).
True (default): All IDN (UTF-8) domain names will be
network.
Boolean normalized to punycode.
IDN_show_punycode
False: Display IDN domain names in UTF-8
Note: Addresses may be input as UTF-8 regardless of this
setting.

If a domain name contains any of the characters in this


preference's value, display the domain in punycode,
overriding network.IDN_show_punycode and
network. IDN. blacklist_chars String
network.IDN.whitelist (see bug 301694). See here for a
complete list of characters in the default preference.
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

When network.IDN_show_punycode is false, these


preferences are checked against the top-level domain of any
IDN domain name. If there is a whitelist entry for the top-
level domain and the entry is set to true, then the IDN is
network. IDN. whitelist.
Boolean shown as intended. Otherwise, it is shown in punycode. By
(TLD)
default, the top-level domains ac, at, br, ch, cl, cn, de, dk, fi,
gr, hu, info, io, jp, kr, li, lt, museum, no, se, sh, th, tm, tw,
and vn are whitelisted (set to true).
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

Determines when images should be loaded.


0 (default): Load all images
network. image. 1: Load images from same (originating) server only
Integer
imageBehavior 2: Do not load any images
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools → Options
→ Web Features → Load Images / for the originating web
site only"
In Firefox 1.5 and above, this preference has been renamed to
permissions.default.image.

Pref unused (feature disabled). Previously:


Determines whether to prompt the user before loading an
network. image.
Boolean image.
warnAboutImages
True: Load no images until user confirms
False (default): Load images normally

True (default): Allow SPNEGO by default when challenged


network. negotiate-auth. by a proxy server. (See Integrated Authentication and bug
Boolean
allow-proxies 266485 for more information.)
False: Opposite of the above

A comma-and-space-delimited list of sites for which the


network. negotiate-auth. browser may delegate user authorization to the server. (See
String
delegation-uris Integrated Authentication for more information.) Default
value is an empty string.

Path to a specific GSSAPI library. Allows the browser (e.g.)


network. negotiate-auth. to load different Kerberos implementations at the user's
String
gsslib request. Default value is an empty string.
Note: See bug 295109 for more information.

A comma-and-space-delimited list of sites that are permitted


network. negotiate-auth. to engage in SPNEGO authentication with the browser. (See
String
trusted-uris Integrated Authentication for more information.) Default
value is an empty string.

True (default): Use the GSS lib that comes standard with the
network. negotiate-auth. host operating system
Boolean
using-native-gsslib False: Use the GSSAPI library specified in
network.negotiate-auth.gsslib.

network. ntlm. send-lm- Determines whether or not the LM hash will be included in
Boolean
response response to a NTLM challenge. Servers should almost never
need the LM hash, and the LM hash is what makes NTLM
authentication less secure.
True: Send the LM hash
False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: Does not affect network.automatic-ntlm-auth.*
settings. See bug 250961 for more information.

Indicates whether the user is currently online. Used for


enabling/disabling various options in the UI.
network. online Boolean
True (default): User is online
False: Opposite of the above

Determines whether to use link prefetching.


True (default): Silently prefetch hinted documents and store
network. prefetch-next Boolean
in the cache
False: Disable all link prefetching

The path and program to run for the specified protocol.


network. protocol-handler.
String (Might need to be used with network.protocol-
app. (protocol)
handler.expose.(protocol).)

Determines whether to expose (enable) all protocol handlers.


This preference overrides more specific preferences, e.g.
network. protocol-handler. network.protocol-handler.expose.mailto.
Boolean
expose-all True: Try to open link clicks in browser first, then fail over
to system handlers
False: Do not expose all protocol handlers

Determines whether to expose (enable) the specified protocol


handler. These preferences are overridden by
network. protocol-handler. network.protocol-handler.expose-all.
Boolean
expose. (protocol) True: Try to open link clicks in browser firsst, then fail over
to system handlers
False: Do not expose this protocol handler

Determines the default action for unlisted external protocol


network. protocol-handler. handlers
Boolean
external-default True (default): Try to load
False: Opposite of the above
Determines whether to allow external protocol handlers to
catch links with these protocols
network. protocol-handler.
Boolean True: Allow external handler to handle link
external. (protocol)
False (default): Prevent external handler from handling this
link

Determines whether to warn the user before loading an


network. protocol-handler. unlisted external handler
Boolean
warn-external-default True (default): Warn the user
False: Opposite of the above

Determines whether to warn the user before loading this


network. protocol-handler. protocol's external handler
Boolean
warn-external. (protocol) True: Warn the user
False (default): Opposite of the above

The automatic proxy configuration URL used by the browser


to determine a proxy server. Used when network.proxy.type
network. proxy. is 2. Default value is an empty string.
String
autoconfig_url Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools → Options
→ General → Connection Settings... → Automatic proxy
configuration URL"

Determines how long to wait until re-contacting an


network. proxy.
Integer unresponsive proxy server. Default value is 1800 (30
failover_timeout
minutes).

A manually configured proxy for the given protocol. Default


value is an empty string.
network. proxy. (protocol) String Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools → Options
→ General → Connection Settings... → Manual proxy
configuration"

The port for the manually configured proxy for the given
network. proxy.
Integer protocol. Used when network.proxy.type is 1.
(protocol)_port
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools → Options
→ General → Connection Settings... → Manual proxy
configuration"

A comma-and-space-delimited list of hosts for which the


specified proxies should not be used. (See No proxy for for
network. proxy. syntax.)
String
no_proxies_on Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools → Options
→ General → Connection Settings... → Manual proxy
configuration → No Proxy for"

Determines whether to use the same proxy server for all


protocols.
True: Use one proxy for all protocols
network. proxy.
Boolean False (default): Opposite of the above
share_proxy_settings
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools → Options
→ General → Connection Settings... → Manual proxy
configuration → Use the same proxy for all protocols"

True: Perform all DNS lookups on remote proxy server (see


network. proxy.
Boolean bug 134105)
socks_remote_dns
False (default): Perform all DNS lookups client-side

Determines which version of SOCKS to use with the server


network. proxy. socks_version Integer specified in network.proxy.socks. Default value is 5. (The
only other valid version is 4.)

Determines how the browser uses proxies.


0 (default): Direct connection to the Internet (no proxy used)
1: Manual proxy configuration (use values in
network.proxy.*)
network. proxy. type Integer 2: Autoconfiguration by URL (use value in
network.proxy.autoconfig_url)
3: Same as 0 for compatibility reasons (see bug 115720) and
will be reset to 0
4: Auto-detect proxy settings for this network

A comma-separated list of port numbers to disable in addition


network. security. ports.
String to the ports already disabled by default. (See Mozilla Port
banned
Blocking for more information.)
A comma-separated list of port numbers to enable, overriding
network. security. ports.
String the default port blocking. (See Mozilla Port Blocking for
banned. override
more information.)

Determines how URLs are encoded and sent


True: Always encode and send URLs as UTF-8
network. standard-url. False (default in Firefox 1.0.x): Opposite of the above
Boolean
encode-utf8 Note: This was True for a short time before Firefox 1.5,
causing trouble with some international websites (see bug
284474)

Determines whether URLs with UTF-8 characters are


network. standard-url. escaped per the spec
Boolean
escape-utf8 True (default): Escape UTF-8 characters
False: Send URLs as they are

[edit]

NGLayout.*
NGLayout stands for Next Generation Layout Engine. These preferences are largely low-
level tweaks and debug options for how content appears in the browser.

Name Type Meaning of Values

Force a compatibility mode instead of


autodetecting.
nglayout. compatibility.
Integer 0 (default): Use supplied DTD
mode
1: Standards compliance mode
2: Quirks mode

True (default): Verify that the checksum of the


nglayout. debug. XUL Fastload file hasn't changed since that file
Boolean
checksum_xul_fastload_file was last written to disk
False: Don't bother verifying the checksum
True: In debug-enabled builds, output
information about NS_MOUSE_ENTER/EXIT-
nglayout. debug.
Boolean related events to stdout when Caps Lock is on
crossing_event_dumping
and nglayout.debug.event_dumping is true
False (default): Opposite of the above

True: Prevent Mozilla from caching any


chrome-level XUL components (XUL,
nglayout. debug.
Boolean JavaScript, CSS).
disable_xul_cache
False (default): Cache XUL components for
better performance.

True: Disable XUL Fastload caching the in-


memory compiled XUL to file (xul.mfl,
nglayout. debug.
Boolean xul.mfasl)
disable_xul_fastload
False (default): Enable XUL Fastload (see bug
112064)

nglayout. debug. True: Use XBL form controls


Boolean
enable_xbl_forms False (default): Opposite of the above

True: In debug-enabled builds, output event-


nglayout. debug. related information to stdout when Caps Lock
Boolean
event_dumping is on
False (default): Opposite of the above

True: In debug-enabled builds, output


nglayout. debug. information about invalidated objects/elements
Boolean
invalidate_dumping to stdout when Caps Lock is on
False (default): Opposite of the above

True: In debug-enabled builds, output


information about NS_MOUSE_MOVE-related
nglayout. debug.
Boolean events to stdout when Caps Lock is on and
motion_event_dumping
nglayout.debug.event_dumping is true
False (default): Opposite of the above
True: In debug-enabled builds, output
nglayout. debug. information about paint events to stdout when
Boolean
paint_dumping Caps Lock is on
False (default): Opposite of the above

True: In debug-enabled builds, flash painted


nglayout. debug.
Boolean elements/objects when Caps Lock is on
paint_flashing
False (default): Opposite of the above

Determines whether to dispatch left-click


events only to content in the browser
(chrome/XUL is exempt from the effects)
nglayout. events.
Boolean True (default): Dispatch only left-click events
dispatchLeftClickOnly
to browser content
False: Dispatch both left- and middle-click
events

Determines time in milliseconds to wait before


an initial reflow attempt during page rendering.
nglayout. initialpaint. delay Integer
Default value is 250. Synchronize with
content.notify.interval for best performance.

[edit]

Plugin.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

True (default): When a plugin is needed, prompt the


plugin. user
Boolean
default_plugin_disabled False: Don't prompt the user to install needed
plugins

True: In about:plugins and navigator.plugins,


plugin.
Boolean reveal the full path to plugin files
expose_full_path
False (default): Show only the plugin filename
True: Allow plugins to override internal imglib
plugin.
Boolean decoder MIME types in full-page mode
override_internal_types
False (default): Opposite of the above

Controls the scanning of the Navigator 4.x directory


for plugins. When pref is missing, the default is to
plugin. scan. pickup popular plugins such as Flash, Shockwave,
Boolean
4xPluginFolder Acrobat, and Quicktime. If set to true, ALL plugins
will be picked up and if set to false the scan will not
happen at all.

Name of plugin to scan for, with a minimum version


specified. By default, this preference exists for
plugin. scan. (Plugin) String
Acrobat (5.0), QuickTime (5.0), SunJRE (1.3), and
WindowsMediaPlayer (7.0).

True (default): Locate plugins by the directories


specified in the Windows registry for PLIDs
plugin. scan. plid. all Boolean (currently
HKLM\Software\MozillaPlugins\xxxPLIDxxx\Path)
False: Opposite of the above

[edit]

Print.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

True: Cache old presentation when going into


print. always_cache_old_pres Boolean Print Preview
False (default): Opposite of the above

True (default): Extend the native dialog with


print. information on printing frames.
Boolean
extend_native_print_dialog False: Opposite of the above
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.
Determines the distance from the (position)
print. print_edge_(position) Integer edge of the page to measure the margin.
Default value is 0.

Determines an extra gap or margin in twips


(90 twips is 1/8 of an inch) around the content
print. print_extra_margin Integer
of the page for Print Preview only. Default
value is 90 (1/8").

At the given position in the header or footer,


print one of the following:
&T: Title of the document
&U: URL
print. print_(footer or
String &D: Date/time
header)(position)
&P: Page number
&PT: Page number "of" total pages
(any string): A literal string with the above
substitutions made

True (default): Save the print settings after


print. save_print_settings Boolean each print job
False: Opposite of the above

True (default): Show the progress dialog


print. show_print_progress Boolean when printing
False: Opposite of the above

True (default): Every browser window uses


the same print settings
print.
Boolean False: Each browser window uses its own
use_global_printsettings
settings, and changes in one window don't
affect the others

True (default): Use the native print dialog


print. use_native_print_dialog Boolean False: Use the OS print dialog
Note: Windows-only
True (default): Allow printing while in Print
print. whileInPrintPreview Boolean Preview screen
False: Opposite of the above

[edit]

Privacy.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

True (default): Clear the cache when using the


Clear Private Data (Firefox 1.5 and above only)
privacy. item. cache Boolean False: Do not clear the cache
Note: In Firefox 1.5, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Privacy → Settings..."

True (default): Delete all cookies when using the


Clear Private Data (Firefox 1.5 and above only)
privacy. item. cookies Boolean False: Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox 1.5, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Privacy → Settings..."

True (default): Clear history of downloaded files


when using the Clear Private Data feature (Firefox
1.5 and above only)
privacy. item. downloads Boolean
False: Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox 1.5, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Privacy → Settings..."

True (default): Clear all saved form data when


using the Clear Private Data feature (Firefox 1.5
and above only)
privacy. item. formdata Boolean
False: Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox 1.5, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Privacy → Settings..."
True (default): Clear the history when using the
Clear Private Data feature (Firefox 1.5 and above
only)
privacy. item. history Boolean
False: Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox 1.5, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Privacy → Settings..."

True (default): Delete all saved passwords when


using the Clear Private Data feature (Firefox 1.5
and above only)
privacy. item. passwords Boolean
False: Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox 1.5, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Privacy → Settings..."

True (default): Clear all authenticated SSL sessions


when using the Clear Private Data feature (Firefox
1.5 and above only)
privacy. item. sessions Boolean
False: Opposite of above
Note: In Firefox 1.5, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Privacy → Settings..."

privacy. item. siteprefs Boolean Planned for future use.

Sets limits on popups generated from plugins (e.g.


Flash)
0: lets all popups through
privacy. popups. 1: limits their number to dom.popup_maximum
Integer
disable_from_plugins (even with popup blocker disabled)
2: blocks popups from plugins
Whitelisted sites will still be able to open popups,
regardless this setting.

True (default): The user has never hidden the


popup blocker notification bar before, so show a
privacy. popups.
Boolean dialog explaining the status bar icon
firstTime
False: The user has been informed of the status bar
icon
Determines the popup blocker behavior.
1: Allow popups
privacy. popups. policy Integer 2: Reject popups
Note: Seems to be deprecated in favor of
dom.disable_open_during_load

True (default): Display a message at the top of the


privacy. popups. browser window when a popup has been blocked
Boolean
showBrowserMessage False: Display a status bar icon to indicate when a
popup has been blocked

privacy. popups.
Boolean Seemingly unused.
usecustom

True (default): Prompt before performing the Clear


Private Data operation (Firefox 1.5 and above only)
privacy. sanitize.
Boolean False: Clear Private Data without confirmation
promptOnSanitize
Note: In Firefox 1.5 and above, this can be changed
via "Tools → Options → Privacy → Settings..."

True: Perform the Clear Private Data operation


when closing the browser (Firefox 1.5 and above
privacy. sanitize. only)
Boolean
sanitizeOnShutdown False (default): Clear Private Data only when asked
Note: In Firefox 1.5 and above, this can be changed
via "Tools → Options → Privacy → Settings..."

[edit]

Profile.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

profile. Determines how the Profile Manager handles


Boolean
allow_automigration automigration
True: Allow automigration
False (default): Opposite of the above

True (default): Ask user before performing an


profile.
Boolean automigration
confirm_automigration
False: Opposite of the above

True: Only show the Profile Manager at program


launch
profile. False (default): Show Profile Manager at any time
Boolean
manage_only_at_launch via menus
Note: In Firefox, there is no UI to access the Profile
Manager from within the browser

Determines how the profile root is set.


0 (default): use
NS_APP_USER_PROFILES_ROOT_DIR
profile.
Integer 1: create one based on the NS4.x profile root
migration_behavior
2: Use value in profile.migration_directory (if
empty, use
NS_APP_USER_PROFILES_ROOT_DIR)

profile. Path to directory for migration. Default value is an


String
migration_directory empty string.

Number of seconds to wait until the profile is


profile.
Integer considered defunct. Default value is -1 (never
seconds_until_defunct
consider the profile defunct).

[edit]

Security.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

security. OCSP. URL String Determines the URL to query for OCSP
certificate verification/validation if
security.OCSP.enabled is 2. Default value is an
empty string.
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Advanced → Validation → OCSP
→ Service URL"

Determines behavior of OCSP-based certificate


verification/validation.
0 (default): Do not use OCSP for certificate
validation
1: Use OCSP to validate only certificates that
security. OCSP. enabled Integer
specify an OCSP service URL
2: Enable and use values in security.OCSP.URL
and security.OCSP.signingCA for validation
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Advanced → Validation → OCSP"

Determines the name of the OCSP signing


certificate authority to use if
security.OCSP.enabled is 2. Default value is an
security. OCSP.
String empty string.
signingCA
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Advanced → Validation → OCSP
→ Response Signer"

Determines when Mozilla Mail should ask for the


master password.
security. 0 (default): Only the first time it's needed
Integer
ask_for_password 1: Every time it's needed
2: Every n minutes, where n is the value in
security.password_lifetime.

Pref removed (use CAPS instead). Previously:


Determines how to handle access across schemes
(e.g., loading file: URLs from http: URLs)
security. checkloaduri Boolean
True (default): Perform security checks and block
access for insecure access
False: Opposite of the above
Determines the selection of a security certificate
to present to web sites that require one.
Select Automatically (default): Automatically
choose the certificate
security.
String Ask Every Time: Prompt user with a choice of
default_personal_cert
certificate options every time
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Advanced → Certificates → Client
Certificate Selection"

Amount of time to in milliseconds to disable


security.
Integer buttons on security-sensitive dialog boxes.
dialog_enable_delay
Default value is 2000.

security. directory String Seemingly unused.

True (default): Java is enabled


False: Opposite of the above
security. enable_java Boolean
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Web Features → Enable Java"

True (default): SSL 2.0 is enabled


False: Opposite of the above
security. enable_ssl2 Boolean Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Advanced → Security → Use SSL
2.0"

True (default): SSL 3.0 is enabled


False: Opposite of the above
security. enable_ssl3 Boolean Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Advanced → Security → Use SSL
3.0"

True (default): TLS 1.0 is enabled


security. enable.tls Boolean False: Opposite of the above
Note: In Firefox, this can be changed via "Tools
→ Options → Advanced → Security → Use TLS
1.0"

Determines how long (in minutes) to go without


security. asking for the master password in Mozilla Mail
Integer
password_lifetime when security.ask_for_password is 2. Default
value is 30.

True (default in all except the two below): The


security. (ssl2 or ssl3).
Boolean SSL 2.0 encryption type (cipher suite) is enabled
(cipher suite)
False: Opposite of the above

True: Enable "No encryption with RSA


authentication and an SHA-1 MAC" as a cipher
security. ssl3. rsa_null_sha Boolean
suite
False (default): Opposite of the above

True: Enable "No encryption with RSA


security. ssl3. authentication and an MD5 MAC" as a cipher
Boolean
rsa_null_md5 suite
False (default): Opposite of the above

security. ui. enable Boolean Seemingly unused.

True (default): Display a dialog warning the user


security.
Boolean when entering a secure site from an insecure one
warn_entering_secure
False: Opposite of the above

security. True (default): Leave the "Alert me whenever..."


warn_entering_secure. Boolean box unchecked on the security warning dialog
show_once False: Opposite of the above

True (default): Display a dialog warning the user


security.
Boolean when entering an insecure site from a secure one
warn_entering_weak
False: Opposite of the above
security. True (default): Leave the "Alert me whenever..."
warn_entering_weak. Boolean box unchecked on the security warning dialog
show_once False: Opposite of the above

True (default): Display a dialog warning the user


security.
Boolean when leaving a secure site
warn_leaving_secure
False: Opposite of the above

security. True (default): Leave the "Alert me whenever..."


warn_leaving_secure. Boolean box unchecked on the security warning dialog
show_once False: Opposite of the above

True (default): Display a dialog warning the user


security.
Boolean when submitting a form to an insecure site
warn_submit_insecure
False: Opposite of the above

security. True (default): Leave the "Alert me whenever..."


warn_submit_insecure. Boolean box unchecked on the security warning dialog
show_once False: Opposite of the above

True (default): Display a dialog warning the user


security. when a page has both encrypted and non-
Boolean
warn_viewing_mixed encrypted content
False: Opposite of the above

security. True (default): Leave the "Alert me whenever..."


warn_viewing_mixed. Boolean box unchecked on the security warning dialog
show_once False: Opposite of the above

True (default): Allow scripting of plugins by


security. xpconnect.
Boolean untrusted scripts
plugin. unrestricted
False: Opposite of the above

[edit]

Signon.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

Determines the filename that the Password


signon. SignonFileName String Manager uses for storing signon data. Default
value is signons.txt.

True: The master password for the Password


signon.expireMasterPassword Boolean Manager will expire
False (default): Opposite of the above

True (default): Enable the Password Manager


signon. rememberSignons Boolean
False: Opposite of the above

[edit]

Snav.*
These preferences are associated with Spatial Navigation, a method of moving focus on a
web page with respect to the visual layout of elements. Spatial navigation is not present
(compiled in) by default, so these preferences will only work in binaries compiled with
ac_add_options --enable-extensions=spatialnavigation.

Name Type Meaning of Values

When calculating distances between elements on the


screen, elements may be given a bias if the elements are in
snav. the direction of navigation. The bias is a given by a
Integer
directionalBias fraction such that:
bias distance = true distance / directional bias. The default
value is 3.

True (default): Disable onFocus event that an element


may recieve during spatial navigation. On some pages the
snav. disableJS Boolean
page decides to move the focus as if the targeted content
was clicked. This may lead to an undesirable behavior.
False: Honor onFocus handlers triggered by spatial
navigation

True (default): Enable spatial navigation


snav. enabled Boolean
False: Opposite of the above

True (default): Ensure that text fields and inputs retain


snav.
Boolean focus even if spatial navigation was requested
ignoreTextFields
False: Opposite of the above

Determines the key code corresponding to downwards


snav. keyCode. spatial navigation. Default value is DOM_VK_DOWN. (A
String
down complete listing of possible key codes is available in
nsIDOMKeyEvent.idl.)

Determines the key code corresponding to left spatial


snav. keyCode. navigation. Default value is DOM_VK_LEFT. (A
String
left complete listing of possible key codes is available in
nsIDOMKeyEvent.idl.)

Determines the key code corresponding to the required


modifier keys. These values are given as follows:
NONE: 0
snav. keyCode.
String SHIFT: 0x00100000
modifier
CONTROL: 0x00001100
ALT: 0x00000012
The default value is ALT | SHIFT.

Determines the key code corresponding to right spatial


snav. keyCode. navigation. Default value is DOM_VK_RIGHT. (A
String
right complete listing of possible key codes is available in
nsIDOMKeyEvent.idl.)

Determines the key code corresponding to upwards spatial


navigation. Default value is DOM_VK_LEFT. (A
snav. keyCode. up String
complete listing of possible key codes is available in
nsIDOMKeyEvent.idl.)
To reduce the chance that a element overlaps with another
snav. rectFudge Integer element, we reduce the elements height and width by this
value. Default value is 20.

[edit]

UI.*
Most of these preferences control settings that the browser attempts to read from the host
operating system (e.g., your current color scheme). However, these can be overridden by
manually setting the preferences to something else. For a more complete listing of the
UI.* preferences, see UI Widget Look and Feel.

Name Type Meaning of Values

Determines the key code corresponding to


the accelerator key.
ui. key. accelKey Integer 17 (default in Windows): Ctrl
18 (default in BeOS): Alt
224 (default in Mac OS X): Cmd

Determines the key code corresponding to


the generic key used for Mozilla shortcuts
ui. key. generalAccessKey Integer
17 (default in BeOS, Mac OS X): Ctrl
18 (default in Windows): Alt

Determines the key code corresponding to


Mozilla menu access
ui. key. menuAccessKey Integer 0 (default in Mac OS X): none
17 (default in BeOS): Ctrl
18 (default in Windows): Alt

True (default in Windows): Menus gain


focus when ui.key.menuAccessKey is
ui. key. menuAccessKeyFocuses Boolean
pressed
False: Opposite of the above
True (default): Shift-clicking a link opens
ui. key. saveLink. shift Boolean the Save Link As dialog
False: Opposite of the above

Determines the delay in milliseconds


between hovering over a menu option with a
ui. submenuDelay Integer
submenu and the submenu appearing. If this
preference is not set, the OS's value is used.

Determines the background color to use for


text selections as a hex code or named color.
ui. textSelectBackground String
If this preference is not set, the OS's value is
used.

Determines the background color used for


ui. Find As You Type as a hex code or named
String
textSelectBackgroundAttention color. If this preference is not set, the
inverse of ui.textSelectBackground is used.

Determines the text color to use for text


selections as a hex code or named color. If
ui. textSelectForeground String
this preference is not set, the OS's value is
used.

[edit]

Update.*, Update_notifications.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

Determines how often to check


extensions.update.interval and
update. interval Integer
app.update.interval in seconds. Default value is
3600000 (1 hour).
Used by the update system to determines when to
display the icon for pending updates.
0 (default): Low severity update(s) available
(extension/theme updates)
update. severity Integer
1: Medium severity update(s) available
(numerous extension/theme updates)
2: High severity updates available (new version
of Firefox/security patch)

True (default): Display the sliding alert when


update.
Boolean updates are available
showSlidingNotification
False: Opposite of the above

True (default): Display a notification in the


update_notifications.
Boolean browser when updates are available
enabled
False: Opposite of the above

Determines where to get update notifications.


update_notifications.
String Value is pulled from chrome://browser-
provider. 0. datasource
region/locale/region.properties.

update_notifications. Number of days between update checks. Default


Integer
provider. 0. frequency value is 7.

[edit]

XPInstall.*
Name Type Meaning of Values

xpinstall.
Determines the chrome location of the XPInstall dialog. Default value is
dialog. String
chrome://mozapps/content/xpinstall/xpinstallConfirm.xul.
confirm
xpinstall.
dialog. Determines the chrome location of the extensions dialog. Default value is
String
progress. chrome://mozapps/content/extensions/extensions.xul?type=extensions.
chrome

xpinstall.
dialog. Determines the chrome location of the themes dialog. Default value is
String
progress. chrome://mozapps/content/extensions/extensions.xul?type=themes.
skin

True (default): Enables the XPInstall system (i.e., allows extensions to be


installed)
xpinstall. False: Opposite of the above
Boolean
enabled Note: In Firefox 1.0.x, this can be changed in "Tools → Options → Web
Features → Allow web sites to install software" (UI removed in Firefox
1.5).

xpinstall. A comma-separated list of sites to automatically add to the extensions


whitelist. String whitelist. Default value is update.mozilla.org,addons.mozilla.org but is
add cleared as soon as the values are added to the whitelist

xpinstall. True (default): When installing extensions from remote hosts, remote
whitelist. Boolean host must be on the whitelist
required False: Opposite of the above

[edit]

Miscellaneous
Name Type Meaning of Values

allinonegest. * Varied These preferences are set via the All in One Mouse Gestures extensio

Boolean True: When a plugin is not found, clicking on the puzzle piece will o
application.
dialog telling the user what plugin is needed. Clicking on the "Get the
use_ns_plugin_finder
use_ns_plugin_finder Plugin" button brings the user to the plugins installation page.
False (default): Clicking on the puzzle piece will send the user to tha
plugin's page on plugins.netscape.com which will have a link to that
plugin's installation page.

backups.
Integer Unused (obsolete). Previously: number of backup copies of prefs.js to
number_of_prefs_copies

True: Selecting text automatically copies it to the clipboard


clipboard. autocopy Boolean False (default): Opposite of the above
Note: *nix only.

How to format HTML headers (H1-H6) when saving a web page as te


only
converter. html2txt. 0: No indentation
Integer
header_strategy 1 (default): Indent headers based on header level (i.e. H(n+1) is inden
more than H(n))
2: Number headings and indent slightly

Determines whether to format "structured" elements (<strong>, <em>


<code>, <sub>, <sup>, <b>, <i>, <u>) with other characters when sav
converter. html2txt. structs Boolean web page as text-only
True (default): *Strong*, /em/, |code|, _sub, ^sup, *b*, /i/, _u_
False: Strong, em, code, sub, sup, b, i, u

Custom name for the Personal Toolbar Folder. If empty (default), nam
custtoolbar.
String determined by string bundle or the hard-coded value "Personal Toolb
personal_toolbar_folder
Folder".

Determines how to animate multi-frame GIF images


none: animated images will never play.
image. animation_mode String
once: animated images will play once.
normal (default): animated images will play as normal.

Whether to dither images


images. dither String
auto (default): Automatically decide
true: Dither images
false: Disable image dithering

Determines how an IME editor window should react when password


lose focus (see bug 16940).
ime. password. onBlur. True: Leave the IME open
Boolean
dontCare False (default): Re-open the IME if it was open prior to the password
focus.
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

Determines how an IME editor window should react when password


gain focus (see bug 16940).
ime. password. onFocus.
Boolean True: Leave the IME open
dontCare
False (default): Close the IME.
Note: Firefox 1.5 and above only.

These entries apply to the DOM Inspector and are only relevant if yo
inspector. * Varied
it installed.

URL to use for keyword lookups. Default value is


keyword. URL String http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&ie
8&oe=UTF-8&q= in Firefox 1.0.

Determines whether to use keywords


True (default): Send non-URLs entered in the Location Bar to the UR
keyword. enabled Boolean
specified in keyword.URL
False: Disable keywords

mail. ui. display.


Integer See Change the Date Format.
dateformat. today

Determines when images should be loaded.


1 (default): Load all images
2: Do not load any images
permissions. default. image Integer
3: Load images from same (originating) server only
Note: This preference was previously known as
network.image.imageBehavior prior to Firefox 1.5.
Determines where the plugin finder service should query for plugin
pfs. datasource. url String information. Default value is pulled from
chrome://mozapps/locale/plugins/plugins.properties

True: The preferences have been converted to UTF-8; decode as


prefs. converted-to-utf8 Boolean appropriate
False (default): Opposite of the above

A comma-separated list of files that will be selected for roaming by d


roaming. default. files String
Default value is bookmarks.html,abook.mab,cookies.txt.

True (default): Display a general warning to the user about making


roaming.
Boolean backups, security, etc.
showInitialWarning
False: Opposite of the above

True: Give scripts using codebase principals access advanced scripti


capabilities. Setting this preference to "true" is often used to allow IR
websites to gain access to the OS's clipboard at the expense of a secu
signed. applets. risk.
Boolean
codebase_principal_support False (default): Only trusted/signed scripts can access advanced scrip
capabilities
Note: file: and resource: schemes are considered "special" and m
extra capabilities regardless of this preference's setting.

Determines the size of the scrollbar snapping region. Default value is


slider. snapMultiplier Integer
Windows; 0 (disabled) in *nix.

True (default): On SVG-enabled builds, renders SVG content


svg. enabled Boolean
False: Opposite of the above (see bug 258511)

True: The program defined in view_source. editor. path should be u


view_source. editor.
Boolean when View Source is requested. False (default): The internal viewer
external
be used when View Source is requested.
Path to the external editor to use for View Source when view_source
view_source. editor. path String editor. external is True. If the path doesn't exist or isn't a program, th
internal viewer will always be used.

True (default): Enable syntax highlighting in the view source window


view_source. False: Opposite of the above
Boolean
syntax_highlight Note: This can be changed via "View → Syntax Highlighting" in the
source window.

True: HTML code will wrap in the view source window.


view_source. False (default): HTML code will not wrap in the view source window
Boolean
wrap_long_lines Note: This can be changed via "View → Wrap Long Lines" in the vie
source window.

Determines whether the viewmanager should do double-buffering by


viewmanager. default (see bug 169483).
Boolean
do_doublebuffering True: Do double-buffering
False (default): Opposite of the above

Allowing only certain sites to use


JavaScript
From MozillaZine Knowledge Base

This article applies to Firefox and Mozilla Suite


Note: A user interface for editing a JavaScript-enabled site whitelist exists in the
NoScript extension.

If you prefer to keep JavaScript turned off but need it for a few sites, you can configure
the browser to use a JavaScript site "whitelist." There is no built-in interface to do this, so
you will need to edit user.js. You can also edit about:config, but due to a bug, you will
not see the changes you've made (though they will take effect).
In user.js, add the following lines:

user_pref("capability.policy.policynames", "jsok");
user_pref("capability.policy.default.javascript.enabled", "noAccess");
user_pref("capability.policy.jsok.sites", "http://www.example.com");
user_pref("capability.policy.jsok.javascript.enabled", "allAccess");

The line with capability.policy.jsok.sites can have multiple websites separated by


spaces, like so:

user_pref("capability.policy.jsok.sites", "http://www.example.com
http://www.example.net");

(Naturally, you would replace http://www.example.com and http://www.example.net with


sites you wanted to whitelist.)

Note that you need to have JavaScript enabled when you use these preferences, because
disabling it will override these settings.

Similarly, you can create a JavaScript site "blacklist" — that is, allow JavaScript on every
site but those you specify. For this behavior, you would add the following lines to user.js:

user_pref("capability.policy.policynames", "nojs");
user_pref("capability.policy.nojs.sites", "http://www.example.com
http://www.example.net");
user_pref("capability.policy.nojs.javascript.enabled", "noAccess");

These examples were taken from the CAPS documentation.

You need to restart your browser after editing user.js, otherwise the changes will not take
effect.

Animated images
From MozillaZine Knowledge Base

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Image animation preference


o 1.1 Using about:config
o 1.2 Using user.js
o 1.3 Pausing animated images
• 2 Security software
• 3 See also

[edit]

Image animation preference


There is a preference that affects animated image behaviour.

[edit]

Using about:config

In Mozilla Suite and Firefox:

1. In the Location Bar type about:config and hit Enter


2. Type "anim" in the Filter field (to quickly find the needed preference)
3. Double-click the image.animation_mode line and edit it to one of the following:

none — will prevent image animation


once — will let the image animate once
normal — will allow it to play over and over

You can also use about:config in Thunderbird to turn off animated images in RSS feeds.

[edit]

Using user.js

Alternatively, you can edit your user.js file to set this preference. For instance, to prevent
image animation in RSS feeds in Thunderbird, insert the following into the user.js file in
your Thunderbird profile folder:

user_pref("image.animation_mode", "none");
[edit]

Pausing animated images

Press ESC on Windows (different for other OSes) will pause animated images on the
current website.

Command line arguments


From MozillaZine Knowledge Base

You can use command line arguments to change the way Firefox, Thunderbird, and
Mozilla Suite start.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 How to use command line arguments


o 1.1 For Windows users
o 1.2 For Linux and Mac OS X users
• 2 Command line arguments (incomplete)
• 3 See also
• 4 External links

[edit]

How to use command line arguments


[edit]

For Windows users

• Go to "Start -> Run" and entering the what you wish to execute with the switch.
For example,

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla\Mozilla.exe" -ProfileManager

(with the quotation marks).

• You may also create a shortcut on your Desktop or wherever you like to make this
less tedious. Right click on an open space. Choose New -> Shortcut. Follow the
wizard in creating a new shortcut. When it prompts you for location (not name),
type what you want to execute. For an example, see above.

[edit]

For Linux and Mac OS X users

• Go to your Terminal window and type what you want to execute. On Linux, the
shortcuts to your Terminal window will vary in location depending on your
desktop environment. On Mac OS X go to your Applications/Utilities folder and
choose "Terminal".
[edit]

Command line arguments (incomplete)

Command Result Example

Starts firefox with


profile "path" profile located at the firefox.exe -profile "E:\myprofile"
given path.

Starts firefox with a


given profile name
P "profile name" firefox.exe -P "Joel User"
(profile name is case
sensitive).

Launches firefox and


firefox.exe
url opens the given
"www.mozilla.org|www.mozillazine.org"
URL(s).

Launches firefox
safe-mode without loading firefox.exe -safe-mode
extensions or themes.

Set height of startup


height <value> firefox.exe -height 600
window to <value>.

Set width of startup


width <value> firefox.exe -width 800
window to <value>.

Start with Profile


ProfileManager firefox.exe -ProfileManager
Manager.

UILocale Start with <locale>


firefox.exe -UILocale th-TH
<locale> resources as UI Locale.
Start with <locale>
contentLocale
resources as content firefox.exe -contentLocale TH
<locale>
Locale.

Start Mozilla with a


console firefox.exe -console
debugging console.

Start with Javascript


jsconsole firefox.exe -jsconsole
Console.

Start with the DOM firefox.exe -inspector


inspector <url>
Inspector. http://www.google.com/

Load the specified firefox.exe -chrome


chrome <url>
chrome. chrome://inspector/content/inspector.xul

Load a new browser


new firefox.exe -new
window.

Disabling autocomplete (Firefox)


From MozillaZine Knowledge Base

The Location Bar, the Search Bar and some form fields on web pages have autocomplete
dropdowns that appear with a list of previously entered data. To remove them, you will
need to edit your config files.

Note that this is not a clean solution. It will cause some errors appear in the JavaScript
Console if you have chrome errors enabled and may cause the browser to malfunction.

In userChrome.css, add the following lines:

/* Remove autocomplete dropdown */


#PopupAutoComplete > .autocomplete-tree { display: none !important; }

If you also want to remove the dropdown button at the far right of the Location Bar, add
the following line:
.autocomplete-history-dropmarker { display: none !important; }

>>>>MORE TIPS <<<<

I thought that I'd post this in order to help all of the people who've been flocking away
from IE in favor of Firefox. I've found a couple of nifty things recently, and I just wanted
to offer this info to all Firefox 1.0 users.

Stop webmasters from killing your right-click menu


1) Go to your Tools menu, and choose Options
2) In the new Options panel, choose Web Features on the left
3) The bottom checkbox is for enabling/disabling JavaScript. Next to that is an Advanced
button. Click it.
4) Uncheck the option for Disable or Replace Context Menus

Stop webmasters from resizing your windows


1) Go to your Tools menu, and choose Options
2) In the new Options panel, choose Web Features on the left
3) The bottom checkbox is for enabling/disabling JavaScript. Next to that is an Advanced
button. Click it.
4) Uncheck the option for Move or Resize Existing Windows

Block Flash sites from opening popups


1) In your address bar, type about:config
2) Right-click in the window and choose New » Integer
3) When it asks for the preference name, type privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins
4) For the value, choose either 0 (no blocking), 1 (treat like any other popup window), or
2 (block completely)
5) Restart Firefox

Block in-page ads


1) Download the AdBlock extension for Firefox and install it.
2) Read these instructions
3) Load the latest dated definitions from this archive. You can also Google around to see
if better definition lists are around.

I'm sure that this list will continue to grow. PM me if you'd like to see something cool
added that I've missed here.

A JAVA SCRIPT
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 16384);
user_pref("browser.tabs.loadInBackground", false);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.autoFill", true);
user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true);
user_pref("config.trim_on_minimize", false);
user_pref("dom.event.contextmenu.enabled", false);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 256);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 192);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy",
128);

user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server",
64);

user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 30);
user_pref("network.http.request.max-start-delay", 0);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins", 2);

Here's a breakdown of what everything does (roughly):

user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 16384);
Makes Firefox only use 16 MB of memory, rather than the default 52 MB. This seems to
improve performance on older machines with less RAM. It doesn't hurt newer machines
with more RAM either.

user_pref("browser.tabs.loadInBackground", false);
Changes the default setting and makes new tabs open in the foreground, rather than the
background.

user_pref("browser.urlbar.autoFill", true);
Enables the autofill feature in the Firefox address bar.

user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true);
Rather than getting an alert box when Firefox has a problem connecting, or whatever, this
sends you to a slightly more detailed alert page, like in Internet Explorer.

user_pref("config.trim_on_minimize", false);
Normally, when you minimize Firefox, it will release some of it's memory for other apps
to use. To improve Firefox performance on less-fortunate machines, this setting allows
Firefox to keep it's memory and allow better responsiveness coming out of a minimized
state.

user_pref("dom.event.contextmenu.enabled", false);
Stops websites from blocking your right-click contextual menu.
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 256);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 192);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 128);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 64);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 30);
All of these help to significantly improve Firefox's throughput, allowing you to squeeze
more from your internet connection. Coupling this with an Optimized Build will make
Firefox fly!

user_pref("network.http.request.max-start-delay", 0);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
These will speed up rendering by allowing Firefox to begin drawing to the screen as soon
as the first bits of data are received, rather then waiting a pre-defined period of time.
Broadband users notice the greatest difference with faster connections being done
instantly (more like 0.001 seconds).

user_pref("privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins", 2);
Improves Firefox's popup blocker by also blocking popups created by Flash files, or any
plugin for that matter.

To find your profile folder:

Mac OS X:
/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/default.xxx/
In the address above, replace <username> with your Mac OS X username. Also, the xxx
in default.xxx is a random three-letter extension.

Windows 2000/XP/2003:
c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.xxx\
In the address above, replace <username> with your Windows username. Application
Data is a hidden folder, so you can either type it in manually, or enable the viewing of
hidden folders. Lastly, the xxx in default.xxx is a random three-letter extension.

Windows NT 4.0:
c:\WINNT\Profiles\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.xxx\
In the address above, replace <username> with your Windows username. Application
Data is a hidden folder, so you can either type it in manually, or enable the viewing of
hidden folders. Lastly, the xxx in default.xxx is a random three-letter extension.

Windows 98/Me:
c:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.xxx\
In the address above, Application Data is a hidden folder, so you can either type it in
manually, or enable the viewing of hidden folders. Lastly, the xxx in default.xxx is a
random three-letter extension.

Linux and Unix systems


~/.mozilla/firefox
If you're using Linux, then I'm assuming that you know where your Linux profile
directory is... because I don't. =)

Hope this helps!

Firefox Tips and Tricks / Tweaks / Secrets / Codes

Firefox Configuration Tips and Tricks .

If you type about:config in address bar of firefox, it will open its configuration page, that
allows to change a lot of settings.

Here I'm presenting some settings, that can be configured. These tweaks have been tested
on high speed networks and cable, they might need to be tweaked for slower connections.

You can follow any of these two steps to config your browser:

1. Use the about:config screen which lets you add, modify or reset values or
2. Manually add all of these hacks to the prefs.js.

Option 1:

Type about:config at the location/url bar, this will list all current references, and you can
change the settings listed below.

Option 2:

• Exit out of the browser completely, because if you don't close the browser, it'll
overwrite the settings to default.
• Find your prefs.js file (usually in Drive:\Documents and
Settings\USER_NAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\... directory
in Windows XP).
• Backup your prefs.js file.
• Ccopy and paste the hacks listed below at the BOTTOM of the file.
• Save the prefs.js file and restart your browser .

<---- Begin copy selection Below this line ---->

// Performance
// This will allow Firefox to maintain it GUI memory so that the browser window
user_pref("config.trim_on_minimize", false);
// Specify the amount of memory cache:
// -1 = determine dynamically (default), 0 = none, n = memory capacity in kilobytes
// If you have the memory to spare, enabling this will run things a little smoother
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536); //<-- thus equal about 64 megs,
drop down to less if you can't spare the RAM

// Remove painting delay when loading pages


user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0); // Default is 250

user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true); // Turn on timer-based reflow management

user_pref("content.notify.interval", 100); // Sets the allowed time between reflows in


microseconds

// Set the number of reflows to do before waiting for the rest of the page to arrive
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 200);

// Other Tweaks
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 8191);

// Enable Improve pipelining:


user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.firstrequest", true); // Default is false
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8); // Default is 4

// Increase Multi-Threaded Downloading performance


user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 96); // Default is 24 <-- Use this for modems
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 32); // Default is 8 <-- Use this for
modems
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 24); // Default is 4 <--
Use this for modems
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 12); // Default is 2 <--
Use this for modems

// Other Tweaks
user_pref("network.dnsCacheExpiration", 86400);
user_pref("network.dnsCacheEntries", 256);
user_pref("network.ftp.idleConnectionTimeout", 60);
user_pref("network.http.keep-alive.timeout", 30);

user_pref("ui.submenuDelay", 0);

user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);
// Shows an error page instead of an error popup dialog, have been using this for a long
time now
// found this useful if you load multiple pages at the same the dialog box actually holds
up the browser
// using this will allow the other pages/elements to load for the rest of the pages
user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true);

// Searching & Type Ahead


// Change to normal Google search:
user_pref("keyword.URL", "http://google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=");

// Find As You Type Configuration:


// Set this pref to false to disable Find As You Type:
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind", true);

// If you set this pref to true, typing can automatically start Find As You Type.
// If false (default), you must hit / (find text) or ' (find links) before your search.
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.autostart", true);

// Set this pref to false if you want Find As You Type to search normal text too:
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly", false);

// Set this pref to true if you require that the link starts with the entered text:
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.startlinksonly", false);

// This is the time in milliseconds for the Find As You Type to stop watching for
keystrokes:
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.timeout", 3000);

// User Interface
// Enable Bookmark Icons (I love this feature)
user_pref("browser.chrome.site_icons", true);
user_pref("browser.chrome.favicons", true);
user_pref("browser.chrome.load_toolbar_icons", 2);

// Do not Reuse Active Mozilla Browser, create a new one for email links etc.
user_pref("advanced.system.supportDDEExec", false);

// Disable Smooth Scrolling (found it faster to have this off)


user_pref("general.smoothScroll", false);

// Allows for faster mouse scrolling


user_pref("mousewheel.withnokey.numlines", 6); // Adjust this accordingly - Default = 1
user_pref("mousewheel.withnokey.sysnumlines", false); // This must be set to false in
order to read previous line
user_pref("extensions.disabledObsolete", true);

user_pref("browser.display.show_image_placeholders", true);

// 1.0 Preview disables dynamic theme switching, this re-enables dynamic theme
switching.
user_pref("extensions.dss.enabled", true);

// Mail & News


user_pref("mailnews.start_page.enabled", false);

// always send messages in MIME format (both plain- and HTML-formatted)


user_pref("mail.default_html_action", 3);

// The follow two are disabled for security reasons


user_pref("mailnews.message_display.allow.plugins", false);
user_pref("javascript.allow.mailnews"),

user_pref("alerts.totalOpenTime", 7000);

// Disable this for performance and security issues when reading emails
// Security issues? Yes especially with zlib, jpeg, png and all kinds of new attacks coming
out,
// displaying images inline can no longer be taken for granted. This only affects attached
graphics.
user_pref("mail.inline_attachments", false);

user_pref("mailnews.show_send_progress", false);

// Security
// Just to make sure, disable windows shell: protocol
user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.shell", false);

// Show full path for plugin file on about:plugins page


// the full path was removed for security purposes, please keep that in mind
// Note: showing full paths can be a security risk only use when debugging.
user_pref("plugin.expose_full_path", false);

<---- End copy selection Above this line ---->

There are Three files, that can be edited to configure Firefox!

user.js :-
Used to change various preferences.
userChrome.css :-
Used to change the appearance of the browser.
userContent.css :-
Used to change the appearance of web pages.

All these files are plain text files stored in your profile folder, and can be edited using a
standard text editor, such as Notepad on Windows and gedit or kate on Linux.

The Profile Folder :

The profile folder is where Firefox saves all your settings and refers to a location on your
hard drive.

On Windows XP/2000, the path is usually

%AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\, where xxxxxxxx is a


random string of 3 characters. Just browse to C:\Documents and Settings\[User
Name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ and the rest should be obvious.

On Windows 95/98/Me, the path is usually C:\WINDOWS\Application


Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\ .

On Linux, the path is usually ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/ .

On MacOS X, the path is usually ~/Library/Application


Support/Firefox/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/ .

Firefox is capable of handling more than one user and thus, more than one profile. The
path examples above refers to the default profile that is automatically created when you
start Firefox for the first time. You can manage any number of profiles by using the
Profile Manager.

%AppData% is a shorthand for the Application Data path on Windows 2000/XP. To use
it, click Start > Run..., enter %AppData% and press Enter. You will be taken to the
"real" folder, which is normally C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application
Data.

user.js :-

This is the main preferences file for Firefox and is located in you profile folder. The file
does not exist by default, so you need to create it before you can start adding your
preferences.

userChrome.css :-

This file sets the display rules for various elements in the Firefox user interface and is
located in the sub-folder called chrome in your profile folder. As with user.js, this file
does not exist by default, so you need to create it before you can start adding your
preferences. There's actually an example file that exists by default, called "userChrome-
example.css". Basically, you can just rename that file by removing the "-example" part.

userContent.css :-

This file sets the display rules for web content and is located in the sub-folder called
chrome in your profile folder. As with user.js, this file does not exist by default, so you
need to create it before you can start adding your preferences. As with userChrome.css,
there is an example file that exists by default, called "userContent-example.css".
Basically, you can just rename that file by removing the "-example" part.

Mozilla Firefox Optimizer

To avoid getting timeout when viewing any web site in firefox:


Get this Mozilla Optimizer, it keeps the connection alive....

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Browser...Optimizer.shtml

Mozilla Optimizer improves the browsing speed in all browsers based on the
Gecko Rendering Engine (GRE) like Mozilla, Phoenix, Mozilla Firebird and
Mozilla Firefox as well as Netscape 6 and Netscape 7. All optimizations can be applied
manually, this tool simply automates this procedure!

You can also do the same manually, by adding following lines (replace if they already
exist) in prefs.js file:

user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 100);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 100000);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 4);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 2);

Firefox Tabbed Browsing Tips and Tricks

1. Trick to Reveal More Tab/Window Options :

There are some hidden options for the Tabbed Browsing that will allow you to force links
that open new windows to open in the current or a new tab. First, add the following code
to your user.js file:
// Reveal more tab/window options:
user_pref("browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs", true);

Restart Firefox and go to Tools > Options... (Edit > Preferences... under Linux and
MacOS X), select Advanced and click on Tabbed Browsing.

2. Remove the close button from the tab bar :

You can remove the close button from the tab bar by adding the following code to your
userChrome.css file:

/* Remove the close button on the tab bar */


.tabs-closebutton {
display: none !important;
}

You can still close tabs by right clicking on them and select Close Tab, or by pressing
Ctrl+W

3. Remove items from the main menu :

Some people like to place all their toolbar items on the same row as the menu. In order to
save horizontal space, you can remove top menu items that you don't use. Add the
following code to your userChrome.css file:

/* Remove the Go and Help menus


(These are just examples. Try changing "Go" to "Edit" or "Bookmarks") */
menu[label="Go"], menu[label="Help"] {
display: none !important;
}

Firefox Change Cursor Tips and Tricks

1. Change the cursor for links that open in new window :

This neat trick will change the mouse pointer when you hover it over links that will open
a new window. Add the following code to your userContent.css file:

/* Change cursor for links that open in new window */


:link[target="_blank"], :visited[target="_blank"],
:link[target="_new"], :visited[target="_new"] {
cursor: crosshair;
}

2. Change the cursor for JavaScript links :


This tip will change the mouse pointer when you hover it over links that will perform a
JavaScript command. Add the following code to your userContent.css file:

/* Change cursor for JavaScript links */


a[href^="javascript:"] {
cursor: move;
}

Firefox Some Advanced Tips for Tabbed Browsing

Home Page as tabs :

Instead of just one web page as your homepage, you can make your home page several
pages. Select your favorite web sites and open them in a set of tabbed windows. Go to
Tools -> Options and select 'General'. Under 'Home Page', press the 'Use Current Pages'
button. Now when you hit the Home button on the Navigation toolbar, your favorite web
sites will load with just one click.

Bookmarking a set of tabs :

You can bookmark a set of tabs when selecting 'Bookmark This Page' or Ctrl+D Check
the 'Bookmark all tabs in a folder' checkbox to store all the tabs in the current window
into a Bookmark Folder.

More shortcuts :

While it's easy to select tabs with a mouse, you can also cycle through tabs using the
keyboard: use Ctrl+PgUp (or Ctrl+Tab) and Ctrl+PgDn (or Shift+Ctrl+Tab). You can
also select the first tab by pressing Ctrl+1, and so on up to the 9th tab with Ctrl+9. If you
have a middle mouse button, click it on a tab to close the tab.

Firefox About URLs Tips

Guys! There are a few special URLs, which begin with about:, that you can type into the
Location Bar of Firefox.

• about: — The same page as "Help -> About".


• about:about — Lists all these about: URLs (Mozilla Suite only).
• about:blank — A blank page. Useful for setting as your homepage.
• about:buildconfig — Reveals details about your Mozilla build options.
• about:cache — Displays cache statistics.
• about:cache?device=memory — Lists memory cache entries.
• about:cache?device=disk — Lists disk cache entries.
• about:cache-entry — Shows information about a cache entry. Used in
about:cache links. Requires parameters.
• about:config — GUI for modifying user preferences (prefs.js).
• about:credits — The list of contributors to the Mozilla projects.
• about:logo — Displays the Mozilla logo (Mozilla Suite only).
• about:license — shows the Mozilla Public License and the Netscape Public
License for the piece of software. ( Only in products based on Gecko 1.8 ).
• about:mozilla — The famous Book of Mozilla.
• about:plugins — Lists all your plugins as well as other useful information.

Some more Tips about Firefox

1. We always backup our Favorites in Firefox, so that whenever we reinstall the


browser we can safely restore them without ne problem. (If u don't know how to
backup favorites? Goto: Bookmarks -> Manage Bookmarks..., It'll open
Bookmarks Manager. Then goto: File -> Export... & save them.)

Now come to the point.


The thing is that whenever we reinstall firefox we have to restore them by
applying same process as we do 4 backing up them (use Import instead of
Export). And one more thing we HIV to also backup our current bookmarks
when we r planning to reinstall the browser.
So the trick is that we can define our custom Bookmark path in firefox , so that
we don't need to import or export them.

Type about:config in address bar of browser, right-click & create a new String
value, named browser.bookmarks.file and set its value to the path where u have
backed up your favorites. Now firefox always update it automatically whenever u
add or delete your bookmarks, so no need to continuously take backup.
2. Second trick is very useful. Many times u have noticed that when u minimize the
firefox windows & again restore it, it takes some time to restore. This trick
reduces this delay.

Same thing, type about:config in the address bar of firefox, right-click & create a
new Boolean value, named config.trim_on_minimize & set its value to false.
It'll prevent delays when restoring the window.

Created By…AMIT
amit_talkin@yahoo.com

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi