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B.5. AdvancedThe Advanced settings tab, visible in [click here], is where Firefox keeps all the more specialized goodies. They're not essential, but I guarantee you'll find at least one item in here that exactly solves a problem you've been having, or provides a feature that's just perfect for your needs. Here are the sections you'll see on the Advanced tab:
The second option under Accessibility, "Begin finding when you begin typing," is a great feature that invokes Firefox's Find feature (which I discussed in Section 5.1.1) the moment you begin typing something. With this feature enabled, you don't even have to press Ctrl+F to start searching a web page.
If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel (and who doesn't, these days?), you may also want to check "Use autoscrolling." If you check this option, you can press down on the wheel and, while holding it, move the mouse up or down to scroll the web page you're viewing in the direction you're dragging the mouse. I find this behavior annoying, so I make sure this option isn't checked, but your tastes may vary. Before discussing the third option, "Use smooth scrolling," let's review the many ways you can move up or down while you're viewing a web page:
If you do not check "Use smooth scrolling" and you use the first, second, or third of the methods listed above, your screen will jump as you move up and down. If you place a checkmark next to "Use smooth scrolling," instead of jumping, Firefox slides the screen up or down. It's hard to describe, and you will either love it or hate it, so I suggest finding a long web page with a lot of text and testing both settings, and then choosing accordingly. Of course, "Use smooth scrolling" doesn't affect the fourth method listed above, since the amount of movement there is completely under your control.
The section-within-a-section labeled "Open links from other applications in" is designed for users who have made Firefox the default web browser on their Windows systems. Let's say a friend has sent you an email with a hyperlink in it. You click on it so you can view the referenced web page...but now what? If you've made Firefox your default web browser, the link will open in Firefox, but how, exactly? The choice is up to you. Do you want a new window to open up, even if Firefox is already running? Pick "a new window." Do you want Firefox to use the window you already have open, and just open a new tab in that window? Choose "a new tab in the most recent window." Or maybe you want the new link to open in the active tab or window, replacing the current contents. If so, select "the most recent tab/window." The next option under Tabbed Browsing is "Hide the tab bar when only one web site is open." As I discussed in Chapter 2, I don't think checking this option is a good idealeaving the tab bar in place is a handy reminder to newbies that the option of opening multiple tabs exists, and it's not as though the bar takes up much browser real estate. Whether to enable the "Select new tabs opened from links" option is completely a matter of personal choice, but let me make a case against changing it from its (unchecked) default setting. Normally, when you open a link in a new tab by right-clicking on it and selecting Open Link in New Tab (or by middle-clicking on a link, or by pressing Ctrl while clicking with the left mouse button), the new tab opens in the background. In other words, it opens next to any already open tabs, but Firefox keeps the tab you're currently viewing in focus. If you check the box next to "Select new tabs opened from links," each new tab you open will immediately grab focus and become the tab you're viewing. This may make sense to you, but it would drive me completely insane. Let's say I'm reading Google News. I scan the page looking for interesting stories. Oh, there's oneso I right-click and choose Open Link in New Tab. There's another oneso I repeat the process. And another. And another. Now I still have Google News open in the tab I'm viewing, but I also have four other tabs open, each with pages I want to read, and each loaded in the background. When I'm ready to read them, I click on each tab in turn and read the stories. Easy, simple, and sane. If I had "Select new tabs opened from links" checked, the process would instead have occurred like this: read Google News. Right-click on link and choose Open Link in New Tab. Gah! Now that tab has seized focus and is the one I'm seeing, not Google News. Click back on the Google News tab so the story I wanted to eventually read can continue loading in the background. Reorient myself to Google News, and continue reading. Another link looks good, so I right-click to load the link in a new tab. Gah! It did it again! The other tab jumps to the front! Back to Google News while the other tab loads. And so on. I find this process to be distracting and annoying. Tabs are supposed to enable you to better use your web browser, not force you to constantly jerk your mental focus from page to pagedo yourself a favor, and leave "Select new tabs opened from links" unchecked. "Select new tabs opened from bookmarks or history" is the same as the previous option, except that it causes a tab created by clicking on a bookmark or history selection to grab focus. This one I actually leave checked: if I chose the bookmark, I want to see it now, so I want that tab to have focus.
Finally, unless you like living on the edge, you should definitely leave "Warn when closing multiple tabs" checked. If it's not checked, you're going to run into the following situation sooner or later: you've got 10 tabs open that you've carefully selected for reading, research, or fun. You accidentally close the browser window instead of a single tab, by clicking on the X in the upper-right corner of the window instead of the X on the righthand side of the tab bar. Boom! The browser window closes like you told it to, and all your tabs are gone. Yes, you could recover them using the History Sidebar (covered in Section 3.3), but it's a pain. Better to check this box here, and be warned if you try to close a browser window that contains multiple tabs. It's saved my bacon, and it will yours. Don't uncheck it!
Certificates help secure web sites prove to your web browser that they are who they say they are. I'd leave everything here alone, just the way that Firefox set it up for you. Change it only if you must, and in that case, you'll know enough to know what to change and how to change itor your system administrator will. The vast majority of Firefox users will never, ever need to touch this section.
As with the Certificates section, most (nearly all) Firefox users shouldn't have to mess with the options here and can just leave these settings the way they are. Again, if you know enough to know that you need to change these settings, you should know enough to do so without causing a problem. That's it! You are now a Firefox options expert. Just write to O'Reilly and let them know, and you'll get a handsome embossed certificate proclaiming your advanced skill and knowledge!
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