Farnik Family Wiki: FireFoxTweaks

Some useful links:

about: Options

about: shows information on Firefox's version number, copyright, etc.
about:config reveals the Configuration Console, a repository brimming over with scores of customizable settings
about:cache displays a summary of both your memory and file cache, with a link to full file listings
about:buildconfig lists the compiler options that were used to create your version of Firefox (and, since it's open source, anyone can compile a customized version)
about:plugins enumerates your installed add-ons, which can be quite numerous since Firefox is designed to be modular and extensible
about:credits is an "Easter egg" that includes the names of hundreds of developers and testers who worked on the product

Your profile

Before the configuration files are presented, you should know how to find your profile folder, which is where Firefox saves all your settings on your hard drive (eg user,js which you may need to create).

On Windows XP/2000, the path is usually %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\, where xxxxxxxx is a random string of 8 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\ApplicationData\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\</nowiki>
On Linux, the path is usually ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/
On Mac OS X, the path is usually ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/

%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.

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.

Performance Settings in user.js file

Quick and Dirty Settings

 user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
 user_pref("network.http.pipelining.firstrequest", true);
 user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
 user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);

Pipelining does multiple data requests at once and should speed things up. Initial Paint Delay actually slows down the rendering of the ENTIRE page but since users tend to start reading before the entire page is rendered, setting this to a low value gives the impression that the page loads faster.

The following configurations are based off of recommendations off of the Mozillazine thread.

Common to all configurations...

These are the settings that seem to be common to all configuration files regardless of connection speed or computer speed with a couple of additions - plugin paths can be found with about:plugins and the bookmark menu delay is turned off.

 user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
 user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
 user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
 user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
 user_pref("plugin.expose_full_path", true);
 user_pref("ui.submenuDelay", 0);

Fast Computer Fast Connection

 user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
 user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
 user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
 user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
 user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
 user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
 user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
 user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
 user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
 user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
 user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

A couple settings of note - Firefox is allocated 51MB of memory by default and in this configuration we give it roughly 65MB as denoted by the last line. This can be changed according to what is used.

Fast Computer, Slower Connection

This configuration is more suited to people without ultra fast connections. We are not talking about dial up connections but slower DSL / Cable connections.

 user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
 user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
 user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
 user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
 user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
 user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
 user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
 user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
 user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
 user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

Fast Computer, Slow Connection

 user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true);
 user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
 user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
 user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 8191);
 user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
 user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
 user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
 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", 8);
 user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
 user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
 user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

Slow Computer, Fast Connection

 user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
 user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
 user_pref("content.notify.interval", 1000000);
 user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
 user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 1000000);
 user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 4095);
 user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 1000);
 user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
 user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
 user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
 user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
 user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);

One of the changes made for this particular configuration is the final line where the status bar is disabled for changing web pages to save processor time.

Slow Computer, Slow Connection

We have entered the doldrums of the dial-up user

 user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
 user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
 user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
 user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
 user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 750);
 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", 8);
 user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
 user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);