Firefox, Favicons and Favourites
In an email conversation with Adrian yesterday, the subject of a recently-missing favicon on Dan's blog came up (it was missing due to being transferred to another server and conversion into php, etc, etc). I was a bit peeved, because favicons are truly wonderous little pictures, and are an essential part of my interweb browsing experience.
You see, I use Firefox, and I use it well. I have about 30 or so extensions installed, giving me everything from weather updates to extra buttons on websites to speedy downloads of every file on a page in 3 or so clicks to getting rid of the ads on Google to opening a tab in Firefox which contains, get this, Internet Explorer. My interface is very customised to make browsing a pleasure and never a chore, so I can have several sites visible at once, and every site I visit regularly available with one click. I use the bookmarks toolbar as pictured here, with only the favicon visible for each particular website.
To do this, simply save your favourites in your bookmarks toolbar folder, in your bookmarks. Right click on your main menubar and make sure your bookmarks toolbar is displayed. Right-click on any bookmark and you will get a 'bookmark menu' - click on 'properties'. Delete all the text in the 'name' field, and click 'ok'. Ok? Easy eh?
Now you have a bookmark represented by a little picture. Most websites who give a damn have gone to at least a little effort making their favicon unique, and therefore it's very obvious which is which. I love it, all my faves arranged the way I want them, right in front of me, all the time. It makes browsing hundreds of sites an absolute breeze, and it kicks the shit out of Internet Explorer 7 too. But with the IE tab extension, who cares about Internet Explorer anyway?
Oh yeah, and you can put folders in the bookmarks toolbar too. Collabsible ones. So if you have a short label like 'blogs' on a folder, you can add another 50 or so favourites in each folder, collapsed into the toolbar out of sight, but only a click away. Brilliant. Now scroll down to the 'Bits n' Bobs' section of my sidebar. See the little 'get Firefox' button? Click it. Then click 'download'. Do it now (if you haven't already got it, in which case, respect).
4.21-en
Geek Support, fixing of bugger-ups, moral support, code splicing, tech. administration, whining, über-nerdery and fetching of fluffy coffees by 
Comments
Hang on second, why I am second?
I should be first.
Harumph.
Posted by: Adrian | March 2, 2006 10:03 PM
I should get one.
Then again, nah!
Posted by: Tom | March 2, 2006 10:18 PM
Err... you are second because I am first, Adrian. And I'm not even first. I'm in the middle. Blogs and BoingBoing etc. to the right, Gmail, references and shopping on the left.
You should really get one Tom. You can have this one if you want! :-)
Posted by: Matt | March 3, 2006 12:42 AM