Parisa's Blog

I love Firefox, but hate some of the new UI features in version 2.0. Specifically, I hate per-tab close buttons and limits on tab width that force scrolling when you exceed the number of tabs you can fit in your browser. I tried using it for a few weeks and was convinced I could get used to it, but I failed to adjust and sought remedy without having to go back to an older version. If you're like me, or have some other beef with Firefox, you should play with the advanced configuration options that you can't get your fingers on from the UI.

To access these, just type about:config into your browser address bar. A long list of key:value pairs will display that describe your current configuration.



To fix the per-tab close button issue and revert back to having one global button that closes the active tab, set browser.tabs.closeButtons to 3. To get rid of the tab scrolling, set browser.tabs.tabMinWidth to 0. You can also speed up your browsing by enabling browser pipelining. Set network.http.proxy.pipelining and network.http.pipeline to true. You can also increase network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to speed up web page loading, but remember to be nice to those servers!

Much has happened in the past two weeks, most of which I'm too lazy to recount completely. Suffice it to say I am alive, well, reconnected to the digital world, and living in a new area code.

I flew to California and moved into an apartment at the same complex I lived in last summer. I soon realized that from the unit I was placed in, I could detail the whole CalTrain schedule and discern between a diesel and gas engine driving down Central Exwy. Any closer to the train station and I probably could have heard the conductor making a call for tickets. After a good deal of hassling, I moved into another unit on the other side of the complex, which is much quieter. Now I get to try and track down all of the boxes I shipped to the original address and herd them to my new home. In the new apartment, Peter bought me some tulips which I planted in a small garden on my back porch.



I bought a new car. It's a Mazda3 Touring Hatchback. It's blue. Zoom zoom.



I drove to Joshua Tree with Peter to do some climbing for a few days. Despite cold weather and being completely humbled by the routes there, we both had a great time. The trip was also was a nice way to put 1000 training miles on the new car.





I bought some essentials for the apartment, including an air mattress, a new LCD HDTV, dishes, and some pots. I still need bedding, a real mattress, and maybe some furniture or something to replace the box I'm currently multi-purposing as a chair, table, and foot stool. The order by which I'm purchasing things has made me take notice of strange priorities. I have 4 bottles of wine, a wine opener, and wine glasses for six, but still no blanket. Hmmm...

Finally, I started work. I now have a salary, options, benefits, a retirement plan, and a morning commute, albeit a very short one. I'm OK with all of this so far, but once someone addresses me by mam, I'm buying a Ferrari and getting a mohawk.