Firefox 4: Time for a spring-cleaning
Firefox 4 just came out and I might not be the only translator cursing the sudden unavailability of certain addons or extensions. Well, it is a time for a good spring-cleaning anyway, so let’s start with the cluttered right-click menu.
Many extensions you have installed in the last year or so leave a footprint in the context menu (highlight any word on this page and right-click it, voilà). Maybe you don’t actually need all these addons. Feel free to disable or remove some (CTRL + SHIFT + A gets you to the list).
If you want to keep an addon but not its entries in the context menu, check the options of the particular addon in the same list. Most of the time, you can uncheck a box somewhere to make those entries disappear. I am down to six in my context menu.
The fewer entries, the faster you work. When we translate, be it video games or UN resolutions, we mostly need a quick way to search for a term on different websites. The addon context search simplifies the configuration of your particular needs and works with the search engine box in the upper right corner of your browser.
You can get the pictured drop-down menu by clicking on the icon to the very left (in my case the Google icon). You add new sites by clicking on the same icon while being on the site you wish to add (this all works independently from the addon “context search”). You will then see the option “add site” in this drop-down menu.
With context search installed (and Firefox restarted), you can now right-click on any highlighted word to see this in your context menu:
As you can see, my menu really is down to six entries and I added five search engines so far.
By the by, the keyboard shortcut to the search bar is CTRL + K.
As a web developer, I too feel the pain of major browser upgrades and addon compatibility.
Do you work only with English browsers? Better, have you offered to help translate those addons you rely upon so much if there is no existing German translation? ^.^