Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Keeping Google Toolbar functionality past Firefox 14

Though it might seem odd, I have been resisting upgrading Firefox for years.

The reasons are twofold and simple.  First, I rarely have time to constantly dick around with upgrading shit.  I have things working well, thanks so much, so don't screw with it.

Second, I am addicted to Google Toolbar.  Maybe it is not much better than the default Firefox search,but it is what I am used to.  Plus I really, really like the fact that the search terms automatically come up as "find" buttons.

Unfortunately, and for reasons unknown, my Firefox crashed today and restarted as version 34.  No more Toolbar for me!

Fortunately, things are just a tad slower than usual.  Or maybe I was so pissed I just ended up staying up until past midnight to fix everything and write this post.  Either way, I found some time.

To make it short (it is late):

-  Googlebar Lite replicates most, if not all, of the previous Google Toolbar functionality in Firefox 29+.  Including the automatic word finder and highlight.

-  Gmail Manager does not work in FF 33 or higher.  I ended up switching to the built-in Gmail notifications, which are supported by later versions of FF and are available under the "Settings" tab in Gmail.  Seems to work OK so far.

-  I hate tabs on top because they seem harder to read.  The Classic Theme Restorer add-on moves them back to the bottom and adds several other customizations that make newer Firefox versions look like the old versions.

Yeah, call me crazy, but things were fine the way they were.  Though I guess now I'll be better secured, and won't have the nags about unsupported browsers any more. 

And gee, it only cost me just shy of 90 minutes of my life that I will never get back.  Thanks, Mozilla!