Customizing &brandShortName;

This will tell you how to add, remove, and rearrange toolbars in &brandShortName;.

Yes, you can customize the toolbars in &brandShortName;. For those who are unfamiliar with the terminology, a toolbar is the (usually gray) box above the area that the Web site is displayed. The toolbar contains by default the following items:

Menu Bar: This is the toolbar that contains the browser menus (File, Edit, Help, etc.).
Navigation Bar: This is the toolbar that contains the Location bar and the buttons used to navigate Web sites.
Bookmarks Toolbar: This is the toolbar that contains your Bookmarks Toolbar Folder bookmarks.

How Do I Customize the Toolbars?

Adding/Removing Toolbars

You can take away certain toolbars if you do not wish to keep them on your screen. Currently, these toolbars can be removed:

Navigation Toolbar
Bookmarks Toolbar

You cannot currently remove the Menu Bar because you cannot move the menu items (File, Edit, Help, etc.) to a different toolbar, and they must stay on the screen at all times.

To remove a toolbar, look in the View menu on your Menu Bar. Go to View > Toolbars. You should see a few menu items. The top ones (above the separator) are the toolbars you may show. Toolbars currently shown are checked, and toolbars currently hidden are not checked. To show or hide a toolbar, simply click its menu item. The toolbar will now be shown or hidden based on your choice.

To add a toolbar, look under the View menu on the Menu Bar. Go to View > Toolbars and click Customize. Click on Add New Toolbar (in the bottom of the dialog). This should give you a dialog to enter a name. Enter a name, click OK, and then click Done. Now open the View > Toolbars menu, and you should see your new toolbar listed. Follow the procedures in the previous section to show or hide it.

Rearranging Toolbar Items

To rearrange the items (icons, buttons, text boxes, etc.) on your toolbar, right-click on any part of the toolbar that is not a text box. This will bring up the toolbar customization dialog.

Drag and drop any items you want to and from the toolbars (excluding the menu items). You can also rearrange icons already on the toolbars by dragging and dropping them wherever you wish. When the toolbars and items are arranged the way you want them, click Done.

Special Toolbar Items

There are a few special items that are available to you when customizing the toolbar. They are as follows:

Separators: These allow you to separate items on the toolbars with a small vertical line.
Spacers: These allow you to separate items on the toolbars with a fixed-size space, usually around 20 pixels on most themes.
Flexible spacers: Spacers allow you to separate items on the toolbars with a space. These spacers automatically resize to fill all of the empty space on the toolbar. These are good for positioning items on the right of a toolbar.

Themes

Themes are small files that are installed in &brandShortName; that change the way &brandShortName; looks. Themes are not allowed to modify the actions or functionality of &brandShortName;.

Getting and installing themes

Usually when you click on a link to install a theme, &brandShortName; displays a dialog asking you for permission to install the theme. You have the option of allowing download and installation or cancelling process. After a successful installation, you have the option of automatically enabling the new theme. This is currently not recommended due to browser bugs that should be resolved by the release of &brandShortName; 1.0.

If a Save File dialog box is displayed while installing a &brandShortName; theme, simply save the theme file to a place of your choosing: to install the theme, go to &brandShortName; Help. Scroll to the Install Local Theme form and browse to select the downloaded theme. When the theme has been selected click Install Theme. The theme will now be usable as detailed above.

Uninstalling themes

To uninstall a theme, go to the Tools menu, and click Options. Click on the Themes tab to see a list of your installed themes. Click Uninstall Firebird Theme to uninstall the theme. Note: the default &brandShortName; theme cannot be uninstalled.

Changing Themes

To switch between your installed themes, open the Tools menu and click Options. Click on the Themes tab in the new dialog box. You should see a list of your installed themes. Select a theme and click OK.

Extensions

Extensions are small add-ons to &brandShortName; that change existing browser functionality or add new functionality.

Getting and Installing Extensions

Installing an extension involves a very similar process to installing themes. Extensions can be found at &brandShortName; Help.

Uninstalling Extensions

The functionality for uninstalling extensions is not yet present in &brandShortName;, but it will be in &brandShortName; 1.0. However, you can currently disable extensions and reverse the effects of their installation.

Disabling Extensions

To disable an extension in &brandShortName;, go to the Tools menu and select Options. Next click the Extensions tab. Select the extension that you wish to disable, and then click the Disable button.

Manually removing extensions

*For advanced users
You have to close &brandShortName; to manually remove an extension, so it would be a good idea to print this page now.

To manually uninstall an extension:

Close &brandShortName; completely.
Go to the directory that the extension was installed in (Usually %FBinstallDir%/chrome)
Delete the folder or .jar file with the same name as the extension.
Open installed-chrome.txt in a text-editor.
Remove all the lines with your extension's name in them
Save the file
Delete the folder entitled "overlayinfo".

If all went well, &brandShortName; should open. If &brandShortName; does not start, reinstall &brandShortName; after deleting the directory where &brandShortName; is installed. &brandShortName; will still use the same profile, so you won't lose settings.