Firefox Hacks [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

7.1. Hacks 75-83

This chapter is for people with no time and no patience. It explains
how to modify the files that make up the Firefox user interface using
quick-and-dirty methods.

Why would anyone want to do that? There are lots of reasons. Perhaps
you're building a prototype for a demo. Perhaps you
keep pressing the wrong shortcut key and you wish it were gone.
Perhaps you don't like a feature, or you want to add
a feature. You might be experimenting with or testing the browser, or
you might need the browser to hook into something else
you're testing. Finally, fiddling with the browser
is a first step on the path to learning Mozilla application
development.

Part of the Firefox installation is a set of files called
the
chrome.
These are the files to which you can make quick or extensive changes.
They're all human-readable, human-editable files
stored on the local disk. The directories they're
stored in are also called the chrome, and
they're usually named chrome as
well. Typically, files in the chrome have all security restrictions
lifted. That presents a major opportunity to step outside the limits
of web pages and create something different.

Hacking the chrome, whether cleanly or ugly, bears some resemblance
to web development. There are XML, JavaScript, and CSS files to
manipulate, for starters. So modifications to the chrome are
particularly easy for those with web development skills.

Chapter 8 describes the preparation, coding,
and bundling steps required to formally deploy a Firefox enhancement.
Here, we just cut to the chase and edit files in place.