Editing configuration: Difference between revisions
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Mozilla applications are highly customizable, and there are a number of standard ways to change their appearance and behaviour. Basic settings can be changed using the application's dialog boxes. The main Options or Preferences dialogs can be reached from the "Tools" or "Edit" menus. (See [[menu differences in Windows, Linux, and Mac]].) | Mozilla applications are highly customizable, and there are a number of standard ways to change their appearance and behaviour. Basic settings can be changed using the application's dialog boxes. The main Options or Preferences dialogs can be reached from the "Tools" or "Edit" menus. (See [[menu differences in Windows, Linux, and Mac]].) This article describes methods for more advanced configuration. | ||
==Modifying preferences—adding, removing and setting== | ==Modifying preferences—adding, removing and setting== |
Revision as of 14:19, 11 June 2006
Mozilla applications are highly customizable, and there are a number of standard ways to change their appearance and behaviour. Basic settings can be changed using the application's dialog boxes. The main Options or Preferences dialogs can be reached from the "Tools" or "Edit" menus. (See menu differences in Windows, Linux, and Mac.) This article describes methods for more advanced configuration.
Modifying preferences—adding, removing and setting
To make more advanced changes to the application’s behaviour—in particular, if you have been instructed to “set a preference”—you should either edit the user.js file, or use the about:config interface. Note that whilst it is often quicker to use about:config, editing the "user.js" file has the advantage of portability: your preferences will never be overridden, and they can be transferred to a different profile, or backed up for safe keeping.
Modifying appearance
To modify the way in which Web pages and e-mails are displayed, you should edit the userContent.css file. To modify the appearance of the application itself, you should edit the userChrome.css file.
How to edit configuration files
The ChromEdit extension provides a convenient way of editing configuration files. At the time of writing (May 2006) ChromeEdit is not officially available for current versions of Mozilla applications, but an unofficial updated version is available.
If you choose to edit your configuration files using your own text editor, you should consult the Manual editing advice.
Troubleshooting
If you experience problems when editing configuration files, consult the Troubleshooting article.
External links
- The Stylish extension provides an alternative way to change styles. It does not use userContent.css or userChrome.css, and changes take effect without restarting the application.
- Extensions and themes provide many additional features and allow you to change the way your application looks.
- Editing Configuration Files at Firefox Help
- Editing Configuration Files at Thunderbird Help