See FAQ in my blog also. If there is no solution, post a report to the issue tracker on the GitHub please.
If you see some fatal errors, I hope you to tell me details of the problem in accordance with the guideline following. It will help me than less information like only a message, "Mozilla crashes itself!" Moreover, sometimes the problem may go away.
The problem possibly have been fixed in the latest release. At first, please update the extension if newer version is available.
When multiple extensions available in your system, another one you regard as "not the cause" may cause the problem in reality. Only with the extension you thought that is the cause, check that the problem appears or doesn't.
If you cannot see the problem with the single extension, conflict with others may cause the problem. Step by step, with a phase-in, check what combination causes the problem.
Don't try with profiles transferred from older versions if you wish to use it stable.
Some settings, actions, or broken data files may cause problems. After you backup the current profile, create a new profile and check that the problem appears with the initial settings or doesn't.
Don't try with new versions of Mozilla overwritten from older versions. If you install newer versions of Mozilla without uninstallation of extensions and old Mozilla, it will cause fatal problems.
When no problem appear with the initial state, find out the trigger of the problem please. Step by step, change settings to your preferences. We cannot know what is the real cause if you change all of settings at once.
Error messages may help us. If you see alert dialogs, copy their messages.
Internal errors cannot be shown by default. You have to change some secret settings by about:config or other ways.
If you can, check the problem appears in other platforms. Some problems appear only on Windows XP but works fine on WIndows 2000, some others do only on Linux.
If you've logged into Linux or other platforms without ROOT account, you should check permissions of installed files "<appname>.jar" (and "<appname>.js" for Tabbrowser Extensions or ContextMenu Extensions). If they are inaccessible to generic users, extensions fail to initialize themselves.
If you install extensions on Debian GNU/Linux Sid as root, Mozilla possibly become slow. This problem may not appear when you install into /home as users.
My extension possibly make Mozilla slow because my extensions are built on poor algorithm. In another reason, the slow is the problem of XUL system. XUL applications are slower than native applications because they work with virtual machine of Mozilla itself.
You have to change locale settings. Push following button. See the page to change locale settings on line.
In this case, you have to reset the locale settings.
If you are using a localized build which doesn't include English Language Pack, uninstall English(US) from the list of language packs. (But Firefox doesn't have the UI to do it...)
When the English Language Pack is installed, open the preferences dialog, turn to English, restart Mozilla, and return or Japanese(Japan).
If you are using Mozilla Firefox (which has no UI to switch languages), you can switch the active language by a command line option for the "mozilla.exe" (or the "firefox.exe"), like mozilla.exe -UILocale ja-JP. (Start the browser from the command line, or temporarily change the "link" section of the shortcut of the browser.) This option is required only at the first time.
In MacOS, or you need GUI to change languages, some extensions Setting languages & locales, langChange (Japanese) or Things They Left Out is available.
If you won't install other extensions, remove chrome.rdf in the profile directory, or open it with Notepad (or other applications), and change the line <c:selectedLocale resource="urn:mozilla:locale:en-US:<appname>"/>
to <c:selectedLocale resource="urn:mozilla:locale:ja-JP:<appname>"/>
.
Some versions of Mozilla/Firefox prevent to install extensions directly from untrusted websites. Save (download) the installer to the local, and drop it to the browser window.
If you use Firefox 0.9 or later, Extension Manager possibly kick my extensions because they don't support the version of Firefox. Authors of extensions can specify trusted versions of Firefox for each extension, so, you cannot install some extensions if you are in newer or older Firefox.
I'm developing these extensions with lately Nightly Build of Mozilla, and testing with Netscape 7, the latest milestone of Mozilla 1.0.x/1.x, and the latest milestone of Firefox. I don't test with nightlies of 1.0.x and Firefox. I'll update extensions for the next milestone release of them.
These extensions are made by using XUL technology, which is used to define user interfaces of Mozilla/Netscape/Firefox. If the browser isn't based on XUL, XUL extensions cannot work.
Camino on MacOS, K-Meleon on Windows, and so on... their UIs are built on widgets of the platforms, not XUL. This platform-dependent method has some merits (works nimbly, etc.), but has a demerit, they aren't customizable with XUL extensions.
Sorry, since I'm not good at English, it is difficult to reply to all English mails I receive. If the problem you reported was fixed in the latest version, please think of it as my reply...
In the light-setting mode, some features (may make Mozilla slow) are disabled. But, you can turn on them from the preferences dialog.
If your PC has a powerful CPU, or, if basic features of these extensions make your system slow, the light-setting will not be effect.
This can be done by the feature "Custom Scripts". Add a new item from the sample Quote Selection as HTML.
This can be done by the feature "Custom Scripts". Add a new item from the sample Create Link to the Current Page.
Select all, and go View Selection Source.
This problem might be caused by Mozilla itself. Delete the XUL cache (XUL.mfl, XUL FastLoad File, or XUL.mfasl) in the profile directory.
Update to the latest version. This bug is fixed in v.2.3.20020510.
New shortcuts are available after restart.
If you cannot use the shortcut anymore, it has been overwritten by the fixed shortcuts (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-N, etc.). In this case you have to change the shortcut.
If you've updated this extension without uninstalling, the registry of installed files is maybe broken. This extension will fail to initialize in this case. You have to uninstall this extension manually before update.
This extension maybe failed to initialize itself if you see these problems. Post details to the forum, please.
Ver.2.7 (or later) works only with Netscape 7 or later. Don't install to Netscape 6.
Outline, Style Sheets, Navigations and some features need initializing and it makes the context menu slow. To skip this expensive operation, you should hide menu items Bookmarks, Outline, Go to Next(Previous) Heading, Navigations, Style Sheets, and so on.
By default, this extension initializes the outline and navigations information of webpages, in the background. This maybe makes Mozilla slow. If you don't use these features, you should disable the background operations. Enable the expert prefs mode and turn off some checkboxes in General(1) > Misc and Navigations.
See samples in the preferences dialog. You will find out how to search selection terms by favorite engines (Google, AcronymFinder, and so on). And, for example, you can use this feature to find location in the map.
Copy one location of one of following links and paste it to the Path: textbox of new items.
These samples are made by Shimotsuki.
You can keep user settings. Manual uninstallation doesn't delete data files. If you choose OK to keep settings, in the dialog of uninstallation process called from the preferences dialog, settings are saved.
This problem has been fixed in the ver.1.7.2003050701 or later. You should update to the new version.
There is a way to do it but you shouldn't use the method in public webpages. Because, your webpage may be read by people without this extension, and the method doesn't work on other tabbed browsers (ex, NetCaptor). OK?
The method window.openBrowserTab(aURI, aName)
opens a new tab. You can use this instead of window.open()
. This new method is added by this extension. It returns a reference to the window
object of the page opened in a new tab, not to the xul:tab element node.
TBE cannot do it alone, but an add-on module for this wish is available. Install it after TBE.
TBE has no feature to do it but you can do it with the userChrome.css. Add following CSS rules to your userChrome.css. (But it also moves the "close tab" button to the left.)
tabbrowser tabs,
tabbrowser [tabid="scroll-buttons-container"]
{
direction: rtl;
}
tabbrowser tabs>hbox,
tabbrowser [tabid="scroll-buttons"]
{
direction: ltr;
}
It may require being customized for each theme.
TBE has no feature to do it but you can customize appearances of selected tabs with the userChrome.css. For example, I'm using following rules.
tabbrowser tab[selected="true"] {
-moz-appearance: none !important; /* sometimes requiered to apply "background-color" */
background-color: ThreeDHighlight !important;
}
/* If you want background tabs to be dark, add this too. */
tabbrowser tab:not([selected="true"]) {
-moz-appearance: none !important;
background-color: ThreeDShadow !important;
}
TBE has no feature to do it but you can do with the userChrome.css. Add following CSS rules to your userChrome.css.
/* hide tab icons */
tabbrowser tab .tab-icon {
display: none !important;
}
/* adjust height of tabs */
tabbrowser tab {
height: 100px !important;
}
See the TabGroup category in the preferences dialog. Some versions of TBE has no checkbox to change the behavior, so, then you have to add a line user_pref("browser.tabs.extensions.group.auto_color", false);
to the "prefs.js" in you profile directory.
TBE has no feature to do it but you can do with the userChrome.css. Add following CSS rules to your userChrome.css.
/* cancel default appearance */
tabbrowser tab progressmeter {
-moz-appearance: none !important;
}
/* cancel default appearance and change the color */
tabbrowser tab .progress-bar {
-moz-appearance: none !important;
background-color: green !important;
}
Did you install "Tab Session Management" module when you install TBE itself? Id you did it, didn't you disable the add-on module too?
If the module is available, you'll see the Startup item in the categories tree of the setting dialog. You can turn on in the panel.
With Mozilla or Netscape, choose Last page visited in Preferences > Navigator > Display on Navigator Startup, and turn on Open last visited tabs instead of last visited page in Preferences > Navigator > Tabbed Browsing > Advanced Startup.
With Firefox, turn on both of two checkboxes, Open last visited page when browser starts up and Open last visited tabs instead of last visited page in Advanced Startup.
This problem never appear on TBE 1.11 or later.
Even if TBE is not installed, Mozilla 1.4 or later can customize the default page of tabs. See Navigator > Display on: New Tab. So, on these systems TBE hides the menu like this in the preferences dialog of itself, because it is already unnecessary.
If you cannot see the menu in both TBE's dialog and Firefox'es even if you are with Firefox, you have to correct preference settings manually.
These steps will get the lost menu back.
Go to the setting panel General and set the option Tabbed Browsing Mode to Exit automatically when only one tab is open. It will get back the default behavior of the tab bar.
First, you have to set the preference Tab Bar > Last tab closing: to the last item, no reaction. And turn on the setting Hide the tab bar when only one tab is open.
Why? Because, when you want TBE to do some reaction for the closing of the last tab, the tab bar have to be shown even if only one tab is open. TBE can do nothing to the hidden tab, so TBE locks the tab bar to be shown in these cases.
On Linux or some platform, these menus are disabled by default because Mozilla hooks middle click for another feature.
Mozilla has a feature to load an URL copied into the clipboard by middle click. If it is available, you cannot bind tab actions for the middle click. Go to about:config and turn the row middlemouse.contentLoadURL to false, or add a line user_pref("middlemouse.contentLoadURL", false);
to the prefs.js in your profile directory.
The feature Open in Active Tab is for the purpose: to open links or bookmarks in new active tab manually when they are usually loaded in the background tab by your setting. So if you wish to use the feature, you have to set links or bookmarks to be loaded in background tabs always.
The feature Open in Active Tab is for the purpose: to open links or bookmarks in new active tab manually when they are usually loaded in the background tab by your setting. So if you wish to use the feature (and touch the checkbox), you have to set links or bookmarks to be loaded in background tabs. Check Links with Normal actions or Bookmarks checkbox in the pref panel Focus of Tabs.
The feature Open in This Tab is for the purpose: to open links or bookmarks in the current tab manually when they are usually loaded in new tabs by your setting or the link itself (with TARGET attribute). So if you wish to use the feature, you have to open the context menu on special links which will be opened in new tab/windows. Or you have to set any link or bookmark to be loaded into new tab.
The feature Open in This Tab is for the purpose: to open links or bookmarks in the current tab manually when they are usually loaded in new tabs by your setting or the link itself (with TARGET attribute). So if you wish to use the feature (and touch the checkbox), you have to open the context menu on special links which will be opened in new tab/windows. Or you have to set any link or bookmark to be loaded into new tab. Check Any link or Any bookmark checkbox in the pref panel Advanced Use.
Did you use multi-row tab bar for too many tabs? If the feature is enabled, you cannot rearrange or control tabs' orders anymore. This is not a bug but a restriction. (Because, Mozilla absolutely crashes when you rearrange tabs in the multi-row tab bar. Now I dare to restrict those features to work only exclusively each other.)
These problems might be caused by the data file which is broken and too enlarged. After you exit Mozilla completely, find "tabextensions.rdf" out from the profile directory. If the size of it is larger than 100KB, you should remove it.
This problem (enlarged data file) is based on unknown conditions. I couldn't know why this extension fails to clear disused entries... so I'm tracking on this bug still now.
Sometimes the broken data file "tabextensions.rdf" in the profile directory may cause errors. Retry after deleting the file (of course, you may backup it), please.
This behavior is not a bug. TBE regards requests to open new browser windows from other applications as requests to open new tabs, even if the application is the shell program of the system. (e.g. Explorer of Windows, Finder of MacOS, etc.) To open new browser window, please use commands in windows of Netscape/Mozilla.
If links in browser are set to be opened in the current tab, in the setting panel Use Tab > Links, it is a correct behavior. Set the option to the Normal if you wish "target" links are opened in new tab instead of the current tab.
If you are browsing with Netscape 7, did you turn off the checkbox Open a link in a new window, in Advanced > Scripts & Plugins? Or, did you set the preference browser.block.target_new_window
to true
?
This extensions see the setting above and don't open tab even if you check Open tabs instead of windows for > New windows opened by links, because links with "target" don't open new window if you block them.
Set external liks from other applications to be opened in new tabs, in the setting panel Use Tab > External Links.
Check Advanced Use > Any page-load from other applications if you use TBE on Windows or Linux platforms. (I couldn't confirm that the feature works on other platforms or not.) But this setting may break combinations of Mozilla and other native applications.
Turn on the checkbox, Enable/Disable DDE support by needs automatically in the panel Advanced Tabbed Browsing.
Mozilla operates requests to open URIs by other applications in the current tab. This behavior is defined in a lower level code, so we cannot control this behavior with XUL applications.
The setting above forces Mozilla to ignore any requests to load URIs, and forces to open them in new tabs. But, the setting may sometimes make troubles in combinations with other native applications.
These settings are available only for Windows. In some platform, for any webpage, Mozilla may open new tab or load it into the current tab, by other applications.
Set external liks from other applications to be opened in the current tab, in the setting panel Use Tab > External Links.
Turn off the checkbox Advanced Use > Any page-load from other applications if you use TBE on Windows or Linux platforms. (I couldn't confirm that the feature works on other platforms or not.)
At first, change settings like following, please:
Second, input about:config to the URL bar and find the line, advanced.system.supportDDEExec. If the value in the line is false, turn on it.
These settings are available only for Windows. In some platform, for any webpage, Mozilla may open new tab or load it into the current tab, by other applications.
This problem may appear when you set Mozilla and TBE to use new tab instead of new windows called by other applications.
If you already have set Mozilla as the default browser of the platform, you may have to set other applications to call Mozilla directly too. For example, about katjusha, Options > Browser > disable Use default browser and set Mozilla to the Specified browser textbox.
On Firefox 0.9 or later, a secret preference "docshell.frameloadcheck.disabled" possibly solves this problem. Set it to true
with about:config (you will have to create a new entry) or other way. (But this modification will make a critical security hole. If you agree, do it at own risk.)
It is for debugging and appears only with Ver.1.6.2003030601. The cause of this error is fixed in the 1.6.2003031501, so you should update to the new version.
There is no universal solution, because this conflict is based on conflict of their XBL codes. But the patch for MacOS X can resolve this problem.
This problem is related to a change in MozillaFirebird toolkit. You must uninstall the extension manually, delete the XUL cache (XUL.mfl, XUL FastLoad File, XUL.mfasl, or others), and install the latest TBE (later than ver.1.10.20040211) again.
This problem appears on cases like following:
TBE 1.10 or later installs proper files for each Firefox version on the installation. If you update TBE without uninstallation of the older, bad files are left on your installation info. You have to uninstall old TBE completely (including "chrome.rdf" and "overlayinfo") before installation of the latest.
If you cannot remove the error with updating to the latest TBE, didn't you uninstall old version of TBE completely? If wrong information made by old release exists in Mozilla registory (chrome.rdf), the XBL error doesn't disappear.
Manually, the following steps resolves the error:
tabextensionsWidgets
. (If you couldn't find out in the file, you've opened wrong file.)tabextensionsBindings
.Ver.1.10 or later save status of tabs (like "Locked", "Auto Reload", or others) to bookmarks as their descriptions. This specification is for sharing the bookmarks with other profiles or applications.
The problem, which button icon is replaced to a large image which includes icons of all toolbar-buttons , is a bug of ver.1.10.20040122 or older. This has been fixed in ver.1.10.20040130 or later.
It is not a bug, but a correct behavior of TBE. Don't mind, please.
Now, we cannot stop the request to open new window of the browser from other applications. So, TBE intrudes into the initializing process of a new window, opens a new tab into the existing window, and closes the new window automatically. "The small blank window" is the window which waits to be closed automatically.
The native-tabbed-browsing feature of Firefox 1.0 or later is based on a change in native codes which allows us to interrupt the operation, and it doesn't require tricky methods like TBE. We never experience the comfort with older Firefox or Mozilla Suite, because they don't include the change in their native codes. (Of course, TBE also works smoother than now, with reusing the native-tabbed-browsing feature in Firefox 1.0.)
The broken "signons.txt" in your profile directory may causes this problem. Delete the file after you back it up.
If the way above doesn't resolve the problem, it may be a problem of TBE. Please tell me the URL of the page you can see the problem in, or the form part of HTML source codes.
This problem appears without TBE (confirmed on Windows 2000). It seems to be a bug of Mozilla itself.
If you disable JavaScript with native features of the browser (ex. policy settings), TBE cannot enable JavaScript anymore. You have to use the checkbox in the Features category of TBE settings.
Or, if you uses old versions of TBE and you see this problem when you load bookmarks with customized tab settings, maybe it's a bug. The bug has been fixed in the latest TBE.
TBE ver1.10.2004052701 or older change the setting of the home page automatically when you set to restore the last visited tab-session instead of the home page.
If you update TBE to ver.1.10.2004052701 or later, or some problem occurs, you've lost the way to get back the default setting from the auto-changed. Then you have to correct preference settings manually with the following way:
That will get back your home page.
If you see the problem on some webpages, you have to give up. This behavior is by design now. But, following operations are available for you to install themes or extensions:
There is a technical note about the problem following.
Like this website, if "xpi" files are linked from simple HTML links, you can install extensions (or themes) normally. When the webpage uses installation JavaScript includes InstallTrigger.installChrome()
, like, Mozilla Update, you cannot do.
Some authors use a JavaScript technic, "the event handler which returns FALSE, cancels loading of links." For example;
window.open()
and returns FALSE, so the link is not loaded.On the other hand, TBE has features to open new tabs instead of new windows.
window.open()
method and opens new tab instead of window.Though, TBE opens duplicated tabs wrongly for links like above. Why?
window.open()
is called. TBE opens a second new tab by this request.So, I improved TBE with a tricky technic like following:
But this improvement caused another issue. When TBE gets the returned value of the event handler, Mozilla causes an fatal error. Because, the event handler is processed in the context of internal process of Mozilla. It have to be done in the context of the web page.
Consequently I modified the code with an timer. Timers let event handlers work in the context of web pages. This is the internal process of the latest TBE.
Going back to the problem that you cannot install themes (or extensions). Mozilla ignores delayed InstallTrigger.installChrome()
in a timer, because it seems dangerous like attacking.
So, there are only two solutions about this problem, with my poor skill and knowledge:
InstallTrigger.installChrome()
problem ahead of the duplicated tabs problem. Duplicated tabs are opened from some webpages, but you can install extensions.InstallTrigger.installChrome()
problem. You can get only one tab for popups, but you cannot install extensions from some webpages. (However you can install themes and extensions by other ways I told at the start of this topic.)If someone who has high skill helps me, this problem will be resolved...
It's an unavoidable problem. Because tabextensions works on natural context menu of tabs, tabextensions fails to initialize with modified menus.
Tabextensions includes the feature Close Other Tabs as an function, so you should not use these extensions together.
*The clipboard feature has been removed from the version 1.10.20040331. This entry is for old versions.
There is no solution. You should use the New Tab and Go extension instad of TBE's clipboard observation.
TBE overall depends on XPCOM of Mozilla and unfortunately there is no way to know changes (of status or contents) of the clipboard via XPCOM. So, TBE forcibly reads the content of the clipboard every 500 msec (by default) automatically even if another application locks the clipboard via the clipboard viewer feature of the platform.
This problem cannot be resolved, because both implementations use a same method to do their feature.
You should install only one extension to use multi-row tab bar, TBE ver.1.10.20040509(or later) or Clav's Flowing Tabs. TBE 1.10 has the multi-row tab bar feature which is based on Clav's.
Tabbrowser Extensions? In English, it is often called
Tabbed Browsing Extensions...
At first, I planned to extend the tabbrowser
widget of XUL, not the browser application (Mozilla Navigator). The name Tabbrowser Extensions is a vestige of the plan.
I don't adhere to this name, but I think I should not rename it easily. When I release a next major version, I maybe rename it Tabbed Browsing Extensions.
The problem, which button icon is replaced to a large image which includes icons of all toolbar-buttons , is a bug of ver.*** or older. This has been fixed in ver.3.1.2004012701 or later.
This problem is related to a change in MozillaFirebird toolkit.
If you use Popup ALT Attribute ver.1.2.x with lately MozillaFirebird Nightly Build after 2003/11/19, or Firefox, you should update the extension to the latest one.
If you see the error with the latest Popup ALT Attribute, you will have to uninstall the older version completely and re-install it. Exit Firefox, uninstall the extension manually, delete the XUL cache (XUL.mfl, XUL FastLoad File, XUL.mfasl, or others), and install the extension again.
If you cannot remove the error with updating to the latest one, didn't you uninstall old version completely? If wrong information made by old release exists in Mozilla registory (chrome.rdf), the XBL error doesn't disappear.
Manually, the following steps resolves the error:
tabextensionsWidgets
. (If you couldn't find out in the file, you've opened wrong file.)tabextensionsBindings
.IMG's ALT attribute is defined as following:
The alt attribute specifies alternate text that is rendered when the image cannot be displayed (see below for information on how to specify alternate text ). User agents must render alternate text when they cannot support images, they cannot support a certain image type or when they are configured not to display images.
So, Mozilla's behavior which doesn't popup ALT as a tooltip is right. But, IE(, NC4.x, etc.)'s implementation (which popups it) also seems to be right, because it is UAs' duty to support our browsing. Tooltips are extra information displayed by UAs and it is an advanced navigation for agreeable browsing.
For example, please open the Page Info dialog. There is more info about links and images, and ALT attributes are also displayed in the dialog. This is a bad implementation if you interpret the spec above strictly, isn't it?
In conclusion, I say, Please don't blame Mozilla or other UAs on this point because both of implementations are right.
There is no solution. You should use the New Tab and Go extension instad of this extension.
Clipboard Observer overall depends on XPCOM of Mozilla and unfortunately there is no way to know changes (of status or contents) of the clipboard via XPCOM. So, it forcibly reads the content of the clipboard every 500 msec (by default) automatically even if another application locks the clipboard via the clipboard viewer feature of the platform.
This extension includes a feature to jump next/previous page easily when there are a series of pages, like the result of Google. If this extension detects related pages, "Fastforward" and "Rewind" buttons work for those pages. (By default "!" mark will be shown on the buttons) To call original "Rewind" and "Fastforward" feature in this mode, right click on the buttons. Then "Rewind" or "Fastforward" will be popped up.
This feature possibly detects wrong links as "next" or "previous" pages. For example, links like "Back to the home" will be regarded as "prev" links. You can disable this feature completely with the configuration dialog.
If you wish to keep it available and use it only for websites which matching patterns are especially ready for, add the rule below. With this rule, you can disable this feature for any webpage no special pattern is ready for.