2003-09-21

Mozilla and the searchable user interface

Mozilla now has a searchable user interface. In about:config there is a small but significant new feature, a "Filter" field.

a cropped screenshot of Firebird showing about:config with a filter field

If you're using a Gecko-based browser such as Mozilla Seamonkey, Firebird, Camino or K-Meleon, you can follow the about:config link to see if you have the "Filter" field. Right-click and bookmark it if you can't follow it directly. You may have to wait a while unless you use an unstable recent build, such as a nightly Firebird build from The Burning Edge. I don't know about OS X builds. Any recommendations?

The feature is present but broken in current Sid and Gentoo builds of Firebird. I'll post updates when they're fixed.

In the cropped screenshot above I have just typed "bli", hoping to find a setting to disable the blink tag. It's already there at the top of the list. There are about 1400 settings in my instance of Seamonkey and about 1000 in Firebird. I have more to say on the searchable UI, but I hope I don't have to explain why this feature is worth pointing out.

keywords: p searchable user interface q p searchable UI q