TrickJarrett.com

My Browser "Startup" Folders

This blog post refers to Magic: The Gathering. As noted, it is also now my job. So while I deeply love the game, I always want to alert folks I also have a bias.

Last weekend, I talked about my Firefox plugins. This weekend, I want to share how I use the browser, and one of the big step forwards for me.

In the 1990s, when dial-up internet was still in its infancy, my family was connected and (like today) my favorite game ever, Magic: The Gathering, gave me a very good reason to be online. I had discovered IRC, Internet Relay Chat. And specifically, I had found #mtg on "Efnet." It was a chatroom that could have up to 100 people in it on busy days. It was the virtual hangout for us. And that hangout, made it so I came home from school, and I got on the family computer, and I hung out for hours each day.

Remember, this was the origins of the Internet. This was back when kids were sent out of the house by default. Though that era rapidly came to a close. And this was the era when Internet access was metered. So, when one month I took the family over our 100 hours of online time in a month, it was a big deal and one I got into a bit of trouble when the parents saw my online time in a quantifiable way.

I share this tidbit from my past to show that my Internet addiction started early. My grandmother smoked her first cigarette when she was like 7. I started being online when I was 14.

These days, I wouldn't be shocked to learn I had weeks where I spent 100 hours a WEEK online, between work and home. Basically in my life, I have always been online. And it's been because of what is now my employer: Magic: The Gathering.

This entire story is to highlight how serious I take being online. I live in the browser window. Firefox is my workshop.

I used to agonize over finding the most productive or efficient start page for my browser. During Yahoo's heyday, had a feature which let you setup a custom start page on their site. Embedding weather, news, bookmarks, etc. Start pages have gone out of vogue, but I still want to be efficient and online as quick as possible.

I have a handful of pinned tabs which I keep always open in the browser:

• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• This blog
• RSS Reader for news and articles
• Wallabag saved articles
• Bluesky & Mastodon both have ones

But those are all personal stuff for me and not for work. Unfortunately, Firefox doesn't let you customize start pages by the tab container (one of the extensions I talked about last week). My solution is instead to maintain "Startup" bookmark folders. One folder for personal, one for work. I bookmark the tabs I want into each folder.

For work, I won't tell you what tabs I use, but I have settled on 3 tabs which I keep in the Work startup folder.

So if I need to start my Work browser system, I open a new tab with the 'Work' container in the browser. So all of those tabs are using work related logins and cookies, etc. Then I can right click on the 'Startup' folder and open all of the bookmarks into their tabs, and boom - I'm off to the races.

My Firefox Addons & Plugins

I think it's perhaps a good time for me to share my current Firefox plugins. You don't have to use these, but I'm sharing it as a reference in case others need them. (Also, it's useful if I get a new machine and need to find my plugins quickly.)

Bitwarden - My password manager of choice. Please, use a password manager. I wrote about them in "Hacked 101," an older post about security.

Privacy

I have a set of plugins which I use to try and minimize trackers and other 3rd-party data gatherers. They can be annoying sometimes as they will sometimes interfere with page functionality, but if you regularly visit new pages and corners of the internet, this sort of privacy is excellent.

DecentralEyes - This tool is dedicated to trying to prevent tracking from sites which utilize data-gathering content delivery networks for things like Javascript, etc.

Privacy Badger - Run by the EFF, it blocks invisible trackers on pages.

uBlock Origin - Again, it blocks problematic elements on pages, as well as ads.

While not a Firefox extension, and thus not part of this post's central theme - I do utilize a PiHole for the house which also blocks ads and trackers for our entire network.

Extra Functionality

Containers - Containers is a functionaltiy offered in both Firefox and Chrome. I don't know if Edge provides it. But essentially it lets you segment your internet usage. I do the vast majority of my web usage in the primary container, but sometimes I will open a new container, or as you'll see, some sites are cordoned off.

Container Bookmarks - Allow me to set bookmarks to open in specific containers.

Facebook Container - This extension puts all of Meta's properties into their own container, greatly hampering Meta's ability to track me across the web.

Sticky Window Containers - With Containers, my primary use-case is for differentiating work and personal web browsing. This plugin opens new tabs in the same container as the first tab in the window.

TamperMonkey - Once upon a time there was a plugin called GreaseMonkey. It allowed you to write scripts which were executed on pages which matched settings. So you could automatically hide things on websites, or add additional functionality, etc. Greasemonkey is no longer maintained, but there are a number of forks, such as this one.

MarkDownload - Markdown is a text-only syntax which provides formatting of text, such as bold, etc. The back end of this blog is written in markdown, and I maintain a personal library of markdown text in an Obsidian MD vault. This plugin makes it easier for me to pull text from the web into this blog, or into Obsidian.

Reddit Enhancement Suite - Yes, I still use Reddit. Yes, I still use the old template on Reddit. RES provides a multitude of functions on Reddit which make the site usable for me. I hate the redesign and rely on RES.

Simple Translate - A quick in-browser context menu-based translation plugin.

Unpaywall - If I come across an academic paper I want to read but which is pay gated, this tool quickly checks to see if that paper is available for free elsewhere on the web.

Media

BetterTTV - A staple for many who watch Twitch. It adds functions and emoji to Twitch chat.

Return YouTube Dislikes - YouTube hides the dislikes of a video now within their API. This plugin re-adds it to the videos (when able.)

Save WebP as PNG or JPG - WebP has a lot of upside for websites, but it is not yet fully embedded and useful when downloaded on desktops. This plugin allows me to easily download a webp into a more usable format.

Firefox Addess Bar tips

I had no idea about any of these, fascinating to know I can make this specificity from the keyboard.

This is a list of modifiers you can set at the beginning of the search to tell firefox what do you want to see on the results, a kind of filtering:

^ to search for matches in your browsing history.

* to search for matches in your bookmarks.

+ to search for matches in pages you've tagged.

% to search for matches in your currently open tabs.

# to search for matches in page titles.

$ to search for matches in web addresses (URLs).

? to search for matches in suggestions.

Firefox Shortcut Tip

Did you know, you can press Ctrl + L to jump to the addressbar? I didn't! Very useful.

Streetpass.social Browser Extension

An interesting browser extension which highlights when you find a blog which has a Mastodon verification link embedded to help you spot new people to follow.

Mysterious bookmark folder disappearing

This could very-well be a user error, though I severely doubt it. This morning I open Firefox and discover one of my bookmark folders is missing. It's not a huge deal, it's a folder which I know well and which is just meant to be shortcuts for various online services I utilize. But yeah, I can't find it anywhere.

I would normally assume the culprit was that it had erroneously been dragged out of location and be hiding somewhere else but that does not seem to be the case.

In any case, I have remade the folder and this has caused me to do a backup of my bookmarks. Because backups are good things to have.

My Firefox Extensions

It struck me this morning that it may be useful or, perhaps interesting, to archive the Extensions I currently use in Firefox. The extensibility of browsers today is fantastic.

1. Bitwarden - Password Manager
2. Decentraleyes - Privacy tool which works by attempting to block unneccessary calls to content distribution networks.
3. Easy Screenshot - Tool to easily snag screenshots of pages. I primarily use it to snag photos of complete pages where it scrolls down and screepcaps and then stitches them together.
4. Facebook Container - Forces Facebook and Instagram pages into their own container, this blocks them from tracking you across the web.
5. Feed Preview - It returns and enhances the ability to preview RSS feeds.
6. Firefox Multi-Account Containers - I live and die by multi-containers in Firefox. The majority of it is so that I can easily differentiate Work and Personal credentials, etc. But I use it for all sorts of things.
7. Firefox Translations - Mostly so I can test and experiment with Mozilla's local translation tool, meaning it doesn't interface with Google etc. Overall it's good, but not perfect.
8. GIPHY for Firefox - Honestly, I use it largely to enable quick and easy gif access for posting on Mastodon.
9. Privacy Badger - Privacy tool from EFF. It's not as good as it used to be, but it still blocks some tracking tools.
10. Reddit Enhancement Suite - As a longtime Redditor, and I use the old layout still, it enables and enhances a bunch of functions on Reddit.
11. Return YouTube Dislike - Using the API, it allows me to see the dislikes on YouTube videos.
12. Simple Translate - Integrates with Google's Translate for easy on-the-fly translation.
13. Soundfixer - It allows me to manage volumes for individual tabs in Firefox, very useful for my laptop which has dinky speakers and I want to boost the tab's volume over 100%
14. Sticky Window Containers - Another tool for the account containers, this one has tabs in a window open in the same container as the first tab in the window. This also lets me easily do the work/home split.
15. uBlock Origin - The best ad blocker ever
16. Unpaywall - Legally find free access to academic articles.

I want Firefox Reader

It isn't hard to find conversations bemoaning the shuttering of Google Reader. That single move dramatically shifted the landscape of the Internet. I use FreshRSS right now, and it honestly is fantastic at a lot of things. It's got some rough edges, but largely - I am quite happy with it.

So, then, why do I want Firefox Reader? I am imagining it as the vehicle which moves the needle for Firefox, returns RSS to a dominant tool for the Internet, and begins turning the tide of the landscape online again.

RSS is an open standard and is an incredible tool for conveying information across the Internet. Is it perfect? No. Is it great? Yes. The Internet is better for it being in prevalent use and will make the Internet better. And it makes it better for the exact reason many sites have begun removing it - it removes control from the website and puts it in the hands of the reader. They can consume the created content however, whenever, and wherever they want.

And that is what we need. That is the proper direction for the Internet.

That is why I want Mozilla and Firefox to do it. Mozilla, as a corporation, is positioned to financially benefit from pushing the Internet in the right direction and does not have overt motivations which interfere with this.

This morning I learned that there is a "Select all Tabs" option on the right-click context menu in Firefox. This is super useful for me as part of my workflow with Firefox is that I have a handful of folders of bookmarks which are "Startup" folders - if I'm going into a project or something, or for my personal browsing, or for work, etc.

So, for example, I can open a window in Firefox and launch my personal startup folder which includes: Gmail, my Calendar, this blog, my RSS reader, and my Wallabag of articles to read.

And with the select all functionality, it is now a snap to pin these tabs to that window as they are the core ones I need and it takes me from 2 clicks per tab to 4 clicks for any number of tabs in the window.

I'm dealing with a persnickety issue right now between some Firefox extensions and addons. I use 'Facebook Container' to ensure the FB family of products have their own environment and limit their ability to track me on the web. I also use an addon called 'Sticky Containers' which tries to make a tab opened the same container as the tab next to it.

As it turns out, these two don't play nice together. If I have a Facebook tab open, and then open a new one in an empty container as soon as I put in a URL then I get a weird infinite loop of Facebook Container trying to remove the container from the tab, but stickytabs trying to force it in the Facebook Container.

I'm not sure what changed. Maybe when I switched computers recently one of the extensions updated and permissions changed or something. I haven't had this issue on any of my other machines. I'll dig into it over the weekend.