Essential Pale Moon & Firefox Browser Add‑ons

Serge Y. Stroobandt

Copyright 2014–2019, licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

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Pale Moon Add-Ons

This page is still under construction.

Introduction

Mozilla Firefox
Pale Moon
Netscape legacy
adheres to the FLOSS philosophy
precursors of new web technology RSS, javascript, add-ons, chrome, automatic updates, tabs
copied by Microsoft and Google
standards compliant acid test
The add-ons are what makes this browser so great.
plethora
A lot of changes were introduced to the user interface since Firefox versions 29 & 34; not all for the better. Classic Theme Restorer
alternative to status bar in Pale Moon
All extensions specific to Pale Moon
Firefox add-ons with compatibility issues on Pale Moon

Do not track

Here is how to set Do Not Track from the menu: Edit > Preferences > Privacy > Tracking. However, Do Not Track can also be set from the about:config URI. As a matter of fact, about:config might be considered the preferred route, as more configuration variables need to be set to ensure privacy. (See below.)

Do Not Track

about:config

Entering about:config in the address bar will bring up an interface for viewing and setting a wide variety of configuration variables, many of which are not otherwise accessible through the GUI. Take the vow of being careful and enter below key values in the search field. Double click to change boolean values.

`about:config`
key	new value	FF	PM
`browser.enable_automatic_image_resizing`	`false`	✓	✓
`browser.search.showOneOffButtons`	`false`	✓	✗
`browser.sessionstore.interval`	`1800000`	✓	✓
`canvas.poisondata`	`true`	✗	✓
`network.standard-url.escape-utf8`	`false`	✓	✓
`privacy.donottrackheader.enabled`	`true`	✓	✓
`privacy.trackingprotection.enabled`	`true`	✓
`security.dialog_enable_delay`	`0`	✓	✓
`social.*`	`false or ''`	✓	✓
`view_source.editor.external`	`true`	✓	✓
`view_source.editor.path`	`gvim`	✓	✓

The browser.sessionstore.interval setting in milliseconds is perhaps the most important here, because Firefox is eating your SSD.
Pale Moon includes an option to make canvas fingerprinting much more difficult. By setting the about:config preference canvas.poisondata to true, any data read back from canvas surfaces will be “poisoned” with humanly imperceptible data changes. By default this option is switched off, because of its large performance impact on routines reading this data.

Here are some more cool about:config tips.

Security

Security
add-on	FF	PM	use
Belgium eID	✓	✓	This Firefox add-on allows use of the Belgian electronic identity card (BeID) for authentication and signing purposes. Additionally requires eID middleware and a card reader driver (e.g. ACR38). Finally, you will also need to manually edit the trust settings of the Belgian Root Certificates in Firefox. Version 1.0.23 works correctly with Pale Moon.
Certificate Patrol	✓	✓	Reveals when a HTTPS certificate has been updated, allowing one to check the legitimacy of this change.
Flashblock	✓	✓	Adobe Flash’s security record has caused several security experts to recommend to either not install Flash or to block it. Also Steve Jobs heavily criticised the security of Flash Player, noting that “Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009.”
HTTPS Everywhere	✓	✓	Encrypt the Web! Let Firefox automatically use HTTPS security on many sites. Certificates can optionally be checked by the EFF SSL Observatory.
Parental Controls	✓		MetaCert’s dynamic realtime, cloud-based content filtering system which adds many thousands of new pages every hour. MetaCert blocks 700+ million pages of pornography. That’s more than Norton, McAfee and OpenDNS combined!

Privacy

Without taking special precautions, one happens to be far less anonymous on the internet than presumed.

Pay more because you are a Mac user?
Fully booked because you visit sites oriented towards afro-americans?

Privacy
add-on	FF	PM	use
Adblock Latitude	✗	✓	This is a direct fork of Adblock Plus made specifically for the Pale Moon browser.
µBlock	✓	✗	µBlock is capable of blocking out almost all ads; including the ads on this site! It is reputedly more efficient on CPU and memory than Adblock Plus. Even more importantly, it is not disloyal to its users, unlike Adblock Plus which has repeatedly been reported to cheat on its users!
Crush Those Cookies	✗	✓	Get rid of a site’s cookies including its Adobe Flash (Local Shared Objects) from the moment the pertaining tab is closed. This happens to be the closest one can get to cookieless browsing without tedious micromanaging or breaking every other site. ATTENTION: Be sure to clear out the whitelist when you start out with this extension. `Add-ons` → `Extensions` → `Self-Destructing Cookies` → `Preferences` → `Edit Whitelist` → `Remove All Sites`
Self-Destructing Cookies	✓	✗	Get rid of a site’s cookies including its Adobe Flash (Local Shared Objects) from the moment the pertaining tab is closed. This happens to be the closest one can get to cookieless browsing without tedious micromanaging or breaking every other site. ATTENTION: Be sure to clear out the whitelist when you start out with this extension. `Add-ons` → `Extensions` → `Self-Destructing Cookies` → `Preferences` → `Edit Whitelist` → `Remove All Sites`
Flashblock	✓	✓	Selectively allowing Flash may prevent Adobe Flash cookies from being set during a browsing session.
Privacy Badger	✓	✗	A browser add-on of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which stops advertisers and other third-party trackers from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at on the web. If an advertiser seems to be tracking you across multiple websites without your permission, Privacy Badger automatically blocks that advertiser from loading any more content in your browser. To the advertiser, it is as if you suddenly disappeared.
anonymoX	✓	✗	Restore your anonymity on the web and gain access to blocked or censored websites by tunnelling your IP-traffic through one of the many anonymoX proxy servers. As of recently, anonymoX started introducing ad popups on certain pages. So, use with caution and only when absolutely necesary!

Above-listed countermeasures are only partially effective. Every browser will share information about its configuration with the sites it visits. This implies that a browser is traceable to the point of its uniqueness. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) offers a free service to test the uniqueness of your browser configuration. For most of us, the results are sobering. If all you want is to be less traceable, use a “Private Browsing Window” in Firefox. However, if you care about privacy, assume that any system is compromised by default. To attain the highest amount of anonymity on the web currently available, use Tor from a Linux-based OS that is running from read-only media (e.g. a DVD) or a virtual machine (VM) environment that is known to be clean. The Tails GNU/Linux distribution will cater for these specific privacy needs. Also, use an internet access point that you usually do not use since all governments are tapping into ISP access records.

Power management

Power management
icon	add-on	FF	PM	use
	Flashblock	✓	✓	Steve Jobs was right; Don’t let Adobe Flash eat your battery!

User interface

User interface
add-on	FF	PM	use
Classic Theme Restorer	✓	✗	Restores the user interface to the pre version 29 look with add-on bar.
Dark Backgrounds Switcher	✓	✗	Allows for night-time reading whilst preventing eye strain, melatonin deficiency and sleep disorders. At the flick of a button, this add-on will switch the background black and set the text colour to yellow or white.
GlobalFindBar	✓	✗	Reverts findbar to pre version 25 behaviour; i.e. find terms are global over all tabs. Dedoimedo also explained this in more saucy words.
My CopyFixer	✓	✓	Use `[Ctrl]+[C]` when nothing is selected to copy the page title and URL in various formats. Requires Classic Theme Restorer.
It’s All Text!	✓	(✓)	This extension allows one to use his/her favourite text editor —like Vim for instance— to edit large text blocks in the browser. Version 1.9.2 works with Pale Moon.
Speed Dial	✓	✓	Organise favourite websites in groups of quick dial buttons with live preview images.
Tab Mix Plus	✓	✓	Enhance Firefox’s tab browsing capabilities. This add-on includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combination of opened tabs and windows. Version 4.1.9pre.150815a1 works with Pale Moon.
VimFx	✓	(✓)	Once you get used to modal text editing with Vim, your fingers will yearn for an add-on like VimFx! This extension adds Vim-style keyboard shortcuts for browsing and navigation, effectively eliminating the need for a computer mouse. Version 0.5.3.1-signed works with Pale Moon. However, make sure to disable updates for this specific add-on, by selecting this from `about:addons → VimFX → More`.
xclear	✓	✓	Clear the contents of search fields and the navigation bar at the click of a button.

Downloading

Downloading
add-on	FF	PM	use
MozArchiver	✗	✓	MIME HyperText (MHT) is Internet Explorer’s single file web page archiving format. Whereas the Mozilla Archive Format (MAFF), through its use of ZIP, results in much more compact archive files for web pages containing video or audio. MozArchiver saves and opens both file formats.
UnMHT	✓	(✓)	Save complete web pages, including text and graphics, into a single MHT file. Allows for automatic filename string replacements through its extensive preference settings. Version 7.3.0.5.1-signed works with Pale Moon, but currently only for saving.
Video DownloadHelper	✓	✓	Download series of video and image links all at once. Version 4.9.24.1-signed works with Pale Moon.
Web Developer	✓	✓	Adds various web developer tools to the browser.

Real-time information

Most of below extensions are designed to show additional real-time information in the add-on bar at the bottom of the browser window. However, since Firefox version 29 the status bar is no longer available by default. Use the Classic Theme Restorer extension (see previous section) to regain the status bar.

Real-time information
add-on	FF	PM	use
FoxClocks	✓	use Pale Moon version	Shows times around the world in the status bar. Daylight saving time is automatically dealt with. Requires Classic Theme Restorer.
Sun Cult	✓		Worldwide Sunrise, Sunset, Twilight, Moonrise and Moonset…
Weather Watcher Live	✓		Get real-time weather conditions, hourly & daily forecasts, and severe alerts from WeatherBug and NWS weather stations.
What’s the Tide?	✓	✓	Show up-to-date international tidal data in the status bar, from whatsthetide.com.

Maps

Maps
icon	add-on	FF	PM	use
	Quick Maps	✓		Get a Google Maps™ tooltip box attached to any address on any website or highlight text + use right-click menu to show it on a map immediately!

Spell Checkers

Spell checkers for use in form fields are installed automatically with (X)Ubuntu on a system wide level. Firefox —and for that matter Pale Moon— will not remember the default spell checking language due to a persistant software bug.

This can be remedied by installing one —and only one— spell check dictionary add‑on. This will then create the missing Dictionaries tab in the Add‑on view. More importantly, this single dictionary add‑on will impose the default spell checking language upon Firefox and Pale Moon. Meanwhile, any other system wide languages remain available.

Spell checker
icon	add-on	FF	PM	use
	British English Dictionary	✓	✓	British Dictionary version 2 for Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey, forked by Marco A. G. Pinto.

Dictionaries

Dictionaries
icon	add-on	FF	PM	use
	Oxford Dictionaries	✓	✓	Search Oxford Dictionaries Online for World English word definitions, pronunciation, example sentences and etymology. No subscription required.
	S3 Google Translator	✓	✓	Add the power of Google Translate’s automatic translations to your browser! Supports the translation of selected text, an entered phrase or a whole webpage between any of 80+ languages.

Encyclopædia

Encyclopædia
add-on	FF	PM	use
Wikipedia (SSL)	✓	✓	Encrypt data-exchange with the English language Wikipedia using SSL, with these limitations.
Wikipedia DE SSL	✓	✓	Encrypt data exchange with the German language Wikipedia using SSL, with these limitations.
Wikipedia (fr)	✓	✓	Non-encrypted French language Wikipedia
Wikipedia (es)	✓	✓	Non-encrypted Spanish language Wikipedia
Wikipedia (nl)	✓	✓	Non-encrypted Dutch language Wikipedia

Search engines

Search engines
add-on	FF	PM	use
Firefox Add-ons	✓	✓	Perhaps the most hidden search engine of them all; Once on the Firefox Add-on web page, click on the down arrow in the browser’s search field and select “Add Firefox Add-on”. Now you can use this search engine to look for a specific Firefox add-on.
Ixquick HTTPS Privacy Search Engine	✓	✓	Ixquick.nl is the Dutch English-language counterpart of Startpage.com, “the world’s most private search engine” — if we may believe this. Anyhow, being located in the Netherlands, this browser is subject to European regulations which tend to protect privacy much more so than US legislation.
Search by Image for Google	✓	✓	Right click on an image to quickly find higher resolution versions via Google Reverse Image search.
QRZ.com search plugin	✓	✓	Swiftly look up ham operator details on QRZ.com, the most popular amateur (ham) radio call sign database.

Web development

Web development
add-on	FF	PM	use
Auto Reload	✓	✓	Reload page automatically when selected local files are changed.
My CopyFixer	✓	✓	Use `[Ctrl]+[C]` when nothing is selected to copy the page title and URL in various formats. Requires Classic Theme Restorer.
Developer Tools	✗	✓	The Pale Moon (codename Tycho) Web Developer Tools
DOM Inspector	✓	✓	Inspect and edit the live DOM of any web document or XUL application.
Firebug	✓	✗	Debug CSS, HTML and JavaScript live in any web page.
Type-o-matic Typography	✓	✗	This add-on extends the before-mentioned Firebug add-on with tools for untangling web typography. On any page, find out which fonts are used and how.
View Source Chart	✓	✓	Analyze page source in a remarkably efficient way.
Webcompat.com Reporter	✓	✗	Easily report web browser bugs and web site compatibility issues at webcompat.com.
Web Developer	✓	✓	Adds various web developer tools to the browser.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Other licensing available on request.

Unless otherwise stated, all originally authored software on this site is licensed under the terms of GNU GPL version 3.

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