You can customize Mozilla to better suit your needs using features like My Sidebar, bookmarks, and Tabbed Browsing.
This section describes the customizable aspects of Mozilla's browser component, Navigator.
| In this section: Changing Fonts, Colors, and Themes | 
| In this section: | 
My Sidebar is a customizable area in your browser where you can keep items that you need to use all the timethe latest news and weather, your address book or Buddy List, stock quotes, a calendarand many other available options. My Sidebar presents these items to you in tabs that are continually updated.
Mozilla comes with some My Sidebar tabs already set up, but you can customize My Sidebar by adding, removing, and rearranging tabs.
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Unless you have closed My Sidebar, it is always open at the left side of your browser. To view a tab:
|   | My Sidebar | 
| If you don't see My Sidebar, it may be closed. To open it: 
 | |
Tip: To reload a My Sidebar tab, right-click on the tab title and choose Reload from the pop-up menu.
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To add a new tab:
Note: If you add more than eight tabs to My Sidebar, Mozilla hides the remaining tabs to reduce clutter. To scroll through the hidden tabs, click the down arrow button at the bottom of My Sidebar until you see the desired tab. Click the up arrow button to once again scroll up.
Tips:
You can also turn My Sidebar tabs on and off.
Tip: To quickly turn off a My Sidebar tab, right-click on its name and choose Hide Tab.
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Note: Not all tabs can be customized.
The instructions vary depending on the source of the tabin addition to Mozilla, tab providers can be any company, organization, or individual who uses the Internet.
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| Use My Sidebar's handles to open, close, and resize My Sidebar's frame: | |
|  | My Sidebar  | 
| If My Sidebar is closed, you can still see its handle. If the 
handle is missing, open the View menu , choose Show/Hide, and then My Sidebar. 
Move the mouse pointer up and down along the left edge of the Mozilla window. 
The pointer changes to a hand when it touches the "handle" for My Sidebar, as 
shown in the picture. 
 
 | |
To remove My Sidebar, including the handle, do one of the following:
 on the left side of the Personal Toolbar.
 
on the left side of the Personal Toolbar. 
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Tabbed Browsing lets you open more than one web page in a single window. Each web page has its own tab across the top of a single Navigator window. Each tab appears on the Tab Bar. For example, you can visit netscape.com, icq.com, and cnn.com within one window instead of three windows.
| Click this to open a new tab. | |
|   | |
| Tab being viewed. | Click this to close the tab being viewed. | 
|  Tab Bar | |
You don't need to have several windows open to visit several web pages; thus, freeing up more space on your desktop. Instead, you can open, close, and reload web pages conveniently in one place without having to switch to another window.
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There are several ways to customize Tabbed Browsing. For example, you can change your preferences to open new Navigator tabs from the Location Bar. You can set up Tabbed Browsing in other ways too, such as loading new Navigator tabs in the background so the first page is kept on top while the second page is loading. To learn more about setting up Tabbed Browsing in Mozilla, see Navigator Preferences - Tabbed Browsing.
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You can open a Navigator tab in the following ways:
Opening a New Blank Navigator Tab:
 on the left side of the Tab Bar.
 
on the left side of the Tab Bar.Opening a Web Page Link in a Navigator Tab:
Tips:
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A bookmarked group of tabs is called a Groupmark. To bookmark the group of Navigator tabs in the current window:
Tip: To learn how to use a group of tabs as your home page, see Navigator 
Preferences - Navigator.
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You can close Navigator tabs in several ways:
Closing the Navigator Tab Being Viewed:
| Click this to open a new tab. | |
|   | |
| Tab being viewed. | Click this to close the tab being viewed. | 
|  Tab Bar | |
Tips:
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Normally, web pages are displayed in the default font set by your browser or in a font chosen by the web pages' authors.
To change the default fonts:
Many web page authors choose their own fonts and font sizes. To allow fonts other than the ones specified in your preferences, check "Allow documents to use other fonts."
To adjust the readability of fonts, select from the drop-down list the dots per inch (dpi) for displaying web pages. Select "Other" to open the Calibrate Resolution dialog box, which allows you to calibrate your resolution by measuring how long a line appears on your screen. Increased screen resolution may will improve text readability on some screens.
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Normally, the background and text colors on web pages are determined by the default colors set by your browser or by the pages' authors.
To change the default colors:
Most web page authors choose their own colors. You can override the authors' intentions by selecting "Use my chosen colors, ignoring the colors specified."
When viewing the source of a web page, you can see the HTML syntax of the source of a web page highlighted in specific colors by selecting "Enable syntax highlighting."
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You can change the look and feel of Mozilla by changing themes.
Note: You need to quit and restart Mozilla after you apply a new theme in order for the change to take effect.
Shortcut: You can also change themes by opening the View menu, choosing Apply Theme, and then choosing the theme you want to use.
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The Navigation Toolbar, pictured here, helps you move around the Web.
|   | |||
| Back | Forward | Reload | Stop | 
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The Personal Toolbar is completely customizableyou decide what you want to keep there. The Personal Toolbar comes with some buttons already enabled, including your My Mozilla page, your home page, search, and mail.
|  | 
| Personal Toolbar | 
You can easily add, delete, and rearrange items in the Personal Toolbar.
You can add buttons for your favorite bookmarks, or folders containing groups of bookmarks. To create a new bookmark to add to the Personal Toolbar:
 (located to the left of URL in the Location Bar) to a desired place 
on the Personal Toolbar. You can drag the icon directly to the Personal Toolbar, 
or to a folder on the Personal Toolbar. See Adding 
Personal Toolbar Bookmark Folders" for more information on adding bookmark 
marks folder to the Personal Toolbar.
 (located to the left of URL in the Location Bar) to a desired place 
on the Personal Toolbar. You can drag the icon directly to the Personal Toolbar, 
or to a folder on the Personal Toolbar. See Adding 
Personal Toolbar Bookmark Folders" for more information on adding bookmark 
marks folder to the Personal Toolbar. 
Note: The bookmark icon  may appear as another page-specific icon if you have checked Show Web Site 
Icons in preferences. See Appearance 
Preferences - Appearance for more information on changing this preferences.
 may appear as another page-specific icon if you have checked Show Web Site 
Icons in preferences. See Appearance 
Preferences - Appearance for more information on changing this preferences.
Each item in the Personal Toolbar folder appears as a toolbar button. You may need to enlarge the browser window to see them all.
Adding Personal Toolbar Bookmark Folders
You can add bookmark folders to the Personal Toolbar to sort your favorite bookmarks into categories. For example, you can have one folder on the Personal Toolbar for hobby-related bookmarks and another folder for work-related bookmarks. To add a new bookmark to the Personal Toolbar:
The new bookmark folder will appear at the end of the Personal Toolbar.
The buttons in your Personal Toolbar now correspond to the bookmarks in the folder you designated.
Tip: To quickly remove a bookmark placed on the Personal Toolbar (not in a folder), right-click on the bookmark and select Delete.
Note: Standard buttons on the Personal Toolbar such as Search and Home Page cannot be rearranged, but they can be turned off and on.
Tip: To move a bookmark placed on the Personal Toolbar quickly, click and drag the bookmark to another location on the Personal Toolbar or to a folder.
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The Status Bar is located at the bottom of any Mozilla window. It includes the following:
 : 
Appears when a web site has used a cookie in a way that requires you to be notified. 
For more information, see Cookie 
Notification.
: 
Appears when a web site has used a cookie in a way that requires you to be notified. 
For more information, see Cookie 
Notification. or Work Online
 
or Work Online  icon: Click the icon to toggle working offline or online. Working offline prevents 
Mozilla from attempting to connect to the Internet, for example to load images 
on web pages or automatically check email.
 
icon: Click the icon to toggle working offline or online. Working offline prevents 
Mozilla from attempting to connect to the Internet, for example to load images 
on web pages or automatically check email. ): 
Indicates whether the entire contents of the page was encrypted while it was 
being received by your computer. For more information, Checking 
Security for a Web Page.
): 
Indicates whether the entire contents of the page was encrypted while it was 
being received by your computer. For more information, Checking 
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Use the Component Bar at the bottom left of any Mozilla window to switch between tasks (such as browsing or mail).
 
 
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There are two ways to hide the toolbars.
To minimize a toolbar:
To completely hide a toolbar, including its triangle:
To reverse this action, open the View menu, choose Show, and then select the toolbars you want to show.
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Bookmarks are shortcuts to your favorite and most-visited web pages. Rather than typing in long URLs (web addresses), you can create bookmarks that take you directly to the pages you want to see.
You access your bookmarks through the Bookmarks menu, the Bookmarks tab on My Sidebar, and the Manage Bookmarks window. You can control what's listed in the Bookmarks menu by adding bookmarks for your favorite web pages and organizing your list of bookmarks any way you want.
Mozilla comes with some bookmarks already available. To use a bookmark:
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You can bookmark your favorite web sites to make it easy to return to them.
To bookmark the current page, perform one of these steps:
Tip: If you have multiple Navigator tabs open in a window, you can 
select "Bookmark this groups of tabs" to add a single bookmark that 
will open all of the open tabs in the current window.
 next to the Location Bar to a place on the Personal Toolbar. You can drag a 
bookmark to the following places:
 next to the Location Bar to a place on the Personal Toolbar. You can drag a 
bookmark to the following places: 
For more information about adding bookmarks to the Personal Toolbar, see "Adding Personal Toolbar bookmarks".
|  | 
| Personal Toolbar | 
 next to the Location Bar to a place on the bookmark list in the Bookmarks tab.
 next to the Location Bar to a place on the bookmark list in the Bookmarks tab. 
Notes:
 may appear as another page-specific icon if you have checked Show Web Site 
Icons in preferences. See Appearance 
Preferences - Appearance for more information on changing this preferences.
 may appear as another page-specific icon if you have checked Show Web Site 
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To organize your bookmarks, open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks. Perform any of the following tasks in your Manage Bookmarks window.
Tip: You can open the Manage Bookmarks window from the Bookmarks tab in My Sidebar. Click on Manage at the top of the Bookmarks tab.
To view bookmarks inside of folders:
To move a bookmark or a folder to another location in the list:
To create a new folder or separator:
To remove a bookmark or a folder from the list:
To sort your bookmarks in the Manage Bookmarks window:
When you create a new bookmark, Mozilla normally adds it to the bottom of your bookmarks list. If you prefer to file your bookmarks in a folder, you can designate a new bookmarks folder.
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You can change the information for any individual bookmark.
You can rename the bookmark (the name appears in your bookmark list), add descriptive information, or set a keyword. (You can type a bookmark's keyword into the location field to go to the bookmarked site.)
You can also set Mozilla to check bookmarked web sites for changes.
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To search the bookmarks list:
Tip: If the list is hard to read, try expanding the search results window.
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Your bookmarks are stored in a file named bookmarks.html. You can export a copy of this file and save it in a folder of your choosing. You can then edit it and treat it as you would any HTML file.
Your Mozilla bookmarks are not altered by this procedure.
You can also import bookmarks files from other sources. For example, you can import bookmarks files from earlier Mozilla versions, other browsers, or from bookmark files that your friends send you.
Before you start, make sure that the bookmark file you want to import is an HTML file.
The imported bookmark file is treated as a group of new bookmarks and added to the bottom of your bookmarks list. If you have designated a new bookmark folder, the imported bookmarks are added to that folder.
Note: Importing a bookmark file imports the bookmarks and folders from that file. It does not create two bookmark files.
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You can specify the page that loads when the browser starts:
Note: If you selected Home Page, type the URL in the Location field.
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Your home page is the page that opens when you click the Home button in the Personal Toolbar. Depending on how your preferences are set, it may also be the page that opens automatically when you launch Mozilla.
To specify your home page:
Tip: To specify your home page quickly, drag the bookmark icon  from the Location Bar to the Home Page button on the Personal Toolbar.
 from the Location Bar to the Home Page button on the Personal Toolbar.
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You can choose components (such as Mail & Newsgroups and Composer) to launch when you start Mozilla:
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19 June 2002
Copyright © 1994-2002 Mozilla Organization.