Firefox Legacy User Profile Customizations

These scripts enable easy configuration of Firefox profile directories.

The main update script writes these files:

• $PROFILE_DIR/user.js
• $PROFILE_DIR/chrome/userChrome.css
• $PROFILE_DIR/chrome/userContent.css

To make changes to user.js and userChrome.css, just edit the files.

The compile script compiles userContent.css from the contents of the src directory.

The format script formats the source files.

Everyone's preferences are different, so the best way to use this repository is as a starter template that you customize to your needs.

Introduction

The following terminal transcript shows

• how to install prerequisites (npm install)
• how to mark a profile directory as managed (./run bin/init)
• how to update the configuration of managed profiles (./run bin/update)
• what the compiled userContent.css file looks like (cat userContent.css)

Restart Firefox to pick up the new configuration.

pog@bootes:~/src
$ npm install
added 410 packages from 259 contributors and audited 1612 packages in 3.249s
found 0 vulnerabilities

pog@bootes:~/src
$ ./run bin/init
Usage:
  ./run bin/init PROFILE_DIR

Examples:
  ./run bin/init /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/6ey5rbxk.Email
  ./run bin/init /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/ea8cttuh.Restaurants
  ./run bin/init /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/si4c2ymx.Shop
  ./run bin/init /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/ttcviopc.default

1 pog@bootes:~/src
$ ./run bin/init /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/6ey5rbxk.Email
Touching /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/6ey5rbxk.Email/.Aing1poghahm2ji3NoevaiLuocie3hij

pog@bootes:~/src
$ ./run bin/init /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/ttcviopc.default
Touching /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/ttcviopc.default/.Aing1poghahm2ji3NoevaiLuocie3hij

pog@bootes:~/src
$ ./run bin/update
Writing /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/6ey5rbxk.Email/user.js
Writing /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/6ey5rbxk.Email/chrome/userChrome.css
Writing /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/6ey5rbxk.Email/chrome/userContent.css
Writing /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/ttcviopc.default/user.js
Writing /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/ttcviopc.default/chrome/userChrome.css
Writing /home/pog/.mozilla/firefox/ttcviopc.default/chrome/userContent.css

pog@bootes:~/src
$ cat userContent.css
/* MAGIC:Aing1poghahm2ji3NoevaiLuocie3hij */

@-moz-document domain("aaa.example.com"){.header{animation-play-state:paused;-webkit-animation-play-state:paused}}
@-moz-document domain("bbb.example.com"){body,html{height:initial!important;overflow-y:initial!important}#wrapper,body{position:initial!important}}
@-moz-document domain("ccc.example.com"){#openFeedbackContainer{display:none!important}}
@-moz-document domain("ddd.example.com"){main+aside{display:none!important}}
@-moz-document domain("eee.example.com"){#toasts_mount_point,.c-toast{display:none!important}}
@-moz-document domain("fff.example.com"){.commentPopover{display:none!important}}
@-moz-document domain("ggg.example.com"){.a-expander-collapsed-height{max-height:initial!important;height:initial!important}.a-expander-partial-collapse-header{display:none!important}}
@-moz-document domain("hhh.example.com"){#spinnerContainer,.annotation,.ytp-ce-element,.ytp-chrome-top-buttons,ytd-popup-container{display:none!important}}
@-moz-document regexp("https?://subdomain\\..*"){#nps-survey-inline-dialog{display:none!important}}
@-moz-document url("about:privatebrowsing"){body{display:none!important}}
@-moz-document url("https://iii.example.com/doc/doc.html"){body{background-attachment:initial!important}}
@-moz-document url-prefix("about:reader"){.toolbar{display:none!important}}
@-moz-document url-prefix("https://jjj.example.com/manual/"){.collapse{display:initial!important}}

Linux

It is easy to create a site-specific browser for Gnome for a profile to run as a separate application, including with a custom icon in the Alt+Tab switcher.

First create a desktop file:

$ cat ~/.local/share/applications/firefox-example.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Example
Comment=Example
Exec=firefox -P Example --no-remote --name "firefox-example"
Icon=example
Terminal=false
Type=Application

The option --name "firefox-example" causes Gnome to look for the Icon entry in the firefox-example.desktop file.

For Wayland, the option is --name "firefox-example".

For X, the option is --class "firefox-example".

Then put the custom icons in the right location:

$ fd example ~/.local/share/icons
/home/pog/.local/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/example.png
/home/pog/.local/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/example.png
/home/pog/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/example.png
/home/pog/.local/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/example.png
/home/pog/.local/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/example.png

Log out and log back in to pick up the new icons, or run

touch ~/.local/share/icons/ && sudo gtk-update-icon-cache

Here is an example of how to make the icons using ImageMagick:

for i in 128x128 16x16 256x256 32x32 512x512; do convert -resize $i original.png example-$i.png; done
for i in 128x128 16x16 256x256 32x32 512x512; do cp example-$i.png ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/$i/apps/example.png; done

The Apple App Store on the web is a good source of icons.

macOS

Custom Cmd+Tab switcher icons appear not to be possible on the Mac.

This post describes how to create a site-specific browser for a Firefox profile for the Mac:

• https://spf13.com/post/managing-multiple-firefox-profiles-in-os-x/

It is possible to set a custom icon for use in the dock, but once launched it shows up in the Cmd+Tab switcher with the normal Firefox icon.