How to Enable / Disable “InContent Preferences” Feature in Mozilla Firefox?

UPDATE: This tutorial was posted when Firefox 15.0 was under development. Now the tutorial has been updated with new images and information to match with newer Firefox versions.

Being a long time Mozilla Firefox user, I always wanted Mozilla to redesign the Preferences window. Mozilla team is working very hard on Firefox UI and their hard work can be seen in latest Nightly builds:

[Mozilla Firefox Nightly Update]

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Mozilla team has redesigned built-in downloads manager, bookmarks manager, add-ons manager, homepage, new tab page and also introduced many new features such as script debugger, built-in PDF reader, reset to default state button, compartments page, permissions manager and much more.

Now it seems Mozilla has finally decided to redesign Preferences window. In the latest nightly build, Mozilla has introduced new InContent Preferences which is not enabled by default but you can enable it using the secret about:config tool.

Once you enable this hidden feature, you’ll get the Preferences in a separate tab just like a web page instead of a window as shown in following screenshot:

InContent_Preferences_Mozilla_Firefox.png

UPDATE: The above image shows an older look of “InContent Preferences” feature. Now in newer Firefox versions, it looks like following:

Default_Browser_Option_Firefox_General_Preferences.png

To enable / disable this new InContent Preferences feature, simply follow these simple steps:

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1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll confirm, click on I’ll be careful, I promise! button.

2. Now type InContent in the Filter box and look for following boolean key:

browser.preferences.inContent

3. The entry “browser.preferences.inContent” would be set to false. Double-click on it or right-click on it and select “Toggle“. It’ll set its value to true.

Enable_InContent_Preferences_Mozilla_Firefox.png

4. That’s it. Now click on Firefox menu button and click on Options and get ready to enjoy new InContent Preferences feature.

NOTE: To disable InContent Preferences feature, just set the entry “browser.preferences.inContent” to false again.

PS: If you don’t want to replace old classic Preferences window with this new preferences window, you can still enjoy it using about:preferences command in addressbar of Firefox. Thanks to our reader “someone01” for this tip…

Having Preferences in a separate tab allows you to navigate between preferences and other running tabs but the drawback is you need to click on back arrow each time you want to switch to another tab. I’m sure Mozilla will fine tune this feature in coming days.

This feature should be included and enabled by default in Firefox 15.0 stable version.

If you are using Firefox Nightly, please test this feature and let us know what do you think about it?

Personally I’m using Nightly builds since the day Mozilla introduced them and I never faced a single problem with them. Nightly build is rock solid and works like a stable version.

Published in: Mozilla Firefox

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. FIRST and AWESOME!!!!!

    but why does this look so familiar… like it came from the UX mockup project?

    link:
    people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/ux-presentation/ux-presentation.html

  2. ^^oh yeah btw

    i am also a Nightly Build user, and I LOVE FIREFOX NIGHTLY PROJECTS!!! they have the best unique innovations ever!!!

  3. ^^ These kind of things are enabled by default in UX builds but Nightly users need to enable them using about:config. Thats the difference between both builds. Mozilla team first tests UI changes in UX builds and then implements them in Nightly builds.

    @Kyle
    All those mockups changes will be implemented in future nightly builds.

  4. Jesus it’s ugly. Why can’t they have the buttons either at the side or top and have the actual options open in a container below/next to them.

  5. Not as efficient as the default options but hopefully Mozilla will make it better over time. Bit like when Google changed Chrome’s preferences to in-tab.

  6. too many wasted space. .
    Why they not redesign that page like windows 8 immersive control panel. ?
    And add more transition on it. ?

  7. it can be done by typing “about:preferences”(without the quotes) in the firefox address bar too………

  8. I sure hope the changing to the old dialog stays as we love to have a choice. I prefer it opening at the tab I’m on and not way off to the far right tab or even if it was the tab just to the right I still prefer the dialog window thanks. That should still stay as a choice. Plus now in the cookies when we used to be able to do ctrl+a then just uncheck a few. then remove is gone for both. Using shift is a pain and DOES take way longer to accomplish it. Like having a mill and being told 1/2mill is better.

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