ColorfulTabs 3.5 out: Unlimited Domain color presets

by Shivanand Sharma on October 6, 2008 · 27 comments

in ColorfulTabs

People hate being limited to… well the limits. Limits become liabilities. ColorfulTabs till now only had a fixed set of domain-color presets that you could customize. Not anymore. It's gone limitless and you now have the ability to add unlimited domains and colors for them. Of course they are regexed. That means you can harness the power of regular expressions to match domains to colors. A good example will the case when you want to have the colors of ftp.domain.com and www.domain.com to be the same.

Technically speaking, when we say limitless we are storing all these domain-color pairs in a single preference and break them into an array during run-time; there's no known limit to how long a string a char preference can be. But it's far beyond what an average user would use.

A quick tip. If you want to get rid of a domain, just blank out the domain or the color field and save. It will then be wiped off.

I'll now leave you to go install the new version of ColorfulTabs and enjoy. Just in case you find any bugs or have feedback, remember that we are around and all ears. Just create a thread at the forum and let us know.

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{ 27 comments }

1 HawkInOz 10.06.08 at 7:26 pm

Woo Hoo! Love the limitless domain-color pairs - the feature I've been waiting for! Thanks a million SS!

2 Bruce 10.06.08 at 9:17 pm

I have always loved ColorfulTabs. However, the latest version is flawed. There were no "OK" or "Cancel" buttons so it is impossible to save presets for domains. (Mac Leopard)

3 Shivanand Sharma 10.06.08 at 9:24 pm

There's a certain bug that sizeToContent() only works on Mac in certain cases. As such I'll be glad to release a compatibility fix in the next few days. Till then, if you can press enter to submit or OK the dialog that may help.

4 Bruce 10.06.08 at 9:38 pm

Your recommended temporary fix didn't work for me so I have gone back to version 3.4. I will eagerly await a new updated version. Thanks

5 Sieni 10.06.08 at 10:21 pm

Get_background_images link doesn't work

6 HawkInOz 10.06.08 at 10:25 pm

I haven't had any problems saving the domain info, as both the OK and Cancel tabs are visible in 3.5 for me, with Firefox 3.0.3.

One thing that would greatly improve usability, would be to place the cursor in the Domain box immediately after clicking "Add Domain" - so the user can just start typing, esp. after the number of domains causes the new entry to be scrolled off the screen - requiring the user to click the scrollbar to scroll down until the new empty entry is visible and click a second time in the Domain box before actually entering the new domain. I have found myself typing several times before realizing that I wasn't in the Domain box.

Also, installing 3.5 blew away the five presets that I had previously entered in 3.41. It would be nice if the previous settings were retained, rather than replaced. Not a big deal really, and I didn't mind re-entering them as a trade for the benefit of unlimited entries.

Thanks again, SS!

7 Shivanand Sharma 10.06.08 at 11:25 pm

Sieni: you may want to go through the documentation. If you still need help create a thread at http://forums.binaryturf.com.

8 LA 10.07.08 at 8:57 pm

I am dissapointed with new version 3.5. After installation of new version all my domain colors settings get lost. It is also became impossible now to define default color for all undefined domains (before it was possible to define color for blank domain, now blank domain is deleted automatically). And, now somehow it colors tabs, which are not even defined in the settings! (like addons.mozilla.org is colored now, but it is not defined! the same is with binaryturf.com)

9 and7ey 10.07.08 at 11:16 pm

hm.. seems it defines random colors for not defined domains :(
how can I switch off this option?

10 Jason 10.08.08 at 4:40 am

I love the colorful tabs in Firefox, but it is difficult to tell at a glance which tab is active. As a result I sometimes close the wrong tab. You have actually implemented a visual difference, I think: The active tab is square rather than round on the top right corner. Also the X to close it is slightly darker on the active tab. Can you add an option to make the difference more obvious? The user could choose among, say, square corner; bright green X; glow effect around edge of tab; bold font on active tab; whatever you can think of and implement. Just a suggestion. My eyes are not as good as they once were. :) Thanks!

11 Bruce 10.08.08 at 5:00 am

Jason, you may want to add this to your user chrome. It will turn the active tab deep blue with white lettering. Very easy to distinguish.

.tabbrowser-tab[selected="true"] > hbox,
.tabbrowser-tab[selected="true"] > .tab-close-button {
background-color: #000088 !important;
color: #fff !important;
}
.tabbrowser-tab[selected="true"]:hover > hbox,
.tabbrowser-tab[selected="true"]:hover > .tab-close-button {
background-color: #0000BB !important;
color: #fff !important;
}

12 Jason 10.08.08 at 6:36 am

Bruce, TY so much!!! Just what I need.

13 Jason 10.08.08 at 7:48 am

Sadly, Firefox isn't paying any attention to my userChrome.css. :( I put it in the folder

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 4\defaults\profile\chrome\

with this exact content:

@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul");

.tabbrowser-tab[selected="true"] > hbox,
.tabbrowser-tab[selected="true"] > .tab-close-button {
background-color: #000088 !important;
color: #fff !important;
}

.tabbrowser-tab[selected="true"]:hover > hbox,
.tabbrowser-tab[selected="true"]:hover > .tab-close-button {
background-color: #0000BB !important;
color: #fff !important;
}

#urlbar {
font-family: monospace !important;
}

Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I turned off all my add-ins, but that doesn't help.

Jason

14 Bruce 10.08.08 at 7:57 am

Jason, you placed it in the wrong directory. For a complete explanation of where to find the proper directory in Windows and other valuable information on how to make modifications to Firefox, try this link:
http://www.tweakguides.com/

15 Jason 10.08.08 at 8:12 am

W00t! Thanks again, Bruce. That worked.

16 Shivanand Sharma 10.08.08 at 10:44 am

Thanks Bruce.

17 Retodon8 10.09.08 at 1:26 pm

Thanks a bunch; I've been hoping you would add unlimited domains.

18 Derek 10.09.08 at 4:01 pm

Ho OK or Cancel for me (Linux)

19 ExcitedUser 10.10.08 at 12:31 am

Hi! Want to say THANK YOU for making unlimited domains! I wished a lot you'll му done that and now it is made! By this feature you've made this great addition probably the greatest of all!

20 Shivanand Sharma 10.10.08 at 12:34 am

Thankuuuuuuu :)

21 and7ey 10.10.08 at 1:02 am

Guys, what should I do to disable random colors for not defined domains? I want to use default color for them.

22 Shivanand Sharma 10.10.08 at 6:16 am

They are not random. They are domain dependent colors. You cannot disable them.

23 Shivanand Sharma 10.10.08 at 6:30 am

Sorry my previous answer is partially incorrect. You can't disable the colors for undefine domains but you can definitely set it to gray. The domains are matched starting with the first preset onwards. Your first preset should be
\.
(a dot followed by a slash). This will match any domain that contains a dot. Set it to gray or any color if you like.

All other presets should be come next so that any defined domains are still matched later and colored as per your preference. I'm in the process of updating the documentation.

24 and7ey 10.10.08 at 8:52 pm

Thank you.
While doing this exercise I've noticed a few problems:
1) default grey color doesn't exist in the list of available colors (what is the value of this one? is it #999999?)
2) when updating color by inputing value into text field, color on the button is not updated accordingly to the input value;
3) even if I input \. as domain, it doesn't work with blank page (new tab) - when address line is empty or contains value like about:blank.

25 Shivanand Sharma 10.10.08 at 8:56 pm

And7ey: Please create a thread in the Forums for support. The issue you are facing is resolvable.

26 and7ey 10.10.08 at 8:59 pm

posting on the forum requires additional registration…
I know the solution for all cases, but I am just highligthing that it is not easy & user-friendly solutions, so it will be great if you will correct it in future versions.
(btw, in prev msg I meant color #EEEEEE)

27 Shivanand Sharma 10.10.08 at 9:02 pm

And7ey: users have various levels of expertise thus it will not be wise to point this out as a shortcoming. I'll now be closing the comments here to avoid anyone posting further support requests.

Comments on this entry are closed.

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