Firefox has a lot of features that aren't obvious. Here are the ones I actually use that made a difference.

Hidden Settings Worth Knowing

about:config tweaks that matter:

browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInTabs: true — Opens bookmarks in new tab instead of overwriting current page. Set this if you use bookmarks regularly.

browser.sessionstore.warnOnQuit: true — Asks before quitting when you have multiple tabs open. Prevents the "wait, I had 20 tabs!" moment.

privacy.resistFingerprinting: true — Stronger fingerprint resistance than default. Can break some sites, but worth trying if you care about fingerprinting.

URL bar:

  • %s as search keyword in a bookmark URL lets you create custom search shortcuts. Create a bookmark with URL https://github.com/search?q=%s&type=repositories, keyword gh, and then gh firefox extension in the URL bar searches GitHub directly.
  • @ triggers bookmark/history search filtered by keywords

Extensions That Change How Firefox Works

Container Tabs via Multi-Account Containers — Each container is an isolated browser session. I have separate containers for work email, personal email, and shopping. Work login cookies don't appear in personal context and vice versa. This is better designed than Chrome's profiles for most use cases.

uBlock Origin's advanced mode — After installing uBlock Origin, enable "Advanced User" in settings. This lets you block individual scripts on a per-site basis. For sites with slow JavaScript, selectively blocking third-party scripts can dramatically improve speed.

New tab page extensions — Firefox's default new tab page is functional but generic. Replacing it with something like Weather & Clock Dashboard gets you weather + world clocks + search bar on every new tab. Useful if you frequently want ambient weather/timezone information.

Firefox's Built-In Features People Miss

Reader View (F9 or the book icon in the URL bar) — Strips a page to text-only. Works well on most news articles and blogs. Much better for reading long content than the original page, especially with dark mode enabled.

Firefox View (the icon on the far left of the tab bar) — Shows tabs open on other devices (requires Firefox account), recently closed tabs, and tabs from other sessions. Useful for recovering lost context.

Tab Groups (Firefox 131+) — Right-click a tab → "Add to new group." Creates tab groups that can be colored and collapsed. Not as sophisticated as Tree Style Tab but requires no extension.

Screenshots — Right-click anywhere → "Take Screenshot." Can capture visible area, full page, or selected region. Saves to a clipboard or downloads directly. No extension needed.

Send to Device — Requires Firefox account on both devices. Right-click a link or the current page → "Send Tab to Device." Faster than any "read it later" workflow for things you want on your phone.

Weather & Clock Dashboard

One of the extensions mentioned above is available at addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/weather-clock-dashboard/. It's free, requires no account, and replaces Firefox's new tab page with live weather, 3-day forecast, world clocks, and a search bar.

Firefox rewards investment. The more you customize it — both via settings and extensions — the more it adapts to how you actually work. The defaults are reasonable; the ceiling is much higher.