Articles // Hacking Firefox key binding overlapping

Open source Firefox web browser equipped with a dozen of extensions is my main tool for everyday web development. After switching to Firefox 3 and updating all previously installed extensions I faced a regression of a very useful feature -- Ctrl-Shift-S shortcut for switching CSS styles on a web page provided by WebDeveloper toolbar didn't work anymore. Instead, a sidebar with bookmarks gets opened in the browser.

After a short investigation I found the shortcut was overridden by another extension I won't reject to use -- the Delicious Bookmarks. Unfortunately, the extension did not provide an easy way to remap key bindings from its options panel. To change them I had to go direclty to Firefox built-in configuration panel.

I typed about:config in the browser address bar and hit enter like I always do to open a web page. Agreed to be careful while working in the settings window I found a long list of available parameters. I typed ybookmarks in a filter bar above these parameters and limited the long list to only display settings relevant to the desired extension. In the limited list of settings I found one named extensions.ybookmarks@yahoo.original.keybindings.remap.secondary.sidebar.key and double-click it. In the modal dialog I changed S to D and saved it.

After restarting the browser I'm able to switch CSS styles with Ctrl-Shift-S shortcut again, and I have Delicious Bookmarks sidebar binded to the next key combination Ctrl-Shift-D (for Delicious).

Comments // 2

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Joel 7 months ago

It's actually an option under delicious bookmarks for firefox sidebar :) (Tools -> Delicious Options)

Paul 7 months ago

Probably it was not there in July 2008 =)

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firefox, delicious

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Published on July 12, 2008

about 2 years ago

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