Bookmarks menu enhancement - multi-column list from menu bar

[hitokage]

I have two requests I'm adding - this is the first.

It's a fourteen year old bug that has been around since before Mozilla (Application Suite) 1 was released, and is a parity issue with Netscape Navigator. Back in the day, when you clicked on Bookmarks in the menu bar, if your bookmarks list was longer than what would fit on the screen, it would show the list in multiple columns until the right-hand side of the screen was reached - like the Start Menu in Windows used to also function. Because of the way bookmarks are currently displayed with the scrollable list, I've found the menu difficult to use and pretty much useless, so I'm always going to the "Organize Bookmarks/Library" to find what I need.

There have been add-ons that tried to fix this, but they seem to have died. They also didn't work with the Bookmarks toolbar button.

This is a usability issue that I believe should be fixed in the browser itself, and not left to an add-on. For reference this is Bugzilla bug 45700.

[Moonchild]

My friend, this is what we have the bookmarks sidebar for. Pop it out when you need it (Ctrl+B) type a few characters of the name of the bookmark and you'll have it right in front of you, or use the tree structure to quickly navigate properly grouped bookmarks. You can even sort them on the fly with drag-and-drop!

Yes, I'm aware that a scrolling menu isn't exactly ideal for large numbers of bookmarks, but it's the best that can be done in an actual menu. Alternatives are even worse, though. As for the old Netscape method: say you have more bookmarks in your menu than you can fit in the columns that fit on your screen, what then?...

[sIDcORK]

If you know the first few letters (or any group of letters really) you can avoid Bookmarks completely by typing them in the Address Bar unless you have disabled it. I don't know why Mozilla stopped promoting it as the Awesome Bar, but it's pretty darned good, especially if you use tags too.

[hitokage]

I never liked the sidebar, and most of our computers still have 4:3 (or 5:4) screens. Plus you still have to click and scroll, or type to search and either removing your hand from the mouse or typing one handed.

As far as the Awesome Bar, that requires remembering parts of the page title or URL - with a lot of bookmarks that isn't really practical. Sometimes seeing the bookmark helps you remember the one you are looking for. You also have the same problem I mentioned for the sidebar - removing your hand from the mouse to type or typing one handed.

With a multi-column bookmarks menu, when it reaches the right side of the screen, the last item becomes labeled something like "More bookmarks...", and selecting that gives you the Library. With this set-up you can keep at least eighty (low estimate) often used bookmarks easy accessible - more if there are folders which open as submenus.

The whole thing with multi-column bookmarks was speed and usability by not having to switch to using the keyboard unnecessarily.

[Davesnothere]

I never liked the sidebar, and most of our computers still have 4:3 (or 5:4) screens. Plus you still have to click and scroll, or type to search and either removing your hand from the mouse or typing one handed.

As far as the Awesome Bar, that requires remembering parts of the page title or URL - with a lot of bookmarks that isn't really practical. Sometimes seeing the bookmark helps you remember the one you are looking for. You also have the same problem I mentioned for the sidebar - removing your hand from the mouse to type or typing one handed.

With a multi-column bookmarks menu, when it reaches the right side of the screen, the last item becomes labeled something like "More bookmarks...", and selecting that gives you the Library. With this set-up you can keep at least eighty (low estimate) often used bookmarks easy accessible - more if there are folders which open as submenues.

The whole thing with multi-column bookmarks was speed and usability by not having to switch to using the keyboard unnecessarily.

I have the same laments and wishlist as you do, and the same limited success with existing add-ons.

However, there ARE some other workarounds which do not require the use of the sidebar, something which I also have not embraced.

This first one involves some 'userChrome.css' additions, which I have already tested successfully with current editions of FIreFox 24.7.0 ESR, PaleMoon 24.7.1, and SeaMonkey 2.26.1. (I have not tested this with Australis UI browser versions yet.)

I saw them posted by moderator Cor-el of the Mozilla forum, and by someone else there too, and I was suitably pleased with the result when I tried them.

The result of these lines of code is to put a SCROLL BAR into the main level of the Bookmarks Menu, as well as into some other places, mentioned in the remarks at the start of the lines of code.

To do this, you have to know what the 'userChrome.css' file and the 'chrome' folder are (they are part of your profile, and must first be created if not already there - see my later note), and the 'userChrome.css' file must first contain a few default lines of code, before adding the lines which I am posting next.

Use Windows' Notepad text editor, and here, in the code box, is what you need to add :

Code: Select all

/* Use the following code to have scroll bars in the Bookmarks Menu, the Bookmarks Toolbar, and the Bookmarks Bar Bookmarks Popup. */

#bookmarksMenuPopup scrollbox,
#personal-bookmarks scrollbox,
#BMB_bookmarksPopup scrollbox {overflow-y:auto!important}

#bookmarksMenuPopup .autorepeatbutton-up,
#bookmarksMenuPopup .autorepeatbutton-down,
#personal-bookmarks .autorepeatbutton-up,
#personal-bookmarks .autorepeatbutton-down,
#BMB_bookmarksPopup .autorepeatbutton-up,
#BMB_bookmarksPopup .autorepeatbutton-down {display:none!important;}

After doing that, resave the file, exit and relaunch PaleMoon, and then check for a scroll bar added into the Bookmarks menu.

NOTE : If you are creating the 'userChrome.css' file from scratch, you will need to first create a folder called 'chrome', inside of your profile folder, and then create the 'userChrome.css' file inside of the chrome folder, using Notepad or a similar text editor.

In that case, you will also need to first add these next 3 lines of code into the file, positioned above the other lines which I already posted :

Code: Select all

/* Do not remove the @namespace line -- it's required for correct functioning */
@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul");
/* set default namespace to XUL */

Be sure that the file you save is named userChrome.css and not .txt , as this matters to it being recognized.

Also, the upper case 'C' in the file name may or may not matter, but I have always used it.

There are many other worthwhile and useful changes of browser behaviour and function which can be accomplished by using the appropriate lines of code inside of the 'userChrome.css' file.

Cheers !

[Night Wing]

@hitokage

I'm just curious and I might not bet getting the drift of what you want.

How many bookmarks do you have?

If I click on Bookmarks in the Menu Bar, my list isn't very long. I just go on down to the Bookmarks Toolbar listing and a box opens up just to the right of it which lists 24 folders and in those folders contain all of my 453 bookmarks (as I type this message and the number of my bookmarks can and usually does change during a week's time).

I just go to the folder I want to find the bookmark I'm looking for and from start to finish, it takes me all of 10 seconds to find the bookmark I want.

I can do the same thing with the Bookmarks Toolbar which is under my Navigation Bar so I rarely ever use Bookmarks in the Menu Bar.

[Parsifal]

Unfortunately hitokage seems to dislike the sidebar, because there is an interesting add-on which handles in its way the scroll fact : Flat Bookmarks

Flat Bookmarks is a Firefox extension which makes the Bookmarks and History Sidebars a flat list view, instead of the traditional tree view.
As you know, the Bookmarks Sidebar shows your entire bookmarks as a tree view, however it has a problem that the deeply-nested bookmarks are less visible because of their deep indentations. Flat Bookmarks solves the problem with a flat list view and provides some major features:

- Quick access to the root folders: Bookmarks Toolbar, Bookmarks Menu and Unsorted Bookmarks
- Breadcrumb Navigation (a list of parent folders with drop-down menus showing sub-folders)
- 'Show in Sidebar' and 'Organize Bookmarks' items in the context menu of any types of folder

It's another approach but once you get started appears to be far more intuitive.

EDIT : Flat Bookmarks together with OmniSidebar and one's bookmarks are easily and quickly accessible (even in full screen with OmniSidebar).