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Firefox chrome:// settings?!

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Why are Firefox special settings starting with "chrome"?! Is Firefox Chrome or is it ripping it off or using its engine or what?

Why are Firefox special settings starting with "chrome"?! Is Firefox Chrome or is it ripping it off or using its engine or what?

All Replies (7)

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Mozilla has used the word "chrome" to refer to the user interface portion of the browser for a very long time. I think it goes back to when there was a Mozilla browser, before the birth of Firefox. Another company was apparently very inspired by this.

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The only thing Chrome in Firefox is chrome refers to the browser's user interface: that is, any toolbars, menu bars, tabs, and everything that surround the web page being displayed.

It must not be confused with the Google Chrome web browser which is often refereed to as "Chrome". The Google Chrome browser did not exist before Sept 2008 and Firefox has existed since it was Phoenix 0.1 back in Sept 2002 (not Nov 2004 as some mistakenly think) and Mozila suite existed before that.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Chrome_Registration https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/XUL/Tutorial/The_Chrome_URL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface_chrome

Modified by James

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jscher2000 said

Mozilla has used the word "chrome" to refer to the user interface portion of the browser for a very long time. I think it goes back to when there was a Mozilla browser, before the birth of Firefox. Another company was apparently very inspired by this.

And the lead developer for what became "Chrome" was hired away from Mozilla in 2006 or so. IMO, that's where the "inspiration" came from.

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Thanks much. I just deleted everything called chrome; now I went back and restored it all. I did not know about Firefox "chrome". I have been using Firefox since the beginning which I thought was 1.1. But I thought it was before 2002...I remember it as 1999, maybe early 2000.

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The Firefox name didn't appear until Firefox 0.8, in Feb 2004. Versions prior to that were named Firebird and before that Phoenix. 1998 thru 2002 you would have been using the Mozilla Suite; now known as SeaMonkey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mozilla_Firefox

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When I click on tab to open a new window it is giving me chrome bookmarks- I just want a blank page how do I reset? Do not want this below chrome://bookrect/content/assets/index.html

Modified by cweb

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Hi cweb, do you have this extension?

Bookmark Tab https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/bookrect/

You can check the Add-ons page. Either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Extensions. If you do not need this extension, you can Remove it. Or if you like it for its other features, see whether it has an Options button.