How to make Firefox as nice as Google Chrome on macOS

AKA We are one Firefox away from a monopoly: A year later

It’s official: The new Microsoft Edge is based on Chromium. Today is the day to switch to Firefox.

Firefox fresh after installation:

After applying the instructions below:

Firefox after 7 minutes of configuration

How to achieve that

Import your data from Google Chrome

Close Google Chrome. Open Firefox. Select “File” from the menu bar. Choose “Import From Another Browser…” If you see more than one browser in the list, choose Chrome. Click “Continue” twice. Enter your password. Click “Done,” and voilà, your data from Google Chrome is in Firefox. You’ll find your bookmarks in Bookmarks → Bookmark Toolbar → From Google Chrome.

Set your preferences

General

Language
If you’re like me, you’ll want to turn off “Check your spelling as you type.”
Downloads
I don’t know about you, but I like to save files directly to “Desktop” instead of “Downloads.” No matter what your download preferences are, this is where you can express them.
Applications
Search “pdf” and change the default action related to “Portable Document Format (PDF)” from “Save File” to “Open in Firefox.”

Home

New Windows and Tabs
Change “Firefox Home (Default)” to “Blank Page.” Less is more in this context.

Search

Default Search Engine
Change “Google” to “DuckDuckGo”—the search engine that doesn’t track you.
Relax, it’s not as huge a change as you may think. Google will still be at your fingertips: Start your search query with “!g” (like “!g greg wolanski”), and Firefox will show you search results from Google.
Search Suggestions
Turn off “Provide search suggestions” if you’re not 100% sure that they’re essential to you.
Search Shortcuts
Remove every search engine except DuckDuckGo.

Privacy & Security

Do Not Track
Change “Only when Firefox is set to block known trackers” to “Always.”
Login and Passwords
Consider turning off “Ask to save logins and passwords for websites” and using 1Password instead.
Firefox Data Collection and Use
Turn off “Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla.”

Sync

Sign in
Sign in to Firefox Sync even if you use only one computer. You’ll thank yourself when you’re forced to change computers. Let’s face it: Configuring web browsers isn’t fun. Firefox Sync can help you avoid doing it again.

Customize the toolbar

Right–click the toolbar and choose “Customize Toolbar…”

Toolbar items
Remove “Home,” “Library,” “Sidebar,” “Firefox Account,” and “Flexible Space” from the toolbar. You can do so by dragging the icons into the grid of items below.
Manage Themes
It’s up to you, but I prefer my computer in dark mode. If you do as well, set the theme to “Dark.”
Density
Set the density to “Compact.”
Touch Bar
If you use an Apple computer with a touch bar, remove all items from the touch bar to prevent yourself from accidentally going back in your browser history.

Install extensions

You might want to install:

Now, you’re ready to set Firefox as your default browser. Go to “Preferences” and click “Make Default…” Enjoy! :)

Download Firefox

January 2020

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