Enabling Desktop SSO in Firefox

This is how you can configure Firefox to use Desktop Single Sign On (SSO) / Kerberos authentication:

• Go to about:config
• Change your preference network.negotiate-auth.delegation-uris
to the domain you want to authenticate against, for example ".domain.com".
• Change your preference network.negotiate-auth.trusted-uris
to the domain as above.

Now try going to a URL and you should be able to login automatically. This has been tried and tested with Firefox 3.5.

Set Google's new icon in Firefox's Search Box

This is how you can update your search box in Firefox to display Google's brand new favicon:

1. Go to the searchplugins directory, where you installed Firefox. In Windows XP, this will normally be: C:\program files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins

2. Open google.xml in your favourite text editor.

3. Change the Image tag to the following and save:

<Image width="16" height="16">data:image/x-icon;base64,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%3D%3D</Image>

4. Restart Firefox to see the new icon in your search box!

Here is a useful page you can use to convert files into base64 encoded strings: http://www.greywyvern.com/code/php/binary2base64

Related Posts:
How-to write your own Search Plugin for Firefox

Get Google's new icon in Firefox's Search Box

This is how you can update your search box in Firefox to display Google's new favicon

1. Go to the searchplugins directory, where you installed Firefox. In Windows XP, this will normally be: C:\program files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins

2. Open google.xml in your favourite text editor.

3. Change the Image tag to the following and save:

<Image width="16" height="16">data:image/x-icon;base64,AAABAAEAEBAAAAEAIABoBAAAFgAAACgAAAAQAAAAIAAAAAEAIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC1tbUFHBwcFQAAABoAAAAaAAAAFgAAAA8AAAAWBAAAGwIAABoAAAAXAAAAGQAAABkAAAAaAAAAGg0NDRiOjo4JJiYmDwAAABQAAAATAAAADQwCAR1YFRB4nCsqua0yLMSbLCyxYxoYfBgFAiwDAQAUAAAAEgAAABMAAAAUBwcHEhQUFA0AAAAOAAAACxMEARayLy%2FF7T9C%2F640K7FuJR1pZiMgYpczMZqeLSzBIAcFPQEBABAAAAANAAAADgAAAA4XFxcJAAAACgAAAABbKSNY%2F1ZO%2F3MdHY8AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAjzc2lHwdG7oDAAAVAAAACAAAAAoAAAAKFxcXBgAAAAcAAAAAVj43Tfx6df87BQFmAQIAAgAAAAQAAAAEAAAAAI0vJomvLCftCwEAHQAAAAQAAAAHAAAABxEREQQAAAAEAAAAAwYEAAi4bVm0uT8%2F4UwOC1wnBgMlFAQAEF4YGmnwQ0X8niQfxQEAAAgAAAADAAAABAAAAAQzMzMCHh4eAh8fHwMAAAAAKSglBJVbWGfQX16qxktJsLItKNTqP0X%2F5DxE8VklJTsAAAAAHx8fAh8fHwIfHx8C7%2B%2FvBO3t7QTt7e0E7e3tBOrr6wIAAAAAAAAAALWHgkH%2BVFD%2FxjI226J1dDYAAAAA7e7uBO3t7QTt7e0E7e3tBP%2F%2F%2Fwn%2F%2F%2F8K%2F%2F%2F%2FCv%2F%2F%2Fwv%2F%2F%2F8Eybi3HHw1LHeySkjC%2Fnd2%2F34iIZ1rbGkJ8fHxCv%2F%2F%2Fwr%2F%2F%2F8K%2F%2F%2F%2FCv%2F%2F%2Fwr%2F%2F%2F8R%2F%2F%2F%2FE%2F%2F%2F%2FxP%2F%2F%2F8P9OTiHtFGSNHPKS%2F%2F15KSeP7k4Evgb3DOXh4cjouJiCD9%2Ff4R%2F%2F%2F%2FE%2F%2F%2F%2FxP%2F%2F%2F8T%2F%2F%2F%2FGf%2F%2F%2Fxv%2F%2F%2F8b%2F%2F%2F%2FDvu3rnbrNCn%2Fo1NTk9%2Fr6wn%2F%2F%2F8C%2F9fXaqskJf9kTUxX7e%2FvGP%2F%2F%2Fxr%2F%2F%2F8b%2F%2F%2F%2FG%2F%2F%2F%2FyH%2F%2F%2F8k%2F%2F%2F%2FJP%2F%2F%2Fxb%2F0MyT00JA%2F5Byblv7%2F%2F8d%2F%2F%2F%2FFv7Ix3XUNjH%2FhFhVee%2Fz8x3%2F%2F%2F8j%2F%2F%2F%2FJP%2F%2F%2FyT%2F%2F%2F8o%2F%2F%2F%2FLf%2F%2F%2Fyz%2F%2F%2F8j%2F%2FDmZNphWv%2BOa2ll4urpJPHy8iLwcWDF0zEn%2B7edm1f%2F%2F%2F8m%2F%2F%2F%2FLP%2F%2F%2Fyz%2F%2F%2F8s%2F%2F%2F%2FMP%2F%2F%2FzX%2F%2F%2F80%2F%2F%2F%2FM%2F%2F%2F%2Fy77u7KoxlhZyrV%2Ff3XSc3Oy7z83%2F7w5NtymioZg5OHgOf%2F%2F%2FzP%2F%2F%2F80%2F%2F%2F%2FNf%2F%2F%2Fyv%2F%2F%2F89%2F%2F%2F%2FOv%2F%2F%2Fzr%2F%2F%2F84%2F%2F%2F%2FM%2F%2FT0m%2F3oaGk%2FbS0uv24ubPujouw2oqIoO3j40r%2F%2F%2F83%2F%2F%2F%2FPP%2F%2F%2FzP%2F%2F%2F8K%2F%2F%2F%2FMf%2F%2F%2Fz7%2F%2F%2F89%2F%2F%2F%2FPf%2F%2F%2Fz3%2F%2F%2F80%2F%2F%2F%2FMf%2F%2F%2FzH%2F%2F%2F8x%2F%2F%2F%2FMf%2F%2F%2FzX%2F%2F%2F88%2F%2F%2F%2FPv%2F%2F%2Fzf%2F%2F%2F8SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAI8AAACBAAAAAAAAAEAgAAAYQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA%3D%3D</Image>

4. Restart Firefox to see the curly-g icon in your search box!

Related Posts:
Google's New Favicon
How-to write your own Search Plugin for Firefox

Write a Search Plugin for Firefox [Howto]

Firefox 3 currently supports plugins in two specifications. These are Apple's Sherlock format and the more recent OpenSearch syntax which is now preferred as it is supported by both Firefox (2+) and Internet Explorer (7+). In this post, I will show you how to create your own search engine plugin using the OpenSearch syntax.

1. Pick a search engine you want to create a plugin for. For this example, I have chosen Picitup which is a new image search engine (still in beta). It is not listed on Mycroft Search Engine Plugins either, so it is likely that it doesn't exist yet.

2. Find your searchplugins directory. On Windows XP, this will typically be in

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\searchplugins

where xxxx is a random string.

3. Create a new file in the searchplugins directory called picitup.xml with the contents below:

<SearchPlugin xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/browser/search/" xmlns:os="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/"> <os:ShortName>Picitup</os:ShortName> <os:Description>Search Picitup</os:Description> <os:InputEncoding>UTF-8</os:InputEncoding> <os:Image width="16" height="16"> http://www.picitup.com/picitup/images/plusico/fav.ico </os:Image> <os:Url type="text/html" method="GET" template="http://www.picitup.com/picitup/results.jsp?query={searchTerms}"> </os:Url> <SearchForm>http://www.picitup.com</SearchForm> </SearchPlugin>

The icon file is usually called favicon.ico and is found on the level of the homepage. However, in this case it is present in a different directory, which I found by viewing the HTML source of the Picitup homepage:

<link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="images/plusico/fav.ico">

To find the search URL, look at the HTML <form> element:

<form name="search" action="results.jsp" method="get">
  <input input type=text name=query size="38" style="border: 1px solid #BDBDBD;"/>
  <input type="hidden" name="searchType" value="image"/>
  <input type="hidden" name="addToDb" value="1"/>
  <input type="submit" value="Search" onclick="javascript:submitForm();"/>
</form>

4. Restart Firefox and thats it! Click on the Search Engine combo box and you should now be able to try out the new Picitup addon.

5. Share your plugin with the rest of the world by uploading it here: http://mycroft.mozdev.org/submitos.html

NB: After restart, Firefox will change you xml file by base64 encoding the image icon URL.

Reference:
There is detailed documentation about the OpenSearch format at OpenSearch.org and with reference to Firefox at the Mozilla Developer Center.