Mile Wide Back tweak
Is anyone out there familiar with the "Mile Wide Back" addon? It allow you to go to the previous web site page or the next page with a left/right mouse click on the left page border. I'm hoping someone who knows it's history will have a workaround for a problem it has. Apparently, the developer is no longer available.
I've been using it for years. It was modified for quantum, but there is a problem. One of it's functions is to scroll thru tabs with a mouse wheel turn. I wouldn't want that feature even if it did work right, but it's broken.
One lone click of the mouse wheel on the left page border and it scrolls thru 6 tabs. Two clicks, 12+ tabs, etc. There's no option to disable that feature.
However, in it's pre-quantum version, there were about:config commands that could modify it's behavior.
I have another handy app, Volume2. You can set it up to change volume with a mouse wheel turn while touching the left border of any window. Up until recently, this feature superseded the Mile Wide Back function, but lately it stopped helping.
Since neither the apps have changed in over a year, I believe the change in behavior is due to Firefox 88,which was released around the same time this started happening.
Modified by noel_envode
Chosen solution
noel_envode said
One more thing. Can we further alter it to stop it from going to the demo every time it is installed?
Lines 69-78 of background.js cause that. They can safely be removed.
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Mile Wide Back
This is an interesting extension. Fortunately, I'm still getting one tab per click of the wheel, testing fairly slowly. Since content scripts are not allowed on some sites, it halts when I get to the Add-ons site; I guess one purpose of the extra option is to avoid that?
I don't know how many times a day you completely shut down and restart Firefox but if it's not often, you could consider running your own version of the extension using the Debugging page, Temporary extension feature. Here's how you do it:
Setup Steps
(1) Download to a convenient folder
On the Add-on's page, right-click the Remove button (or if you already removed it, the install button) and Save Link As to a convenient location. I suggest creating a new folder for this experiment, for example, under Documents.
(2) Extract the XPI file
The XPI file is just a ZIP file, so you can extract its contents the way you extract ZIP file contents.
(3) Edit the script file content.js
Right-click content.js and click Edit or use your preferred text editor. Lines 37-44 set up wheel detection; you can delete those lines and save/close the changed file.
Run Your Modified Extension
(4) Open the Debugging page
Type or paste about:debugging in the address bar and press Enter to load it. In the left column, click This Firefox. You may want to bookmark this page for future reference.
(5) Click the "Load Temporary Add-on..." button
Point Firefox to the folder where you extracted the extension and select the manifest.json file. Then click Open.
Firefox should show that it is now running your extension. Does it work as desired?
More info on this feature: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/about:debugging#loading_a_temporary_extension
If it becomes a hassle to do this temporary installation routine, you could get the modified version signed by Mozilla, and then it could be installed normally.
jscher2000 said
If it becomes a hassle to do this temporary installation routine, you could get the modified version signed by Mozilla, and then it could be installed normally.That was perfect. So, it looks like a real ordeal getting it signed. Any advice? I guess I could just pin about:debugging and load the manifest.json every time I launch Firefox, but I'd rather not.
Modified by noel_envode
You can get it signed through the Add-ons site and either distribute it from a page there, or just download it for your own use.
Note: when you zip up the extension to submit to the site, do not include the META_INF folder. A new one that matches your modified version will be created.
https://extensionworkshop.com/documentation/publish/signing-and-distribution-overview/
The Add-ons team has a couple forums in case of questions:
- https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/add-ons/development
- https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/add-ons/addons-mozilla-org
Alternately, I've seen people volunteer to get extensions signed for users who do not want to learn this stuff; I think that probably was on Reddit (r/Firefox) rather than on the official site.
One more thing. Can we further alter it to stop it from going to the demo every time it is installed?
Modified by noel_envode
Chosen Solution
noel_envode said
One more thing. Can we further alter it to stop it from going to the demo every time it is installed?
Lines 69-78 of background.js cause that. They can safely be removed.
That did it! I took your advice and sought a signing volunteer on Reddit. We'll see what happens.
I've probably thanked you 100 times in the past (ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating just a little, but it's close), so here's 101....Thanks again!!
You can go into the extension's settings page to disable the mouse wheel functionality.
em_te said
You can go into the extension's settings page to disable the mouse wheel functionality.Hi em_te, very happy to hear from you.
I just discovered the v0.2.9 update. Perfect! Thanks so much.
Note: The page says this addon not available on your platform, so I downloaded the .xpi and installed it manually.
Modified by noel_envode