Valid up to ColorfulTabs version 3.7
- What is ColorfulTabs
- How to install and use ColorfulTabs
- Preferences in ColorfulTabs
- Extra Preferences
- Troubleshooting
What is ColorfulTabs?
ColorfulTabs is a Firefox extension that colors every tab in a different color and makes them easy to distinguish. It also beautifying the overall appearance of Firefox. ColorfulTabs does one and/or more of the following –
- Colors each tab using pre selected colors in a definite order starting from the left.
- Colors each tab using a unique and randomly generated color.
- Colors each tab using a unique color depending on the site domain using a formula.
- Allows user to chose colors.
- Allows to fade the background tabs for easy identification of the selected tab.
- Allows quick identification of the tabs.
- Allows quick identification of tab boundaries.
- Increases usability and visibility for people with visual challenges.
How to install and use ColorfulTabs?
ColorfulTabs can be installed from the ColorfulTabs download page/. Older versions are available on request. You will need to restart your browser after installing ColorfulTabs.
Using ColorfulTabs is easy. It is automatically set with default preferences and works out of the box. In case you are having issues please refer to the troubleshooting steps.
Preferences in ColorfulTabs
ColorfulTabs contains several preferences and allows you to customize its functionality to your liking. ColorfulTabs preferences can be reached from the tab’s context menu and alternatively from the extension manager.
General Preferences
| # | Description |
| 1 | The General Preference Pane |
| 2 | Colors tabs from the default palette in a fixed order starting from left. |
| 3 | Colors tabs from a uniquely and randomly generated color. |
| 4 | Colors tab using a unique color depending on the domain of the site being viewed in the tab. |
| 5 | Fades the unselected tabs. ) means no fading and 9 means totally invisible tabs. Generally works best in the range of 0 to 5. |
| 6 | Check this to easily access the options from the tab context menu. |
| 7 | Allows to set a background image for all tabs. Useful when using a fading level (5). |
| 8 | The path of the background image. |
| 9 | To browse and select the background image that you would like to use. |
| 10 | A link to background image generator. |
Extra Preferences In ColorfulTabs?
ColorfulTabs has some preferences which require special mention. One of these is the ability to the set your own color for specific domains. While this sounds usual, the ability to use regular expressions for matching these provided you with a lot of flexibility and options. The options are matched from bottom to top i.e. the bottom most domain takes priority over the top ones.Here are some simple examples:
- A period “.” matches any domain. So if you want all sites to have a gray color, set the domain to “.” (without quotes) and set the color to gray.
- A “net$” will match all .net domains.
- If you have a “.” preference in the top of your list, all domains will inherit the color set in that preference, unless you explicitly set a preference below that.
Advanced Preferences
| # | Description |
| 1 | The Advanced Preference Pane |
| 2 | Check this to enable advanced preferences. Preferences following this will not be visible until this box is checked. |
| 3 | The minimum value for the ‘amount of color’ range. |
| 4 | The maximum value for the ‘amount of color’ range. |
| 5 | The minimum value for the brightness range. |
| 6 | The maximum value for the brightness range. |
| 7 | Reset the advanced preferences to default values. |
Troubleshooting
Make sure you are using the default Firefox theme. Disable all other add-ons and verify that they are not conflicting with ColorfulTabs.