As we all know that Firefox 4 is about to get released and its beta version is already out. But as we all know that beta versions are not meant for using addons with it. But this version is having the new javascript engine that will run smooth with all the latest heavily loaded pages. its also having very clean and polished look and also menu bars are hidden so you will get extra viewing space.I really wanted to use it but as i cannot work without some necessary addons i was sticked with version 3 only.
But i got my way.
Today i was surfing labnol and found very good tweak by amit there. He shared very good method, infact 3 methods of enabling addons in firefox 4
He wrote as:
"Option #1. Mozilla earlier created the Compatibility Reporter add-on for its users to test and report the compatibility of add-ons with various Firefox releases.
The interesting part about this add-on is that it will automatically configure your Firefox to install and use add-ons that are otherwise incompatible with your release of Firefox.
Option #2. If you don’t like installing one more extension to your Firefox build just for enabling older add-ons, here’s a workaround.
Type about:config in your browser address bar and agree to the warning message. Now right click inside the browser, choose New –> Boolean, type the preference name as extensions.checkCompatibility.4.0b and set it to False.
That’s it. Your old add-ons will work with Firefox 4 and you will also be able to download and install any of the other incompatible add-ons from the Internet. If you interested in the technical details, check this mozillaZine entry.
Option #3. This is the geekiest option of them all but one that doesn’t require you to change anything inside Firefox.
You can download the extension (the .xpi file) to your computer, unzip it and change the value of em:maxVersion under install.rdf file to 4.0.* – now pack the extension again and drag-n-drop to your Firefox browser. Please refer to mozillaZine for detailed step-by-step instructions."
This really worked. Thanks Amit for sharing such cool method.
What about extensions that really won't work with 4.0 beta? For simple ones those suggestions to fool around may work, but for most they won't. maxversion was created for reason and compatibility mechanisms were created for the same reason and this reason is not to bypass them 🙂