Home Forums Networks & Cross-Platform Networking Firefox Question and an icon question

Two questions, unrelated:

1. I noticed when I use Firefox, I can't page down part way down, I have to page all the way to the bottom of the page, no in between. With Safari, I can choose either one. I don't always want to page down to the bottom of the page. Is there a way to do the partial page-down with Firefox?

2. Have you ever downloaded something and the icon pops onto the desktop right on the dock and under dock icons? It makes it very difficult to get to. Is there a way to avoid this? It's been happening a lot. My dock is on the bottom which is where I like it.

Thanks guys.

Rita

Hi, Rita,

Responding to question 1, if you mean moving your cursor to the middle of the scroll-bar and clicking to get to that point in the page, it works for me in Firefox 3.6.3.

Responding to question 2, I don't use a Dock and, so, have never come up against your problem, but I think your best bet, other than command-option-D to get your Dock out of sight for the moment, is to read Arrange By doesn't stick and get rid of your desktop's .DS_Store file.

Hope this helps.

Hi Artie:

I just downloaded Firefox 3.6.3 and it works the way you do it. Thanks for the tip. I'm used to clicking Option and Page down and it working that way in Safari. Not so with Firefox.

I didn't know about the Command/Option D. That's perfect. Thanks. I thought everyone used the dock. LOL!! It's so handy. I'll look at that other link you gave me but the above works great.

Rita

Great! You're up and running.

>I thought everyone used the dock.

I hate using my trackpad, so I launch most apps with hot keys (via Butler's "Keystrokes" functionality). (Right now, with Finder, four apps, and Trash, my Dock - in the lower right hand corner of my screen - is about 1/8" by 1/4".)

Gosh, so many ways to do the same things. Good to know. Thanks again, Artie.

There's more than one way to chomp an Apple, Rita.

You're very welcome.

LOL! I love that analogy. Gives me confidence to try new stuff!!!

Go for it!!!

I make it a point to download to a Downloads folder, not to the Desktop. With my computer the way it is (as I type this, I have 73 items on my Desktop and 67 things in my Dock--down from 84 things in my Dock) I can't realistically download onto the Desktop.

Wow, you've got a lot of stuff on your desktop!!! I like to keep mine clutter free. That's an idea, though, using the download folder. Duh!! I've just always downloaded to my desktop. If I ever get a busy desktop like you, I will probably use a download folder.

Thanks.

Rita

Wow, you've got a lot of stuff on your desktop!!! I like to keep mine clutter free

I strive to keep my desktop items to one column. Though lately I've been running one and a half....

[Off topic]

Interesting. Recalling several posts about stuffed desktops that markedly slow down the Finder, I wonder if you haven’t noticed any of that. It’s the main reason I recommend using folders to keep the amount of desktop detritus to a minimum.

[/Off topic]

I've noticed that it takes the Finder a long time to launch when I boot, and a long time to relaunch if for whatever reason I need to force quit it, but there seems to be little in the way of slowdown for general use.

However, having said that, my understanding is that every Desktop icon is an OpenGL object in OS X, so it's probably consuming a lot of my computer's video RAM to have so many desktop icons.

Thanks for that view on things, tacit. It puts the issue in perspective.

Too many icons on the desktop only become a problem when they fill the screen. At that point, the next new icon to be drawn appears in the upper right corner. And so does the next, and the next. This having hundreds of icons stacked on top of each other in one place is what slows things down.

Almost always caused by someone doing some sort of find (in finder or itunes usually) and then select-all and drag n drop to the desktop. Suddenly a thousand items are moved or copied to the desktop, and things basically grind to a halt, where any finder action takes sometimes 30 seconds.

Easiest way to fix that is NOT via the desktop. Single user mode and mv 'em, or login as root and open in a regular finder window and drag move them, or boot into firewire target mode and do same. Just don't try to get them on the desktop at the same time.

Finder actually doesn't fair too badly when many files are in list or icon view in a regular finder window. I've had windows open with over 3000 items in them and finder was sluggish, but usable. It's just when it's trying to pile icons so deep in one place that it has problems.