Prevent URL hover pop-up in Firefox Full Screen Mode

Prevent URL hover pop-up in Firefox Full Screen Mode

Background

Firefox remains my web browser of choice, which I use not only for conventional web browsing, but also for displaying "slides" to accompany lectures. (I find crafting slides in html as web pages gives me much more flexibility than the more conventional "Power Point" approach.) Unfortunately in common with many other modern web browsers Firefox has sacrificed the traditional bottom status bar to gain more screen space. One of the most useful features of the status bar was to show the URL of any link in the page over which the mouse cursor was placed. This is now replaced by a default pop-up in the bottom left hand corner. There is a snag with this. The old status bar was hidden when in full screen (F11) mode. The new pop up still appears which is a distraction for a slide show.

Having found a way to overcome this, I have created this web page, chiefly as a memory aid to myself, when applying this solution to computers away from home. I make no promises about it. Use it at your own risk!

Options

A web search suggests there is no easy fix from a "preferences" menu. (The rationale is that the URL display for a link is an important security feature so should never be hidden.) One suggestion is to add a line to a userChrome.css file (creating this if necessary). This file is very poorly documented and whilst I have found a way of suppressing the URL display at all times, I could not find a way of only doing so in full-screen mode. The other suggestion, which works well is to use the "Status-4-Evar" add-on.

Preferred Solution

Use the normal Get Add-ons menu to install Status-4-Evar. (Version I have used is 2013.02.16.23). Ironically, having installed it, I configure it so it does not need to display the status bar! These are the settings I prefer. Some are required to achieve the desired suppression of the pop-up. Others are just my personal cosmetic preferences. The configuration screens are accessed from the Options button for Status-4-Evar in the Add-ons Manager.

In the Status/General tab ensure that neither Show status in, nor Show links in are set to Popup. If you want to keep the status bar for normal browsing, set them to Status Bar. If like me you prefer not to use the status bar, set them to Location Bar. I have also set to Hide the status after 1 second as a personal preference. The rest of this tab can be left at the defaults.
In the Status/Location Bar tab I choose a tasteful dark red colour, with the Status alignment at the Right and the slider set towars the Current location end. These are purely personal preferences.
In the Progress/Location Bar tab, my personal preference is to to show progress in the location bar using a tasteful dark red bar at the bottom of the location bar. In the Progress/ToolBar tab I uncheck the Always show toolbar item box, since I am showing it in the Location bar.
In the Advanced screen, acknowledge the "Here be Dragons" warning, then un-check the box Detect Full-screen mode and show links/status appropriately. This stops it reverting to using a pop-up when in full-screen mode, which was the object of the exercise in the first place.
After these changes, the status bar at the bottom of the screen is no longer serving a useful purpose so it can be set not to be displayed from the normal Options/Toolbar menu where it will be shown as an Add-on Bar.

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Last Updated 2013-04-03

In the Status/General tab ensure that neither Show status in, nor Show links in are set to Popup. If you want to keep the status bar for normal browsing, set them to Status Bar. If like me you prefer not to use the status bar, set them to Location Bar. I have also set to Hide the status after 1 second as a personal preference. The rest of this tab can be left at the defaults.
In the Status/Location Bar tab I choose a tasteful dark red colour, with the Status alignment at the Right and the slider set towars the Current location end. These are purely personal preferences.
In the Progress/Location Bar tab, my personal preference is to to show progress in the location bar using a tasteful dark red bar at the bottom of the location bar. In the Progress/ToolBar tab I uncheck the Always show toolbar item box, since I am showing it in the Location bar.
In the Advanced screen, acknowledge the "Here be Dragons" warning, then un-check the box Detect Full-screen mode and show links/status appropriately. This stops it reverting to using a pop-up when in full-screen mode, which was the object of the exercise in the first place.