Prospector–LessChrome HD is a free Firefox extension to hide Address Bar of Firefox browser. It keeps browser’s Navigation Bar hidden, when you are not using it. You just need to hover your mouse over the Title Bar (or Tabs) to get the address bar back.
In Firefox, Navigation bar usually consumes more space than any other bar as it carries the address bar, along with buttons for options like Downloads, Bookmarks, Browser Search Engines etc. Though it can be hidden, but to be honest, it’s nearly impossible browsing the web with the Navigation bar hidden. Prospector-LessChrome HD gives a nice compromise: it hides the Address bar in Firefox when not required, and brings it back whenever you need it.
Think of it like the Taskbar in Windows: if you select “Auto-Hide the taskbar”, then the taskbar goes away whenever you are not using it and comes back when you need it. Prospector-LessChrome HD extension does the same to Firefox address bar.
For the most part, the extension works quite well. However, there are some issues with it like: when the cursor is active in a password field, the navigation bar will remain visible. Though it will disappear again as soon as you turn the mouse’s focus to something else, but it’s not exactly convenient. Also, the extension stops working if you choose to turn full screen browsing on. If you can get past these minor quirks, Prospector-LessChrome HD is quite a solid little companion to your daily browsing.
How to Hide Address Bar in Firefox:
Use the link given at the end of this review to install Prospector-LessChrome HD extension in your Firefox browser. Installation is pretty easy, and doesn’t even require a browser restart. Post installation, it starts working immediately, hiding the Navigation bar immediately. To get it back, you need to just hover the cursor over on the tabs.
It can be enabled/disabled via the add-ons menu. However, there are no customization options, so you get what you get.
If you do not wish to use you mouse and instead prefer using keyboard-shortcuts (F6 or Shift+F6) to enter the URLs, even that’s not a problem. Navigation bar will appear on using shortcuts for navigation.
To create keyboard shortcuts for websites, you can try KeybStar.
My Take On Prospector-LessChrome HD
Whenever the cursor is active in a Password field, only then this little tool fails. The Extension works only with Firefox, which obviously is a big limitation. I would’ve really appreciated had it been a little more cross browser compatible.
Prospector-LessChrome HD can prove very useful utility especially for those who browse on small screens, like netbooks, and could do with a little more space. Personally, I love having as much space as much I can have on my screen, so this one’s definitely a keeper for me.
Did you try this free extension? Let me know about your experience in the comments below.
