March 4, 2026
Right‑click riot
Making Firefox's right-click not suck with about:config
Firefox right-click cleanup sparks a fan fight over choice vs clutter
TLDR: A blogger showed how to slim Firefox’s bloated right‑click menu by flipping hidden settings, even removing AI and extras. Comments split between celebrating customization, defending the menu’s usefulness (and dunking on Apple), with a nerdy note that “…” simply means a dialog box pops up—why this matters: control vs clutter.
A blogger on Joshua Rogers’ Scribbles went full menu meltdown, raging at Firefox’s 26-item right‑click buffet and then nuking a bunch of buttons via hidden settings in “about:config.” Out went “Ask an AI Chatbot,” screenshots, visual search, link previews, OCR (text from images), and more—slimming the menu to 15 items. The post is half tutorial, half spicy rant, and it lit up the comments with equal parts cheers, eye‑rolls, and history lessons.
Team Minimalism loved the purge. One fan shouted that Firefox’s real superpower is choice, even dropping a custom setup to prove it. But the power‑user crowd wasn’t having it: a commenter claimed they’ve actually used “all of these right‑click menu items,” calling the complaint odd, while another defended Firefox’s menu as “useful” and took a swing at Apple’s clutter instead. Meanwhile, a helpful voice explained the mysterious “…” after menu items: it just means you’ll get a pop‑up window (not instant action). Then came a curveball: a mini‑lecture on Fitts’s law (a design rule about faster pointing), dragging Apple’s menu bar history into the fray. Jokes flew about “exorcising the AI button,” “right‑click cleanse,” and whether fewer buttons equals fewer brain cells. It’s a classic internet throwdown: clean freaks vs feature fiends, all battling over a click
Key Points
- •The article demonstrates how to declutter Firefox’s right‑click context menu on macOS using about:config.
- •It provides a list of specific preferences to toggle off features and remove corresponding menu items (e.g., translations, screenshots, visual search, AI chatbot, OCR).
- •Some preferences disable underlying functionality in addition to removing menu entries, requiring careful selection by users.
- •After applying the suggested changes, the menu count is reduced from 26 items to 15.
- •The author highlights remaining items with ellipses and notes the convention that ellipses indicate additional user input is required.