I generally spend several hours a day doing Web-based research, using Firefox of course. Accordingly, the key combinations Ctrl+T, Ctrl+K have long become king since I can easily open a new tab and execute a new Google search at will, without having to return to the Google homepage.

Yet one of the annoyances of the search bar is it’s exceedingly short width. After just a few characters the search string starts to scroll, and more often than not I begin to question whether I’ve indeed spelled the string correctly.

To change the width of this text field you can create a userChrome.css file, which allows you to override Firefox’s default interface settings. This file should appear in the following locations:

Windows 2000 and XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\[USER]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\randomString.default\chrome\

Linux/Unix:
~/.mozilla/firefox/[Profile name]/chrome/

In your favorite text editor create this file, saving it to the appropriate aforementioned location. Then add the following lines to the file, save it, and restart Firefox:

/* Extend the Search box width

#search-container, #searchbar { -moz-box-flex: 300 !important; }

That’s it! Now you’ll be able to view a significantly larger search string with ease.

Jason