bookmarks.html bloated with binary favicon data

[richey]

Hello,

is it possible to prevent FF from saving favicon data in the bookmarks.html file?

This is really annoing, I'm working on a USB stick and the bookmark file grows by 2-6kb with every bookmark I save or view... not to speak that loading takes considerably longer. My bookmark file is already 2 MB, and growing every day.

Thanks!
r.

[RaiseMachine]

about:config -> Set both of these to false

Code: Select all

browser.chrome.favicons
browser.chrome.site_icons

[richey]

COOL - thanks a lot!!!

[richey]

p.s. will this just prevent from favicons being saved in the bookmarks.html or also the display of them?

[RaiseMachine]

Both. Although I can't recall whether data already stored is affected...

[dickvl]

You can also set the value of browser.chrome.image_icons.max_size to 0 (the number).

[the-edmeister]

To remove existing Favicons from your bookmarks file:

1. Create a new Bookmark and save this code in the Location field in Properties.
2. Open your bookmarks.html file in the browser window - {Ctrl+O} or {File > Open File...}
3. Run the bookmarklet to strip the existing Favicons.
4. {Ctrl+S} or File > Save Page As... - to save the file
5. Replace the existing bookmarks.html file in your Profile folder with the newly saved one, sans Favicons.

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javascript:(function(){ var ls=document.getElementsByTagName('*'); for (var i=0; i<ls.length; i++) {l=ls[i]; l.removeAttribute('id'); l.removeAttribute('last_charset'); l.removeAttribute('icon'); l.removeAttribute('last_modified'); l.removeAttribute('last_visit'); l.removeAttribute('add_date'); l.removeAttribute('personal_toolbar_folder');} alert('Cleanup Complete - Save as Web Page, Complete')})();

Favicons can take up 85% of the total size of a typical bookmarks.html file! I have stripped the Favicons from a 2.5MB bookmarks.html file and ended up with a file of 464KB, a few times.


Ed

[richey]

Hi Ed and others,

thanks for the hint- meanwhile I've found the following: there are 4 settings to influence favicons -

// http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.chrome.site_icons ; overwrites all
user_pref("browser.chrome.site_icons",false);
// http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.chrome.favicons
user_pref("browser.chrome.favicons",false);
// http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.chrom ... s.max_size
user_pref("browser.chrome.image_icons.max_size",0);
// http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.chrom ... lbar_icons
user_pref("browser.chrome.load_toolbar_icons",0);

ALL of these settings have to be enabled or disabled to enable/disable the saving of the bloating favicons in the bookmarks file - but there is NO individual setting just influencing the bookmarks file. So, either you don't SEE any favicons at all or you SEE & SAVE them ... automatically, without any choice.

That's not good for portable / USB stick users!

Ed, I found an easier way: close FF, then open bookmarks.html with a good editor such as Wordpad , and replace all occurances of "ICON=" by some crap like "ICXON=". After the next reload, the bookmark file will be "cleaned". As always, backup the file first.

greetz, r

[the-edmeister]

... replace all occurances of "ICON=" by some crap like "ICXON=". After the next reload, the bookmark file will be "cleaned".

Didn't know that would work, although it makes sense now that you mention it. Firefox seems to have the ability to 'heal' minor mistakes (that I have made) in the bookmarks.html file.


Ed

[dickvl]

The last pref in your post only works in Moz. Suite and SeaMonkey:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.chrom ... lbar_icons
* Mozilla Suite (all versions since 1.6 Alpha)
* Mozilla SeaMonkey (all versions)

So the other three are sufficient.

[hydreux]

on another note, is there a way to strip more data such as "add_date", "last_modified" and "id=rdf:#$xxxxx"? the reason is that i'd like to compare bookmarks from two different PCs but prefer not to use online synch tools.

[dickvl]

All the attributes mentioned in the JavaScript code should be removed.
With all attributes removed there shouldn't be a problem to compare files and import still works without those attributes.
If you want to keep some attributes then remove the corresponding l.removeAttribute('???') code.

Code: Select all

javascript:(function(){ var ls=document.getElementsByTagName('*'), lsl=ls.length; for (var i=0; i<lsl; i++) {l=ls[i]; l.removeAttribute('id'); l.removeAttribute('last_charset'); l.removeAttribute('icon'); l.removeAttribute('last_modified'); l.removeAttribute('last_visit'); l.removeAttribute('add_date'); l.removeAttribute('personal_toolbar_folder');} alert('Cleanup Complete - Save as Web Page, Complete')})();


[hydreux]

thanks dickvl, it works great! on another note, can it be modified to change all instances of "&" to plain "&"?

[dickvl]

You're welcome.

Sorry, I don't know about the & (maybe with a regular match / replace).
Do you want to remove that from the url or from other (all) attributes?
I don't know if it can cause problems, so why don't you lust leave those entities.

You can do that in a text editor (Find/Replace) if you want.

[hydreux]

i'm not sure how but the some of the "&" in the urls esp. google's search query gets changed into "&" thus breaking the url. that's why i'm asking but anyway i had used a text editor to make the changes.