Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

SmoothWheel Firefox addon

On Linux I used to hate the scrolling in Firefox. It was always lagging and very slow so I really needed something to fix this. Later the same behavior started ocurring on Windows too. Among the things I found to fix this Firefox scrolling issues is the SmoothWheel extension which can be used to configure the scroll speed extensively. Its developers say that you can use SmoothWheel to actually move any webpage and read while scrolling.

The addon configuration allows you to set the scrolling speed to a value as low as 10 pixels or up to 500 pixels, and when holding down the Alt or Shift key you can temporarely increase or decrease the speed. It might take a few tries before the ideal scroll speed settings can be found but it is very well worth it in the long run. Additional options are available in the basic settings window like enabling the same scrolling speed when using the computer keyboard to scroll. The advanced settings on the other hand can be configured to change adaptive duration and steps and a fps limit.

And the best thing about SmoothWheel had yet to come: since it's based on the Firefox API, it also supports Thunderbird, ChatZilla, Flock, Songbird and Seamonkey.


If SmoothWeel does not satisfy you, I suggest you give Yet Another Smooth Scrolling add-on a try (my personal favorite).