For the keyboard shortcut junkie, using the Firefox built-in Find feature comes as naturally as breathing. Why strain your eyes looking for a certain word that you know or are pretty much sure is hiding somewhere in the text content, when you could simply press Ctrl + F, type in that word and let Mozilla Firefox take over. The problem is that once you press that keyboard combination, the Find bar will stay there, taking up precious screen real-estate.

If you are like me, then you will use Find to locate what you are looking for, and then close the bar just to fire it up moments later when you once again need it. You would agree that it is an unnecessary waste of time, and getting a Firefox add-on to simply conceal it from sight would be a much better idea – cue in Hide Find Bar.

Hide Find Bar is a Firefox add-on that performs a simple task: after 10 seconds of inactivity (in default settings) it will hide the Find bar. It works with Firefox 3.0 and Firefox 3.1 Beta 2, it is free to download, and it allows you to set the amount of time after which the Find bar will be hidden, and disable the Status bar icon which is not of much use (apart from generating clutter).

Keeping on the topic or screen real-estate, I present to you another Firefox add-on: iGoogle Tab Remover. This add-on will do away with the left tabs from the iGoogle page. Just scroll over “iGoogle tabs” and the left tabs will be brought out of hiding and back to your attention. The add-on is also free and works with Firefox 3.0 and Firefox 3.1 Beta 2.

If you would like to get Hide Find Bar, a download location is available here.
If you would like to get iGoogle Tab Remover, a download location is available here.