by Loren Jamison

Created on: November 02, 2008

Firefox's home page is the website Firefox opens when the program first starts, or when the Home button is clicked. Many people prefer to set the home page to their favorite search engine so that they can easily access it by clicking the Home button. In order to change the home page, you will need to open Firefox's Preferences/Options dialog. This is accomplished differently depending on whether you use Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux/Unix.

For Mac OS X: Open Firefox. On the menu bar, click the "Firefox" menu, then choose "Preferences."
For Windows and Linux/Unix: Open Firefox. On the menu bar, click the "Tools" menu, then choose "Options."

From this point, changing the home page is the same for all versions of Firefox. In the Preferences/Options box, the Main tab should be selected. If it is not, you can select it by clicking on "Main" at the top of the box. Now find the "Home Page" option. In the text box is the URL Firefox uses for its home page. To change the home page, simply enter the URL of the site you want to use, either by typing it in, or by copying the URL from the address bar and pasting it into the text box. Alternatively, if you want to use the page Firefox is currently on, you can simply click the "Use Current Page" button. You can also click the "Use Bookmark" page if you wish to use a page you have bookmarked. If you wish to use Firefox's default homepage, click "Restore to Default."

You can also change what Firefox shows when it starts up. Find "When Firefox starts" on the main tab. The default option is "Show my home page." If you want Firefox to show a blank page, select "Show a blank page." Alternatively, you can have Firefox load the pages/tabs you were on when you last exited Firefox by selecting "Show my windows and tabs from last time."

Once you have made the necessary changes, click the "OK" button (Mac OS X users don't have an OK button; the changes are saved when they click the red Close button in the top left corner). Test your new homepage by clicking the Home button near the top of the Firefox window (it's near the Back and Forward buttons). Firefox should go to your new home page. If it didn't go where you expected, check the URL you entered in the Preferences/Options box to make sure it is entered correctly.

That's it! You have successfully changed Firefox's home page. If you are feeling adventurous, browse the other tabs on the Firefox Preferences/Options box to further customize Firefox to your own tastes.

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