Getting started:
Install Feed Filter
Help! Nothing’s working!
Configuring options
Which version do I have?
Where is the latest version?
Uninstall Feed Filter
Versions and compatibility:
Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer versions?
Mac or Linux compatible?
Flock compatible?
Songbird compatible?
Compatible with other programs?
Features:
A feature isn’t working
Posts are missing or in the wrong order
Hide things:
Hide sections on the left side of the Home page
Hide sections on the right side of the Home page
Hide posts like “are now friends”, “became a fan”, “joined a group”, etc.
Applications (FarmVille, Mafia Wars, etc.):
Showing posts from just one app at a time
Hide posts from apps
Don’t hide posts from apps
Install Feed Filter
Feed Filter is an add-on for the Firefox web browser. In the future, I hope to have versions for other browsers as well, but right now it only works in Firefox, on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.
To install the add-on, go to the blog’s front page and click the link in the upper right to install the latest version. Then restart Firefox to complete the installation.
Then take a look at Configuring options for help in getting everything setup.
The place to start after installing Feed Filter is in the Options window. It’s where you can control all the various features and configure them how you want. Several features are already enabled by default, and you may want to turn some off — or turn some features on that aren’t enabled yet.
Take a look at Configuring options for help in getting everything setup.
To get to the Options window, click the Firefox “Tools” menu and select “Feed Filter Options”. Or click the little down arrow next to the orange Feed Filter toolbar button and select “Feed Filter Options”.
Once you have the Options window open, you can go to the Help page to read about all the various features there, including screenshots.
You can find out which version of Feed Filter you have by looking on the Help tab of the Options window.
The latest version is always available in the upper right corner of the blog’s front page.
To uninstall Feed Filter, click the Firefox “Tools” menu and select “Add-ons”. Then click the Uninstall button next to the entry for Feed Filter. Then restart Firefox to complete the uninstall.
If you’re having trouble getting things working, or it’s not working like you thought it would, please take a look at the section Configuring options for information on how to configure all the features in Feed Filter. There’s also a Help page where you can read about all the various features and see screenshots, etc. And if all else fails, you’re always welcome to contact me and I’ll be glad to help if I can. Don’t give up! :-)
Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer versions?
I hope to have versions for these browsers some time in the future, but right now I’m concentrating on just the Firefox browser, since it’s easier to develop for, I’m more familiar with it, and to be honest, Facebook changes things so often that I can hardly keep up with one browser. :-) Sorry, hopefully later.
Yes! Feed Filter is an add-on for Firefox on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.
Yes! Feed Filter can be installed in the Flock social web browser.
Yes! Feed Filter can be installed in the Songbird media web browser.
Compatible with other programs?
If you’re trying to use Feed Filter with other programs that change Facebook pages, I’m afraid you’ll just have to try them and see. Hopefully they’ll work fine together, but I don’t know for sure. At the worst case, you may have to uninstall one of them, but it’s probably worth a try at least.
If a feature in Feed Filter isn’t working, first be sure the feature is configured the way you want it on the Options window. Several features are already enabled by default, and you may want to turn them off — or turn some features on that aren’t enabled yet.
Also be sure you have the latest version of Feed Filter. The latest version is always available in the upper right corner of the blog’s front page. You can find out which version of Feed Filter you have by looking on the Help tab of the Options window.
It’s also possible that Facebook has changed something on the page, and Feed Filter isn’t finding what it’s looking for anymore. This happens amazingly often actually, and I try to release a new version as quickly as I can to fix it.
If all else fails, contact me and I’ll try to help.
Posts are missing or in the wrong order
Sometimes Facebook doesn’t display the “Older Posts” link at the bottom of the page. Or when you click the “Older Posts” link, it displays the wrong posts.
And sometimes Facebook displays several application posts in the right order, followed by several more that seem to be from the wrong time.
These problems are almost always because of something Facebook is doing itself. Feed Filter mostly just hides or shows what’s already on the page, and then simulates clicking on links for you, such as clicking the “SHOW SIMILAR POSTS” link, or the “View all comments” link, or the “See more” link. But Feed Filter has no control over which posts Facebook displays on the page, or what order they appear in.
Sometimes reloading the page or switching to a different page and then going back, helps fix the problem. Other times just waiting a bit and trying again seems to give different results.
If you suspect that Feed Filter is the cause of the problem, the easiest thing to do is to just click the orange Feed Filter toolbar button to disable it (the button changes from orange to gray) and then reload the page. When Feed Filter is disabled, it leaves the page as it is and makes no changes. If the problem still happens, I’m sorry to say it’s probably just Facebook. :-( You can enable the toolbar button again by clicking it to change it back to orange.
Hide sections on the left side of the Home page
Sections such as Messages, Events, Photos, Friends, etc. on the left side of the Home page are expanded when the “Expand all filters on the Home page” feature is enabled on the Options window. This feature is enabled by default, so if you don’t want these sections expanded, just disable the feature.
Hide sections on the right side of the Home page
Sections such as Requests, Suggestions, Sponsored, Events, etc. on the right side of the Home page can be hidden completely, or moved to the top center of the page for easier viewing. When all sections are hidden or moved, the News Feed expands to become wider. These features are disabled by default, but can be configured on the Sidebar tab of the Options window.
Hide posts like “are now friends”, “became a fan”, “joined a group”, etc.
You can control which types of posts are hidden from the News Feed by configuring the features on the “News Feed” tab of the Options window.
Showing posts from just one app at a time
To display posts from just one app like FarmVille or Mafia Wars, go to the “Apps to link” tab of the Options window and add the application to the list. Once an app is added, a link is created for it automatically on the left side of the Home page under Applications. The link is also available under the little down arrow next to the orange Feed Filter toolbar button. Clicking the link displays posts for just that one app.
Note that when you add an application to the “Apps to link” tab, the app is normally hidden from the normal News Feed, since you can click the dedicated app link to display posts from it. If you want to see posts from the app in your normal News Feed as well, add the application name to the “Apps to show” tab also.
To hide posts from all applications, enable the “Hide applications” feature on the “News Feed” tab of the Options window. If there are particular apps you want to still be displayed, add the app names to the “Apps to show” tab, and they will never be hidden.
If you have the “Hide applications” feature enabled on the “News Feed” tab of the Options window, posts from all applications will be hidden from your normal News Feed. If there are particular apps you want to still be displayed, add the app names to the “Apps to show” tab, and they will never be hidden.
Also, if you’ve added an application name to the “Apps to link” tab of the Options window, posts from that app are normally hidden from the normal News Feed, since you can click the dedicated app link to display posts from it. If you want to see posts from the app in your normal News Feed as well, add the application name to the “Apps to show” tab also.