If you use the patches for the prebuilt binaries, you'll have to unpack the appropriate JAR files (toolkit.jar for the patch to the network‐error page; browser.jar for the other two), apply the patches, and jar them back up. I recommend using the source patches if you're already compiling Firefox.
I've used some patches since Firefox 1.5, but I know I had to make some changes for 2.0, which is what most of these patches have been tested the most with. I'm currently using them with Firefox 3 Beta 3.
If you use the patches for the prebuilt binaries, you'll have to unpack the appropriate JAR files (toolkit.jar for the patch to the network‐error page; browser.jar for the other two), apply the patches, and jar them back up. I recommend using the source patches if you're already compiling Firefox.
"Edit" is a text‐manipulation menu. I feel strongly about this. "Tools" isn't a terrific place for the Options item, either, but it's an improvement. I will concede that this is one thing the Mac does better with its application menu.
I use quicksearches for my search needs, so I've hidden the search bar. This has the undesirable effect of causing CTRL+J to open a window when I bump it by mistake.
When a page doesn't load because the server is down, I usually reach for Google Cache, the Wayback Machine, or Coral Cache. This patch adds links to those sites' caches of a page when the page fails to load.