How to change Firebug interface language

As we all know, Firebug is a must have extension for all web developers, designers and for a lot of other web enthusiasts.
As I'm using Firefox in my domestic language which isn't english, Firebug automaticly detects the browser interface language, and you can't change it's language back to English.
For some people this is okay, but some just want to have Firebug with english interface. Firebug does not offer the option to switch language, so we have to make a little workaround.
This tutorial was made on Windows XP, but all newer versions of windows should have almost the same principle.
You can choose between two methods:
Change Firebug language by editing chrome.manifest and changing Firebug language by editing about:config which is available in Firebug version 1.6 and newest.



Change Firebug language by editing chrome.manifest file

Changing the Firebug interface language

Let's go step by step, so you can't miss anything.

  1. Open Windows Explorer
  2. Go to your primary partition, and open folder Documents and Settings
  3. Open the profile folder you are using (John)
  4. Open the folder named Application Data
  5. Open the folder named Mozilla
  6. Open the folder Firefox
  7. Open the folder Profiles
  8. Open the Firefox profile folder, in my case its only one.
  9. Open the extensions folder
  10. Open the folder named firebug@software.joehewitt.com

Firebug language file in Firefox folder


Now you should be and see something like this:
Firebug language file

Edit the Firebug language file


Now open the file named chrome.manifest with notepad or any similar text editor.
Find the line that defines your language, in my case it is:
locale  firebug sl-SI       locale/sl-SI/
And change it to:
locale  firebug sl-SI       locale/en-US/

Save the file, restart Firefox and Firebug interface will be in desired language.


Change Firebug language by editing about:config

If u are using Firebug v1.6 or later, the fastest way to change its interface language is to edit a line in about:config
  1. In the address bar type about:config
  2. Find the parameter named extensions.firebug.useDefaultLocale
  3. Doubleclick on it and change its value from false to true
Restart the Firefox, and the Firebug should now come up with english interface.