If you’re not using Firefox browser yet you’re not going to understand why I’m giddy about something called extensions. Since Firefox is an open source software anyone smart enough to write a way to extend it’s functionality can make my browsing experience better. Now, like a lot of things that can be done, you have to wade through what should be done and used to make your browsing experience better.
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Here are my top 5 browser extensions in no particular order
- del.icio.us bookmark – lets me copy some text on any page and post it to my delicious account
- SEO for Firefox – Aaron Wall’s treasure chest of info on search results
- Fleck – This one allows you to make notes and lists on web pages and then send the annotated page
- Search Status – simply tool that sits in my dock on the browser and gives me page rank, alexa ranking, backward links and indexed pages for any site on visit on the fly
- Roboform – fills in forms and keeps track of passwords and the like
And a bonus one that’s kind of funny – BugMeNot – allows you to skip putting your info in to get an article on sites like the New York Times
So, any Firefox users out there want to share a few!
Firebug – let’s you dissect and inspect the HTML, CSS, Javascript with ease..
quite possibly the greatest thing since the browser itself 😉
I highly recommend two more. 1) IE Tab, which uses the Internet Explorer engine as a tab within Firefox, for those few times when I have to view a site in IE (rare, but they’re useful).
2) Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer: This extension keeps bookmarks synchcronized between PCs (e.g., my home and work PCs). Very useful.
IE Tab extension to use Internet Explorer browser within Firefox for IE only sites.
I use Forecastfox to get weather information from the Firefox status bar.
The Web Developers Tool bar is essential for anyone mucking around with html/css/javascript
IE Tab lets me load the IE rendering engine inside a firefox tab (for sites that don’t work in firefox or for checking my own sites’ compatibility)
Gmail Manager checks all my gmail accounts and notifies me of which account has new mail and allows me to log in to that account with just one click.
Paste and Go lets me copy and past URLs into the address bar and goto that site without hitting enter (also does the same with search teerms in the searcbox)
FoxyTunes lets me control iTunes (and almost every other media player) from my status bar.
NoScript lets me generate a whitelist for sites that I’ll allow to use JavaScript, Java, and Flash
Linkification turns plaintext urls and email address into clickable ones
I’ve 20 others installed but they’re not nearly as exciting.
Loved the recommendations. The comments would have been better if people responding had left links to the extensions they are recommending
Hey John,
Great point – here’s the best place to go to find all of the extensions mentioned.
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions?application=firefox
Thank you for the great article! I love using Firefox and I could not operate my business without Roboform. Serving so many different clients means that I have a TON of passwords to remember so I let Roboform do all of the work! 🙂
Erin
I’m hooked on the stumble upon toolbar, click stumble and it takes you to sites that others have rated as interesting. Be careful – it can be a huge productivity buster, but I have found a bunch of cool sites and tools.
I have been using Search status for the last 18 months and it is fantastic.
I started using SEO for Firefox today and I am amazed how easy it is to use and how useful it is. The site it is on, also has a lot of other useful tools.
Foxy Tunes was already mentioned, but it’s a must for anyone that uses iTunes while on the computer.
Also also can’t live without DownThemAll, a mass downloader, great for when you get to pages with lots of pdf’s, extensions, widgets, etc.
On iTunes you can find anything but it costs you a bit. Anyway the idea is if you pay you will have quality merchandise. This is a rule for anything.