20 Must-have Firefox Extensions

An anonymous reader noted that Computerworld is running a story on the 20 must have Firefox extensions. Several of my favorites are in there so I'm looking forward to playing with the ones I haven't heard of.

What about unplug? What about flashgot?

[Anonymous Coward]

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2254/ [mozilla.org]

It allows you to rip streaming content easily from websites. It can handle everything from flash movies (.flv) on youtube to mp3 data streamed to your web browser. Paired with the Flashgot plugin:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/220/ [mozilla.org]

You can download all of the links on a webpage, just like certain download managers used to. Its a great combo.

And add in flashblock while you're at it.

[cliveholloway]

Flashblock [mozilla.org] makes sites browsable again. Stop autoplay [mozilla.org] falls into the same category :) And No script [mozilla.org] is just plain sensible.

Other simple extensions that make life saner include copy as plain text [mozilla.org] (A life-saver in this "MS-we-know-what-you're trying-to-do" world) and the BugMeNot [mozdev.org] extension.

For those without Adblock

[Spad]

As the site has been Slashdotted already, have a Coralised, Printer-friendly version. [nyud.net]

Re:Adblock?

[zippthorne]

Neither of those are necessary if you use NoScript.

I don't want to see zero ads anyway. I just don't want them to take over my browser.

Re:20 is too many

[master811]

Although I've not generally had stability issues with too many extension, I have found that certain ones do conflict and can makes FF amazingly efficient RAM usage become even more efficient. /sarcasm

But yeah too many does it make it more bloated and often will make it eat even more RAM that it does normally, its a shame cos there are some great extensions out there, but they need to be tested a lot more with others so that they conflict less and don't cause even more memory leaks.

sensationalism

[Anonymous Coward]

IAAFPS and i call bs on this one


if this list were anywhere near accurate it should have included these extensions:

• Navigation
  • Thumbs [mozilla.org] - Shows the first thumbnail from each linked gallery, letting you skip galleries that don't look interesting.
  • Linky [mozilla.org] - Open all links in tabs, etc.
  • firefusk [xoxosoma.com] - view all images from galleries with numerically named image files.
  • Browse Images [mozilla.org] - Use the Forward button or Alt+Shift+Right to go to the next image.
  • Location Navigator [mozilla.org] - Select a portion of a URL that varies, then navigate up or down.
  • Digger [mozilla.org] - Navigate to parent directories in URLs, etc.
  • refspoof [mozdev.org] - Modify your HTTP Referer to gain access to sites that use insecure login mechanisms.
• Downloading and saving
  • DownThemAll [mozilla.org] - Download all the links to images/movies on a page at once.
  • FlashGot [mozilla.org] - Download all the links on a page at once using an external download manager.
  • Download sort [mozilla.org] - Save files to folders based on extension or download date.
  • spiderzilla [mozdev.org] - Download entire web sites.
  • Super DragAndGo [code65536.com] - Drag a link to open it in a new tab; drag an image to save it.
• Videos
  • Launchy [gemal.dk] - Open links to video files in an external player, streaming, so you can watch a video without waiting to download it. (Note that not all video players support streaming video; for example, WinAmp 5.111 hangs. VLC [videolan.org] works well. Here's my launchy.xml [slashdot.org] for VLC.)
  • MediaPlayerConnectivity [mozilla.org] - Open embedded video in an external player, so you can use features like Full Screen.
• Images
  • Image Zoom [mozilla.org] - Convenient shortcuts for zooming images.
  • mozImage [mozilla.org] - Browse images on hard drive or view them in a slideshow.

Most of the authors of these extensions are not yet members of the Pornzilla project.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Extensions

[JohnyDog]

Well most of them aren't really 'must-have' at all, and half of them are tied to some specific service. Anyway, as everybody will be posting they're favourite extensions, i'll add few less popular ones, that i found really useful for daily work:

DownThemAll! [downthemall.net] 0.9.9.7 - can download all files from page (both links and directly embeddeded) with settable filter, custom renaming and all other features you'd expect form download accelerator

Image Zoom [yellowgorilla.net] 0.2.7 - zooming images (and only images) - i found it very needed for high-dpi displays, or where the OS-specific zoom-tool isn't enough.

MR Tech Local Install [mrtech.com] 5.3.2.3 - nice tool for managing extensions - can make any older extension compatible on one click (simple change of required firefox version), also can generate installed extension list like this one you're reading now, either in text, HTML or BBcode

Remove It Permanently [mozdev.org] 1.0.6.3 - more useful version of NukeIt - shows you what content is actually being removed in red outline, can remove parent widget of what you're hovering over, or 'all similar items', on per-page,per-domain,per-website basis;useful for pages heavily infested with ads

Tiny Menu [arantius.com] 1.4.2 - the whole menu is compacted to one button 'Menu' which you can drag on your address toolbar (it's actually the other way round), saving needed screen space

Unread Tabs [codefront.net] 0.3 - shows opened-but-yet-unread tabs with Italics

Re:Addons memory usage

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope.

Firefox extensions are generally simple JavaScript and XML files that are effectively appended directly to the core JavaScript and XML files that make up the browser. (Obviously I'm oversimplifying a bit here.)

In any case, because extensions just add on to the general browser in the same namespace, there's no way to separate what memory is used by one extension and what memory is used by another or what memory is being used by the core browser itself. They're all in the same namespace. This can cause conflicts with extensions, of course: if two extensions make different use of the same variable (or XML id) they'll conflict and the results will be unpredictable.

But in short: no, it's not possible, because the extensions are effectively loaded as if they were part of the browser, and there's no way to tell when something is part of an extension or part of the core browser.

Re:For those without Adblock

[pla]

As the site has been Slashdotted already, have a Coralised, Printer-friendly version.

Oh, for shame! Such an easy chance to plug something on-topic, yet another FF extension... ;-)

Resurrect Pages [mozilla.org] lets you check all the major internet cache sites for dead content.

Conquery & Linkification

[De Lemming]

My two favorite extensions aren't mentioned in the article. They are:

• Conquery [conquery.net] - let's you select any text on a web page, and in the right click menu you have an option to send this text to search engines and other sites (Wikipedia, IMDB, Amazon, Urban Dictionary, Google Images,...). The list is of course customizable, and you can use the standard Firefox search plugins.
• Linkification [mozilla.org] - converts plain text links to clickable links, very useful on forums like Slashdot. Has a lot of options.

Missing extension

[J0nne]

Dragdropupload [mozilla.org] . If you have to upload files regularly, you'll enjoy this extension, as you just need to drag a file from your desktop/explorer/nautilus into the upload box, you you don't have to type the path manually, or navigate through one of those sucky 'open file' dialogs.

Re:Adblock?

[Anonymous Coward]

"It's easier for people to control what's displayed on their computer than most think."

Of course it is.

And they have every right to do so. But when some of us are providing others resources where the power users are blocking the ads, and these are the only things that are keeping these resources running, they are shooting themselves AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT DEPENDS ON THEM in the foot.

Personally, I don't even care if someone ever clicks on an advertisement on any of my sites. I never wanted to advertise on any of my sites until costs got to be a few hundred a month just to keep the servers online (let alone taking up a good deal of my time that I could be doing other things...I love doing this stuff, but not when it requires time away from other activities that I find just as important...but the users don't see it that way...a lot of them are counting on these services).

Just like if Tivo were to be the norm, costs will be either directed straight toward the user -- which I'd actually prefer, but at the same time would I want to spend $5 a month on something vs. seeing a simple advertisement that I can ignore -- or the advertising will be built into the product where its not so easy to block and lowers the value of the product to both the owner and the customers of it. I've stopped trusting most review sites out there because you can see that that products they advertise are also the ones rated the highest without any bad ratings (how does that work???)

I've seen how this integrated advertising use to work in the early days of television. And there is a real reason it isn't used today. Occasionally, it makes a comeback and people complain and it goes away...but every idiot thinks its a novel idea that no one else had and tries it before failing.

Anyhow...as someone that provides several webservices, you can either agree to view the ads, pay not to or not use the service at all. Why is that so hard to understand. Just because technology exists to do something, this doesn't make it morally right (even if I understand the rational behind wanting to do so). Personally, I just don't go back to sites that barrage me with advertisement.

PrefBar and LiveHTTPHeaders

[hweimer]

I have only encountered two really useful extensions so far, the rest usually being too bloated or insecure to install them.

The first is the PrefBar [osreviews.net], which allows to quickly change browser options.
For example, enable or disable Cookies, Java(Script) with a single click. Or choose from different proxies, which is very useful in combination with Tor.

For web developers, LiveHTTPHeaders [osreviews.net] is a must. It allows you to track redirects, view Cookies or view and manipulate POST requests.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

The complete list

[Anonymous Coward]

Tools for taming the Web
StumbleUpon [mozilla.org]
Yahoo Mail Notifier [mozilla.org]
Gmail Manager [mozilla.org]
Greasemonkey [mozilla.org]

Visual Improvements
Firefox Showcase [mozilla.org]
Cooliris Previews [mozilla.org]
Colorful Tabs [mozilla.org]
ChromaTabs [mozilla.org]

Matters of convenience
Google Browser Sync [google.com]
Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer [mozilla.org]
Session Manager [mozilla.org]
All-in-One Gestures [mozilla.org]
IE Tab [mozilla.org]
Download Statusbar [mozilla.org]
Download Sort [mozilla.org]
Nuke Anything Enhanced [mozilla.org]

Information gatherers
Forecastfox [mozilla.org]
Answers [mozilla.org]

Web developer essentials
FireFTP [mozilla.org]
Firebug [getfirebug.com]
Web Developer [mozilla.org]
MeasureIt [mozilla.org]
ColorZilla [mozilla.org]

Yes, there are more than twenty, but 20 sounds better, doesn't it? By the way, please skip the IE tab. If you are using Firefox, it is in your best interest to abandon sites that only support Internet Explorer. I should go on to say something more, because I apparently don't have enough characters per line: more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more

Re:For those without Adblock

[bazorg]

People who really like these printer-friendly versions might like to make other websites "reader-friendly" by using re-pagination [mozilla.org] to have TFA load all at once instead of having 5 separate pages.

Re:Screw em

[Diamondback]

So, without ads, where do they get the money to stay online?

That's the obvious question. Do people just volunteer and donate all their time and money? Have you ever done that to help something else?

Re:The plugin I always wanted..

[Rakishi]

Tab Groups [paranoid-androids.com] does this to some degree.

Re:Screw em

[Anonymous Coward]

> Isn't everything so much better when it's only for the elites?

Well, it's much better when it's only for people who don't act to ruin it, yes.

If not harvesting email addys and spamming them to death makes one "elite", if not trying to jack unsecure machines into botnets makes one "elite", then yes, the internet was much better when it was only for the elites.

Re:Needed: Nuke Everything Else

[dabrepus]

There is a plugin that might help you: Aardvark.

It has an 'isolate' option, that will let you do what you are mentioning.

You can try it out here: http://karmatics.com/aardvark/ [karmatics.com]


Cheers.

Re:The complete list

[c_forq]

It might not be the bank, it might be the electric company. My electric company supports online bill paying, but I have yet to try it out. And at least in my are you don't get a choice in electric companies, either you are on the grid or you aren't.

***GOOGLE*** redirects you to localized sites

[knorthern knight]

It happens whether you use Firefox or IE. Google use your IP address to make the decision. This allows them to sell ads to German companies, and know that only people in Germany will see those ads. I'm in Canada, and Google re-directs www.google.com to www.ggogle.ca. You can over-ride local re-direction by going to http://www.google.com/intl/en/ [google.com]

Web developer list

[dcam]

Console2 [mozdev.org] - improved javascript error console
Greasemonkey [mozdev.org] - inject your own javascript
livehttpheaders [mozdev.org] - capture headers
WebDeveloper [mozilla.org] - major toolbox
HtmlValidator [skynet.be] - based on HTML Tidy, validates HTML as your view pages

Re:Wow

[ArAgost]

You betcha. [squarefree.com]

Re:The complete list

[killjoe]

If it's a public utility you can complain to the state. The state isn't supposed to force you to choose one corporations products.

Re:Adblock?

[AaronLawrence]

I don't want to pay money every month or year to support them to avoid ads.

Why not?

If you say "it's not worth it" - how long do you spend reading or posting on slashdot?

Slashdot does actually have a quite good system to pay to remove ads, with good options. And it's cheap. Some other sites assume that there are only "freeloaders" and "premium professionals" and therefore offer only overpriced subscriptions (like IMDB) that are not worthwhile to casual users, but slashdot is not one of those sites.