20 Must-have Firefox Extensions 341
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.
Adblock? (Score:5, Interesting)
*fires up internet explorer, browses tfa*
Oh.
Two flash ads & an animated gif (along with the pop-up). Not surprised they didn't mention ad block plus [mozilla.org] and filterset g [mozilla.org].
Install them & never see another ad again. Ever. (without any sort of configuration).
Re:Adblock? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Adblock? (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't know, I think that if it comes to an arms race between the ad makers & the ad blockers, the ad blockers would win. For example, the TV stations had to do deals with tivo et al to stop ad-skipping tech.
It's easier for people to control what's displayed on their computer than most think.
Re:Adblock? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Adblock? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Adblock? (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Re:Adblock? (Score:5, Insightful)
However, while I don't mind people mentioning Adblock, I do mind people mentioning Filterset.g. For me, though, it's because ads are what make the internet run: if it weren't for ads, we wouldn't have near the amount of free sites that we do. Heck, Google would probably not even exist anymore.
The reason that I *do* like Adblock is that it allows you to get rid of the ads that should have never existed in the first place: Shaking/blinking ads, video ads that eat up all your bandwidth, and ads with blaring auto-starting sound.
What I generally do
It's a little hypocritical, perhaps, but I think that when choosing an ad provider, a site should think about the users' comfort at their site as well as about ad revenue.
Re:Adblock? (Score:2, Interesting)
127.0.0.1 ad.site.com
in my hosts file.
Re:Adblock? (Score:2)
Re:Adblock? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Adblock? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Adblock? (Score:3, Insightful)
Ads do not make the internet run. The internet was running just fine before banner ads.
We may not have the same amount of free sites that we do, but quantity is not something the internet is short on. Anyone intelligent enough to have something worthwhile to say would be intelligent enough to find a way to do it without ad revenue.
The signal to noise ration is very low on the internet, thanks largely in part to the number of freely available resources. Every jack-ass with some drivel that popped into his head is free to jabber away until he's blue in the face (Note: I do not exclude myself). It makes finding useful, accurate information a very time consuming process. If people actually had to pay to disseminate information on the internet, people would make sure their message was actually worth communicating.
The ad-model only seems like such a good plan because it's the only one 95% of the internet population is aware of. Love the enemy you know.
Re:Adblock? (Score:3, Insightful)
Furthermore, ads increase demand and therefore increase everybody's prices, so ad blocking is clearly the ethical thing to do.
Re:Screw em (Score:2, Informative)
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?
And add in flashblock while you're at it. (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:And add in flashblock while you're at it. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Adblock? (Score:3, Informative)
I don't want to see zero ads anyway. I just don't want them to take over my browser.
Re:Adblock? (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
What I want... (Score:2)
Re:Adblock? (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
The complete list (Score:5, Informative)
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:The complete list (Score:2, Troll)
Re:The complete list (Score:2)
I dump my bank if it doesn't support Firefox.
Honestly, it's become stupid to write IE only sites, as you're now alienating 20% of the population...
if a site requires IE it's just ignorant project managers that made it so.
Besides, forge your headers - the site will probably work anyway in Firefox.
Re:The complete list (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The complete list (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The complete list (Score:2, Insightful)
Believe it or not, there area lot of things that take priority over ideological opposition to "IE reqired" websites, and sometimes there just isn't any choice.
IE Tab is absolutely a must-have.
Re: 20 Must-have Firefox Extensions (Score:5, Funny)
or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bloat.
20 is too many (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:20 is too many (Score:2)
Agreed. After trying a fair number of extensions, the ones I've found most useful for casual surfing are AdBlock Plus, All-in-One Gestures, Download Statusbar, and User Agent Switcher. Throw ForecaseFox in there if you live somewhere where the weather changes often.
Re:20 is too many (Score:2, Interesting)
Before I'm modded as a troll I'm not saying "Opera rulez, FF sucks", there are features that are superior to Firefox too, like the kick ass Web Developer extension. I just think it would do better to have certain key extensions brought into the core browser.
Re:20 is too many (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:20 is too many (Score:3, Interesting)
Rather than putting things in the core, what about two classes of extensions: core extensions, which are heavily cross validated and unit tested by core developers; and add-ons, which are what they are now -- a collection of random itches that people scratched. This would allow a set of stable extensions that almost everyone uses, flexibility for those who don't want to use core extensions (since they can be removed), and the current ability to scratch an itch with a less thoroughly tested extension or even just an extension with very narrow use (e.g. only with a single website).
Re:20 is too many (Score:2)
Then don't use them?? Seriously, why not hit ctrl-n instead of ctrl-t?
Maybe taking it out won't make the code base any more efficient - it's like comparing sdi vs mdi.
You're probably the only user on the plant who hates tabs, as it's a fewture native now to IE, Opera and FF. As well as epiphany, Konqueror and Safari.
You're an island amongst yourself. If there was a desire for a non-tabbed browser, then someone would have forked firefox to have one.
Re:20 is too many (Score:2)
I have separate icons for Firefox on my toolbar. I change the command for the icon to launch the appropriate profile. For example, when doing web development the webdev icon runs: firefox -p webdev
What about unplug? What about flashgot? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:What about unplug? What about flashgot? (Score:2)
Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox? (Score:3, Interesting)
What about IE? They weren't even going to include tabs in IE7 originally. The evolution of IE has been mostly in its core rendering and ActiveX, and not the interface or functionality of the application. Internet Explorer has basically always been just a bare shell for MS's HTML handling engine. It's the bare minimum!
Re:Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox? (Score:2)
You could also say that Firefox is just a shell for Gecko (including its XUL, XBL, etc. parsing and renderring), and most of that is written using XUL, XBL, and JavaScript (Gecko is in C++ and allows for COM-like functionality via XPCOM).
Re:Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox? (Score:2)
I don't run many add-ons either because of speed and stability problems that arise with too many add-ons. Adblocking too many things also seems to slow down Firefox too. Flashblock helps too because ads are too CPU hungry, if I have a motion flash ad in a window going, it will generally always take 5% of my CPU, not something I want when trying to conserve battery power.
Re:Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox? (Score:2)
Especially if people are being told that "must have" extensions for Firefox include rainbow colored tabs, "more neat than actually useful" (quoting TFA) popup page previews, and weather forecast gadgets.
Another 4-5 of those "must haves" are strictly for developers (ex. FireBug/WebDev toolbar - I have those, my grandma doesn't need them).
Are you surprised? Shiny title on a worthless article? What a shock.
Re:Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox? (Score:2)
I'm talking about mine: she's a nuclear fusion rocket scientist.
Re:Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox? (Score:2)
You really need only mouse gestures, addblock, web developer, html validator, downthemall, flashblock, linkification and phpbb user hide, if you are reading phpbb forums. That's only 8.
For those without Adblock (Score:5, Informative)
Re:For those without Adblock (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:For those without Adblock (Score:2, Informative)
Might have been just me . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Might have been just me . . . (Score:2)
i don't see why anyone else would need those extensions, though.
Re:Might have been just me . . . (Score:2)
sensationalism (Score:5, Informative)
if this list were anywhere near accurate it should have included these extensions:
Most of the authors of these extensions are not yet members of the Pornzilla project.
Re:sensationalism (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:3, Informative)
Re:sensationalism (Score:5, Funny)
You are a first person shooter?
Comment removed (Score:2)
Re:20 must have? (Score:2)
Google browser sync (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:2)
Re:Google browser sync (Score:2)
Well, I have several thousand bookmarks and I change them frequently. I've ended up with duplications, deletions, and other problems.
I don't synchronize passwords or cookies; that's really a privacy issue to me.
Maybe you should raise your concerns with Google? Provide them feedback.
I have, but there has been no response.
I think the most useful change to Google Browser Sync would be to select synchronization per-folder. I really only want a small set of common bookmarks synchronized.
Comment removed (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:2)
Flergh! (Score:2)
Addons memory usage (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Addons memory usage (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Extensions (Score:4, Informative)
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
Tabbrowser Extension? (Score:2)
If anybody knows how I can get these again, especially the grouped tabs down the side, I'd love to hear about it.
Re:Tabbrowser Extension? (Score:2)
Re:Tabbrowser Extension? (Score:2)
Google for this, I've seen a few methods and I think one extension that does this.
Grouped tabs - with the tabs down the side, it would use indentation to maintain tab groups. Pop-up windows would thus be associated with the window they came from, rather than appear somewhere unrelated on the tab bar. Then I can close them all in one go, hide all the pop-up windows or move them all to a new location on the tab bar in one go
Tab Groups [paranoid-androids.com] is the closest one to real tab grouping but the current version is very minimal (but free of major bugs), and probably doesn't really do what you want. They'll be another version in mid-April likely and probably a faster release schedule after that.
Better control over new windows - basically every window operation can be forced in to a tab, or new window as desired. Nice
Look at Tab Mix Plus.
Session management - Firefox seems to restore my session after it crashes or is killed. Otherwise on normal exit it just tells me that it's closing the tabs. This extension always restores the session with each tab's browse history. It looks like the extension in article for session management actively requires saving the session - true?
Session Manager or Tab Mix Plus will do what you want.
Re:Does it work with Tab Mix Plus? (Score:2)
2. Probably, hell it may cause problems all on it's own. I mean let me quote it's webpage "This extension strongly unrecommended. Tab Mix is recommended instead of this, because it is stable, light, and it covers most useful features of this."
APT-get Extensions? (Score:3, Interesting)
The APT dependency management would also make it easier to install, say, a GreaseMonkey script and automatically install GreaseMonkey, because it's the script I want and GreaseMonkey is incidental.
A reverse dependency tool in Firefox would let me install FireFox on a host, then get suggestions of all the extensions I have installed elsewhere. But that's more of a reach than just including the extensions installs in APT packages.
Re:APT-get Extensions? (Score:2)
The point of APT is that it's all collected, centralized and manageable. Including dependencies, the nightmare for upgrades (and downgrades).
Now, if there is an APT tool that can import a directory or files into the DB, registering any files, then that's great. For example, Perl has it's -MCPAN installer, but it's much better to use the APT wrapper. Maybe the way to do it is just to wrap the extensions into
The 2 I use the most (Score:2)
Conquery & Linkification (Score:3, Informative)
Missing extension (Score:3, Informative)
PrefBar and LiveHTTPHeaders (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Colorful Tabs? (Score:2)
The ones I use that I consider "must have": Adblock (of course) and the filterset.g updater, forecastfox and target alert. And I'm not even sure about Forecast Fox. It just saves me having to open a weather webpage. I also like StopAutoPlay, Download Embedded, and the Download Manager Tweak so I can make it load in a tab.
how about just being able to install the plugins. (Score:2)
This is probably some security feature.. but actually having installable mac versions might persuade me to dump safari as my primary browser for firefox.
URLParams and Console2 (Score:2)
URLParams is very handy for breaking down get params for web page calls which speeds up debugging of complex calls. I use this almost every day becuase the 3rd party app that I need to extend is heavy on get params.
Console2 is necessary to filter out many annoying css warnings that come out by default since FireFox 1.5.
Cheers,
JsD
lget (Score:2)
threat level (Score:5, Funny)
20 Must-have Firefox Extensions (Score:2, Funny)
Here's a list of mine... (Score:3, Interesting)
I've posted my list [gnu-designs.com] back about a year ago, and I still use every single one of them every day... (I also describe how to get around a "bug" in FF that forbids non-standard port connections). Check it out here [gnu-designs.com]. I also spoke at my local LUG about the same thing in January.
Here's a list of the extensions I'm currently using in my Firefox build (you can see how I have it tricked out [gnu-designs.com] with all of my theming and extensions over here [gnu-designs.com]):
Tabmix, Geckotip and others (Score:2)
- Tab Mix Plus: Gives you a lot more control of and functionality for your tabs, including multi-level undo for close.
- Videodownloader: Get a local copy of a YouTube video.
- GeckoTip: I have a tablet PC and if you do you MUST get this
- Firebug: Did he include this? If not best way to see what you have open in your tabs.
Needed: Nuke Everything Else (Score:3, Interesting)
Why does Firefox redirect google.com to google.de? (Score:2)
Now I have problem when I type "google.com" into the address bar, google is redirecting me to google.de. That only happends with firefox though, and yes I'm logged on to google so google knows who am I and should have no reason to redirect me.
I only found one hint how to fix this, but that advice does not work for me. So: what's wrong with firefox? And frankly: Firefox is 100 times better than IE, no doubt, but sooooooo many options I need to tweak are only available via about:config, and it has so maaaaany bugs. I only use it on Ajax sides that won't render good in Safari.
angel'o'sphere
***GOOGLE*** redirects you to localized sites (Score:3, Informative)
and on the home front /. becomes digg (Score:3, Insightful)
Web developer list (Score:3, Informative)
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:If they are "must have" (Score:2)
Some of them of very specialized. If you don't use gmail, then your browser doesn't need code in it that treats gmail's pages as a special case that needs to be manipulated.
Some of them, such as adblock, work only due to not being mainstream. If they get too popular, there will be countermeasures.
And some of them have subjective value. So they're "must have" for Person A, but annoying to Person B.
Re:If they are "must have" (Score:2)
For example, I use:
- Forecastfox (Great when you can't use the weather channel)
- Morning Coffee (Excellent if you read a lot of webcomics or other weekly features)
- Download Statusbar (I find it less intrusive than the downloads window thing, but remembering what you picked up half an hour ago is harder)
- ChromaTabs (Just picked it up a few minutes ago to see the colors, but the added distinction between tabs is a plus - I wish the damn thing let you set the colors yourself though. I don't mind colorful tabs, but a lot of stuff is in the same shade of green.)
Not everyone WANTS colorful tabs though, or an icon that lets them read webcomics, or even to know what the forecast outside is. This way, everyone can get the user experience they want.
Re:If they are "must have" (Score:2)
Re:If they are "must have" (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:If they are "must have" (Score:2)
Zing! (can't believe I got banned from fark.com
CookieSafe (Score:2)
Re:The plugin I always wanted.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The plugin I always wanted.. (Score:2)
Re:Opera does most of these anyway. (Score:2)