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Mozilla The Internet

20 Must-have Firefox Extensions 341

Posted by CmdrTaco from the so-it-comes-to-this-then-does-it dept.
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.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

20 Must-have Firefox Extensions More

20 Must-have Firefox Extensions

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  • Adblock? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Whiney Mac Fanboy ( 963289 ) * <whineymacfanboy@gmail.com> on Sunday March 11, 2007 @10:26AM (#18307722) Homepage Journal
    Why isn't adblock mentioned?

    *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)

      by Tx ( 96709 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @10:35AM (#18307782) Journal
      It may be selfish, but I kind of wish people wouldn't mention those too often. If they get too widely used, it will just mean more annoying, unavoidable ads. Like those ones that make you visit an ad page in order to then get the link to the actual article. Those piss me off.

      • Re:Adblock? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Whiney Mac Fanboy ( 963289 ) * <whineymacfanboy@gmail.com> on Sunday March 11, 2007 @11:17AM (#18308032) Homepage Journal
        It may be selfish, but I kind of wish people wouldn't mention those too often. If they get too widely used, it will just mean more annoying, unavoidable ads.

        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)

          by Inda ( 580031 ) <slash.20.inda@spamgourmet.com> on Sunday March 11, 2007 @12:23PM (#18308438) Journal
          Yes, true, because banner ads in the middle of TV programmes are so much better.

      • Re:Adblock? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by GetSource ( 807184 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @12:53PM (#18308604)
        In a way, I agree -- but more about people blocking *all* ads in general.

        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 ... is leave most ads on, then block the ones that are especially irritating. This allows places to continue to have revenue, but only stunts the growth of the companies that produce ads that are more obtrusive/use more resources than an ad should.

        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: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Idbar ( 1034346 )
          Personally, I do what Spybot does, I add a line:
          127.0.0.1 ad.site.com
          in my hosts file.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cyclop ( 780354 )
          I fully agree. I started to use AdSense, and I feel it's quite nice -it's unobtrusive but not deceiving, and integrates nicely with the page. I'm happy with it because I know I don't feel bad when looking at other sites using AdSense. OTOH, any kind of advertisers using flashy irritating popup should just die without a chance. They are not doing advertising, they are blocking me from the content with their advertising. I just don't understand how can people want to buy something advertised by an idiotic Fla

        • Re:Adblock? (Score:4, Insightful)

          by CodeBuster ( 516420 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @05:22PM (#18310534)
          The argument that you have put forward in favor of ads (i.e no ads then no content) is a common one among marketers and other people in the advertising business, but my response to them is and will always be, "Welcome to the free market". If people really want your content then they will buy a subscription. The government does not and cannot protect everyone from the rigors of competition. I have to compete everyday with software engineers in India and China who are getting better all of the time and work for much cheaper than I am able to. My message to you and all of the others who complain when the rules of the game change is, "Get used to it...adapt or die and let your competition step over your corpse". The world does not owe you a living and if technology changes or allows people to break your business model then tough. The world got along fine for generations before marketing and advertising, and it will be fine, indeed much better, without it. I use adblock to block everything that I don't want to see all of the time and I have absolutely no qualms about doing it. You may ask where my sense of sympathy or mercy went, well all I can say is that it was beaten out of my during long months of unemployment following the dot-com bust. I have no illusions now and neither should anyone else.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Jekler ( 626699 )

          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 h

    • And add in flashblock while you're at it. (Score:5, Informative)

      by cliveholloway ( 132299 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @10:47AM (#18307834) Homepage Journal

      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: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by el americano ( 799629 )
        I used to use bugmenot extensively, but then I just decided to avoid those sites that require a free sign-up. For news sites, everyone has the same news as the NY Times, so they are not missed. When I absolutely can't forego a sign-up, I use Trashmail [mozilla.org], but places are starting to catch on.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by zippthorne ( 748122 )
      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.
    • Hmmm maybe its because they like being in business. But that's just a wild guess.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @11:10AM (#18307980)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • ... is an adblock that follows the links, so it costs the advertisers money.

    • I prefer blocking them at the transparent proxy level. Good old squid does the job well.

  • Re: 20 Must-have Firefox Extensions (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11, 2007 @10:30AM (#18307746)
    20 Must-have Firefox Extensions

    or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bloat.

  • 20 is too many (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mostly a lurker ( 634878 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @10:32AM (#18307756)
    Based on my experience, Firefox often becomes unstable when too many extensions are included. The problem is that extensions can conflict with each other. This risk is low with a small number of extensions but increases as the number of extensions increases. Extensions are a great feature of Firefox, but it is best to select the 10 or so that really increase your productivity and let the rest go.
    • Extensions are a great feature of Firefox, but it is best to select the 10 or so that really increase your productivity and let the rest go.

      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: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Falesh ( 1000255 )
      I must say that is what I like about Opera. It has a good core set of features e.g. sessions, mouse gestures, integrated search, content blocking, ad blocking, integrated email, spell checking, etc [opera.com]. Since these are core features I know there will be no compatibility problems with them. It also now has Widgets [opera.com] though they can't alter the browser as much as Firefox extensions can.

      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 t

      • Re:20 is too many (Score:4, Insightful)

        by ScrewMaster ( 602015 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @12:55PM (#18308614)
        I agree, but I think that if you ask a hundred users what their "key" features would be, you'd probably get 101 different answers.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by mdfst13 ( 664665 )

          I agree, but I think that if you ask a hundred users what their "key" features would be, you'd probably get 101 different answers.

          Yes, for example, could we get tabs out of the core? I don't like them and it is currently impossible to turn them completely off (for example, install an add-on and restart firefox; home page, current page, and add-on page come up in tabs). I'd also currently like to remove the password manager functionality, as the current version is insecure (it can be fooled into sending passwords to other web sites than the one for which the password was saved).

          Rather than putting things in the core, what about two

          • Yes, for example, could we get tabs out of the core? I don't like them and it is currently impossible to turn them completely off

            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

    • Based on my experience, Firefox often becomes unstable when too many extensions are included.

      I've found that it depends on what extensions you use. Some extensions are poorly written. I have 29 extensions installed in my daily Firefox profile and have no problems with speed or stability. I created separate Firefox profiles for other purposes and installed different extensions in those profiles:

      • default - set to run by default and has my daily surfing setup and bookmarks
      • school - I have a different set of t

  • What about unplug? What about flashgot? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11, 2007 @10:40AM (#18307812)
    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.
    • Talking about streaming content, I noticed I get download links at Google video in Konqueror, but not in FF, so now I set the FF agent to Konqueror on the Windows laptop when I want to download from Google video on that one. All that embedded crap, bah.
  • The idea that the browser isn't feature-complete unless you install 20 add-ons is certain to scare some people away. I know there isn't much fun in reading an article about the 5 "essential" add-ons, but you can probably get the best of what's missing. I'm down to only two (AdBlock Plus w/ Easylist, and Flashblock for limiting/customizing non-ad content) and quite happy with my experience.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by HalAtWork ( 926717 )
      The idea that the browser isn't feature-complete unless you install 20 add-ons is certain to scare some people away

      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: (Score:2)

        by jZnat ( 793348 ) *
        Well, a counter-example to IE would be Konqueror: it's just a shell for KHTML, but it also includes tons of features that you can't exactly put in the HTML/CSS and JavaScript engines (e.g. Konqueror has a built-in AdBlock, auto-refresh, download manager (via KGet), web page translation, web page validation, user agent changer, flashblock (via plugin settings), and more). Other applications can embed KHTML (e.g. Akregator does this for viewing webpages from RSS feeds, or KMail in order to view HTML emails).
    • The article is mistitled ("essential" should be "most interesting) but I think it helps to show how powerful Firefox is, it's basically a platform to itself now.

      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

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by suv4x4 ( 956391 )
      The idea that the browser isn't feature-complete unless you install 20 add-ons is certain to scare some people away.

      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? Wh

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by jZnat ( 793348 ) *

        Another 4-5 of those "must haves" are strictly for developers (ex. FireBug/WebDev toolbar - I have those, my grandma doesn't need them).
        My grandmother is a web developer you insensitive clod!

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by suv4x4 ( 956391 )
          My grandmother is a web developer you insensitive clod!

          I'm talking about mine: she's a nuclear fusion rocket scientist.
    • I wonder how could anyone live without colored tabs. Yes, those sure are "must-have" extensions.

      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)

    by Spad ( 470073 ) <slashdot@Nospam.spad.co.uk> on Sunday March 11, 2007 @10:48AM (#18307840) Homepage
    As the site has been Slashdotted already, have a Coralised, Printer-friendly version. [nyud.net]

  • Might have been just me . . . (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @10:54AM (#18307876) Journal
    . . but I just dont see why many of those are 'Must have'. I mean how often do I need to measure stuff?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by J0nne ( 924579 )
      If you're a web developer, 'measure it' is essential (so is Firebug, and 'colourzilla').

      i don't see why anyone else would need those extensions, though.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fm6 ( 162816 )
        Firebug and Colourzilla sound interesting. But what's the point of measureit? Relying on fixed-size elements is a bad practice.

  • sensationalism (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11, 2007 @10:56AM (#18307886)
    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 based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by h2g2bob ( 948006 )
      Yes, why did this make slashdot? There are billions (ok, 27,300 according to google) of these "Top 20 Firefox Extensions", and most of them have better extensions, and manage to list them all on one page.
    • I've had problems with it not doing the right thing when used from several computers or when used with other extensions that use bookmarks. It also seems to slow down some operations significantly. In the end, I removed it; I think it still needs work.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • I have several computers with Firefox installed, not suffered issues with bookmark syncing (I barely add more bookmarks -- could be a reason). I'm particularly pleased with how well it syncs passwords and cookies.

          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 the
  • I wanted to read this article, but I can't make any sense of it. There is junk text all over the place which seems to be linking to other stuff posted to day. How the hell am I ment to make sense of 10 different blocks of text when all I want to read is 1 clean and simple article?

  • Addons memory usage (Score:5, Interesting)

    by secolactico ( 519805 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @11:09AM (#18307978) Journal
    Is there a way to see how much memory is each extension using?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by 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 c

  • Extensions (Score:4, Informative)

    by JohnyDog ( 129809 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @11:12AM (#18308000)
    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

  • I've been using the Tabbrowser extension for years. It seems to have fallen by the way-side, but it has some functionality that I miss:
    • Tabs at the side - it could put the window tabs down the side of the browser window. I can read them faster here, and with a lot open, still see the labels without having to put the mouse over them to see the tooltip
    • 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 ca
    • For session management in firefox >= 2.0.x.x, enter about:config, search for "browser.startup.page" and set it to "3." Restart firefox and watch the magic happen.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rakishi ( 759894 )
      Tabs at the side - it could put the window tabs down the side of the browser window. I can read them faster here, and with a lot open, still see the labels without having to put the mouse over them to see the tooltip

      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

  • APT-get Extensions? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @11:19AM (#18308042) Homepage Journal
    I wish these extensions would register when installed with my APT repository. That way it's easier to upgrade along with the rest of my system, especially after an OS upgrade (every 6 months with Ubuntu). And easier to clone to a new machine.

    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.
  • I use Jeteye and Foxytunes a lot. Jeteye [jeteye.com] is a great bookmarking tool that you can use from one computer to the next. We use it at work as a way to allow everyone to have access to useful sites.

  • Conquery & Linkification (Score:3, Informative)

    by De Lemming ( 227104 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @11:41AM (#18308182) Homepage
    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 (Score:3, Informative)

    by J0nne ( 924579 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @11:45AM (#18308208)
    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.

  • PrefBar and LiveHTTPHeaders (Score:5, Informative)

    by hweimer ( 709734 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @11:57AM (#18308274) Homepage
    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.
  • I don't think changing the tab color is really a "must have" extension. In fact, it strikes me as a pretty useless extension.

    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.
  • so i tried to install some firefox plugins to allow me to say.. grab flv streams from google video/youtube w/o having to mess around with the activity window(safari) or trace down the spidering they use to forcibly coerce you into giving them page hits... and the things wont install on the mac version of firefox.

    This is probably some security feature.. but actually having installable mac versions might persuade me to dump safari as my primary browser for firefox.
  • Many of my faves are already covered but URLParams and Console2 are both handy additions to the developers toolbox.

    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
  • This [mozilla.org] is another must have extensions I usually install. It modifies the firefox download manager to allow you to directly specify a URL to download without opening the file in the browser first. It is handy for when you get sent URLS on e-mails, ims, etc and just want firefox have it download it directly without opening it (ie: similar to wget) without the need of an external downloader. ;)

  • threat level (Score:5, Funny)

    by magarity ( 164372 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @01:18PM (#18308742)
    Those plugins are all very cute, but the plugin I rely on most is the one that displays the Homeland Security department's current threat level.
  • "Must-have" I don't think you know what that word means.

  • Here's a list of mine... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hacker ( 14635 ) <hacker@gnu-designs.com> on Sunday March 11, 2007 @02:17PM (#18309142)

    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]):

    • Sage [mozdev.org], a really slick and fast rss aggregator/reader for Firefox. It docks on the sidebar and is visible with a simple Alt-S keystroke. Very nice, and easy for me to catch up on some quick headlines when I need to.
    • AdBlock Plus [mozilla.org] with the AdBlock Filterset G Updater [mozilla.org] to stop the flood of useless ads from coming at me. I did have to add one small rule for Google's ads, because I do actually like the recommendations they provide from time to time, and it helps out sites I visit with a little revenue. That regex looks like this: @@*.googlesyndication.com/*
    • Web Developer [chrispederick.com], a very useful and slick toolbar/menu driven suite that allows me to do all kinds of things to websites I'm viewing, including validation, showing where their css classes are, manipulating forms, cookies, images, and dozens of other features. Hands-down, the most-useful extension I have as a developer/tweaker of web content.
    • PrefBar [mozdev.org], another powerful extension I use every single day. This one allows me to change the capabilities of my browser with a simple click of a checkbox. Want Java enabled? Click. Sick of popups? Click. I have Colors, Images, Javascript, Java, Flash, Popups, Proxies, Pipelining, Referers, Cache on my bar. Its completely customizable, and very well-done.
    • SwitchProxy [flock.com] lets me manage and switch between multiple proxy configurations quickly and easily. I can also use it as an anonymizer to protect my system from prying eyes. I have Squid [squid-cache.org], Squid + Privoxy [privoxy.org], Privoxy + Tor [eff.org] and i2p [i2p.net] enabled in my configuration at the moment. Quick and easy, and one status-bar dropdown lets me change from one to another.
    • FasterFox [mozdev.org] gives me a little boost by auto-configuring some parameters for faster browsing, such as link prefetching, pipelining, DNS cache, paint delay, and others.
    • ForecastFox [mozdev.org], weather.. in my status bar. I've changed the icons a bit with a separate icon pack [mozdev.org] called Lansing [mozdev.org], which is nice adn small and out of the way. Minimal is the way to go on my toolbars and status bars.
    • Linky [gemal.dk] lets me open or download all or selected links in a page, image links and even web addresses found in the text in separate or different tabs or windows. A simple right-click on any link or web address, and away I go.
    • Google PageRank Status [tapouillo.com] gives me a quick overview of the PR of a site in the current view. This is useful as I do a lot of web work, and knowing what kind of sites get a decent or poor PR is useful information.
    • SearchStatus [quirk.biz] is another SEO toolbar fo
  • Here are some I find must haves:

    - 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)

    by srobert ( 4099 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @02:28PM (#18309290)
    I need something like Nuke Anything Enhanced, except that I want to eliminate everything else except the content I'm interested in. I have a small laptop with a 10-inch screen. I resize the fonts in Firefox so that my tired old eyes can see them. If there are 4 columns in the page, one with content and 3 with menus and ads, then with the enlarged font, the content column may have only 3 to 5 words per line. This leads to lots of scrolling. But with a "Nuke Everything Else" extension, the content would fill out the page. Another way to do the same would be an extension that opened up the one item in a separate tab or window by itself.
  • Last version of firefox had a "bug" in the search bar, it would not honour my google settings but force me to use google.de and also restricted me to search for german web pages. This I could fix by googeling around, finding people with the same problem.

    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 on

  • and on the home front /. becomes digg (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Sebastopol ( 189276 ) on Sunday March 11, 2007 @05:45PM (#18310710) Homepage
    can we have a rule: No N-Best Of Lists on /. Ever.

  • Web developer list (Score:3, Informative)

    by dcam ( 615646 ) <david AT uberconcept DOT com> on Sunday March 11, 2007 @06:19PM (#18310952) Homepage
    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

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