What fires Firefox
In last week’s column, I looked at some of the ways shortcuts can boost your online productivity in Firefox. This week, I’ll look at the third-party add-ons that put the Web browser into overdrive.
Mozilla Firefox is already a very good browser. That’s why people who switch to it — and there are millions of them — tend not to go back to their previous browser. In fact, many Firefox users are so enamoured of the software that they rave about it interminably in online forums and on mailing lists.
But let’s face facts: there are plenty of things Firefox doesn’t do, and other things it could do better. Thankfully, the program’s developers have designed it to be highly customisable. They’ve created a plug-in engine that allows anyone to build new functionality into the browser. If Firefox in its basic form is like a house, then think of the add-ons as the furniture, artwork and appliances that make it a more pleasant place to live.
So, as promised last week, I’d like to list some of what I regard as the best Firefox add-ons. A few words of caution, though: first, there are thousands of extensions and themes available and so this is a highly selective list; second, not all add-ons are available yet for version 3 of Firefox, released last month; lastly, poorly written extensions can cause problems with Firefox, so if it starts behaving erratically, it’s a good idea to remove recently installed add-ons to see if that resolves the problem.
Here are my must-have Firefox additions:
* PicLens: This extension, which works with picture websites such as Google Images, Facebook and Flickr, creates a stunning 3D video wall that allows you to search and zoom around thousands of images and other material. It will change the way you search the Web for pictures. It is visually stunning but broadband is required.
* TabMixPlus: If there’s one add-on that gets Firefox fans raving it’s this one. TabMixPlus enhances the browser’s tabbed browsing feature – this allows you to open multiple websites in the same browser window and switch easily between them. TabMixPlus allows you to duplicate tabs, undo close tabs (a feature also available in Firefox 3), merge windows, control tab focus, and much more.
* Adblock Plus: A n extension I am reluctant to recommend as I operate a website that is dependent on the very advertising that Adblock Plus blocks. The filter blocks most ads automatically. Right-click on those that don’t get blocked and bar them from appearing again. Truly an online publisher’s nightmare but great for bandwidth-starved users.
* IETab: A great plug-in for accessing those annoying websites that work only in Internet Explorer (IE). This extension allows you to open IE as a tab inside Firefox, so there’s no need to fire up the Microsoft browser separately. Oh, and people who design websites that work in IE only should be excoriated.
* DownloadThemAll: If you’ve ever downloaded large files in your Web browser, you’ll know how irritating it can be when you lose the connection hours into a download. Download managers solve that problem and DownloadThemAll is probably the best such plug-in for Firefox. A lso check out Flashgot.
* ForecastFox: Want to know what the weather is like, or want to check out the forecast for the next couple of days? Integrate this data directly into one of your Firefox toolbars with this handy plug-in.
* Clipmarks: A handy extension for people who need to capture information from the Web. It lets you capture exactly what you want others to see (text, images of video). Clips are saved on clipmarks.com and can be easily syndicated to Twitter, Facebook and other sites and they are available from any computer with an Internet connection.
Which are your favourite Firefox extensions?
First published as the column Technology & You in the Financial Mail of July 25 2008
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