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Exploring Firefox Extensions

Posted by Hemos on from the learning-more-about-it dept.

Gary writes "If you haven't made the switch to Mozilla Firefox it may be because you aren't aware of the great benefits Firefox has over IE. Flexbeta has posted a nice HOWTO guide on Firefox extensions; my favorite is the Target Alert extension which displays a small graphic next to links that are not web pages. For example a mailto: link will display a small envelope, a link to a PDF file will display a small Adobe icon, etc."

14 of 484 comments (clear)

  1. Yet more good reasons to switch from IE by Slashbot+Hive-Mind · · Score: 5, Informative

    FireFox features I can't live without:

    1. Middle click to open link in new window/tab
    2. Find as you type
    3. Themes/Skins/Chromes
    4. Customizable toolbars
    5. Plugins that allow me to put just about anything on the toolbars
    6. Great development tools - javascript console, venkman debugger, live-headers plugin

    All that boils down to:

    1. Easier to use
    2. Easier to customize
    3. Broader advanced feature set

    --

    --
    We are the collective Slashbot HiveMind
    1. Re:Yet more good reasons to switch from IE by qshapadooy · · Score: 5, Informative

      about:config

      Preference Name: image.animation_mode
      Value: once

    2. Re:Yet more good reasons to switch from IE by Linknoid · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Simple and consistent solution: The user middle clicking on any element is doing so because they desire whatever action they clicked on to occur in a new tab. The solution is to make an exact replica of the current page and its state in a new tab, and then act as if the button had been pushed on the replica page instead. Sure, there will be things that don't work right with it, but I think most of the time that will give the correct behavior. Oh, and open in new tab should work with buttons too, not just links.

  2. my most used extension ever... by huphtur · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...has to be Web Developer.
    A MUST for every webnerd.
    It even lets you edit CSS live on the web.

  3. adblock by seanismdotcom · · Score: 5, Informative

    adblock is one of the greatest extensions I must say. Adblock along with the following filter block 98% of ads..

    [Adblock] /[\W\d][Aa]d(server|s|remote)?[\W\d]/ /[\W\d][Bb]anner(s|id\=)?[\W\d]/ /[\W\d][Ss]ponsors?[\W\d]/ /amazon\.com.*\W(promotions|marketing|merchants|st ores|associates)\W/ /yimg\.com.*\W(a|flash)\W/

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    http://seanism.com/
  4. Here's one benefit... by proxy2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Firefox is the ultimate porn browser !

  5. Adblock by strider44 · · Score: 5, Informative

    As extensions go, nothing beats adblock.

  6. Wikalong by phUnBalanced · · Score: 5, Informative
    A little blatant self promotion. (I apologize)

    I've written up a little extension called Wikalong.

    Basically, it puts a wiki in your sidebar, that is indexed off the current page you are viewing. The wiki is online so anyone using the plugin, that visits a page you make notes on will see your notes, and vice versa.

    It doesn't work perfectly yet, but I'm hoping to attract some smarter people than I to help get it straightened out.

    More details on the site I linked above.

  7. Wanted Extension: by tratten · · Score: 5, Funny

    'Apply new extension without Firefox restart'-Extension

  8. Re:I haven't switched...my reasons are... by The+Grassy+Knoll · · Score: 5, Funny

    >my online baking site

    Doh! (nut)

    .

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    They will never know the simple pleasure of a monkey knife fight
  9. Some useful links by t7 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Texturizer.net has a nice collection of extensions you may not find on mozilla's dev site.

    Some extensions I'm currently using:
    Flat Bookmark Editing
    Add Bookmark Here
    CuteMenus
    Paste and Go
    Gmail Notifier(Still works)

    Free iPods? Sure. freeipods.com

  10. Nuke Anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Nuke Anything is a favorite of mine. Right click an image, table, or even a frame, select "Remove this object" and it's zapped from the page layout. Quite useful for removing images or overly large margins.

  11. My extensions by Sunspire · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's some extensions I like that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

    Magpie. Those who've used FlashGet with IE will love this little thing. It'll snatch all the files pointed to by links from a page according to some pattern, for example *jpg, and save them to disk or open them up as tabs. Great for collecting "nature pictures".

    Firefox's bookmark dialog's "Create in" feature pisses me off. It never, ever, has the folders you need in it's puny little drop down. OpenBook removes it and replaces it with the full bookmarks folder tree.

    You can reorder tabs with MiniT using simple drag and drop on the tab bar. I think this should maybe be added to Firefox itself, it's pretty basic functionality.

    --
    It's like deja vu all over again.
  12. BugMeNot by Takkuri · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm surprised no one's mentioned BugMeNot yet. It connects to a database of usernames and passwords, allowing you to log in as the public BugMeNot account.

    This is especially useful for a one-time posting on a site, or to read members-only newspapers and things like IGN Insider.