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Mozilla Announces Extend Firefox Contest Winners

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the best-of-show dept.

Foxy Betty writes "Mozilla Corporation has announced the winners of the Extend Firefox Contest, a project initiated to encourage development of extensions for the Firefox Web browser. A panel of industry notables reviewed more than 200 extensions submitted to the contest."

163 comments

  1. If only... by pneumatus · · Score: 1

    If only AdBlock had been updated for the competition... That's probably the 1 addon I couldn't live without.

    --
    Just don't create a file called -rf. :-) -- Larry Wall
    1. Re:If only... by Spad · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://adblockplus.mozdev.org/

    2. Re:If only... by tryggvi · · Score: 2, Informative

      I actually find NoScript better than Adblock since most ads are generated using javascript I don't have to think about blocking the ads on a new page since they are already blocked (javascript not executed).

      Still one needs Adblock for hard-coded ads, but with NoScript a lot of adblocking is prevented (and the browser becomes more secure).

    3. Re:If only... by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      I actually don't use adblock. What I do use is flashblock. This cuts out 95% of the annoying ads. I don't mind seeing ads as long as they aren't really annoying and intrusive. I think Noscript would be nice too, for those really annoying ones that show up and move around over the content you are viewing. But I don't use it because there are enough sites out there that need javascript to function correctly, such that it would be annoying to have to enable it for every new site I went to. The thing that I find blocks the most annoying stuff is firefox's built in pop-up blocker.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    4. Re:If only... by ThePhilips · · Score: 2, Interesting

      AdBlock can block scripts too. In fact AdBlock can block almost anything: images, iframes, embeds, objects, etc.

      Not all people are that good with HTML/Web terminology: AdBlock unfortunately use lots of it. It's okay for me. But my friend e.g. has whole bunch of extensions (a-la FlashBlock, NoScript) which in fact do what I do with AdBlock alone.

      --
      All hope abandon ye who enter here.
    5. Re:If only... by leonmergen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Exactly; if you want ad agencies to "get your message", try to actually block the ads you find annoying instead of blocking _all_ ads... if flash/dhtml ads get less and less views compared to "normal" banners, they will get the message...

      --
      - Leon Mergen
      http://www.solatis.com
    6. Re:If only... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Flashblock doesn't report itself, or prevent the ads from being served, so it's not really sending any messages. The thing is that clickthru rate is already so infinitesimal that adblocking is just a drop in the bucket, nobody really cares. The focus is more on optimizing the people who do click.

    7. Re:If only... by Lispy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hey, you probably know that, but there is a well maintained, autoupdated set of rules for almost all Ads out there.
      It's called Filterset G.
      This in addition to Adblock plus keeps all ads out of sight without having to configure a single thing. No worries. :)

      I highly recommend it to anyone and it's part of my default install for friends...

    8. Re:If only... by ThePhilips · · Score: 1
      I've tried it at home but found that I consider to be ads much broader range of content...

      And not everyone knows about the filtersets. And it's very accustomized to U.S. providers. E.g. I see quite much ads on German and Russians sites. And with filtersets installed, adding another rule is bit more difficult than with plain AdBlock.

      Anyway, I use AdBlock for quite some time and my rule set is *very* long and kills *all* what *I* consider ad, not some other guys.

      --
      All hope abandon ye who enter here.
    9. Re:If only... by A+beautiful+mind · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not entirely true though. I use NoScript to block in-html javascript on sites.

      I've also extended my own version of AdBlock to incorporate a new feature which I named relative-to-site blocking: you define what the "site" is with a regexp, a few special modifiers and filter non-matching content from it with a regexp. For example, the following rule:

      ##\dom##.*

      Would block all content which is not coming from the domain currently in the status bar, so if you're surfing example.com images and javascript linked from google-analytics.com will get blocked, but if you're surfing google-analytics.com (for any reason) it allows you to watch it. Of course there is a whitelist too,

      #@example2\.com##
      or a regular expression like #@\tld:hu##

      Then there are the two-level filters which really give the fine-tuning abilities:

      ###\tld:com|biz|net#####(\dom=/example/)|(\sadom)# #(.*js)|(.*swf)$

      A bit of an explanation for this one, the first regexp is a regexp deciding what kind of domains you want to match, the second regexp decides that the domain you're matching - how do you want it to be considered a site and the third part decides what kind of filtering to do with content that doesn't match your defined "site".

      Currently five special "variables" exist:
      \tld:top-level-domain(s)-here - Self explanatory
      \dom(=/regexp/)? - Current domain you're at - like developers.slashdot.org. There is an optional regexp if you want to specify what kind of domains you want this rule to match for - useful for creating multiple-choice rules. Like the long one above.
      \cdom(=/regexp/)? - Conservative domain - like slashdot.org even though you're visiting developers.slashdot.org.
      \sadom(=/regexp/)? - Subdomains and domain - like .*\.developers.slashdot.org if you're visiting developers.slashdot.org
      \csadom(=/regexp/)? - Conservative domain and subdomains - like *.\.slashdot.org if you're visiting developers.slashdot.org

      Currently it is only used by me, I made a post about this a while back on the Adblock plus forum, but the Adblock plus devs didn't really react. I might contribute code back if there is interest though.

      --
      It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
      Be yourself no matter what they say
    10. Re:If only... by Lispy · · Score: 1

      True. The extra comfort comes with less configurability. But as I don't want to spend my time reading ads nor configuring adblock and I use quite a lot of different machines throughout the day I settled for the painless solution.

      I live in Germany myself and must say that it works great even for german sites.

    11. Re:If only... by AuMatar · · Score: 1

      I find *ad* blocks 99.99% of all adds.

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    12. Re:If only... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's only used by you because it is stupid and pointless; much like you, retarded monkey.

    13. Re:If only... by Parham · · Score: 1

      I install this hosts file also which is a list of sites that the browser shouldn't access because of ads or other similar things. A quote from the site says it best:

      The Hosts file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. This file is loaded into memory (cache) at startup, then Windows checks the Hosts file before it queries any DNS servers, which enables it to override addresses in the DNS. This prevents access to the listed sites by redirecting any connection attempts back to the local machine. Another feature of the HOSTS file is its ability to block other applications from connecting to the Internet, providing the entry exists.

    14. Re:If only... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Not to mention:

      www.myforumsite.example.com/forum/admin
      www.myfilerepository.example.com/downloads
      www.mycommunity.example.com/adduser.php ...

    15. Re:If only... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      if you want ad agencies to "get your message", try to actually block the ads you find annoying

      What if "your message" is "I hope you get the plague and die and take your kids with you for the sake of the gene pool?"

    16. Re:If only... by AuMatar · · Score: 1

      If you click on a link to a page directly, adblock doesn't block it. So unless its an embedded object (flash, image, etc) with *ad* in it you're good.

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    17. Re:If only... by leonmergen · · Score: 1

      What if "your message" is "I hope you get the plague and die and take your kids with you for the sake of the gene pool?"

      Then you need a mental institute more badly than an adblocker...

      --
      - Leon Mergen
      http://www.solatis.com
    18. Re:If only... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Ah, that's cool. I know for a fact it wasn't always that way. I still remember wondering why the hell I kept getting "Document contained no data" or something like that when I would try to hit sourceforge. :)

  2. improved updater by cpdsaorg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How about upgrading the windows version without leaving the old version number in the add/remove programs? I have to update 40 or 50 machines at a time and it's a pain uninstalling before installing.

    1. Re:improved updater by tpgp · · Score: 3, Informative

      How about upgrading the windows version without leaving the old version number in the add/remove programs? I have to update 40 or 50 machines at a time and it's a pain uninstalling before installing.

      This blog suggests that the issue your complaining about was fixed around a year ago.

      Or perhaps I misunderstood your problem?

      --
      My pics.
    2. Re:improved updater by aug24 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      That's not really extension stuff is it? Perhaps you should try suggesting it at the bugzilla for FireFox, rather than here?

      I gotta laugh that some idiot mod rated your comment interesting instead of offtopic though!

      J.

      --
      You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
    3. Re:improved updater by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That issue was fixed in Firefox 1.5 (indeed it was partly fixed in 1.0.3, but could still be a problem in some circumstances)

    4. Re:improved updater by killjoe · · Score: 1

      Why doesn't windows just let you right click on that list and delete an entry?

      --
      evil is as evil does
  3. three extensions I cant live with by Nosklo · · Score: 1

    AdBlock with FilterSet updater Image Zoom Tabbrowser Preferences

    --
    find -name "*base*" -exec chown us {} \; ; ln -s /dev/zero /dev/chance ; make time
    1. Re:three extensions I cant live with by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I can't live without the Abe Vigoda Status extension (FYI -- he's alive as of 8:30am US Eastern Time).

    2. Re:three extensions I cant live with by john83 · · Score: 0

      I can't live without the Abe Vigoda Status extension (FYI -- he's alive as of 8:30am US Eastern Time).

      I love that one. It saves visiting the webpage.
      --
      Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
    3. Re:three extensions I cant live with by el_gordo101 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I got a chuckle the other day (Feb. 24th) when his status read "Happy Birthday!"

      --
      TODO: Insert witty sig
  4. A bit staid? by Ithika · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They're probably really nice and elegant and all that but ... are they not just a wee bitty dull? I mean, two out of the three winners appear to create thumbnails of pages (whether from the history or other open pages). And while Web Developer is a fantastic package it's hardly cutting edge and new. I was hoping for something with real pizzaz. Something where the very idea and description was enough to make me go, "wow".

    Anyone else find it a bit anticlimactic?

    --
    the layman's guide to computer science
    1. Re:A bit staid? by pneumatus · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The only extension that i've ever used (and don't mind but wouldn't consider it essential to my browsing experience) is Sage and that came a lousy second place to Viamatic Foxprose - something that appears to be wholly useless in the 'Most Innovative' category.

      --
      Just don't create a file called -rf. :-) -- Larry Wall
    2. Re:A bit staid? by b4k3d+b34nz · · Score: 3, Funny

      I thought the Separe extension was completely useless. If you really want to visually separate tabs, just open a new window and start fresh. That, or get glasses if you can't scan your tabs.

      I suppose at some point FF extensions have to hit a wall for new and innovative things. Personally, I'm still waiting for the "don't use 300MB of memory" extension.

      --
      Grammar Lesson: you're is a contraction of "you are"; your means you possess something; yore means days gone by.
    3. Re:A bit staid? by ROOK*CA · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I was hoping for something with real pizzaz. Something where the very idea and description was enough to make me go, "wow"

      Well one of the nice things about open source is that one idea tends to spawn other ideas, in other words IMHO it tends to be evolutionary rather revolutionary, perhaps this years winners will act as the catalyst(s) that lead to one or more extensions that give you that "wow" feelin'. Remember FireFox is still (relatively speaking) a young "platform" and there have already been quite a few "wow, that's pretty handy (and cool) extensions" released.

      I for one am looking forward to seeing what that vibrant dev community comes up with next and I have to admit it's kind of fun, browsing thru and testing out what's already out there in different combinations, "FF Extension Mashing", perhaps the making of a new fad? :)

    4. Re:A bit staid? by WiFiBro · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Web Developer may be totally useless for end-users, but for web page developers it is amazing, it is really grabbing the html by the balls.

    5. Re:A bit staid? by Derek+Pomery · · Score: 1

      http://kb.mozillazine.org/Reducing_memory_usage_(F irefox)#Settings_that_reduce_memory_usage

      --
      -- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"' /. ate my old sig. Bastards.
    6. Re:A bit staid? by WiFiBro · · Score: 2, Informative

      Second? I see they made a division between 'new' and 'upgraded'.Sage is 'upgraded'.

    7. Re:A bit staid? by pneumatus · · Score: 1

      My appologies - A misinterpretation on my part Sage did win the best upgraded extension in the "Most Innovative" category. I think my confusion came from seeing Reveal as the best overall extension and also the best user experience new extension... Another one for the RTFA brigade i think :)

      --
      Just don't create a file called -rf. :-) -- Larry Wall
    8. Re:A bit staid? by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Install this to read the following:

      US3KDP6BklCiVjtyJft3Yw==

      use password: funky0011-pass

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    9. Re:A bit staid? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rook*CA is a fanboi.

      Just an observation from an AC

    10. Re:A bit staid? by sketchydave · · Score: 0

      You also have to remember that we're not exactly your normal users of technology. If you're a Slashdot reader then chances are you already know whats coming down the pipeline in addition to a ton of rumors in addition to that. It kinda makes everything anti-climactic. This is really aimed to show the masses how powerful and useful an open-source project can be. I'm thrilled to see Web Developer win something, that is the the reason why FireFox became my primary browser, I use it all the time.

    11. Re:A bit staid? by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Web developer is a god send for people who do web development for a living. I don't know how people get by without it. Seriously. It has so many useful features that I can't think of a day I've gone without using it. That, along with the Venkman Javascript debugger, have made my life as a web developer 10 times easier. Microsoft et al should have stuff like this for web development environments.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    12. Re:A bit staid? by Haeleth · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm still waiting for the "don't use 300MB of memory" extension.

      That's easily solved. Simply remove all but 256MB of RAM from your computer, and disable any swap space you had configured, and Firefox's memory usage will fall by at least 15%.

    13. Re:A bit staid? by edremy · · Score: 1, Funny

      Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I want the "Don't use 1GB of memory" extension first.

      --
      "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
    14. Re:A bit staid? by joseprio · · Score: 0

      Well, I'm one of those winners! The focus of the contest was to use new Firefox 1.5 features, and I guess that's why there are 4 winning extensions that make use of the window thumbnails. Anyways, I was really sure IE Tab would get some prize, since it's an extension I really like...

      About Web Developer, I thought it wouldn't get one of the grand prize because it's has no "wow" factor, but I wanted it to win, since it's really great extension.

      --
      Speed Dial for Firefox
    15. Re:A bit staid? by Pigeon451 · · Score: 1

      I agree, most of the extensions don't break new ground or are even that interesting. Some of them only save a couple steps. I was hoping for something a little more adventerous or cool.

    16. Re:A bit staid? by b4k3d+b34nz · · Score: 1

      You don't happen to work for Comp USA, do you? I swear I heard similar (unsolicited) advice when I was looking at laptops a while back.

      --
      Grammar Lesson: you're is a contraction of "you are"; your means you possess something; yore means days gone by.
    17. Re:A bit staid? by joseprio · · Score: 2, Informative

      One is a ripoff of OS X Expose. The other is a copy of an IE 7.0 feature.

      Reveal is composed by 3 different features, and one of them is tab previewing, but you have search bar where you can "filter" thumbnails by their characteristics, and also show thumbnails of the history of that tab. Really, not similar to Expose or IE 7.

      Showcase (which is the extension I developed) is not a copy of IE 7. The idea behind it was to be able to see tabs from windows other than the current one, so you can access them in a fast way. From OS X Expose I took the idea to fit all thumbnails in a single window (without scrolling), and from IE 7 Quick Tabs I took the idea to put a close button to each thumbnail, since it was requested by some users. I finished the first version of this extension quite long before I learnt about Quick Tabs.

      Calling this "stealing" is really harsh language. Microsoft Windows copied lots of stuff from Mac OS, Mac OS copied a lot of stuff from Xerox Star... So you see, open source is not really different to closed source in that sense.

      --
      Speed Dial for Firefox
    18. Re:A bit staid? by SpiritGod21 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I would have liked to see something more innovative, like gestures, be given an award... but that's just me.

    19. Re:A bit staid? by trcooper · · Score: 1

      It'd be nice is Venkman was updated for 1.5. I loved the thing, but left it behind when I upgraded.

      On a related note, Eclipse has the Ajax Tools Framework proposal that looks to be very promising for developers. I currently use Eclipse and the WTP for JSP/Struts development, and its excellent, but debugging javascript is still a pain.

    20. Re:A bit staid? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed, I was hoping to see more entries in the winners' circle that did something *different*.

    21. Re:A bit staid? by ROOK*CA · · Score: 1

      Rook*CA is a fanboi.

      Well if by that you mean that I like Firefox and/or Open Source and/or certain Firefox Extensions, well yeah I do, so consider your suspicions confirmed & have a nice day.

    22. Re:A bit staid? by Dan+Ost · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I run Firefox in Linux and don't have any memory problems with Firefox. gconfd-2, on the other hand, gobbles up 100M or so overnight, so I end up restarting Firefox just to get gconfd-2 to restart.

      Can anyone explain why a configuration daemon eats up 100M overnight? When I start it up, it only takes about 10M.

      --

      *sigh* back to work...
    23. Re:A bit staid? by OneSeventeen · · Score: 1

      Considering the fact that they catgorized them in the manner that they did, I can't complain.

      I will say that the fact that both reveal and showcase seem dangerously similar, and even use the same access keys (which cannot be changed without modifying the extension's source) which seemed a bit dissapointing.

      As a web developer, the web developer extension is probably my favorite feature of Firefox. If it came down to it, I would choose the web developer extension over tabbed browsing (but just barely). I was definitely rooting for the guy to win in that category.

      --
      "Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed." -C.S. Lewis
    24. Re:A bit staid? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alan Partridge: I loved that phrase you used, it was very clever - 'Revolution not evolution'.
      Tony Hares: No, it was the opposite. 'Evolution not revolution'.
      Alan Partridge: Well whatever. Because that is me. I 'evolve', but I don't... 'revolve'...

    25. Re:A bit staid? by joseprio · · Score: 0

      As both Reveal and Showcase descriptions say, you can use the KeyConfig extension to rebind the keys. Also, both extension don't share the same key shortcut. I think Reveal uses F2, and Showcase, F12.

      --
      Speed Dial for Firefox
    26. Re:A bit staid? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is an update. I've got Venkman running in 1.5.0.1
      http://getahead.ltd.uk/ajax/venkman

    27. Re:A bit staid? by aitan · · Score: 1

      Be happy, this is the IE Developer toolbar

      The Firefox extension is still much better, but when you need to debug a problem with IE this toolbar it's worth its price.

    28. Re:A bit staid? by Blue+Stone · · Score: 3, Funny

      +X/M7En87xo=

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    29. Re:A bit staid? by VJ42 · · Score: 1

      It's my favorite extention
      I use it all the time.

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
    30. Re:A bit staid? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For something innovative, see:
      http://people.csail.mit.edu/dfhuynh/research/media /UIST%202006/uist2006.swf

    31. Re:A bit staid? by aitan · · Score: 1

      Do you think that it is a good idea to promote embeding IE inside Firefox? What would happen when people gets infected via IE Tab? Mixing two browsers in one is really dangerous as an attacker can try to take advantage of the weakness of each one and also of the new vectors provided by the union of those pieces. I'm really happy that IE tab didn't get any prize because it could mean a big backlash for Firefox if some attacker use such weakness. If I want/have to use IE I just launch it, there's no reason to embed it inside Firefox and browse the web that way.

    32. Re:A bit staid? by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      54 68 61 74 27 73 20 67 72 65 61 74 20 3a 29

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    33. Re:A bit staid? by whitehatlurker · · Score: 1
      two out of the three winners appear to create thumbnails of pages ... anyone else find it a bit anticlimactic?

      More than a bit. Someone above mentioned that they'd like to see something innovative which I agree with. (But then the other poster said gestures, which is a copy from Opera. I think copying innovation isn't innovation. Unless you're MicroSoft.)

      I think the extension I've used most is blockfall. Most of the others that interest me I don't use - instead I use Proxomitron and Opera for those features. (Sorry, that's incorrect - I do use gestures all the time.)

      --
      .. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
    34. Re:A bit staid? by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      Oh, I think Séparé might make sense for me. I use Tab Mix Plus with the mosewheel-scrolled tab bar. Unfortunately this is a bit problematic in conjunction with the Mighty Mouse, which has a very sensitive "wheel", which sometimes goes off while you middle-click, causing you to accidentally hit the wrong tab. Sure, you can undo he close but I'd prefer accidentally closing a separator than a real tab.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    35. Re:A bit staid? by cdrudge · · Score: 1

      Agreed. When checking a page for use under IE, I often start to go up to the toolbar to use a Web Developer tool, only to be disappointed that it's not there.

    36. Re:A bit staid? by NickFitz · · Score: 1

      There's always the IE Developer Toolbar from Microsoft. It's Beta 2 (but stable on my machine - YMMV) and isn't quite as wonderful as the FF extension, but it's still pretty helpful when you're trying to work out what on earth IE thinks it's playing at.

      --
      Using HTML in email is like putting sound effects on your phone calls. Just say <strong>no</strong>.
  5. Too bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Corporations can't win the contest, because Google's extensions are the best! Especially the Blogger Web Comments one.

  6. Memory Leak by rollonet · · Score: 0

    I haven't used Firefox in a while (Opera). Have they fixed the Memory Leak yet? I remember thats what put me off, otherwise I enjoyed Firefox quite a bit, and would certainly go back.

    1. Re:Memory Leak by TrekkieGod · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It turns out that it's not a memory leak, it's caching of the web pages which can be a lot of memory if you keep a lot of tabs open. You can turn the feature off, or limit how much ram it uses with this setting.

      --

      Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.

    2. Re:Memory Leak by rarwes · · Score: 1

      It is not a bug, it is a feature! http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/009749 .html

    3. Re:Memory Leak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, they claim that. They're lieing. The page cache feature is NOT what's causing the massive memory leaks that people experience. It's NOT what causes Firefox to take 100% CPU for up to 30 seconds to close a window.

      There are several things that DO cause the memory leak though, and they're all due to plain old bad design on behalf of Mozilla:

      * Crappy memory allocator. For those who know what it means, Firefox uses "sbrk" and not "mmap" to allocate memory. Yes, this means they're NOT using the libc malloc AND they override "new". This means that the Firefox allocator can only free unused memory from the end of the heap. If you have a 200MB heap, and the first 199MB are unused, that last 1MB will prevent that 199MB from being returned to the OS.

      * Crappy memory handling. JavaScript is GCed. Unfortunately, most of the objects JavaScript interacts with are reference counted. Solution? Any time a reference counted object holds a reference to a JavaScript object, it becomes a "root" object in the mark-and-sweep GC. (Always remember to "removeEventListener" during "onunload", every website out there...)

      * Memory leaks. They exist. They're large. Combined with the memory allocator that only frees from the end, a simple memory leak on an object at the end of the heap can cause Firefox to require 300MB from the OS when it's only using 20MB. Anyone who mentions "virtual memory" at this point will be shot.

      I'm sure there's more, but that's what I've found.

      The Firefox memory leak is real, and it's not caused by page caching. Netscape 4.5 used memory caching too, but it didn't require 300MB+ after 8 hours of use ("a normal day at the office").

    4. Re:Memory Leak by ben+there... · · Score: 1

      Be sure to read the comments on that blog. You'll find it is a bug, and probably unrelated to the bfcache that Ben Goodger claims it is. That's why his next post is More on Memory.

      He probably should have updated his original post though, so this wouldn't be incorrectly spread around the web, as if it's the only Firefox memory problem.

    5. Re:Memory Leak by TehDagda · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Opera is totally a huge memory hog. As bad as Firfox. And it's JavaScript implimentation is buggy, it crashes on me about 3-4 times a week on one of my various computers because it can't handle the horrible JavaScript code many sites have, that causes more crashes than anything else. In my experience (and I'm always using the up-to-date version), it's far less stable than Safari or even IE.

      And it is by far my first choice in a web browser. When it crashes, I just re-start it. ALL the pages I had up come right back up. Tab switching is way better than Firfox or Safari. IE.... well, its IE.

      Cycle in reciently used order. The way it reloads your browsing session after a quit or a crash. The find functionality. An intelligently designed user interface. Browsing shortcuts. Mouse gestures. That's just a couple of reasons why Opera is better. And I don't want to hear it about extensions. You can make Opera do anything Firefox can do, with a user interface that doesn't suck.

      Firefox is excellent. Safari is excellent. Even Camino. But Opera is better. And it runs on every computer I have.

    6. re: memory leak by trigonalmayhem · · Score: 1

      People already went over this last time it was brought up, but even with the caching 'feature' off there's still a memory leak for some people.

      Maybe someday I'll use firefox again ... I do like the extensions a lot

    7. Re:Memory Leak by bunratty · · Score: 1
      I haven't used Firefox in a while (Opera). Have they fixed the Memory Leak yet?
      That's a silly question. Firefox will always have memory leaks, as well as other serious bugs such as crashers and security problems. All the other browsers have these problems, too.

      The memory leaks are being addressed, with dozens fixed since Firefox 1.5 was released. You can try Firefox 1.5.0.2 when it comes out and see if you still experience problems or not.

      --
      What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
    8. Re:Memory Leak by bunratty · · Score: 1
      Speaking as someone who has put a lot of time and energy into hunting down memory leaks, you do have good insight into what is causing the severe memory problems that some users experience. Have you considered filing some bug reports for some of your suggestions?

      And, BTW, Firefox developers never, ever, lied and said that Firefox doesn't leak memory -- they merely pointed out that the greater memory use many users are seeing in Firefox 1.5 is largely attributable to the new bfcache.

      --
      What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
    9. Re:Memory Leak by bradbury · · Score: 1

      The problem, IMO, is the extensive use of malloc() which in turn uses sbrk() to continually extend the heap. The problem is *not* leaks so much as heap fragmentation. If the history or bookmarks allocate small chunks of memory they are going to end up scattered across the entire heap due to normal browsing patterns. So each time you malloc(), free(), or garbage collect you are going to have to scan through the entire heap. If the heap data + active code pages exceeds 65-70% of total physical memory on the machine (under Linux) [this can be observed using "top"] the machine will take a significant(!) performance hit. There is a need to split the heap into separate memory pools -- mmap() might be useful in this respect (one pool for history, one pool for bookmarks, one pool for javascript, one pool for images, etc. That way poor behavior in one memory pool will not negatively impact other pools and paging performance can be optimized.

      However I'm reasonably certain there is a problem with Linux with paging in general. One can improve it somewhat by decreasing vm.swappiness from 60 to 20-5 but I believe there are other swapping behavior parameters that need to be changed to optimize the performance for "workstation" performance rather than "server" performance. (Its either that or the entire Linux VM/paging system needs to be redesigned because the amount of paging which actually takes place due to Firefox fragmenting the heap is significantly lower than what the hard drive is capable of [at least on my machine].) I think they paging is tuned so that paging rates do not run so high that they lock out other I/O -- but on a workstation one *wants* the active windows (tabs, threads, etc.) to take *all* the I/O they require. If that isn't the problem then one may need an approach which will lock a greater fraction of the "essential" Firefox pages into memory.

  7. Thoughts by FlynnMP3 · · Score: 1

    Scrapbook looks interesting. Looks like a better way to re-visit older pages without using the history. Web Developer is dang near indespensible for anybody who does anything with web development. Not a surprise that Chris got top prize for it. The rest of it - meh - doesn't suit my web habits. Expose for FIrefox, big whoop. I barely use expose on the Mac. The closest thing that I've seen for good tab visual managment is color coding via domain. Some of these extensions probably have that; I didn't look all that hard. Tabbrowser Preferences has it, but that beast of an extension is too top heavy.

  8. Nice by ROOK*CA · · Score: 1

    Congrats to the Winners, I have to say Reveal is a nice little extension and definitely deserves the "honors", FasterFox and IE Tab are also Nice extensions which IMHO are worthy of some "extra credit".

    Ad Block is a sweet extension as well, very effective in getting rid of those annoying "oh so slow to load" flash ads that some cheesy web designers (ad execs?) seem to be in love with.

    Rock on FireFox ..:)

    1. Re:Nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "'oh so slow to load' flash ads that some cheesy web designers (ad execs?) seem to be in love with."

      The banner ad process at advertising agencies usually goes something like this:
      Client -> Account Executive -> Art Director/Copywriter Team -> Web Designer

      The client, AE and/or AD/CW can each order up that banner with 'extra cheese'. The web designer has no power to take the cheese off the menu - that decision has already been made and signed off on before it gets to the web designer. All the web designer can do is to influence the execution so that the banner avoids using the extra stinky cheese.

      Slow to load? For the most part, that's up to the website displaying the banner. The website has the power to reject banner submissions that fall outside of their specs. The client/ae/ad/cw almost always want to cram in as much material as they can within those limits.

  9. FlashGot 0.5.9.993 by digitaldc · · Score: 1

    Download one link, selected links or all the links of a page at the maximum speed with a single click......FlashGot offers also a Build Gallery functionality which helps to synthetize full media galleries in one page, from serial contents previously scattered on several pages, for easy and fast "download all"


    Great extension for Firefox...just don't sue them for Rhyming-Name Infringement ;)

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
    1. Re:FlashGot 0.5.9.993 by pilkul · · Score: 1

      I like it, but it forces you to use a download manager but doesn't recommend anything good (stupid attempt at neutrality). I tried a few but they sucked. Could you suggest the best download manager to use with FlashGot on Windows?

    2. Re:FlashGot 0.5.9.993 by Fulg · · Score: 1

      Could you suggest the best download manager to use with FlashGot on Windows?

      Try Reget Deluxe... Haven't seen anything better yet.

      If only they made a Linux version, I'd finally switch :)

      --
      gcc: no input sig
  10. Looking at the prizes by anupamsr · · Score: 0

    Looking at the prizes, it seems the stress has been laid on 'showing' what fancies Firefox extension mechanism can bring.

    Even then I think it is better for Firefox on marketing scale. Because the general public goes for fancyful things you can do with the boring experience of browser, than actually thinking of standard compliamce or performance.

    --
    I forgot to be anonymous.
  11. DANGER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do not install all the entrants at once. It would be bad.

    1. Re:DANGER by Ithika · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hmm, (+1, Balls of Steel) or (-1, Unusable)?

      --
      the layman's guide to computer science
    2. Re:DANGER by Slashcrap · · Score: 2, Funny

      Do not install all the entrants at once. It would be bad.

      My God! It looks like IE. Except that he actually deliberately installed all of those extensions and none of them are malicious.

    3. Re:DANGER by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      That is not all submitted extensions, I know because none of the ones I submitted are shown on that page :)

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    4. Re:DANGER by qray · · Score: 0

      Look a lot like my desk
      --
      Q

    5. Re:DANGER by Chanc_Gorkon · · Score: 1

      HOLY CRAP! We think IE is bad! No seriously.....some of the extensions are good, but I tend to stay on the less obtrusive ones....I don't have a HUGE monitor yet....I need the screen real estate for view web pages not toolbars.

      --

      Gorkman

    6. Re:DANGER by sendai2ci · · Score: 1

      That reminds me of the time Microsoft released Word 6 for Mac and Windows, at the time Word for Windows was rather backwards while Word 5 for the Mac was one of the greatest word-processors around though starting to catch some bloat. Word 6 for the Mac ended up being one of the worst apps ever released for the Mac. It was slow, bloated, looked fugly and ran in something akin to an emulated environment.

      You can sorta see the toolbar bloat progression here.

    7. Re:DANGER by TomorrowPlusX · · Score: 1

      My god, it looks like Microsoft Word.

      --

      lorem ipsum, dolor sit amet
    8. Re:DANGER by jesser · · Score: 1

      That is not all submitted extensions, I know because none of the ones I submitted are shown on that page :)

      It's the 100 most popular extensions on addons.mozilla.org, more or less. See the page those screenshots came from: The Superbrowser.

      --
      The shareholder is always right.
  12. Yay for scrapbook getting an award by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The single most usefull extension for Firefox I have found so far.

    If you do research on the web, you'll ask yourself how you were able to live without out, after you gave it a try.

    P.S.: I know this sound like marketing babble, but I'm in no way affiliated with the scrapbook guys, I'm just a fanboy who really loves their work.

  13. The winners are ... by gormanly · · Score: 1, Informative

    Seeing as the linked page is useless to those of us running non-Firefox 1.5 browsers (Mozilla 1.7.12 here), I looked up the details of what the winners actually are, and thought I'd share ...

    Grand Prize Category Winners:

    Best New Extension Overall: Reveal by Michael Wu See everything. Reveal allows you to see thumbnails of pages in your session history and quickly find the page you want. Reveal also includes a magnifying glass to help you see everything. Best Upgraded Extension: Web Developer by Chris Pederick Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools. Best Use of New Firefox 1.5 Features: Firefox Showcase by Josep del Rio Showcase is an extension thought to easily locate and select any open browser window in Firefox.

    Our three grand prize winners will receive a Alienware Aurora 7500 Firefox Edition PC and a Firefox 1.5 Prize Pack including: T-shirt, cap, and laptop bag.

    Best in Class Category Winners:

    Most Innovative: New: Viamatic foXpose by Vivek Jishtu Click on the icon in the status bar to view all the browser windows with a single click. Upgraded: Sage by Peter Andrews Sage is a lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator extension for Mozilla Firefox. It's got a lot of what you need and not much of what you don't. * Reads RSS (2.0, 1.0, 0.9x) and Atom feeds * Feed Discovery * Integrates with Firefox's bookmarks Most Useful: New: Separe by Massimo Mangoni Helps you keeping tabs tidy by introducing a new kind of tab! Upgraded: Scrapbook by Taiga Gomibuchi ScrapBook is a Firefox extension, which helps you to save Web pages and easily manage collections. Key features are lightness, speed, accuracy and multi-language support. Major features are: Save Web page; Save snippet of Web page; Save Web site; Org Best User Experience: New: Reveal by Michael Wu See everything. Reveal allows you to see thumbnails of pages in your session history and quickly find the page you want. Reveal also includes a magnifying glass to help you see everything. Upgraded: All-in-One Sidebar by Ingo Wennemaring All-in-One Sidebar is a sidebar control, inspired by Opera's. It lets you quickly switch between sidebars, view dialog windows such as downloads, extensions, and more in the sidebar, or view source code or websites in the sidebar. It includes a slide Best Integration with a Web Service: New: My Stickies by Jacob Wright Mystickies allows you to place sticky notes all over the web and organize them with tags. You can view, sort and edit your notes with our free web based tool at www.mystickies.com Upgraded: Forecast Fox by Aaron Sarna Get international weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com, and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable and unobtrusive extension.

    Prizes for Best in Class (8 awarded): Apple iPod Nano, $250 Gift Certificate for O'Reilly books, and a Firefox 1.5 Prize Pack - T-shirt, cap, and laptop bag.

  14. I always wondered.... by christurkel · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Has anyone thought to code an extension like Gaim for Firefox? You could call it Aimzilla or something silly like that.

    --

    CDE open sourced! https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/
    1. Re:I always wondered.... by starwed · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      There's jabberzilla, which (of course) supported the jabber protocol. But it hasn't had any activity in a while.

      I tried my hand at writing one myself, and got it to the point where I could talk to people and add contacts w/o any problems. It didn't do anything else and was super ugly, though. ^_^

    2. Re:I always wondered.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Post a link, I don't know about anyone else but i'd like to take a look at it.

  15. Note About Opera by judmarc · · Score: 1

    Just a note to say that if Opera users want to experience thumbnails, the latest tech preview has 'em. Just mouseover a tab - thumbnail for the page pops up near-instantly.

    1. Re:Note About Opera by porneL · · Score: 1

      Yup, latest technology previews with thumbs, widgets, site prefs, etc. seem like Opera had their own internal extensions contest.

  16. Site-sensitive user agent switcher by Jivha · · Score: 1

    It would be cool if we could have the user agent switcher tool with the capability to assign a particular user agent with a particular site and automatically switch upon loading a site. And the switch must be for a specific tab not all open tabs.

    - For example I might want the switcher to automatically switch to IE7/XP while visiting my bank's site that expects IE.
    - But I may want the switcher to automatically switch to Googlebot while visiting password-protected news sites so that I can go directly in.

    1. Re:Site-sensitive user agent switcher by DracusMage · · Score: 1

      I am not entirely certain, but I seem to remember http://ietab.mozdev.org/ having the ability to set websites to auto-load in an IE window embeded within a tab.

      --
      "Ranger Brad, I'm a scientist, I don't believe in anything." - Dr. Roger Fleming
    2. Re:Site-sensitive user agent switcher by pneumatus · · Score: 1

      I think Parent is referring to an addon like User Agent Switcher but with default user agents for certain sites rather than changing the whole renderer to another real agent (which is what IETab does).

      --
      Just don't create a file called -rf. :-) -- Larry Wall
    3. Re:Site-sensitive user agent switcher by DracusMage · · Score: 1

      You're absolutly right. I guess I should LTReadForContext. It's just that when my bank website used to say it couldn't do firefox, it was because it was using stupid IE scripting and really couldn't load in firefox, not because the admin decided to detect an agent and refuse me.

      Regardless, it's invaluable, letting me use firefox to do "crazy" things like look at the AAA travel planning website.

      --
      "Ranger Brad, I'm a scientist, I don't believe in anything." - Dr. Roger Fleming
    4. Re:Site-sensitive user agent switcher by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can do that with privoxy.

  17. Sheesh by cosmotron · · Score: 0

    Two of the grand prize winners extensions are like the same damn thing! They are both stupid ways to generate pictures of your open tabs...BIG DEAL!!

    --
    Ryan - http://www.thecosmotron.com/
  18. Strict version compatibility by CurbyKirby · · Score: 1

    I wish there was an easier way to sidestep version requirements of extensions. I'm often stuck choosing between security updates and what I consider essential functionality and features. For example, I love TabBrowser Preferences, but its latest version isn't compatible with the latest Firefox v1.5.0.1 so I stick with 1.5. For the longest time after the 1.0 launch, I was still using beta 0.6 because it worked with my extensions and was stable under extreme usage patterns.

    So... any chance for implementing an about:config variable we could tweak if we want to use our 2-hour-old extensions with an hour-old Firefox release? I understand the desire to protect users from doing stupid things, but oftentimes so-called incompatible extensions have no problem running on versions they weren't originally designed for.

    (I know I can unpack extensions and tweak their compatibility strings manually, but a more forgiving browser would save many steps.)

    --Curby

    --

    --
    "Extra Anus Kills Four-Legged Chick" -- Headline
    1. Re:Strict version compatibility by Denyer · · Score: 1

      You probably want the Nightly Tester Tools extension. Does the work for you! :)

      --
      Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
    2. Re:Strict version compatibility by joseprio · · Score: 0

      As others said, you can install that extension, and also you can change the app.extensions.version in about:config to 1.0+ , so you can install all extensions.

      --
      Speed Dial for Firefox
    3. Re:Strict version compatibility by Game_Ender · · Score: 1

      You want the Nightly Tester Tools: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?application=firefox&id=958 It allows you to have firefox ignore the version numbers.

    4. Re:Strict version compatibility by Monimonika · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem isn't that the extension is incompatible, but that the extension creator(s) didn't bother to follow the guidelines provided for compatibility version labeling. The security update isn't big enough to compromise the functioning of extensions. The Nightly Tester Tools extension easily does the maxversion bumping that you want until the extension author(s) realize that they had ignored the guidelines.

    5. Re:Strict version compatibility by deletedaccount · · Score: 1

      That's not exactly true. It took 3 months after 1.5 was released for my extension to be updated, not because I'm lazy or incompetent, but because there is a lack of testing manpower at mozilla.

    6. Re:Strict version compatibility by Monimonika · · Score: 1

      The extension in question (not yours) was already compatible and available for 1.5. The problem was that the maxversion was not written according to the guidelines provided (nothing to do with testing, since that part of the process was already done). The mistake in the maxversion labeling caused Firefox 1.5.0.1 to think that the extension was incompatible (hey, it's just reading what was provided by the extension author).

    7. Re:Strict version compatibility by deletedaccount · · Score: 1

      Fair enough, my bad. But it does raise another interesting point. The allowed version numbers and guidlines on how to use them were not updated until several weeks (iirc) after 1.5 was released, meaning I had to try to guess them (or look at other extensions) in order to get mine working. On top of that, for a while the uploader (which parses the xpi files) refused to accept version numbers the guidlines recommended. I realise it's a open source project etc etc, but all in all it was a very confusing situation.

    8. Re:Strict version compatibility by personman21 · · Score: 1

      I have version 1.5.0.1 and use TabBrowser Preferences... I don't remember if I went to the authors webpage, but I'm still using it. Try getting it from http://216.55.161.203/theonekea/tabprefs/

  19. Web Developer by Z0mb1eman · · Score: 2, Informative

    Glad to see Web Developer at the top of the list... it is, IMO, by far the most useful Firefox plugin out there. I've been using it at work for a few months, and even got a few co-workers to install Firefox specifically because they wanted to use this plugin...

    Just one datapoint, but it reinforces in my mind how important plugins (they're plugins, dammit! why are they pushing the term "extension"!) are to Firefox's success. Which, I guess, was the whole point of this contest.

    --
    ClutterMe.com - easiest site creation on the Net. Just click and type.
    1. Re:Web Developer by jesser · · Score: 1

      why are they pushing the term "extension"!

      Because in the world of browsers, the term "plugin" has a specific meaning: a program that uses a specific API (the Netscape Plugin API) to display types of content (Flash animations, QuickTime videos, etc.) that the browser doesn't support natively.

      Btw, you misspelled "?".

      --
      The shareholder is always right.
  20. Tabs by BarryNorton · · Score: 0, Troll

    Doesn't it say something about the Firefox design that many of the entrants and winners are essentially ways to try to make the tabbed browser interface actually usable?..

  21. When Firefox doesn't have a feature you want... by frankie · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...just add an extension! The Nightly Tester Tool does exactly what you ask.

  22. Criteria by Syberghost · · Score: 1

    It appears that "best" means "of practical use to as few people as possible".

  23. Please use quotation marks for headlines like this by Saberwind · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    This may sound nitpicky, but the headline would be a lot easier to parse if it read like this:

    Mozilla Announces 'Extend Firefox' Contest Winners

    As it is, I had to read it a few times. I kept stopping at the word "Extend" and wondering how to parse two consecutive verbs (Announces Extend).

    I wish newspapers would get a clue and use quotation marks properly as well, but I digress.

  24. I do not use many extensions, however ... by Herschel+Cohen · · Score: 1

    I would not surf without either Adblock or Flashblock. Despite this dynamic duo powers, there are still Asian sites that I will not tolerate, with their excesses of flashy clutter.

    I do not block everything, just the most intrusive. Hence, I selectively chose the ones to suppress with Adblock, whereas Flashblock may be blanket coverage it stops the cpu from approaching maximum levels of usage.

    Oddly of all the winners, I have not even experimented with even one those listed.

  25. Platypus by DingoGroton · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One of the finalists really stood out to me, Platypus, which allows users to dynamically edit the sites they visit and then be able to save the changes to a GreaseMonkey script. It works great on getting rid of some of those annoyances on sites you visit.

    1. Re:Platypus by iamlucky13 · · Score: 1

      Someone above complained about extensions being a bit "staid." I think this one looks like it has some definite potential. I may have to fool around with it a bit.

  26. Pawning off a racoon as a Firefox! by typical · · Score: 1

    Okay, does the plush toy they're giving away look more like a fox or a racoon?

    --
    Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
    1. Re:Pawning off a racoon as a Firefox! by joseprio · · Score: 0

      Okay, does the plush toy [mozilla.org] they're giving away look more like a fox [wikipedia.org] or a racoon [wikipedia.org]?

      I don't think they're giving that plush toy, but just a t-shirt, a cap and a laptop bag.

      --
      Speed Dial for Firefox
    2. Re:Pawning off a racoon as a Firefox! by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's not a fox or a racoon. It's a Firefox, which is a real animal, which looks similar to the plush.

    3. Re:Pawning off a racoon as a Firefox! by BruceCage · · Score: 1

      Red Panda to the rescue! Awwwww!

      --
      Perfect is the enemy of done.
  27. Firefox extensions I can't live without by peter8888 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    These are the Firefox extensions I can't live without

    GooglePreview:
    https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=189

    Venkman Javascript Debugger (for 1.5):
    http://getahead.ltd.uk/ajax/venkman

    Live HTTP Headers:
    http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/

    Peter

    1. Re:Firefox extensions I can't live without by Sir+Codelot · · Score: 2

      Surprised that All-in-One Gestures didn't make it.
      Can't live without it.

      --
      I have a truly marvelous proof of the Riemann hypothesis which this sig is too short to contain...
    2. Re:Firefox extensions I can't live without by SharpFang · · Score: 1

      Probably because it's a poor Mozgest knockoff mixing in autoscroll features? Bundling two extensions into one is hardly innovative. And it's always a step or two behind the competition.

      --
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    3. Re:Firefox extensions I can't live without by Will2k_is_here · · Score: 1

      What's the deal with Google Preview? I found 99% of all hits in a google search did NOT display an image. Just a white box. I ended up uninstalling it. Did I miss an essential config setting or something?

    4. Re:Firefox extensions I can't live without by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From http://ackroyd.de/googlepreview/:

      If you only see gray borders next to the search results, you probably configured Firefox to load images from the originating web site only (goto Tools->Options->Web Features->Load Images and turn off 'load images from originating web site only')

  28. But users of other browsers can't read about them by TheShrike · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Just tried reading about Reveal from Galeon 2.0.1. The mozilla site says
    Incompatible Extension or Extension No Longer Available
    . Apparently, the Mozilla addon site keys off the HTTP_USER_AGENT, and modifies the results accordingly. Except that if your goal is to persuade other people to switch your browser, or at least inform them about it, shouldn't you let users of other browsers at least read about its features?

    FWIW, if I use the search function (searching in extensions) from Galeon, the results returned have &application=Galeon appended to the URL, which seems to me to confirm that it is user-agent dependent.
    --

    --
    If R is the set of all sets which don't contain themselves, does R contain itself?
  29. Share your Filter Rules? by cciRRus · · Score: 1

    Adblock Plus supports the exporting of rules to a text file, which you can paste your blocking rules here and share with us! Anyone?

    --
    w00t
    1. Re:Share your Filter Rules? by Viper+Daimao · · Score: 1

      filterset.g is what I use. Even supports AdBlock Plus's whitelist feature. It's been a long time since I've had to maually block an ad.

      --
      "In the game of life, someone always has to lose. To me, if life were fair, that someone would always be Oklahoma." -DKR
    2. Re:Share your Filter Rules? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just install the filterset.g updater.

    3. Re:Share your Filter Rules? by SharpFang · · Score: 1

      Actually, I don't remember when I had to block an ad last. Unfortunately I had to whitelist/unblock quite a few sites. Adblock is a wee bit TOO efficient.

      --
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  30. Yes we do. by eddy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Friends don't let friends use Internet Explorer

    --
    Belief is the currency of delusion.
  31. I still can't believe by adamjudson · · Score: 1

    I didn't win.

    Well, I do use web developer a lot.

    A

  32. calendaring, please!!! by Dukhat · · Score: 1

    Maybe Firefox can now have a built-in calendar and be able to read all the vcalendar attachments I receive. I really prefer thunderbird over evolution. Maybe, it's because I still haven't gotten ldap to work in evolution, and evolution says it can't subscribe/unsubscribe from folders on my Cyrus IMAP server.

  33. ironic by iceanfire · · Score: 1

    Doesn't anyone else find it odd how the "most innovative" award goes to Viamatic, which is essentially a rip-off from ie7's new feature?

    1. Re:ironic by Jesus_666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      If Microsoft can be innovative by copying someone else's features so can we.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  34. Tabbed Browsing in the Side Bar, Please! by AFairlyNormalPerson · · Score: 1

    I like tabbed browsing. I don't like the fact that when I have many tabs that they shrink and I can't read the page titles on the tabs.

    I don't want my tabs to show up as tabs - I want them to show up in a side bar. Then I can choose how much screen realestate I use for the side pane and I can make it wide enough to read all the titles if I want.

    They almost have this already - I mean, they have a history side bar - it seems like it would be trivial for them to make a sidebar for tabs.

    1. Re:Tabbed Browsing in the Side Bar, Please! by joseprio · · Score: 1

      Good news, that is already done! It's called Tab Sidebar.

      --
      Speed Dial for Firefox
    2. Re:Tabbed Browsing in the Side Bar, Please! by AFairlyNormalPerson · · Score: 1

      You know? I saw that one, but that one has thumbnail pictures of each page. I basically want something more...basic. Just the title of the page. Plain text. Exactly like the history/bookmarks sidebar. I tend to have a lot of pages open and they all kind of look alike, so pictures would just make it take up more space and more difficult to quickly jump to the page that I'd want to jump to :)

    3. Re:Tabbed Browsing in the Side Bar, Please! by joseprio · · Score: 1

      Then there's the Vertigo extension. It's not a sidebar, but it's having the tab list at the left side of the screen.

      --
      Speed Dial for Firefox
  35. Best Developer Extension, by far: by Civil_Disobedient · · Score: 1

    FireBug

    Unlike some other (poorly implemented) AJAX extensions (/greasemonkey plugins) I've seen, this shows complete responses and requests, as well as any javascript errors in-page. This is of enormous value when debugging clientside scripts: usually you only notice a bug when it's causing a page to break. This extension shows any and all errors, regardless of whether they interrupt your pageview.

  36. Sweet cases by Gertlex · · Score: 1
    I thought the most interesting thing in TFA was the alienware desktops that the winners got...

    *drool*

  37. Wah! thats a simple registry change. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    create a .reg file, and double click it when you're done reinstalling. "problem" solved.

  38. CookiePie 0.5.4 Firefox Extension by nektra · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Although we didn't win this time, we think our CookiePie extension is currently very innovative giving you the possibility to open different mail (i.e: Gmail/Yahoo) or web accounts on each tab. More information at: CookiePie Firefox extension

  39. Another Linux death knell... by Call+Me+Black+Cloud · · Score: 1


    The Grand Prize, an Alienware computer, runs Windows:

    Powered by Windows XP operating systems, the Aurora 7500 provides unparalleled compatibility with hardware, software, and peripheral devices.

    So Linux isn't ready for the desktop, it's not fit for education, and now they can't even give it away. Firefox confirms, Linux is dying!

    (it's funny, laugh)

    1. Re:Another Linux death knell... by joseprio · · Score: 1

      The Grand Prize, an Alienware computer, runs Windows

      Well, that computer will run Windows XP and/or Ubuntu Linux. You can read about the complete specifications here.

      --
      Speed Dial for Firefox
  40. Anticlimatic? Definitely. by DrIdiot · · Score: 1
    When this contest was announced I was totally expecting something really new and innovative. I didn't see much of it. The stuff here is new, yes, but I can't see myself ever using it. They don't add much to my browsing experience.

    Thumbnails of tabs? The only time I really felt thumbnails were useful was browsing through pictures, especially pictures from digital cameras, whose names end up being something like 03042005.JOG (the date) and really don't tell you what the image is. But the title of a web page should (and usually does) give a good clear indication as to what it's about.

    One thing I wanted was a definite single only mode. With TabMix Plus I can get 99% of that but viewing source still pops up in a new window (I know you can use a bookmarklet to open the source in a new tab - but it doesn't always work, especially if you have a PHP script that generates the source dynamically). This would probably be relatively simple to add to TabMix Plus though... I should probably just go to them instead.

    I use 18 extensions, my Firefox is heavily customized (my tabs switch when I mouseover them, they're on the bottom, etc.), but not cluttered (I disabled a lot of the toolbars). So I'm not a minimalist, I'm not opposed to extensions. I just don't see anything really appealing and new coming from this.

    Maybe next time.

  41. Winners? by Argle+Bargle · · Score: 1

    I don't use any of them...

  42. Broken site? by Sparr0 · · Score: 1

    Not a single link on the results page works for me.

    https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=1810

    Does that URL work for anyone? The same goes for every other id=

    1. Re:Broken site? by joseprio · · Score: 1

      It works for me! Seems that you might have problems to access those pages using non-Firefox browsers. Well, you may visit that extension's website: http://showcase.uworks.net/

      --
      Speed Dial for Firefox
  43. Extension wish list by alex_guy_CA · · Score: 1

    I recently migrated from Safari to Firefox, and the one thing I have really missed is Safari's autofill. It was perfect. I have an autofill extension for Firefox, but it really stinks. Am I missing a good one? If not, could someone make one as good as the one in Safari?

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    San Francisco Photographers