20 Must-have Firefox Extensions

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.

Comments

Adblock?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

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 and filterset g.

Install them & never see another ad again. Ever. (without any sort of configuration).

Re:Adblock?

[Tx]

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?

[zippthorne]

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.

Re:Adblock?

[Yosho]

If you're using AdBlock Plus, I'd recommend that you subscribe to EasyList rather than use Filterset.G. Filterset.G is designed for the original AdBlock, and doesn't take advantage of a number of featues that AdBlock Plus has; for example, it features automatic subscription updating, so you don't need another extension just to update it. Also, the Filterset.G updater will blow away any customizations you've made to the block list when it updates, while EasyList won't. For more info, read the FAQ.

Re:Adblock?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

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?

[Inda]

Yes, true, because banner ads in the middle of TV programmes are so much better.

Re:Adblock?

[GetSource]

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:Adblock?

[Idbar]

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

Re:Adblock?

[AxelBoldt]

Is it just me, or is it ironic that people are advocating the blocking of ads on Slashdot, which is quite clearly (at least in part) supported by banner advertising?

It is just you. In capitalism everybody is supposed to act egotistically. You are not supposed to feel the pain of other players, you are supposed to harm them with everything you've got. They will try to extract as much money/attention out of you as they can, and you will try to give them as little money/attention as you can get away with.

Furthermore, ads increase demand and therefore increase everybody's prices, so ad blocking is clearly the ethical thing to do.

Re:Adblock?

[NeMon'ess]

Okay, but what about sites like fark, slashdot, and IMDB? I don't want to pay money every month or year to support them to avoid ads. Unless it was only a dollar a year per site or something really, really low like that. If everybody blocks ads, the only way for them to keep offering free content is if users pay for it.

Re:Adblock?

[CodeBuster]

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:Adblock?

[Jekler]

Ads do not make the internet run. The internet was running just fine before banner ads.

We may not have the same amount of free sites that we do, but quantity is not something the internet is short on. Anyone intelligent enough to have something worthwhile to say would be intelligent enough to find a way to do it without ad revenue.

The signal to noise ration is very low on the internet, thanks largely in part to the number of freely available resources. Every jack-ass with some drivel that popped into his head is free to jabber away until he's blue in the face (Note: I do not exclude myself). It makes finding useful, accurate information a very time consuming process. If people actually had to pay to disseminate information on the internet, people would make sure their message was actually worth communicating.

The ad-model only seems like such a good plan because it's the only one 95% of the internet population is aware of. Love the enemy you know.

Re:Adblock?

[AaronLawrence]

I don't want to pay money every month or year to support them to avoid ads.

Why not?

If you say "it's not worth it" - how long do you spend reading or posting on slashdot?

Slashdot does actually have a quite good system to pay to remove ads, with good options. And it's cheap. Some other sites assume that there are only "freeloaders" and "premium professionals" and therefore offer only overpriced subscriptions (like IMDB) that are not worthwhile to casual users, but slashdot is not one of those sites.

Re:Adblock?

[General Wesc]

Changing the user agent would in effect make me responsible for the success of their business model, and I am not, nor will I ever be. They'll have to find a way to be successful without my cooperation.

Not being responsible for the success of business model means it's okay to try to circumvent their attempts to charge you for their product? If I shoplift, is that okay because I'm not responsible for the success of their bizarre 'put products where I can get to them but charge me money to use or take them' business model? Seriously, grow up.

Re: 20 Must-have Firefox Extensions

[Anonymous Coward]

20 Must-have Firefox Extensions

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

20 is too many

[Mostly a lurker]

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.

Re:20 is too many

[Falesh]

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. Since these are core features I know there will be no compatibility problems with them. It also now has Widgets 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 the kick ass Web Developer extension. I just think it would do better to have certain key extensions brought into the core browser.

Re:20 is too many

[ScrewMaster]

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:20 is too many

[mdfst13]

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 classes of extensions: core extensions, which are heavily cross validated and unit tested by core developers; and add-ons, which are what they are now -- a collection of random itches that people scratched. This would allow a set of stable extensions that almost everyone uses, flexibility for those who don't want to use core extensions (since they can be removed), and the current ability to scratch an itch with a less thoroughly tested extension or even just an extension with very narrow use (e.g. only with a single website).

What about unplug? What about flashgot?

[Anonymous Coward]

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2254/

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/

You can download all of the links on a webpage, just like certain download managers used to. Its a great combo.

Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox?

[bconway]

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:Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox?

[HalAtWork]

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:Aren't articles like this bad for Firefox?

[jZnat]

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!

And add in flashblock while you're at it.

[cliveholloway]

Flashblock makes sites browsable again. Stop autoplay falls into the same category :) And No script is just plain sensible.

Other simple extensions that make life saner include copy as plain text (A life-saver in this "MS-we-know-what-you're trying-to-do" world) and the BugMeNot extension.

Re:And add in flashblock while you're at it.

[el americano]

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, but places are starting to catch on.

For those without Adblock

[Spad]

As the site has been Slashdotted already, have a Coralised, Printer-friendly version.

Re:For those without Adblock

[pla]

As the site has been Slashdotted already, have a Coralised, Printer-friendly version.

Oh, for shame! Such an easy chance to plug something on-topic, yet another FF extension... ;-)

Resurrect Pages lets you check all the major internet cache sites for dead content.

Re:For those without Adblock

[bazorg]

People who really like these printer-friendly versions might like to make other websites "reader-friendly" by using re-pagination to have TFA load all at once instead of having 5 separate pages.

Might have been just me . . .

[OverlordQ]

. . but I just dont see why many of those are 'Must have'. I mean how often do I need to measure stuff?

sensationalism

[Anonymous Coward]

IAAFPS and i call bs on this one


if this list were anywhere near accurate it should have included these extensions:

• Navigation
  • Thumbs - Shows the first thumbnail from each linked gallery, letting you skip galleries that don't look interesting.
  • Linky - Open all links in tabs, etc.
  • firefusk - view all images from galleries with numerically named image files.
  • Browse Images - Use the Forward button or Alt+Shift+Right to go to the next image.
  • Location Navigator - Select a portion of a URL that varies, then navigate up or down.
  • Digger - Navigate to parent directories in URLs, etc.
  • refspoof - Modify your HTTP Referer to gain access to sites that use insecure login mechanisms.
• Downloading and saving
  • DownThemAll - Download all the links to images/movies on a page at once.
  • FlashGot - Download all the links on a page at once using an external download manager.
  • Download sort - Save files to folders based on extension or download date.
  • spiderzilla - Download entire web sites.
  • Super DragAndGo - Drag a link to open it in a new tab; drag an image to save it.
• Videos
  • Launchy - 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 works well. Here's my launchy.xml for VLC.)
  • MediaPlayerConnectivity - Open embedded video in an external player, so you can use features like Full Screen.
• Images
  • Image Zoom - Convenient shortcuts for zooming images.
  • mozImage - 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.

Re:sensationalism

[Anonymous Coward]

A lot of that looks like it is not for making regular internet viewing easier, but for streamlining the viewing of internet porn (not saying net porn viewing isn't normal, but there is a distinction between using the net and using the net for porn). Kinda freaky what you can tell about someone from what extensions they have installed...

Re:sensationalism

[djSpinMonkey]

IAAFPS and i call bs on this one

You are a first person shooter?

Re:sensationalism

[Anonymous Coward]

Almost as freaky as what we can tell about you by what you can tell about that other person. ;)

Addons memory usage

[secolactico]

Is there a way to see how much memory is each extension using?

Re:Addons memory usage

[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 conflicts with extensions, of course: if two extensions make different use of the same variable (or XML id) they'll conflict and the results will be unpredictable.

But in short: no, it's not possible, because the extensions are effectively loaded as if they were part of the browser, and there's no way to tell when something is part of an extension or part of the core browser.

Extensions

[JohnyDog]

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! 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 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 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 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 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 0.3 - shows opened-but-yet-unread tabs with Italics

APT-get Extensions?

[Doc Ruby]

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.

Conquery & Linkification

[De Lemming]

My two favorite extensions aren't mentioned in the article. They are:

• Conquery - 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 - converts plain text links to clickable links, very useful on forums like Slashdot. Has a lot of options.

Missing extension

[J0nne]

Dragdropupload . 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.

Wow

[HalAtWork]

Someone takes their porn browsing seriously!

Re:Wow

[ArAgost]

You betcha.

PrefBar and LiveHTTPHeaders

[hweimer]

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, 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 is a must. It allows you to track redirects, view Cookies or view and manipulate POST requests.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

The complete list

[Anonymous Coward]

Tools for taming the Web
StumbleUpon
Yahoo Mail Notifier
Gmail Manager
Greasemonkey

Visual Improvements
Firefox Showcase
Cooliris Previews
Colorful Tabs
ChromaTabs

Matters of convenience
Google Browser Sync
Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer
Session Manager
All-in-One Gestures
IE Tab
Download Statusbar
Download Sort
Nuke Anything Enhanced

Information gatherers
Forecastfox
Answers

Web developer essentials
FireFTP
Firebug
Web Developer
MeasureIt
ColorZilla

Yes, there are more than twenty, but 20 sounds better, doesn't it? By the way, please skip the IE tab. If you are using Firefox, it is in your best interest to abandon sites that only support Internet Explorer. I should go on to say something more, because I apparently don't have enough characters per line: more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more

Re:The complete list

[Miseph]

While I agree that we should all avoid sites that require IE, the simple truth is that many of us can't. There are many critical business apps out there that absolutely require IE, and contacting them requesting Firefox support results in a "no, you need IE for security reasons". You'd think it would be enough to just tell them that they're wrong, and that many of the most secure sites in the world are entirely standards compliant and render just fine in any browser, but you'd be wrong. I personally have one such site, and I have witnessed several others. Many MLS services that are required by any real estate agent wishing to do business in this century, for example, require IE to work properly, and the only choices are to suck it up or do business in a different area with a different system.

Believe it or not, there area lot of things that take priority over ideological opposition to "IE reqired" websites, and sometimes there just isn't any choice.

IE Tab is absolutely a must-have.

Re:The complete list

[c_forq]

It might not be the bank, it might be the electric company. My electric company supports online bill paying, but I have yet to try it out. And at least in my are you don't get a choice in electric companies, either you are on the grid or you aren't.

Re:The complete list

[maxwell demon]

Well, they are exactly 23. No wonder that he didn't spell out the exact number. Beware! Those are Illuminati extensions!

Re:The complete list

[killjoe]

If it's a public utility you can complain to the state. The state isn't supposed to force you to choose one corporations products.

threat level

[magarity]

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.

20 Must-have Firefox Extensions

[Kuvter]

"Must-have" I don't think you know what that word means.

Here's a list of mine...

[hacker]

I've posted my list 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. 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 with all of my theming and extensions over here):

• Sage, 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 with the AdBlock Filterset G Updater 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, 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, 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 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 + Privoxy, Privoxy + Tor and i2p enabled in my configuration at the moment. Quick and easy, and one status-bar dropdown lets me change from one to another.
• FasterFox 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, weather.. in my status bar. I've changed the icons a bit with a separate icon pack called Lansing, which is nice adn small and out of the way. Minimal is the way to go on my toolbars and status bars.
• Linky 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 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 is another SEO toolbar fo

Needed: Nuke Everything Else

[srobert]

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.

Re:Needed: Nuke Everything Else

[dabrepus]

There is a plugin that might help you: Aardvark.

It has an 'isolate' option, that will let you do what you are mentioning.

You can try it out here: http://karmatics.com/aardvark/


Cheers.

Re:Screw em

[Diamondback]

So, without ads, where do they get the money to stay online?

That's the obvious question. Do people just volunteer and donate all their time and money? Have you ever done that to help something else?

Re:If they are "must have"

[trewornan]

Because to provide all the options in the default install would bloat firefox (download size, memory usage, startup, etc). This way you get the best of all possible worlds - everybody can have all the features they like without having to download the features other people want but they don't. How many people really want a browser to be able to translate a web page into "Swedish Chef"? With the addon system, those that want it can have it without affecting the rest of us.

Re:The plugin I always wanted..

[Rakishi]

Tab Groups does this to some degree.

***GOOGLE*** redirects you to localized sites

[knorthern knight]

It happens whether you use Firefox or IE. Google use your IP address to make the decision. This allows them to sell ads to German companies, and know that only people in Germany will see those ads. I'm in Canada, and Google re-directs www.google.com to www.ggogle.ca. You can over-ride local re-direction by going to http://www.google.com/intl/en/

and on the home front /. becomes digg

[Sebastopol]

can we have a rule: No N-Best Of Lists on /. Ever.

Web developer list

[dcam]

Console2 - improved javascript error console
Greasemonkey - inject your own javascript
livehttpheaders - capture headers
WebDeveloper - major toolbox
HtmlValidator - based on HTML Tidy, validates HTML as your view pages