Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Most Useful Browser Extensions?
An anonymous reader writes: One of the most powerful features of modern browsers is the ability to install third-party extensions. They allow third-party developers to work on really useful niche functionality, and let users customize their browser with the tools they need. Unfortunately, this environment has the same discover-ability and security problems as standalone software. Thus, my question: what are your most useful (and safe) browser extensions? I can't live without some privacy basics like NoScript, AdBlock, and Ghostery. I also find FoxyProxy helpful for getting around geolocation requirements for media streaming. OneTab works pretty well for saving groups of browser tabs, and Pushbullet keeps getting better at managing my phone while I'm at my PC.
A lot of these addons have millions of downloads. Perhaps browser makers need to get the message and include popular functionality that people want.
Hola internet is the most useful plugin. It helps me watch video's from the US, Canada and the UK that are limited to their respective countries. I wonder, I have BBC on my TV, I can rightfully watch any BBC program, but I can't use the service on the bbc web site to watch it a day later. With Hola, I can.
no, I don't have a sig
Adblock is the 2nd thing I install on a fresh install (right after Chrome)
I had the misfortune of having to use a computer that did not have it installed. The internet pretty much seemed unusable.
While I do regret the real financial consequences for creators whose content I consume and appreciate, the annoyance factor and sometimes security risks of online advertising far outstrip my capacity for caring. Pure text ads would be fine by me, but as soon as ads start screaming at me audio-visually, I turn them the fuck off, no matter how much I like the content they surround.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the light cone.
FireFox:
noscript
ghostery
noredirect
firebug
flash video downloader
Chrome:
scriptno
ghostery
Web of Trust rates pages before you click on them and when you hit a pop-up it blocks the page if it's not trustworthy until you explicitly give the pop-up permission.
Blue! No! Yelloooooooooooooooooooooooow!
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
It's not the web designers' fault! I'm a small time self employed web designer. When it comes to designing a website, we don't do what we want! We don't even do what the customer needs. We end up doing what he asks. Most of the time what they ask for sucks, and that's what they/you get.
So you're saying that the customer demands cross-site scripting hell, where to look at a simple article I have to have fifteen different sites' javascript enabled, including probably half a dozen ad/tracking sites that have nothing to do with reading text on a screen?
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I can't understand why "focus last selected tab" isn't default on all browsers. Essentially, I need ctrl-tab to work as well as alt-tab does with applications. I have to have Tab Mix Plus in order to get this as well as other features that let me control how/where tabs pop up.
Is there an extension that blocks these "We'd like your feedback" messages that seem to be popping up on every single site lately? Or a way to block them easily with AdBlock?
So you're saying that the customer demands cross-site scripting hell, where to look at a simple article I have to have fifteen different sites' javascript enabled, including probably half a dozen ad/tracking sites that have nothing to do with reading text on a screen?
Yes.
Yes, that's exactly what they're saying. Was there something you weren't clear about?
Do you think developers just sit around all day looking for tracking scripts to start installing on client's sites?
Since the advent of saving markup in the DB, clients have become empowered on what code runs on their site. They google something, find a script snippet that they don't understand, copy and paste it into their CMS' "additional header scripts" field and save. They don't understand the concept of optimizing image files, let alone be concerned with the number HTTP requests on each load.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
If I had mod points, I'd mod you up.
First, having a platform onto which developers can build plugins that users can choose from and enable as needed is far superior to being stuck with the single half-baked implementation that is built in to the browser.
Second, building features directly into browsers eliminates any chance of security-through-obscurity that comes with an ecosystem of security and ad blocking plugins. Two examples: popup blockers (everything is done in javascript now), and the do not track header (arguably, useless even before major browsers implemented it, but even more useless now...)
Obligatory Oatmeal: How a Web Design Goes Straight To Hell.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
By far the most useful extensions are the ones that reduce my "browsing experience"
Things which prevent things from being pushed at me (NoScript, AdBlock)
Things which allow me watch videos at my pace and choice of quality instead of "streaming". (youtube downloader)
And in general things which reduce the number of features I'm forced to contend with.
Firefox is extraordinarily important to all of humanity. Without the open-source Firefox, our communication with each other with web pages would be severely limited by abusive managers of huge companies. For example, Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 6 had an enormous number of quirks; web designers wasted huge amounts of time dealing with that.
Mozilla Foundation has exhibited a combination of excellent and poor management, in my opinion.
Add-ons are very useful. One of the most important aspects of Firefox is the huge number of Add-ons available. Here are some I've found necessary:
Adblock Edge, ads were yesterday! Attacks sometimes pose as ads. Stop tracking. Advertisers of run annoying ads.
BetterPrivacy, "Super-Cookie Safeguard", eliminate sneaky tracking.
Classic Theme Restorer, required because of Mozilla Foundation's bad management of GUIs.
Close tabs to the left, title says it all. What? Why is that necessary? Why does Firefox have only "Close tabs to the right"?
Cookies Manager+, needed because of poor management of Slashdot by the parent company, Dice Holdings.
FEBE, backup your Firefox data. Restores only to the same profile. Use MozBackup to restore to a different profile, such as when you move to the Pale Moon 64-bit version of Firefox to get away from Mozilla Foundation bad management.
Ghostery, protect your privacy.
iMacros for Firefox, help jump through log-on hoops.
Mozilla Archive Format, save everything you see displayed on a web page.
NoScript, protect against attacks, stop tracking.
Nuke Anything, Enhanced, remove areas of a web page.
Restart-less Restart, Firefox frequently crashes when there are many windows and tabs, because of the memory-hogging bug that Mozilla Foundation hasn't fixed in 9 years.
Session Manager, when Firefox crashes, go back to the Windows and tabs you had before the crash.
Session Manager Export Tool, export windows and tabs of a Firefox session to HTML.
Snap Links Plus, opens multiple links inside a selected area.
SQLite Manager, manage any SQLite database.
Tab Mix Plus, fix Firefox's insufficient GUI design.