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.

Adblock?

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 [mozilla.org] and filterset g [mozilla.org].

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

Re:Adblock?

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?

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?

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?

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

Re:Adblock?

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?

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.

And add in flashblock while you're at it.

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

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

Re:Adblock?

If you're using AdBlock Plus, I'd recommend that you subscribe to EasyList [adblockplus.org] 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 [adblockplus.org].

The complete list

Tools for taming the Web
StumbleUpon [mozilla.org]
Yahoo Mail Notifier [mozilla.org]
Gmail Manager [mozilla.org]
Greasemonkey [mozilla.org]

Visual Improvements
Firefox Showcase [mozilla.org]
Cooliris Previews [mozilla.org]
Colorful Tabs [mozilla.org]
ChromaTabs [mozilla.org]

Matters of convenience
Google Browser Sync [google.com]
Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer [mozilla.org]
Session Manager [mozilla.org]
All-in-One Gestures [mozilla.org]
IE Tab [mozilla.org]
Download Statusbar [mozilla.org]
Download Sort [mozilla.org]
Nuke Anything Enhanced [mozilla.org]

Information gatherers
Forecastfox [mozilla.org]
Answers [mozilla.org]

Web developer essentials
FireFTP [mozilla.org]
Firebug [getfirebug.com]
Web Developer [mozilla.org]
MeasureIt [mozilla.org]
ColorZilla [mozilla.org]

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: 20 Must-have Firefox Extensions

20 Must-have Firefox Extensions

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

20 is too many

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

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.

What about unplug? What about flashgot?

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

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/ [mozilla.org]

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

For those without Adblock

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

Re:For those without Adblock

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 [mozilla.org] lets you check all the major internet cache sites for dead content.

Might have been just me . . .

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

sensationalism

IAAFPS and i call bs on this one


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

• Navigation
  • Thumbs [mozilla.org] - Shows the first thumbnail from each linked gallery, letting you skip galleries that don't look interesting.
  • Linky [mozilla.org] - Open all links in tabs, etc.
  • firefusk [xoxosoma.com] - view all images from galleries with numerically named image files.
  • Browse Images [mozilla.org] - Use the Forward button or Alt+Shift+Right to go to the next image.
  • Location Navigator [mozilla.org] - Select a portion of a URL that varies, then navigate up or down.
  • Digger [mozilla.org] - Navigate to parent directories in URLs, etc.
  • refspoof [mozdev.org] - Modify your HTTP Referer to gain access to sites that use insecure login mechanisms.
• Downloading and saving
  • DownThemAll [mozilla.org] - Download all the links to images/movies on a page at once.
  • FlashGot [mozilla.org] - Download all the links on a page at once using an external download manager.
  • Download sort [mozilla.org] - Save files to folders based on extension or download date.
  • spiderzilla [mozdev.org] - Download entire web sites.
  • Super DragAndGo [code65536.com] - Drag a link to open it in a new tab; drag an image to save it.
• Videos
  • Launchy [gemal.dk] - 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 [videolan.org] works well. Here's my launchy.xml [slashdot.org] for VLC.)
  • MediaPlayerConnectivity [mozilla.org] - Open embedded video in an external player, so you can use features like Full Screen.
• Images
  • Image Zoom [mozilla.org] - Convenient shortcuts for zooming images.
  • mozImage [mozilla.org] - 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

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...

Wow

Someone takes their porn browsing seriously!

Re:sensationalism

IAAFPS and i call bs on this one

You are a first person shooter?

Addons memory usage

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

Extensions

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! [downthemall.net] 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 [yellowgorilla.net] 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 [mrtech.com] 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 [mozdev.org] 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 [arantius.com] 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 [codefront.net] 0.3 - shows opened-but-yet-unread tabs with Italics

APT-get Extensions?

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

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

• Conquery [conquery.net] - 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 [mozilla.org] - converts plain text links to clickable links, very useful on forums like Slashdot. Has a lot of options.

Missing extension

Dragdropupload [mozilla.org] . 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.

PrefBar and LiveHTTPHeaders

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

threat level

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.

Here's a list of mine...

I've posted my list [gnu-designs.com] 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 [gnu-designs.com]. 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 [gnu-designs.com] with all of my theming and extensions over here [gnu-designs.com]):

• Sage [mozdev.org], 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 [mozilla.org] with the AdBlock Filterset G Updater [mozilla.org] 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 [chrispederick.com], 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 [mozdev.org], 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 [flock.com] 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-cache.org], Squid + Privoxy [privoxy.org], Privoxy + Tor [eff.org] and i2p [i2p.net] enabled in my configuration at the moment. Quick and easy, and one status-bar dropdown lets me change from one to another.
• FasterFox [mozdev.org] 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 [mozdev.org], weather.. in my status bar. I've changed the icons a bit with a separate icon pack [mozdev.org] called Lansing [mozdev.org], which is nice adn small and out of the way. Minimal is the way to go on my toolbars and status bars.
• Linky [gemal.dk] 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 [tapouillo.com] 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 [quirk.biz] is another SEO toolbar fo

Needed: Nuke Everything Else

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.

and on the home front /. becomes digg

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

Web developer list

Console2 [mozdev.org] - improved javascript error console
Greasemonkey [mozdev.org] - inject your own javascript
livehttpheaders [mozdev.org] - capture headers
WebDeveloper [mozilla.org] - major toolbox
HtmlValidator [skynet.be] - based on HTML Tidy, validates HTML as your view pages