Firefox Extension Guide and More

Anonymous Coward writes "A comprehensive list of Firefox extensions geared for the average power user and web developer includes description and screenshots of featured extensions. Plus Firefox Hacks and keyboard command guide. Always updated with the latest Firefox extensions, and tweaks."

Re:Slashdot is working towards a Sunday trifecta

[caffeination]

4. This is the most boring self-promotion ever.
5. There was no need or demand for this [mozilla.org].

This story reaks of one of those Top Ten lists you see in print magazines.

CORAL CACHE WORKS BEAUTIFULLY

[Anonymous Coward]

The coral cache has mirrored this site already and works beautifully. If you don't know the URL, it is http://willlangford.com.nyud.net:8090/geekpages/fi refox/ [nyud.net] Have fun.

Mirrors

[VJ42]

Coral cashe: http://willlangford.com.nyud.net:8080/geekpages/fi refox/ [nyud.net]
Google cashe: http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:http://willlan gford.com/geekpages/firefox/ [66.249.93.104]
Mirrordot: http://www.mirrordot.com/stories/ae719a80708f8f898 a2de351770c74b9/index.html [mirrordot.com]
One of them should work for you. :)

Re:Nice Idea, but No Thanks

[christopherfinke]

There's got to be a better site for Firefox extensions.

There is. [mozilla.org] I'd also like to mention here that Slashdotter [efinke.com] is at version 1.5 and now supports customizing the style for each Slashdot section separately.

Link to chached text

[ColeonyxOnline]

Link to google's cached text for the article [72.14.203.104].

From that list, I use Adblock Plus. Great extension if you have dialup, like me :)

the list as I would have written it.

[artifex2004]

1. GreaseMonkey [mozdev.org].
It's cool. Seriously! It's way, way cool. And I mean that. Totally.

Best plugin evar.

2. I forgot.

My extensions

[Lord Satri]

Well.. while the linked site does not answer (/. effect probably), here's my favorite extensions. I try to install only those really useful to my efficiency. Right now, it's really hard to find the best extensions from Firefox's site.

Adblock
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=10&application=firefox [mozilla.org]
Needless to say, the most important extension to me. But even better with this one: Adblock Filterset.G Updater 0.3.0.3 https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1136/ [mozilla.org]

TabFX
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=1486&application=firefox [mozilla.org]
while we wait for Firefox 2.0

FlashGot
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=220&application=firefox [mozilla.org]
but I never really used it on a regular basis

Page Update Checker
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=920&application=firefox [mozilla.org]
That one should be in the built-in features. Very useful.

And not to forget (not listed on Firefox's website): Bug me not:
http://roachfiend.com/archives/2005/02/07/bugmenot / [roachfiend.com]
Very useful for the soul-sucking registration-required articles on slashdot ;-)

Cheers.

Slashdot Extension

[suv4x4]

The TFA is about Firefox Extensions.
The TFA was quickly Slashdotted.

The perfect moment to suggest the Slashdot Firefox Extension:

Slashdot Extension [slashdot.org]

Generates TFA mirror links and other handy features...

Re:Nice Idea, but No Thanks

[BruceCage]

There are, how about the Extend Firefox contest [mozilla.org] or CNET download.com's Best Firefox Extensions [download.com] and Optimizing Firefox [download.com].

And this article doesn't even mention ScrapBook [vis.ne.jp] even though it has to be one of the most revolutionary ways to organize reference material. Just check it out, it won 'Most Useful Upgraded Extension' in the Extend FF contest.

Re:So you blame Firefox for Adobe's product?

[Anonymous Coward]

From inside Acrobat Reader. Edit>Preferences>Internet>Uncheck "Display PDF in Browser">OK. Problem solved.

Re:Are there any extensions...

[gihan_ripper]

There's certainly a way to help with PDFs, namely not to use the plugin at all! You can get Firefox to open the file externally by default. Details [blogspot.com] on my blog. Alternatively, use the PDF download extension.

Re:Are there any extensions...

[Anonymous Coward]

Inside Firefox. Tools>Options>Privacy>Download History>Remove Files from Download Manager: Upon Successful Download/When Firefox Exits/Manually. Pick your poison, and again...problem solved.

Re:Are there any extensions...

[justthinkit]

Firefox stores plugin information in memory long after the plugin is closed and done being used. Whether this problem can be attributed to Adobe's work or Mozilla's, it's still a problem.

When I used IE, Adobe's horrible Acrobat plugin was definitely the problem. Close a page that was a pdf and the Acrobat plugin would stay in memory (taking a huge chunk of it BTW). I would have to fire up Task Manager and kill the Acro plugin every time.

As to a better PDF reader, may I suggest Foxit PDF reader. Loads much faster, better memory usage etc.

Re:Nice Idea, but No Thanks

[TubeSteak]

I use Portable FireFox [portableapps.com] (and addons.mozilla.org)

I find it preferable to have a no-install zip file than a windows installer and the mozilla site lags waaay behind in providing a no-install version.

Average power user?

[rossdee]

So what is an average power user? Did somebody do a survey? (the term average implies some statistics have collected...)

Re:the list as I would have written it.

[oever]

Yep, and this is the most useful script for it: QuickGallery [userscripts.org].

Click here [userscripts.org] to install.

Combating the dreaded Flash

[lightyear4]

Adblock may handle most everything else, but it is still lacking in its ability to handle {Macromedia|Adobe} flash.

The solution is FlashBlock [mozilla.org], and it works incredibly well. Not only does it make browsing faster, it reduces the bright flashing 'bunch bush to win $10' ads to whitespace -- tis much easier on the eyes.

For those rare occasions where you actually want to see the flash, just click on the play button that adblock substitutes for the embedded swf.

TFA

[Anonymous Coward]

Plug-ins - General

Forecastfox [mozdev.org] - Get international weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com, and display it in any toolbar or status bar with this highly customizable and unobtrusive extension.

FlashGot [flashgot.net] - Download one link, selected links or all the links of a page at the maximum speed with a single click, using the most popular external download managers for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and FreeBSD (dozens currently supported products, see http://www.flashgot.net/ [flashgot.net] for details). FlashGot offers also a Build Gallery functionality which helps to synthesize full media galleries in one page, from serial contents previously scattered on several pages, for easy and fast download all.

Adblock [mozdev.org] - One of the best plug-ins ever written. Adblack allows you to block elements of a web page, images, flash, i-frames, etc This will help make pages load faster and with zero ads!

Adblock is a content filtering plug-in for the Mozilla and Firebird browsers. It is both more robust and more precise than the built-in image blocker.

Adblock allows the user to specify filters, which remove unwanted content based on the source-address. If this sounds complicated, dont worry: its not.

Just add a few filters. Every time a webpage loads, Adblock will intercept and disable the elements matching your filters. See?- nothing to it.

Adblock Filterset.G Updater [pierceive.com] - This is a companion extension to Adblock and should be used in conjunction with it. This extension automatically downloads the latest version of Filterset.G every 4-7 days. Filterset.G is an excellent set of filters maintained by G for Adblock that blocks most ads on the internet. In addition, this extension allows you to define your own set of filters that you can add along with Filterset.G during an update.

Tabbrowser Preferences [216.55.161.203] - This extension provides a comprehensive UI for changing a number of the hidden tabbed browsing preferences in Firefox. It also provides the ability to control how internal and external links are opened in the browser and how the browser will react when links are sent to it.

IE Tab [mozdev.org] - IE Tab - an extension from Taiwan, features: Embedding Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox. Note, this will also allow you to run Windows Update also.

Wizz RSS News Reader [wizzcomputers.com] - News is the new frontier for the web. With the up-and-coming rss and atom technologies, news is becoming easier to read and more accessible, but Firefoxs livebookmarks are rather lacking when it comes to features.

Wizz RSS News Reader is the solution. Over the past year, its evolved into a mature feed aggregator. Although the UI lacks polish, it includes a number of powerful features, such as the watch list, OPML support, and the ability to subscribe to podcasts. The documentation is extensive and the author maintains support forums, so its easy to get help too :)

Viamatic foXpose [mozilla.org] - The Viamatic foXpose plugin is a tiny little extension that lets you view all your tabs inside a browser window.

Duplicate Tab [mozdev.org] - Duplicate Tab allows you to clone a tab along with its history.

SessionSaver [mozilla.org] - SessionSaver restores your browser -exactly- as you left it, every startup, every time. Not even a crash will phase it. Windows, tabs, even things you were typing theyre all saved. Use the menu to add + remove sessions; right, shift, or middle-clickin

Re:Nice Idea, but No Thanks

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is a list of extensions that have memory leaks:

http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2006/04/04/reducing-y our-memory-usage-in-firefox/ [cybernetnews.com]

Re:My extensions

[VJ42]

Actually, I still perfer Adblock over Adblock plus now that they've finally added whitelisting.

Re:Are extensions the only advantage of Firefox?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does FF not free() memory when I close tabs or windows? I can get to a situation where I have closed everything except a blank window and it yet still hogs hundreds of megs of memory.

That may be your operating system's fault. Many OSes assign memory to an application as demanded, but do not reclaim it when it's released - they leave it assigned to that application, so the next time the application demands memory it can just reuse the same block. I believe Windows may do this as a compatibility measure -- it reduces the likelihood of badly-written programs crashing, because there's a better chance that dereferencing a freed pointer will still actually point to valid data.

So, yeah, it sucks, but it's not necessarily Firefox's problem.

Horrible list of extensions.

[ProfanityHead]

No Tab Mix Plus?

I've replaced 3 other extensions including Tabbrowser Preferences with this and I will never turn back.

http://tmp.garyr.net/ [garyr.net]

Re:My extensions

[birder]

I use the DownThemAll extension for file grabbing. It has regex built in.

  http://downthemall.mozdev.org/ [mozdev.org]

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Average power user?

[drDugan]

"average power user" -- oxymoron. If you're a power user, you are not average, and taking an average of the outliers doesn't make much sense.

Re:TFA

[Glonoinha]

With the ability to manage / monitor more than one GMail account at the same time, I use GMail Manager instead of GMail Notifer.

That said, changing the network.http.pipelining to true and network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to 100 made an AMAZING difference in page render speeds.
Thanks.

Another good extension for CSS (ab)users..

[moreati]

I came across this recently, similar to Aardvark. It's CSSViewer [mozilla.org] which shows in a (large) tooltip, the css applied to an element over which the mouse is hovering.

I found it very useful for closing the loop between code and result.