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:Are extensions the only advantage of Firefox?

[$RANDOMLUSER]

> I've heard that Firefox is a memory hog

Firefox caches a lot of pages in memory because studies show that the "back" button gets heavy use in average browsing situations. So cacheing recently visited pages improves performance.

Firefox extensions and plugins are good.

[AWhiteFlame]

I've used opera and I just didn't like the UI. Even though Firefox is not necessarily lightweight, it one of my main applications; it doesn't last a minute closed. I have my Gmail notifier in the corner, my adblock extension removing all banners and ad squares, I have my slashdot extension providing alternate links to sites. If I go to a site with an embedded wmv, avi, or whatever, I have MPlayerPlug-in [sourceforge.net] which will play it for me. If there is a site where it disallows me because I'm not using Internet Explorer, I can switch what firefox identifies itself as. Pages load plenty fast, I've never thought of it as being slow. So, as someone above said, even though firefox has its faults, it fits my needs. Perhaps opera suits your needs better.

That being said, coral cache, google cache, mirrordot and the original link all seem to not be working for me, so I can't comment on TFA. :/

Re:Are extensions the only advantage of Firefox?

[kv9]

i've got no problem with the memory usage. my install hovers around 60-70 megs with ~10 tabs opened at all times. if it starts acting funny and passes the 100 meg mark i just restart it. session saver helps you not give a fuck about that.

Re:Are there any extensions...

[lukewarmfusion]

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.

Firefox keeps downloaded items in the download list, even when they're completed. Unfortunately, this can add up quick - so you should make sure you clear out that list frequently. I heard about this and discovered my list was hundreds of items long. It took nearly thirty seconds just to register the download.

There are also memory problems with using a lot of tabs. I used to restart Firefox five or six times a day because it was either crashing or moving so slowly that it wasn't usable.

Finally, I removed most of the extensions I had. The stuff I didn't use on a regular basis or that were further sources of my headaches (FoxyTunes is great except that it caused iTunes to open [and lock FF up)]any time I hit certain key combos).

My solution?

I use Flock [flock.com] and the only extensions I use are Web Developer, AdBlock, and IE View. There are plenty of others, but I decided I can afford to skip them. Also, I find it far prettier than Firefox and any of the skins I've tried.

Just my $0.02, of course, but it might work for you.

Re:My extensions

[cciRRus]

I think you meant Adblock PLUS.

Re:My extensions

[Anonymous Coward]

FlashGot has to be the most overhyped extension EVER. FlashGet sucks anyways, you'd have to pay me to use it, so there's little point to an extension for it. Of all the download managers I've tried, that was more or less the worst. I find it funny they even ask money for it.

And you're missing LOTS of great extensions still:

Forecastfox (for weather)
PDF Download (so it asks to download PDF file vs open it in slow bloated plugin)
Foxytunes (to control winamp or whatever without switching tasks)
Various tab/download/etc tweakers, I've also used one that "linkified" plain text URLs (quite handy), "copy plain text", etc. There are tons of great/handy extensions if you dig enough to find them.

And if you're into web development at all there's tons more:

Web Developper Toolbar (totally wicked)
SwitchProxy (quick switch to HTTP debugging proxy - or Tor, or whatever)
ColorZilla (when you see a color you really like and want to know the number)
There's also a very, very cool sidebar (devedge)
Various JavaScript & CSS tools (too many to list)
And again tons more (like a "lorem ipsum" generator) ...

And then there's tons of stuff that sounds extremely useful, but that I've never really bothered with. Things like:
-extensions to sync your bookmarks between all PCs
-greasemonkey (well, I tried this one, but it didn't work *AT ALL* no matter how hard I tried)
-stumble upon (found a some really interesting links that way, just never really bothered installing it again)
-a few XUL apps (FTP & IRC clients at least, but I didn't like them as much as a "real" app)

Unfortunately, Firefox has issues... After a couple hours of browsing it's GUARANTEED to be using 150MB+ of RAM. A couple more hours and it's more like 250+, and usually 90% of the CPU too. I so wish Opera had extensions. I love the browser, but without extensions... Not a chance, I'll stick with my buggy browser meanwhile.

Re:Are extensions the only advantage of Firefox?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, but Firefox does free memory when you close tabs and windows.

It just almost never returns it to the operating system. See, instead of using one of the many well-tested memory allocators available online, they use a custom memory allocator. And the way it works, it only returns memory used at the end of the heap back to the OS.

So, generally speaking, memory Firefox uses will NEVER be returned to the OS. Oops!

Plug-ins to Avoid unfairly targets fasterfox

[bobbutts]

Plug-ins to Avoid FasterFox [mozdev.org] - Over the last few months the amount of visitors using Mozilla Firefox has grown to about 25%. The amount of bandwidth being used has also increased a large amount. Part of the reason behind this is that many Firefox users use an extension called "Fasterfox". This extension "pre-fetches" links on a page so that if the user were to click on a link it would load much faster because its already been downloaded. This may be more convenient for viewer, but is a major problem for many webmasters who are low on bandwidth. Since Fasterfox constantly requests new files, it can cause many servers to overload much faster than if a person viewing the same content without Fasterfox were to view it.

Fasterfox does some nice things and IMO belongs on the list of good extensions..
As far as the author's claim.. In the fasterfox config there is a tab for "Enhanced Prefetching" which comes disabled by default and has the following warning:

This setting should be used with care
Visit the FAQ page at http://fasterfox.mozdev.org/ [mozdev.org] for more information.

That page has some interesting answers on prefetching and seems to show that fasterfox is playing by the rules. I don't think the author has shown much expertise in the extensions field. Also if he's upset at fasterfox for bandwidth wait until he gets the bill from this slashdotting :)

Re:Firefox is the most unstable program in common

[jfengel]

I was kind of curious about your link titled "Firefox is the most unstable program in common use." Perhaps it was some sort of study; I was interested in its methodology.

But no, it's a link to another posting by you. You cite all sorts of interesting bugs in Firefox, which are bad and wrong, but don't add up to justifying your statement that it's the "most unstable". Clearly many users find it "stable enough", especially at the price ($0), and more usable than the leading competitor (i.e. IE).

By the time I got to posting this you'd already been modded "offtopic", which isn't entirely right: the article is about FF extensions, and you're validly pointing out that extensions make FF even more unstable. You devote a lot of space to a memory bug which does need to be fixed, but debugging details aren't relevant in this forum. Nor is your repeated assertion that FF users are some sort of cult who are intent on covering up the bugs by modding you down.

So you're gonna get modded down, and you're probably going to take that as more proof of your persecution. I wanted to take the time to suggest that if you struck a more reasonable tone in your arguments, focusing more on the bugs and their effects than the ad hominem attacks on FF developers and users, then you might find a more tolerant audience.

Re:Encourage extensions that cause instability?

[masterzora]

For one, I never encouraged anyone to install them, I merely called them an advantage over Opera. (And, whether you think they are unstable or not, surely it can be agreed that the ability to easily install extensions is an advantage.)

Secondly, I have never heard anybody state that all extensions are unstable. I've seen lists of unstable extensions, but by no means is every extension listed on any of them.

Re:Are extensions the only advantage of Firefox?

[Anonymous Coward]

You do know that Opera had that first, right? And they manage to do that without the memory leaks.

In other words, you are eating the bullshit the Mozilla folks are feeding you.