Date: July 15, 2005 - Author: Rob Williams - Editor: Rob Williams
With Firefox growing in popularity, it's amazing that many people still do not know what Extensions are. We'll explain what they are and how they are beneficial to your browsing experience. We also have our top 10 list to get you started.
For those who are unaware what Mozilla Firefox is, it's a complete replacement web browser. It's packed with more features than Internet Explorer, and much more secure. I've been using Firefox since version 0.2 when it went by a different name, and have never looked back. One of the primary reasons many people, including myself began using it, was because of the superb popup blocking that wasn't really available anywhere else.
Of course since then, there has been many new reasons to make the switch. You can check out more info about the browser here. If you are thinking of making the switch from Internet Explorer, but have doubts, read this page.
Now that we got that out of the way, we are going to talk about Extensions. What are extensions? Extensions are small add-ons that add new functionality to Firefox. They can add anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature. They allow the application to be customized to fit the personal needs of each user if they need additional features, while keeping Firefox small to download.
Firefox is a 5MB download, because it's not bloated with features that people don't want. That's where extensions come in, to add more features and usability to the browser. They are primarily designed by people who find a specific need, and develop the extension. Then they will offer it to others.
Installing Extensions is incredibly easy. Heading to the Tools > Extensions, and clicking on "Get more extensions", will bring you straight to the official Extensions page. You can also get there just by typing in this address: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/?application=firefox.
All extensions are installed through an .xpi file. If you are like me, and like to keep everything backed up, you can do this with .xpi files as well. In order to install via the file though, you will need to drag the file to your programs panel, and hover it over Firefox. When Firefox becomes the active application, just drop the file in the window, and it will install the extension.
On the internet, when you find an extension you are interested in, you can install it by clicking the respective install link, which will launch the simple installer. The first time you install an extension from an unknown website, you will get an error as seen in the following picture.
After allowing the site, you will never have an error when trying to install extensions, as long as they are done through that domain. If you visit another Firefox Extensions website, you will have to allow that site as well, if you are positive that site can be trusted.
Without further ado, now that we got the basics out of the way, let's check out my personal top 10 Firefox Extensions list.
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This is my personal favorites list, and yours will likely vary. This list may introduce you to new extensions, or extensions that you didn't know the purpose of. There are 100's of quality extensions out there, so definitely spend some time looking through them. This list is in alphabetical order, not in order of preference.
AdBlock is a great web annoyances extension. It does just as it says, and does it extremely well. I should make it clear, that I don't agree with blocking ads on quality websites, because they help keep them free, pay for bandwidth, and supports the authors. There comes times though, when blocking ads almost becomes a necessity.
There are two primary reasons why I would consider blocking some ads from some websites. Firstly, some websites may be so bogged down with advertisements, that it halts your browser, or makes it impossible to use. The other good reason, would be due to offensive ads that you do not find appropriate for your family members to view. In these instances, this extension is incredibly useful and even necessary. You can choose to block all the ads from a specific site, or specific ones.
Visiting a website and fancy a color? I used to copy/paste my screen and open in Photoshop to get the color values. With ColorZilla, you are able to drag your pen over the color you want values for, and it will give you the RGB and Hex code. If the site uses CSS, it will even tell you which section the colors are being used in.
Once you grab the color you want, you can right click the eyedropper tool in the corner, and it will give you an option of which values to copy to your clipboard.
FlashGot is a great tool for retrieving files off a given webpage. Say for instance you are viewing an FTP site, and it may have a huge file list. It would take forever to right-click save as them all, especially since you only want the .ISO's and not all the .txt and .rpm files, etcetera. With this extension, it will retrieve all the file info off the page, giving you the option of which extensions to download, and which to avoid.
It works in conjunction with your download manager, so you can just download a whack of files, and then leave the download manager to handle them all. It also allows you to download all the images off a given page, and even some flash ads. It's a very valuable tool if you have ever found yourself in a situation as mentioned above.
I only recently found out about this extension, and I loved it from the get go. As the name implies, this is a plugin that allows you real time weather reports. After installing, it asks you where you live, and you can just use your ZIP code to make things quicker. If you do not live in the US, you can search for the proper code for your location.
As soon as you launch Firefox, a popup in the bottom right corner will launch, telling you of your current weather conditions. By default, it will also show you a report of what to expect tomorrow and the day after, as you can see in the screenshot. ForecastFox grabs all the weather information from http://wwwa.accuweather.com, which I have never previously used. I was surprised though, that the weather information I receive is identical to what the weather channel tells me. Good stuff!
This is a very simple idea, but it works well. I've been to many foreign websites where this tool has been handy, especially overseas hardware reviews! If you don't understand the language of the site you are viewing, or just a single paragraph, right click it and go to the Translate option. It will allow Google (Hence the G) to translate it for you.
You can click on a small portion of the translate text to open the Google translator page in a new window (Or tab).
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This one is really self explanatory. If you come across an image that you find too small, you can just right click it and choose to enlarge it. It's not that crisp when enlarged, because it does not use an actual algorithm to resize it. Rather, it changes the code on the page to show the picture in a larger resolution.
In the end, this is not an incredibly useful extension, but I have found situations where it was needed.
Want the absolute safest web experience? As many know, JavaScript can lead to serious problems, if the coder is malicious. This is a simple extension that allows you to allow JavaScript only by approved websites. If you are on a site that you trust and need the JS activated, it's as easy as clicking the "Allow Javascript" from the status bar. Whenever you visit a site that does have JavaScript, the status bar icon will let you know.
This extension is primarily of use to web developers, or people like me, who try to be. Any page you view, it will show the respective Google Page Rank, as well as the sites Alexa (Global website ranking) in your status bar. It's also a fun way to get an idea of how popular a site is, as well, or just to see how important the page is to Google.
One other cool feature though, is that when viewing a page, you can right click the Alexa ranking, and use the Related Links option, which will display other popular related sites, according to Alexa.
There are a few Tab enhancing extensions out there, but I found this to be my favorite. In fact, it's easily one of my favorite extensions, period. As a whole, it will allow you to completely control your tabs, and add more usability to them. A few things that it allows you to do, is move the tabs around, so they are sorted to your preference.
Close a tab by accident and can't remember which site you were even viewing? You now have an option to undo that, and it can easily bring it back for you. If you are viewing a few websites, and want to view the same bunch later on, you have the option to bookmark them all at once. It will simply create a new folder in your bookmarks, which you could click with your mouse wheel to open them all at once. I hardly touched the features that the extension gives you, so check this one out for sure.
If you are a website developer, this tool is invaluable. It will allow you to quickly view source code, outline site elements, and even edit the CSS. When editing the CSS, it will be reflected immediately, so you can quickly see how the results would look. Ever visit a website that Firefox automatically inputs your password for you? I love this feature, but occasionally you will forget the password. Clicking on Forms, then Show Passwords, it will decipher it for you.
Another cool forms feature, is 'Display Form Details', which will do just that. It will show you the code behind the forms, so you don't have to search through the source code. If you are working on a website, but need to know how it looks at a certain resolution, it will allow you to resize the browser window to exactly the dimensions you specify. There are many, many more features as well.
If you haven't used Extensions before this article, I hope that you found it useful in learning what they are about. Or, if you have used extensions, maybe I gave you a couple ideas for new ones. All of the extensions I've gone through today, are available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh.
Extensions are really a valuable asset to Firefox. It allows us to take a somewhat basic browser, and make it our own. In the picture above, I try to give an idea of what all the extensions mentioned in this article do, and they options they give. It's apparent that Extensions are extremely useful, so if you don't use any right now, what are you waiting for?
Questions? Comments? Flames? Feel free to post in our related article thread. We'd love to see what your Firefox extensions include as well, or what you think of the ones I looked at today. You do not need to sign up to post, but it's welcomed!
Official Firefox Extensions Site
Extensions Mirror
Extension Room
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