Firefox Users : must have list

I got going in another thread about Firefox addons and thought it warranted a dedicated thread. I'm a big Firefox supporter in that it gives me all the things I want to do with a browser and more. Yes alternative like IE, Opera, etc. have their merits but Firefox is #1 for me. Here's my list of must have add-ons for Firefox users:

IEtab - Some pages just don't play nice using FF. This add-on simply opens a tab instance of IE for the site(s) you need. No more opening IE and firefox it can all be done now with IEtab

addons.mozilla.org...

Agent Switcher - Ever go to a site that will only allow certain browsers to visit. No problem just install this add-on and you can make your browser appear as any of the major players. Surf the web using FF but make the site think your using IE, Opera whatever

addons.mozilla.org...

Adblock Plus - This is somewhat controversial as many sites including this one depend on end users getting ads. However if you want to block out ads on pages (very handy) install this add-on, then just right click on the ad in question and either block the image or the frame. You can wildcard blocks as well to stop enhanced ad url's

addons.mozilla.org...

Dictionary Search - I use this a lot. Ever read a page and want a quick check on a word. No problem install this add-on then all you need to do is highlight the word you want to lookup, right click and select dictionary search. You can configure this to open a new tab if you want and it will pull up a dictionary reference with the word. Extremely handy add-on

addons.mozilla.org...

Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer - If your like me you have multiple PC's / laptops all with different bookmarks. Wouldn't it be great to sync them all and have 1 common reference. You can with this add on. Setup a quick account then you can sync all your bookmarks to 1 location, very handy. If you set this up on all your PC's you can share the bookmarks with all the PC's and it will update additions/deletions. This is a must for me and it works flawlessly.

addons.mozilla.org...

There are tons of other add-ons I've just scratched the surface here and I look forward to hearing from others on what they use.

One handy tip - If you want to open a Firefox session with multiple homepages (i have 9 load up on start up now) you can just go into :

Tools \ Options \ Main then in the "HOMEPAGE" section place multiple url's separated with the pipe symbol "|". For example:

www.abovetopsecret.com...|belowtopsecret.com...

brill

Nice!

Are you familiar with the 'about:config' command. Lots of settings with FF that you can change.

Favorite one is to cause any search results found in the search box to appear in a new tap. I was forever searching on something and having to click new tab or end up surfing away from the page that had the question.

Now it opens a new tab itself and takes me there (or leaves me where I am and I tab over later).

One minor suggestion. I -believe- that 'Adblock' is actually better than 'Adblock Plus'; but some users like having all that extra info. Same name, different programmers.

Thanks for taking the time on that.

I wear contact lenses and at times they get blurry, partic late at night. So I use 'No Squint'. Not only is it useful, it's also elegant.

Yup all kinds of tweaking can be done in here. Actually you can adjust the page requests to web servers here as well but another add-on called Fasterfox does it all for you. Thanks for pointing out this valuable tip.



Correct and thanks for the clarification. I haven't tried just Adblock but will look into it though.



I sometimes just use CTRL + or - and this will also increase/decrease the font size on the fly.

brill

Filterset.G -- Used in conjunction with Adblock (either version works fine) to auto-update it's blacklist with a very comprehensive list.

NoScript -- Blocks scripts pre-emptively so that you browse safer. Some websites have malicious scripts that can download a trojan horse into your PC, so it makes sense to pre-empt every single script from entering. Of course there's an override option that's easy to toggle, else I wouldn't be recommending it.

That's all. I like my Firefox lightweight and streamlined. I'd post links but the Mozilla site is always slow for me... just search for it yourself, sorry.

I only use 2.
Fasterfox and vidalia bundle with torbutton.

OUTSTANDING thread...

I just got the Dictionary add-on....

Didn't even know they had it.. I have been going to the online dictionary and that is such a hassle...

Thanks

Semper

FlashBlock is pretty good if you use a lot of flash intensive sites or have a slow computer. It stops flash things from loading automatically, and replaces them with an icon that you can click on to enable that specific flash.

reply to post by bobafett

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Just so you know, NoScript blocks macromedia flash and scripts that play music/internet radio that you have on certain sites, usually blogs. You do have the option to turn it back on, permanently or temporarily, or just for specific sites.

Sigh... some bloggers... not everyone has a large bandwidth

dont want to be the party-poofer but i tried firefox countless times and its just not home.opera is the choice for me^^.

but for firefox plugins...go adblocker we must have it this days^^
-blocks ads so sites display more quickly
-blocks ads so u wont see those "SSSAVE the children" and whatever more ads
-blocks ads so u wont catch a virus by accidently clicking on them

The only thing I use is the "Web Developer Toolbar", to help make and analyse web pages, but I not use Firefox as my primary browser, in fact it's the least used, after Opera (my favourite) and IE 7 on Windows Vista.

While its nice that others have chosen different browsers this thread was targeted at Firefox and more specifically must have add-ons. IE7/Opera sentiments are pointless.

brill

The best addon i have used is mouse gestures sooooooo good. I was an IE7 user before but at work they use Firefox and had mouse gestures installed.... makes life so much easier... for example if you want to go back you just right click and drag the mouse back.... has a gesture for each command.... seriously try it you wont look back Mouse Gestures

reply to post by iCEdTenG

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Nice.

I'm going to try it.

Here's the mozilla site download for mouse gestures
addon

Hey let us know what you think of it its a good feature and i havent looked back since

since the extensions are not too hard to find on the site, I will let the willing find the url's ...

Tab Mix Plus ... it has a lot of options to mess with the tabs and make them perform and look more to your preference.

Tab Catalog ... have a lot of tabs and windows open? roll over this icon at the top (or where ever you put it if you change the way the window looks as I do) ... it will jump to a page that shows thumbnails of all your open tabs seperated by each window it is open in. Works great for researching while typing and you want to jump back and forth, but not sure which tab it was, but would know it if you saw it

Visual bookmarks ... has a thumbnail of the page you put into its own folder separate of you normal bookmarks.

zotero ... does some cool stuff, I haven't played with it enough yet.

Save Complete ... saves a webpage correctly.

RealPlayer Browser Recorder Plug-in ... I got it with the RealPlayer Beta and it comes with the new full (free) version. Download virtually any video you come across. the icon to download pops up above the top left of the video.

Preferential ... advanced preferences

PDF download ... save it, view it, view it with an external viewer, or view it as HTML

OpenBook ... customize how your add bookmark option operates

foxytunes ... control most music players from the bottom of your browser

forecastfox (or forecastfox enhanced) ... local weather at the bottom of your browser.

Exif Viewer ... view the exif data of files

download statusbar ... view and control downloads from a toolbar that appears at the bottom of the window instead of the separate small window (you still have to go to tools to clean out the download history i think)

Broadband speed test and diagnostics ... for use if a page/server/browser/connection is messing up

bookmark duplicate detector .... finds duplicate bookmarks, warns you before you make a duplicate bookmark



in addition to the ones said previously and some I forgot about



as far as themes, I usually use aquatint black or currently pearl fiber ... until I learn to make my own.

This is my first week playing with Firefox. I'm liking it, esp. how fast it loads pages. It is much faster than IE. Some of these add-ons are great, like the dictionary.

Question:- when I open a new tab, all i get is a blank page, how can I get a new tab to open up to my homepage? (www.google.com.au)??

any FF experts got any advice?


[edit on 5-1-2008 by Spica]

You can do it by opening a new window, instead of a new tab. But that doesn't do what you want it to, does it?

Install the New Tab Homepage Add-on.

thankyou...thankyou very much...very much appreciated..