Filed under: Mozilla, Open Source, Browsers
Lee's three must-have Firefox addons
Plenty of the chores I used to leave up to addons can be done with Firefox itself. Search bookmarks, userchrome hacks, and about:config offer plenty of tweaks without adding any bloat to the browser.
However, there are still a handful of key addons that I just can't do without. Here are my top three - sound off with yours in the comments!
1. Weave - If you're running a compatible Firefox version, Weave is an amazing tool. Being able to keep my bookmarks, history, and tabs in sync between work and home really boosts my browsing efficiency. I don't use Weaeve for password syncing - that job goes to addon #2.
2. LastPass - I need secure, synchronized access to my passwords on two machines running Firefox and my iPod Touch. LastPass does that for me, thanks to their great Firefox addon and bookmarklet - which gives you access to your vault from just about any javascript capable browser. LastPass added a form filler a while back, and that, too, works via a bookmarklet.
3. Greasemonkey - There are just too many userscripts I enjoy using to leave out Greasemonkey. From customizing my GMail and YouTube layouts to auto-paging lengthy articles, I can't imagine Firefox without the little monkey on my status bar.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
narabhut said 6:36PM on 5-06-2009
My favorite is Adblock Plus
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HuBu said 9:56AM on 5-06-2009
why did you pick weave over xmarks?
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Lee Mathews said 10:00AM on 5-06-2009
Weave keeps it simple - I don't really need all the additional bookmarking functions of XMarks. Plus, I want my history and tabs in sync, too.
Dan said 10:14AM on 5-06-2009
I agree with HuBu. XMarks is one add-on that takes care of everything. Maybe if you NEED that additional functionality, I can see why you'd choose Weave. Greasemonkey I completely agree with.
But for me, it'd be XMarks, Greasemonkey and Tab Mix Plus. If I had more choices, I'd add on FEBE and mention Better Gmail. But before T.M.P., I refused to use Firefox because of the horrible tab handling. I was a die-hard Maxthon user because all the features you'd normally want to have came out-of-the-box in Maxthon and you'd have to go looking for an add-on in Firefox.
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lot said 10:39AM on 5-06-2009
What about Adblock Plus? It's a must have too
Oh wait! this is an add financed blog :)
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Jason said 10:39AM on 5-06-2009
Heh... and it seems all of these are basically built into Opera already!! (through Opera Link & UserScripts).
Shame no-one really knows about them though :/ Opera need to do something about that...
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Lee Mathews said 10:42AM on 5-06-2009
You can access your Opera passwords in any other browser using a bookmarklet? Methinks not. :)
MK said 10:43PM on 5-09-2009
LastPass works with Opera too.
Jiaji Wang said 5:31AM on 5-07-2009
Adblock Plus is like a taboo among websites that talk about Firefox.
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Lee Mathews said 11:23AM on 5-06-2009
It is? News to me!
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/09/29/12-extremely-useful-firefox-addons/
JimScar said 11:55AM on 5-06-2009
No security? Adblock Plus (as previously mentioned), BetterPrivacy, and BetterPrivacy are my first 3. Keeps me safe and snappy.
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Doranwen said 12:27PM on 5-06-2009
Hard to put an order on them, but my top three have to be Tab Mix Plus, Adblock Plus, and NoScript. Oh, and Taboo! Taboo is *definitely* in the top collection (I have so many tabs saved that way to work on later, I despair of ever getting to all of them). Xmarks follows close behind (I'm usually at my laptop, so I don't need to shuffle back and forth so much between browsers), along with Greasemonkey, ForecastFox, SunCult (I'm a Seventh-day Adventist, so knowing when sundown is on the weekends is a very useful thing, so I can anticipate the Sabbath coming), and a little-known extension called UnMHT (I'm not sure if it's still experimental or what)--I use it to save webpages as mht, to combine it all into one neat tidy package for saving in folders to read later. Oh yes, and DownThemAll!--can't forget that extension. Very useful for grabbing a ton of linked files at once. I also LOVE DownloadHelper--I'm always grabbing Youtube vids that way.
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kingkool68 said 12:59PM on 5-06-2009
Delicious Bookmark extension. Keeps everything tagged and in sync where i go.
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Anthony said 2:18PM on 5-06-2009
I'm in a jam so to speak. I cant seem to get weave to snyc down data that i had set up w/ a different firefox install. instead it made a 2nd computer to sync with it. I thought xmarks would back me up on that but it overrided my passwords on me. and i lost the drive that had the old install on it as it were.
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Sonic said 2:56PM on 5-06-2009
1.) Adblock plus: its a must have to any system.
Don't normally install much else besides that (outside of the Move Media player for ESPN360 and the WMP plugin for compatibility with basically everything).
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pg808 said 7:20PM on 5-06-2009
My Firefox experience is enhanced greatly thanks to the following:
- Adblock Plus. Hard to forgive Noscript after the recent mess.
- Flashblock
- Foxclocks. I work with people in Guam, Hawaii, and both coasts in the mainland.
- Xmarks
- UrlBarExt
- Pixlr. Right-click on a photo and send it to a great online editor.
- IE Tab. For the clueless sites that insist on having IE-only usability.
- Auto Pager
- FEBE/CLOE/OPIE
- Personal Menu + Stop-or-reload button - To save screen space.
- US and BR Dictionaries. How wonderful that Firefox has built-in spell checking.
- DownThemAll
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Bryan Price said 7:22PM on 5-06-2009
I installed Xmarks less than two weeks ago, and it's staying. I'm slowly working my way through my bookmarks and putting them online with Delicious (and yes, I could just import them, but this way I know if they've moved, invalid, or I just don't care anymore, and I can tag them appropriately), so I can do that task from any Firefox browser (where I currently have it installed) that I use, which means 3.0.10 and the latest 3.5beta that's updated on my systems.
I'm very much less hesitant about trying Greasemonkey. Every time that I've tried that extension, my performance went to crap, and even uninstalling never fixed the issue. I had to reinstall the OS from a formatted disk each time. Now that might be a problem somewhere else just creeping in, but the coincidence is such that until I find a userscript that I've just gotta have, it stays off the computer.
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CM said 7:53PM on 5-06-2009
You can't have an article about "must-have" firefox extensions without putting adblock-plus at the top of the list. I don't care if it's taboo to talk about on an ad-supported site, it's the single best thing about using firefox and it's the reason I won't even try chrome or opera (yes, I know there are adblocking options for those browsers but they don't work as well as adblock).
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smg77 said 7:55PM on 5-06-2009
I should have said I wouldn't switch permanently to chrome or opera...I've tried both browsers to evaluate their adblocking functionality.
Peter said 9:22PM on 5-06-2009
Lastpass? If you want to store your passwords online be my guest. I'll stick with KeePass.
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