ben robison

Favorite Firefox Extensions

I’m always on the prowl for new Firefox extensions to make browsing easier for me, and thought I’d share some of my findings. I use Firefox primarily on my Mac, but on my work computer and home computer I’ve installed the very same plugins. It’s nice to have the same setup anywhere you go.

I’d be curious to know what Firefox extensions you all use and find invaluable on a daily basis. Please leave comments below. I use the default theme, it’s simple and clean, and I use the following extensions:

1. Noscript: This one takes a bit of getting used to, but it offers me incredible peace of mind when it comes to online security. Noscript blacklists all javascript from running unless you allow it. You can always allow specific sites, or enable the site only for a specific browsing session. I find that I’m a creature of habit, so I tend to visit the same sites most of the time. After about a week of tuning, I now browse anywhere I want without fear that Javascript is secretly stealing my identity.This required some adjustments in my browsing habits, and very occasionally, I stumble upon a site that just doesn’t seem to work properly. When that happens, I must either decide that I didn’t really want to see that page anyway, or fire up another browser.
2. Adblock Plus + Adblock Filterset G. Updater: Makes for a cleaner browsing experience without so many flashing banners. Adblock blocks adds based on specifc patterns while the Filterset updates every week or so and adds new patterns to block.
3. Fission: Shows a pages load progress in the address bar, Safari style. No practical application, but it’s lightweight and it looks nice.
4. Firebug: I recently switched to Firebug after using the Web Development Toolbar for a long time. While Firebug won’t change your screensize for you, I find it much more helpful for showing page hierarchies, javascript errors, css, etc. It will even show you the HTTP headers going back and forth (which is helpful for showing AJAX calls happening while you’re on a page. The interface is simple and clean. I love it.
5. del.icio.us: It took me a long time, but I jumped on the del.icio.us bandwagon not to long ago. This extension is invaluable for tagging, and quickly viewing my del.icio.us bookmarks.
6. GMail Manager: Recently upgraded from GMail Notifier to GMail Manager. I’m still in the trial period, but so far I like it. If you’ve got more than one GMail account that you need to check regularly, this is probably indispensable.
7. SwitchProxy Tool: For those times when my RSS feeds lead me to YouTube videos that I want to see, but can’t from my current location. Fire up my SSH connection my server at home, then reload the page with SwitchProxy. YouTube plays just fine from wherever I am.