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This blog was updated regularly between 2005 and 2007 by Doug Belshaw. It now serves as an archive of his thoughts and resources.

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Best Firefox extensions

Firefox is a wonderful browser – you can add functionality to it at a touch of a button. Here’s the extensions I currently couldn’t do without (in no particular order):

1. Forecast Fox – this adds a 3-day forecast and live satellite photograph of your location to the bottom right-hand corner of your browser window. Very useful (and accurate!)

2. Del.icio.us plugin – I don’t really use ‘bookmarks’ in the traditional sense any more. I use the ‘tagging’ system made possible through the wonderful del.icio.us system. This makes your bookmarks accessible from anywhere and you have the option of sharing them with others for ’social bookmarking’. A great way to find new information, links and resources!

3. PDF Download – I really used to hate it when a PDF file would automatically open in your browser window, take forever to load and hog all your system resources. Now, using this plugin, whenever I click on a link to a PDF file, Firefox asks me whether I want to open it in the current window, a new window, a new tab or download it!

4. Undo Close Tab – sometimes you realise just after you’ve closed a tab that you need to go back to that website. No problem with this plugin – just right-click on any tab and select ‘Undo Close Tab’! (there’s also Tab Mix Plus for even more functionality…)

5. StumbleUpon plugin – in the bad old days of Internet Explorer, the availability of this toolbar was its only saving grace. StumbleUpon adds a toolbar underneath your browser buttons, the idea being that you click ‘I like it!’ on sites that you think are good, and ‘Not-for-me’ on ones that you don’t. It then builds up a profile of you and sites that you will probably like, based on other people’s recommendations. When you click ‘Stumble!’ it takes you to a random website that it thinks you may like. Wonderful, but addictive…

6. Reload Every – especially useful for eBay addicts, this one! Reload Every adds a small arrow next to the ‘Refresh’ button allowing you to specify at what interval you want the page refreshed – from 5 seconds upwards!

7. Customize Google – I know Google is the best search engine out there but there’s times when, despite my best efforts, it doesn’t come with exactly what I’m looking for. It’s at times like this when I find this plugin invaluable – it sits below the Google search box after you’ve searched and provides quick links to a host of other search engines to replicate the search you’ve just done. Genius!

8. Blogger Web Comments – if a blog author has commented on a website, their comments can be viewed by clicking on the icon at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

These are only the plugins that I, personally, couldn’t do without. There are thousands of plugins available at the extensions section at Firefox Add-ons – go and have a look! And I haven’t even started on themes… (I use Aquatint, if you’re wondering!)

Published on December 20, 2005 · Filed under: Uncategorized;

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