Favorite Firefox Extensions
In case you have been living in a hole for the past couple of years, I just wanted to let you know that there are better browsers on the market than IE. The most popular alternative is the offering from the Mozilla Foundation. Firefox is years ahead in technology and offers the rather unique characteristic of being extremely customizable due to the wide variety of extensions available. Here are my favorites.
Web Developer Toolbar
Developed by Chris Pederick, this extension is a must have for anyone interested in developing websites. Some features include
- Disable Java, JavaScript, Cookies, and styles
- Resize the browser window to any resolution available.
- Outline items. Useful when setting up a layout with multiple floats and debugging and errors that appear.
- Highlights problems, including images without and alt attribute and links without a title attribute.
- Allows for quick and easy validation of HTML, CSS and accessibility features.
Adblock
This extension does exactly what you would guess it would do. You can configure this extension to disable pretty much every advertisement on any website.
Disclaimer: Doing so can be considered poor netiquette and is not kind to companies or people trying to make money. I personally use this only to block graphical and flash based advertisements because, well, I’m on a dialup connection and those flash ads greatly reduce my surfing experience.
TargetAlert
I don’t believe links should ever open a new browser window. However, I’m not dictator of the internet, so the next best thing is to alert the user that link they are about to click is going to do something unexpected. Using this extension can alert you to a link that, among other things
- Opens a new browser window
- Is a pdf file
- Is a file that needs to be downloaded
- Is an external link
- Is a media file
User Agent Switcher
Some people that call themselves web developers, webmasters, web designers, etc… still only develop for IE. Why? Beats me. Their unfortunate judgement can prevent users of superior browsers from accessing a site. Wouldn’t it be nice to use your favorite browser and just tell the website that you are IE? Well now you can.
Bookmarks Synchronizer
I like to be able to backup my bookmarks and also use them on another computer. This extension is the easiest solution. It can automatically upload your bookmarks when you close your browser and download the bookmarks when you open the browser. Instant backup. Plus, when I use someone else’s computer, I can use my bookmarks there as well.