FireFox is my web browser of choice and one of the great things about it is the very useful perk of being able to install Add-Ons that will customize and enhance your web browsing experience. Here are my top ten FireFox Add-Ons that I use and recommend.
- Smart Bookmarks Bar: If you have too many bookmarks on your FireFox window or you are just a visual person, this Add-On can be very handy. Instead of showing up as long or cut-off text on your window, your bookmarks will be converted into icons. You can hover over the icons to see the names.
- MeasureIt: Lets you drag your cursor and find the height, width, and position of anything you wish to select.
- ColorZilla: Allows you to choose colors from a palette or use the eyedropper to pick any color on the page and find the hex number.
- LeechBlock: If you find yourself procrastinating or wasting your time on websites when you should be doing something productive, you can use this Add-On to block any websites you select, at any particular time and duration of your choosing. For example, perhaps you wish to be more productive during 6pm till 8pm on Mondays. Using LeechBlock, you can block out any websites that are irrelevant to your productivity during that time period.
- Simple Timer: As the name suggests, it is a rather simple tool, but can be used for a wide variety of functions. Maybe you need a reminder to give your eyes a break from the computer every half hour. Maybe you need a reminder to go check on your micro-managing game like FarmVille every 10 minutes (hey, I won’t judge). It’s handy especially when you have a task to do on the internet because each timer can customized to open up with a link to a website of your choosing.
- Autofill Forms: If you’re tired of filling in the repetitive information forms, you could always use this Add-On to fill them in for you.
- FireFTP: I’ve used a couple of FTP programs before, but this one probably takes the cake for me. It’s super easy to install and update since it is an Add-On. Most importantly, it opens up within FireFox so that I can quickly upload any files I want and then easily switch over to another tab to view my website. It’s a small step, but it makes updating my website a little easier.
- NoScript: Ever heard of clickjacking attacks? Sounds wrong, but mind out of the gutter. It’s when a hacker will subtly trick you into clicking something that will change your security settings within Flash and really get your computer infected. NoScript will ensure a pretty high rate of protection against this because no scripts will be able to run unless you specially allow NoScript to unblock it. It’s a bit of a hassle sometimes, but once you use it regularly and allow access on all the websites you normally frequent, you’ll forget it’s there.
- Read It Later: If you’re like me, you will stumble upon a ton of websites that you find useful or interesting, but you are too lazy to read them all immediately. Or, you wish to save it for later, but you’ll end up with too many tabs open or forgetting about them. Here comes Read It Later, you can save any page to this Add-On and it will keep a list for you to re-visit. You can even save an offline version of it to read it when you’re not connected to the internet later.
- Adblock Plus: My most prized Add-On because I am not a fan of advertisements (who is?). Adblock Plus will do its best to hide banners and prevent pop-ups. Of course, ads are what sustain some websites, so if you find a website you would really like to support, simply put them on the safe list.