Top Ten Best Firefox Extensions

Firefox extensions are small add-ons that add new functionality to Mozilla applications. They can add anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature. They allow the application to be customized to fit the personal needs of each user if they need additional features, while minimizing the size of the application itself (from the official Firefox Extensions site). Here are my picks for the Top Ten Best Firefox Extensions:

Adblock Plus - Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.

Video DownloadHelper - The easy way to download Web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites. This works also for audio and picture galleries.

Greasemonkey - Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript.

Web Developer - Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

Firebug - Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.

Delicious Bookmarks - The Official Delicious Add-on seamlessly integrates your browser with del.icio.us, the leading social bookmarking service on the Web.

FlashGot - Download one link, selected links or all the links of a page together at the maximum speed with a single click, using the most popular, lightweight and reliable external download managers.

IE Tab - An extension from Taiwan, features: Embedding Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox.

StumbleUpon - StumbleUpon discovers web sites based on your interests, learns what you like and brings you more.

wmlbrowser - Simulate WAP browsing by viewing WML (Wireless Markup Language) pages.

Gmail Manager - Allows you to manage multiple Gmail accounts and receive new mail notifications. Displays your account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam messages, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets.

And last, here is a couple more of my favorite Firefox extensions ONLY for Chinese users:

Access Flickr! - Bypasses the flickr.com filter in Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and other banned countries and places...

FoxyProxy - FoxyProxy is an advanced proxy management tool that completely replaces Firefox's limited proxying capabilities. It offers more features than SwitchProxy, ProxyButton, QuickProxy, xyzproxy, ProxyTex, TorButton, etc.

Mozilla Firefox 3 Launch

Firefox download day is here! With more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than ever before. Firefox 3 is based on the Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 34 months. This new platform includes more than 15,000 changes to improve performance, stability, rendering correctness, and code simplification and sustainability. Firefox 3 is built on top of this new platform resulting in a more secure, easier to use, more personal product with a lot more under the hood to offer website and Firefox add-on developers.

Mozilla has finally launched the highly waited version 3 of their Firefox Web Browser.With their servers flooded with traffic ,they got an hour or 2 late to launch it,but it is now finally up.

You can download Firefox 3.0 by click the Download Day buttons.

Top 15 Flickr Extensions for Firefox

No matter how good a service is it can always use a few tweaks, and Flickr is no different.

The 15 add-ons we’ve gathered below for Firefox will help with everything from navigation to uploading, accessing Flickr in countries that block the service, and much more. Take a look and you’re bound to find an extension to enhance your Flickr experience.

Access Flickr! – A tool built specifically to help users bypass firewalls in countries that block Flickr such as Iran, the UAE, China and more.

Better Flickr – Better Flickr combines several Greasemonkey scripts such as photo magnifier, thumbnail enhancer, rich edit and more into one convenient extension. Simply check the boxes for the portions of the add-on you wish to use.

Fireflix – A sidebar extension that works with Flickr to upload images from local files, generate HTML for linking, search photostreams and more.

Flickr – A simple extension that adds the ability to search Flickr photos directly from your browser.

Flickr Auto Page – This extension removes the “Next” button from Flickr and will autoload the next picture so you can just scroll through them in a much easier fashion.

Flickr Buddy – Adds an icon to your status bar in Firefox that will pull Flickr RSS feeds and notify you when the people you are following have updated.

Flickr Gallery Plus! – Flickr Gallery Plus! allows you to see one large image next to the smaller thumbnails on the page. You can then move amongst the thumbnails to view all of the images as a larger version.

Flickr Original – Adds an option upon right clicking on a Flickr image to just directly download the original image at full size.

Flickr Themr – Tired of Flickr being white everywhere you look? Flickr Themr will add a blue & gray theme to the site as you browse it.

Flickrfox – With Flickrfox you get a sidebar for your browser that allows you to search Flickr photostreams while other web pages load.

FlickrSpaceBall – This extension removes the spaceball.gif that sits atop some images on Flickr.

FlickrTrans – Right click on any image on any site, and you can load it to your Flickr account and then use it

Fotofox – A photo upload manager that allows you to drag and drop images from your system into the extension, add tags, set privacy and more; then you can upload them to over 40 different photo sites including Flickr.

Lockr – Share content from Flickr with users on Facebook without them having to log into Flickr.

Uploadr for Flickr – Gives you the ability to upload images you find on various websites directly to your Flickr account. (via

Top 30 Firefox Add-ons For Downloading Images, Videos & Files

Every day we all run across content we would like to save a copy of. Sometimes, it’s even legal to do so. This toolbox gives you Firefox add-ons to save just about anything from a webpage you could ever want. Obviously you shouldn’t install these all at once.

File & Page Saving

Backgroundimage Saver – Helps you save the background image of a page even when hidden behind a transparent GIF.

BatchDownload – Assists you in downloading multiple image links at once.

Bazzacuda Image Saver – Will cycle through your open tabs, if any tab has an image and nothing else, the image will be saved and you can have the tab close automatically.

Downloads in Tab – Moves the download manager to a tab.

Download Manager Tweaker – Open the standard download manager as a separate window, a new tab, or the sidebar.

Download Statusbar – Rid yourself of the pop-up download window and manage everything from your status bar.

Download Sort – Automatically save downloads to different directories when using “Save Link As” or “Save Image As”.

DownThemAll! – Download one link or multiples, has a built-in accelerator.

Facebook Photo Album Downloader – Download complete Facebook photo albums.

FlashGot – Download one link, selected link, or all the links on a page.

Image Download – Download all the pictures and filter by width, height, type, create sub folders and more.

Image Toolbar – Provides one click to image actions such as downloading.

Launchy – Enables you to open links and mailtos with the external applications of your choice.

OpenDownload – Adds functions similar to IE’s ‘Open’ and ‘Run’.

PDF Download – Checks every link to see if it is a PDF, if it is, it gives you the option to open it inside or out Firefox, download it to a folder or view it as HTML.

Pterodactl – Saves the largest image on the page, in all tabs, and renames files to keep from having conflicts.

Save As Image – Saves the currently displayed tab as an image creating an instant screenshot.

SafeDownload – Automatically scan downloaded files for viruses.

Save Complete – Aids you in saving complete webpages.

Save Image In Folder – Save images to special folders on your hard drive.

Save Images – Saves images from the current tab’s cache to a specified location.

Save Link In Folder – Save links to special folders on your hard drive.

Screengrab! – Saves the entire web page as an image.

Sourceforge Direct Download – If you frequently download from Sourceforge, this will help you skip the mirror selection step.

ScrapBook – Helps you save portions or entire webpages and then organize them.

TiX Now! – Improves downloading speed from Rapidshare and MegaUpload amongst others.

Video Downloading

Amazing Media Browser – Scans a page for embedded media and helps you download the source files.

Download Embedded – Provides the ability to download several forms of media.

Download Helper – Will extract content from many different sites.

Fast Video Downloader – Can save videos from around 60 video sites.

GetVideo – Provides access to the direct path to get the video.

Google Video Downloader – Adds a button to the status bar to save videos from Google Video.

Media Pirate – The Video Downloader – Gives you the ability to save videos from approximately a dozen sites.

PimpFish Basic Toolbar – Capture video files from numerous sites.

UnPlug – Scans a web page for media players and tells you where the media files are stored so you can download them.

Video Download – Adds a simple right click command to download videos from numerous sites. (via)

Top 50 Google Reader Extensions and Scripts For Firefox

Don’t get us wrong, Google Reader is our favorite feedreader. But sometimes, we just wish it was a little…better. Here are 50 Firefox extensions and scripts to make Google Reader your own.

Note: some of these require the Greasemonkey or Stylish extensions.

Notification

Google Reader Notifier Firefox Extension – Multilingual extension that tells you how many items are unread.

Google Reader Toolkit – Handy add-on that alerts you to unread items.

Google Reader Watcher – Firefox extension that displays all unread feeds.

Interface

Colorful List View – Colors the headers in the list view.

Google Reader Air Skin – Light skin for Google Reader.

Google Reader Bottom Link – Adds a small link to the original page at the bottom of the feed.

Google Reader for wider screens – Changes the length of stories in Google Reader.

Google Reader Optimized – User style that gets rid of all unnecessary elements.

Google Reader Plain and Green – Green skin based on Sage’s Plain and Green style.

Google Reader Prettifier – OS X theme for Google Reader. Fork with a few bugfixes here.

Google Reader Preview – Shows the original page instead of the article summary (fork with widescreen support here).

Google Reader Preview Enhanced – Better version of Google Reader Preview.

Google Reader “Slate series” – Clean theme in slate colors. You may also be interested in the modified version.

Google Reader title unread count – Moves the unread count to the front in the page title.

Reading

CodeReader – Increases the font size of code snippets in the currently viewed item.

Google Reader Functional Links – Quick Links fork with updated hotkeys.

Google Reader Quick Links – Shortcut keys for links in the story you’re currently reading.

Google Reader show original in new tab – The must-have script for Google Reader. Just hit ‘t’ to open the current article in a new tab. Note: this script conflicts with a Google Reader native shortcut. You may want to use Masayuki Ataka’s script that changes the hotkey to ‘y’.

Google Reader Slideshow – Automatically scroll through your items at a user-set speed.

Grease Reader – Adds a ton of powerful hotkeys.

Iris – A Google Reader sidebar influenced by Sage.

Read By Mouse – Toggles a mouse-only mode where you read using only your mouse.

Search

Google Reader Custom Search – Adds search to Google Reader via Google Co-op.

Google Reader Custom Search (2) – Updated version of the Google Operating System script that displays results inside Google Reader like normal posts.

Google Reader Gears Search – Uses Google Gears to search your posts.

Google Reader Search – Search powered by Google’s Blogsearch that searches the current feeds or the entire Blogosphere.

Integration

Facebook Sharer + Google Reader – Sends the current story to Facebook.

Gmail Box for Google Reader – Integrates Google Reader’s subscriptions to Gmail (based on Google Reader Redux).

Google Reader + BlueDot – Based on Google Reader + del.icio.us, but for BlueDot.us.

Google Reader + Bookmarks – Sends Reader posts to Google’s bookmarking site.

Google Reader + del.icio.us – Based on Google Reader + Bookmarks, but for del.icio.us. Forks here and here.

Google Reader + ma.gnolia – Based on Google Reader + del.icio.us, but for ma.gnolia.

Google Reader + Simpy – Sends Reader posts to Simpy.com.

Google Reader + Twitter – Sends Reader posts to Twitter.

Google Reader 30Boxes – Add 30Boxes events from the search field.

Google Reader digg news – Adds a “Digg It” button to every item. Works well with Digg Button Animator Enabler.

Google Reader Redux – Integrate Google Reader into your Gmail account.

Misc.

Auto add to Google Reader – Automatically bypasses the “Add to Google homepage”/”Add to Google Reader” choice Firefox usually gives you when subscribing to a feed.

Better GReader – Combines an optimized skin, Smart Google Reader Subscribe, and Quick Links into a Firefox extension.

Google Gears – Take Reader (and tons of other apps) offline with this great Google product.

Google Reader Subscribe – Adds a button to add the current page’s feed to Google Reader.

Jasper’s Google Reader Subscribe – Based on Google Reader Subscribe, but concentrating on taking up as little room as possible.

Smart Google Reader Subscribe – Based on Jasper’s script, but tells you if the feed is already in Google Reader (saving you clicks).

Tag Cloud – Generates a tag cloud of all your tags. (via)

Top 30 Language Tools For Firefox

The web is a a global phenomenon, so it’s a shame that so many of us are stuck within our own little English-language corner of it – especially with so many exciting new startups in foreign languages. Here we present 30+ tools to help you transition between various languages, and maybe even learn something in the process.

Translation

Bork Bork Bork! – Ever wondered how a webpage would like if it was written like The Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show wrote it? This extension will show you.

Chinesepera-kun: Chinese Popup Dictionary – Highlight simplified or traditional characters and get an on-screen translation of Chinese in to English.

Chinup – Chinese Popup Translator – Hover a Chinese word and get a translation in a small popup window.

East Asian Translator – Translate webpages or text from Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean, using the services from excite.co.jp.

EHTip – Lets you translate English and Croatian back-and-forth.

FoxLingo – Translates web pages, lets you search in other languages, auto-translates and much more.

Free Translate! – Works back-and-forth between English and Russian, German, and French.

gTranslate – Quickly translate a snippet of text into another language using Google’s translator.

ImTranslator – Enter a snippet of multilingual text and check it for correctness. Also features translation editor, virtual keyboard, spell-checker, dictionary, decoder, back translation and an email client.

InTranslate – Translate words to-and-from Greek, and look them up in Wikipedia.

Moji – A sidebar dictionary for Japanese and Chinese, including Kanji.

PeraPera-kun – Highlight Japanese kanji on a page, get an on-screen translation. Needs a downloaded dictionary.

Qwara Toolbar – Allows translation of multiple languages an can be set to do so autmoatially.

Russ Key – Type in phonetic Russian and transform to Cyrillic, and includes English translations.

Simple Translate – Lets you translate text to-and-from English/German.

SpanishTrans – Highlight a word and translate it to Spanish, including complicated terms such as conjugated verbs.

To/From Amharic – Select a word, right click, and you can chose “To Amharic” or “To English”.

Traduku – Translate text or web pages to Esperanto.

Translation Panel – Adds the ability to translate several languages in to English.

Translator – Translate pages with the click of a button using one of the numerous online translation services.on a regular basis to aid in your grocery shopping.

Educational

lernu-fr – With each page load you get a Esperanto-French word translated in the status bar.

Morse – While the military may no longer use it, it never hurts to learn morse code as you go about your day.

WordLearner toolbar – Load any dictionary and learn new vocabulary as you surf.

Foreign Character Entry

abcTajpu – Either using macros or context menus, will let you enter accented letters, international characters or symbols.

Any Key – Allows you to type phonetic Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi Davangari, Mongolian, Russian, Ukrainian.

Indic IME – Assists in entering Indian text in web forms.

Leet Key – While not exactly a foreign language, turns typed text to L337, ROT13, BASE64, HEX, URL, BIN, DES, AES, Morse code, DVORAK keyboard layout and more.

Locale Switcher – Lets you change the locale of your Firefox on the fly to access different language packs.

Quick Locale Switcher – Has over 200 locales, switches spell check to the chosen locale and more.

Russian hot keys bugfix – Helps with Russian and Ukrainian key entry in Mozilla products.

Zombie Keys – Add shortcuts for international characters. (via)

Top 40 Firefox Add-ons for High Speed Blogging

Firefox works great on its own, but it’s the thousands of extensions that make it excel. We’ve pulled together more than 40 add-ons for Firefox that provide quick access to handy blogging tools. But whatever you do, don’t install them all at once.

Blog Publishing

Blogger Bar – Search Blogger, “Blog This” function for any page you’re on.

Clipmarks – Clip any portion of a website to save, email or put on your blog.

Deepest Sender – Blog to multiple platforms from one window.

JustBlogIt – Just right click, and you’re blogging about the page you’re viewing.

LiveJournal Addons – Notifies you of friends updates, messages and more.

LiveJournal Hook – Gives you quick access to many LiveJournal commands and tags.

MySpace Blog Editor – Post directly from Firefox, drag and drop clips from sites.

Scribefire – A blog editor that integrates with your browser and allows you to drag and drop items from a web page into a blog post.

Twitterbar – Post to Twitter directly from the address bar.

WordPress.com Sidebar – Adds a quick access sidebar to get to your WordPress.com account.

Uploading Photos and Media

Fireflix – Sidebar extension to upload, browse, and manage your Flickr photos.

Firefox Companion for Kodak EasyShare Gallery – Upload photos directly to your Kodak EasyShare Gallery.

Firefox Universal Uploader – Universal program for uploading to sites such as Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, and Facebook.

FireFTP – An integrated FTP system that syncs and checks versions.

Flickr Sidebar – View the pictures in your account in a sidebar.

Fotofox – Select, tag, and upload images to popular sites such as Flickr.

ImageBot – Lets you upload photos to ImageShack or Photobucket.

OakFlickr4PFF – Allows uploading to your Flickr account.

Blog Tools

Adsense Notifier – Displays your current earnings from Google Adsense in the status bar.

Copy as HTML Link – Copies the address of a page to the clipboard as an HTML ready link.

Create short URLs – Right click an address, click wrapURL, and create a shortened URL for your use.

Dict – Highlight a word, right click it, select define and get a definition in a pop-up window.

DictionarySearch – Similar to Dict, but the result appears in a new tab.

FastDict – Add quick access to any number of dictionary sites to spruce up your blog entries.

ShrinkThisLink Link Shrinker – Use the ShrinkThisLink service without leaving the page.

Tiny.pl – Shortens an address via the tiny.pl service.

Blog Design, Customization and Development

ColorZilla – Get a color reading from any spot in your browser.

DT Whois – Adds a button for Domaintools.com whois service for the site you are currently viewing.

Firebug – Look under the hood of your favorite websites and take a peak at their code.

Greasemonkey – Allows you to run small java scripts to manipulate the way a page displays to you.

HTML Validator – Checks the validity of a page’s HTML and tells you the results in simple graphics.

IE Tab – Lets you view a webpage in an Internet Explorer tab without leaving Firefox.

iWEBTOOL Webmaster’s Toolbar – Allows you quick access to services and tools from iWEBTOOL.

JavaScript Debugger – In browser Java script debugging.

KGen – Allows you to see the strongest keywords for a given site.

LinkChecker – Checks the validity of all links on a given page.

Load Time Analyzer – Allows developers to measure how long a page takes to load.

MeasureIt – Draws out a ruler to get a pixel dimension of any element on a page.

MetaTags – Checks the meta information of a site and features an automated search engine submission tool.

RankQuest SEO Toolbar – Quick access to over 30 SEO tools.

SearchStatus – Keyword density analyser and checks backlinks.

SEOHAND – Tracks a site’s standings and creates graphs over time.

SEOQuake – Ever wonder why a page gets good search ranking? This will help you figure it out.

Web Developer – A highly regarded debugging tool for designers. (via)