Update: 10 Useful Firefox Extensions That Don’t Get Glamorised


Writing my review of 2006 has made me realise I haven’t covered Firefox for a long time. One of my popular posts last year was 10 Useful Firefox Extensions That Don’t Get Glamorised, which got picked up by all the top sites including Digg. That article is nearly 12 months old, so I though it was time I did an update.

Here is an updated list of the lesser known extensions, not just the newest and shiniest extensions that everyone promotes, that I believe really make Firefox a joy to use rather than just something to show off to non-Firefox users who haven’t seen the light yet.

You’ve probably never heard of most of the extensions below as they don’t feature in the top 50 plugins on the Firefox Add-ons site, but it doesn’t make them any less useful.

 

10 Useful Firefox Extensions That Don’t Get Glamorised

  1. Colorful Tabs - May sound really boring, but this extension makes it a hell of a lot easier to distinguish between multiple tabs
  2. Google Reader Notifier - will popup “unread” Google Reader items from the statusbar, so you can keep on top of your feeds before you end up with more unread items than are manageable in one session
  3. FaviconizeTab - This extension adds a new “FaviconizeTab” option to the context menu of the tab. When it is clicked, The width of the tab becomes small up to the size of favicon. Great if you keep a lot of tabs open like me
  4. WebmailCompose Fantastic extension that opens your chosen webmail compose window if any email addresses are clicked on
  5. Add Bookmark Here - Allows you to add bookmarks to any folder in the bookmarks menu like in Opera. Makes adding bookmarks to Firefox so much easier
  6. Optimoz Tweaks - If you a heavy user of sidebars this great extension makes it easier to open and close them. Use this link rather than the one on Firefix Addons, as this version is compatible with FF 2.0
  7. Google Browser Sync - The only bookmarks sync tool I’ve found that works seamlessly between PCs. Much better than Foxmarks in my view. If you’re outside of the US just use a proxy site to get the plugin
  8. ColorZilla - With ColorZilla you can get a colour reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. It’s great for when you see a colour on another website which you want to use, or for tweaking your own template
  9. Autohide - This one isn’t promoted heavily, but if you like browsing full-screen it gives some useful control over what elements Firefox displays
  10. VideoDownloader - Download videos from Youtube, Google, Metacafe, iFilm, Dailymotion, Pornotube… and other 60+ video sites!

I’m sure there are many others that people can’t live without, but these are always the first ones I install on a new PC. If you have any other Firefox extensions you want to share, then please leave them in a comment below.

Update For Digg Readers: Thank you for reading this article. If you found any of the extensions useful then you can use the Digg button below.

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About the Author

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Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK. He also writes for Windows 7 News.

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There Are 19 Responses So Far. »

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  1. #19

    I surf a few Hindi language sites that requires Unicode’s special features not available in Firefox and requires using some add-in (I am not sure of, and thus use IE)… If you could include that add-in it might be useful for moving such users into using FireFox

  2. #18

    Thanks for the list, I’ll check out some extensions from your list. Month ago I wrote similar article, 7 Useful FireFox Add-ons, you may take a look.

  3. #17

    I would put Fingerfox on the list, but now I would add FingerAuth fingerprint login manager to your list, Everton.

  4. #16

    I have use autohide sinse the first time I get firefox, and can`t live with out it

  5. #15

    YES! ALL of those were EXACTLY what I was looking for!

    This is one of the most useful list sites I’ve ever read!

  6. #14

    I’ll have a look. But I’m trying to be good now and keep my Firefox bloat to 10-12 extensions max - makes a big difference to speed

  7. #13

    Nice list. I wrote an article a while back of my Top Ten Truly Useful Firefox Extensions, you might like it.

  8. #12

    buenas, necesito el plugin de firefox que me muestra las actualizaciones de las paginas, please si alguien me puede ayudar

  9. #11

    I have been using Mozilla FF & TB for years now and am very very satisfied… The way they have designed a small application which can be extended as much as u like using extensions and plugins…

    Great list of Top 10. Keep it up!

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