10 Brilliant Firefox Extensions You Probably Don’t Know About
Yes, not the usual list with extensions that you’re already using. These are 10 very useful, not-so-popular Firefox extensions that I’m assuming you don’t know.
Snap Links – Download
You must have been in this kind of a situation before: You have to manually click on over tens of links. Time wasted. Save a few seconds and effortlessly open multiple links with Snap Links installed.
Use the right mouse button and drag it over a particular area, the main links get selected and open when the button is released.
Menu Editor – Download
Ok, you have a very customized Firefox installation on your computer. With your favourite addons installed. Tens of them. Each puts something in the right click context menu. That’s clutter, isn’t it? That’s where the Menu Editor extension comes in handy.
Using this addon, it’s possible to rearrange items in the right click menu, and even group them together.
HyperWords – Download
One of the best Firefox extensions out there, that probably deserves more praise. It makes every word on web pages interactive. Basically, after you’ve installed this addon, you have a whole bunch of things on your right click menu.
Select a word, right click, see the plethora of options that Hyperwords gives you. Don’t be taken aback. You can locate meanings of a word by just right clicking hovering over a few menu items. Select a word, click, and go to Google’s top search result page for that term. Select, click, do a shopping search. Locate a place in a map by right clicking on the place name. Possibilities are endless.
Reminder Fox – Download
If you spend the whole day inside Firefox, this is for you.
Reminder Fox can be used to set reminders and to-do lists, and can alert you when you have things to do.
Littlefox – Download
This addon is very useful if you have too many things on your Firefox window occupying a lot of space. LittleFox revamps the Firefox interface once installed, makes elements smaller and leaves a lot of room for viewing web pages. Have a look for yourself:
Must install if you have more than 3 toolbars floating around in the Firefox Window.
Hide Menu Bar – Download
Does anyone use the Firefox Menu Bar? Buttons on the toolbar do most of the jobs for me, so I rarely take the cursor over to the top to access the menu bar. This extension does a neat job of hiding your Firefox Menu Bar.
Gain some screen space, hide the menu bar. On those rare occasions when you need to use the menu bar, don’t panic. Just hold the ALT button and the menu bar appears instantly.
PicLens – Download
Makes browsing through pictures a wonderful experience. When you go to a compatible site like Flickr, click on the Piclens icon near the image.
PicLens transforms the page to a 3D Gallery-Like view. Use your mouse to drag, select and zoom in.
Fission – Download
Used Safari before? Then you might like this addon.
Displays the progress bar inside the address bar – just like you have in Safari.
Tab Effect – Download
Adds 3d Effects to Firefox.
When you switch tabs, a nice 3D cube effect is added.
Tab Scope – Download
Hover over a tab, and you get instant preview of the web page.
You can even navigate inside the preview thumbnail – scroll, zoom and open links.
Add more in the comments! – *Images Courtesy: addons.mozilla.org
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Amazing list Shankar….
I am already downloading 5 of them..
Rajavanya
7 Mar 08 at 11:55 pm
Great list buddy!
Did not know about most of them.
Trying out a few. Thanks
Keshav Khera
8 Mar 08 at 12:09 am
Awesome list………..really loved it !!!!!!!!.
Rohit
8 Mar 08 at 2:02 am
Very helpful list. Thanks.
Thirasara
8 Mar 08 at 3:27 am
Excellent list — I’m downloading as we speak.
I’d add a couple, but I have no clue whether everyone already knows about ‘em:
Copy Plain Text, which lets you remove the formatting of text you snag from a Web page (you can set it as the default) — great if you paste into other programs a lot. (http://mozmonkey.com/copyplaintext/)
Scrapbook, which lets you save a whole page, a whole site, or just a section of text, including all the original formatting. Great for note-grabbing or saving a site you think might be taken down. (http://amb.vis.ne.jp/mozilla/scrapbook/)
Andrew
8 Mar 08 at 6:11 am
Thank you people. Glad you found it useful
@Andrew: The 2nd extension is really brilliant. Thank you for dropping by to leave such a valuable comment.
Shankar Ganesh
8 Mar 08 at 6:19 am
Cool list buddy, didn’t know all these.
Ram
8 Mar 08 at 7:07 am
Excellent list. I Got another similar list here: http://goodbutbad.blogspot.com/2008/03/10-new-but-incredibly-useful-firefox.html
Anil Sahani
8 Mar 08 at 10:16 am
Can you tell me if using of more firefox addons slows down the mozilla operation.
TechPavan
8 Mar 08 at 6:12 pm
Guess what! All the 10 listed firefox extensions, I never know before! LOL! Thanks for sharing
Steve Yu
8 Mar 08 at 6:20 pm
@Anil: Wonderful article there. Didn’t know many of them. Stumbled it.
@TechPavan: Yes, it does slow down the operation. You should take care to uninstall unused extensions once in a while.
Shankar Ganesh
8 Mar 08 at 6:20 pm
Cool list yet again Shankar. Snap Links is worth a test.
Syahid A.
9 Mar 08 at 3:07 am
@Syahid: Thanks for dropping by. Indeed it’s worth trying, will only make you more productive
Shankar Ganesh
9 Mar 08 at 3:47 am
Awesome list – i thought I would have known all of them – but I didn’t….going to check them out now:)
SpilltoJill
9 Mar 08 at 7:07 am
You know what ?
I didn´t know ANY of them!!
And they´re all very interesting,
all of them very useful. I´m
still going to test Fission,
I have no idea what it is used for,
and here goes a suggestion:
it would be more helpful if
you explained a little more about it.
Those who´ve never used Safari
may be those who most need it.
You´ve done a nice job!
Thanks!
Required
9 Mar 08 at 8:07 am
Thanx Shankar, very useful list.
Ghanashyma
9 Mar 08 at 8:25 am
I tried snaplinks, fission and tab effects before and will surely give others a try as well.
Thanks for sharing. It’s really a nice list.
Rakshit
9 Mar 08 at 11:42 am
I want them, I want them all!!
Thanx a ton Ganesh!
Stumbled. =)
NasirJumani
9 Mar 08 at 10:47 pm
The title was so true…I never knew that these existed or atleast for most of the cases…
Joel
9 Mar 08 at 11:55 pm
Thank you. They were all new for me. A few of them look pretty useful, so I’m going to test them.
Simonne
10 Mar 08 at 12:23 am
Oh I really didn’t know there are people without knowing any of these extensions.
Glad to know that you guys found the addons mentioned helpful. Do share this post with your blog readers and send in your pingbacks
Shankar Ganesh
10 Mar 08 at 3:53 am
Not the typical list of FireFox add-ons. Nice to see someone taking the time to test and write about FireFox add-ons not normally listed. Thanks
Bret
10 Mar 08 at 3:55 am
Love piclens and Tab Effect. DOwnloading now!
Mike
10 Mar 08 at 3:14 pm
I liked the snap links add-on.
Nirmal
10 Mar 08 at 8:20 pm
Never heard of them before. Looks very useful.
Pumxee
11 Mar 08 at 2:35 am
I would like to mention another free Firefox extension: Web of Trust. WOT is an online community for reputation rating that lets Internet users share their knowledge of websites. The ratings are based on standards of trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy and child safety. So far WOT has information on 17 million websites, and its continually growing.
A tiny traffic light style icon appears next to the link after you search on Google, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, etc, so it alerts you about that site. What I like about it is that it’s people-driven, so I benefit from other people’s experience and knowledge–plus I can add my two cents in there too!
Check it out. I think you’ll find it useful. (http://www.mywot.com)
debsalmi
11 Mar 08 at 4:57 am
Great, thanks
Mike Dunn
11 Mar 08 at 8:03 am
I prefer Cooliris Previews instead of Hyperwords. Its less complicated, and has this neat little function of showing previews of links.
Check it out:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2207
ThePagemaster
11 Mar 08 at 6:38 pm
I will check them 1 by 1 , thanks for don’t know about some of them
rahul
12 Mar 08 at 7:05 am
Just in time buddy! Nice list and I found a few I haven’t seen and will update my list of extensions.
K-IntheHouse
13 Mar 08 at 5:16 am
smashing….mind blowing post.!
Tushar
13 Mar 08 at 7:07 am
[...] Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Freeware Firefox theme Littlefox replaces buttons and adjusts spacing on your Firefox chrome to optimize your screen space and focus on the browsing. The Littlefox chrome is unquestionably tiny, and it identifies bookmarklets and such in fun ways, but overall the design could be a little cleaner. If you like the idea of taking Firefox minimal but aren’t keen on the looks of Littlefox, check out how to roll your own consolidated chrome in Firefox. Littlefox [Firefox Add-ons via Killer Tech Tips] [...]
Optimize Firefox Chrome Usage with Littlefox [Featured Firefox Extension] · TechBlogger
13 Mar 08 at 1:20 pm
Amazing article, Shankar. After seeing these, makes it switch back to Firefox from Safari.
Ashwin
13 Mar 08 at 9:08 pm
Good ones. Picked up 3.
Raseel
13 Mar 08 at 10:11 pm
Thanks you guys again.
Thanks for the stumbles and diggs, this story went up to Lifehacker
Shankar Ganesh
14 Mar 08 at 4:09 am
These are my favorite ones : )
Stumble upon.
Down them all – embedded download manager
Cricfox- live cricket status
Datafox-live bsnl tariff status
Orkut toolbar
Foxmarks
Srikar
14 Mar 08 at 7:59 am
what about Socialphile Extension for users who like social news websites like DIGG, Stumbleupon and etc?
http://www.socialphile.com/
Greg
15 Mar 08 at 1:36 am
[...] A Killer look on few brilliant unknown FireFox Extensions. [...]
» Techno Life Weekly Bulletin, Edition 01
16 Mar 08 at 2:18 am
[...] just wrote a pretty nifty resource comprised of 10 brilliant firefox extensions you probably didn’t knew existed. Most of us bloggers use Firefox so I’m sure some of you’ll find it [...]
Sunday Quickies: 16 March | Lost Art Of Blogging
16 Mar 08 at 12:57 pm
I use Reminder Fox and Fission. That’s a great list buddy.
Brown Baron
17 Mar 08 at 6:27 am
[...] 10 Useful Firefox Extensions You Probably Don’t Know About [...]
M1CDP Blog » Blog Archive » Example Note 1
17 Mar 08 at 10:08 am
Killertechtips! that’s the word for all of your posts. Keep up the good work ! I learn a lot from you ..everytime I talk to you
ReviewSaurus
18 Mar 08 at 10:21 am
Thanks for this
Check out my suggestions
http://zia.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-3-most-critical-firefox-extensions.html
http://zia.blogspot.com/2007/07/7-months-later-15-firefox-extensions-i.html
Worth also checking what the Firefox community at large reckons is their best add-ons:
http://zia.blogspot.com/2007/11/love-your-firefox-extensions-here-are.html
Zia
19 Mar 08 at 3:33 am
Good job.Thanks for “Tab Scope”. I use it in opera
Tome
19 Mar 08 at 4:04 pm
Snap Links is something that I am in need of. Thanks for sharing.
Ashfame
20 Mar 08 at 2:08 am
Thanks. Great list, especially PicLens!
Here are a few others for anyone interested:
http://jrussellpowell.wordpress.com/2008/03/24/favorite-extensions/
Russell
24 Mar 08 at 4:59 am
I like the 3D cube simulator the best!
The Shape of Things to Come
8 Apr 08 at 2:20 am
SRIKAR said “Cricfox- live cricket status”.. i want that extension.. where will i get that extension???
sattheone[at]gmail[dot]com
satheesh
12 Apr 08 at 11:46 am
WOT is very good…
Chris
19 Apr 08 at 1:59 am
great list! I use several of these and i’ll have to go check out a few more.
matt
11 May 08 at 4:35 am
finally, someone who actually came up with an interesting list.
sdh
15 May 08 at 8:56 pm
================
Great Extensions!!!!
================
Tassadduq
18 May 08 at 9:40 pm
Wow! I really love the tab effect!
Harshil Zaveri
18 May 08 at 11:03 pm
Excellent post buddy, already downloaded 5; Snap Links, Tab effect, Tab scope, Menu editor, and Fission. Haven’t had a chance to test them out yet, will let you know!
Stuart
22 May 08 at 2:50 am
Sweet list, a personal favorite of mine though, is the web developer toolbar. As a designer I couldn’t live without it.
Firefox 2
22 May 08 at 6:39 am
Sweet list, a personal favorite of mine though, is the web developer toolbar. As a designer I couldn’t live without it.
Firefox 2
22 May 08 at 6:40 am
Good job
Lucy
25 May 08 at 3:17 am
Ad Block Plus, Hit a hint are an absolute must for my FF3!
k9
23 Jun 08 at 10:56 pm
Thanks for the informative post.. and thanks for adding our comment to the blog.
sportsmediaz
6 Aug 08 at 5:34 am
Those extension sounds awesome!!
Im running FF2.0.0.11 and my problem is that none of the aforesaid extensions got installed(it was throwing download error (error code:-228).
After much effort, I kind of found out the work around. I simply searched(thru google) for the respective .xpi file of any given extension and downloaded it manually and then drag-o-dropped into the Addon’s Installation option, voila!! the extension got installed.
But the questions hovering my mind are why am I getting download error!?? and how I can update the addons if I get download error in the future!?
Is anyone got similar kinda error!!??
nazim
27 Aug 08 at 12:31 am
Great list thx
Hsn
29 Aug 08 at 9:44 am
Awesome. Thanks dude!
Islandchic
25 Sep 08 at 10:15 am
Um, cooliris crashes ff. Not a good suggestion.
sherifffruitfly
27 Nov 08 at 1:24 am
Thanks for the info! I have more to add to the list. Auto page reader – This will help you switch to immediate next page when you scroll your mouse to the end of the page.
Nisha
15 Dec 08 at 6:10 pm
Really good work. Thanks a lot.
Also you forgot to mention Ad Block Plus.
Partha
27 Dec 08 at 9:13 pm
try stumble (stumble upon?). it can be fun.
Jeremy
2 Jan 09 at 8:35 am
Great list, thanks. Can I list my favorites? They are Firebug and Web Developer. Very useful!
SEO Quake
7 Jan 09 at 2:08 pm
I suggest to try Outwit-Images. It’s like Cooliris with some useful features (works on every website, filters, save…), in full-javascript so don’t crash a lot and works fine with Linux!
This is an in-developement tool by, AFAIK, a really little team. Good initiative.
https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/9514
Grubshka
14 Jan 09 at 4:25 pm
Instead of hiding the menu bar I use Tiny Menu and keep my StumbleUpon in the menu bar.
Max Power
28 Jan 09 at 9:46 am
they put “tens” for “tons” lol.
Example
“You have to manually click on over tens of links.”
Dan
4 Feb 09 at 3:16 am
Tab effect is not available for v.3.0
Any other alternative plz?
atuldoc
6 Feb 09 at 8:18 pm
Snap Links for FF3: http://snaplinks.mozdev.org/
Dave
22 Feb 09 at 9:54 am
I like the idea of the Hide Menu Bar add-on, but i find it easier (and more functional) to right-click my menu bar, click customize, and then move all my Navigation Toolbar items to the Menu Bar, and then hide the Navigation Toolbar. This allows me to keep my Menu Bar, but also get rid of one toolbar, without giving much up.
S.S.
24 Feb 09 at 11:40 am
Great list, I’m gonna look into some of them. A suggestion for anyone who reads to the 74th comment, the addon TinyMenu replaces the Menu Bar with a single icon on the Navigation Bar. A little more convenient than Hide Menu Bar, since you don’t have to click alt. Also, TinyMenu lets you pick some menus (such as Tools or Bookmarks) that you frequently use, and keep them available (also on the Nav Bar).
reddlemansfu
1 Mar 09 at 8:58 am
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15 Apr 09 at 7:07 am
thx
Ivan
17 Apr 09 at 12:56 am
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17 Apr 09 at 9:44 pm
Just a warning, fission slows down the loading of page a bit.
silentcon
27 Apr 09 at 12:44 pm