10 Brilliant Firefox Extensions You Probably Don’t Know About
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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
56 Comments, Comment or Ping
Rajavanya
Amazing list Shankar….
I am already downloading 5 of them..
Mar 7th, 2008
Keshav Khera
Great list buddy!
Did not know about most of them.
Trying out a few. Thanks
Mar 8th, 2008
Rohit
Awesome list………..really loved it !!!!!!!!.
Mar 8th, 2008
Thirasara
Very helpful list. Thanks.
Mar 8th, 2008
Andrew
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/)
Mar 8th, 2008
Shankar Ganesh
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.
Mar 8th, 2008
Ram
Cool list buddy, didn’t know all these.
Mar 8th, 2008
Anil Sahani
Excellent list. I Got another similar list here: http://goodbutbad.blogspot.com.....refox.html
Mar 8th, 2008
TechPavan
Can you tell me if using of more firefox addons slows down the mozilla operation.
Mar 8th, 2008
Steve Yu
Guess what! All the 10 listed firefox extensions, I never know before! LOL! Thanks for sharing
Mar 8th, 2008
Shankar Ganesh
@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.
Mar 8th, 2008
Syahid A.
Cool list yet again Shankar. Snap Links is worth a test.
Mar 9th, 2008
Shankar Ganesh
@Syahid: Thanks for dropping by. Indeed it’s worth trying, will only make you more productive
Mar 9th, 2008
SpilltoJill
Awesome list - i thought I would have known all of them - but I didn’t….going to check them out now:)
Mar 9th, 2008
Required
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!
Mar 9th, 2008
Ghanashyma
Thanx Shankar, very useful list.
Mar 9th, 2008
Rakshit
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.
Mar 9th, 2008
NasirJumani
I want them, I want them all!!
Thanx a ton Ganesh!
Stumbled. =)
Mar 9th, 2008
Joel
The title was so true…I never knew that these existed or atleast for most of the cases…
Mar 9th, 2008
Simonne
Thank you. They were all new for me. A few of them look pretty useful, so I’m going to test them.
Mar 10th, 2008
Shankar Ganesh
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
Mar 10th, 2008
Bret
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
Mar 10th, 2008
Mike
Love piclens and Tab Effect. DOwnloading now!
Mar 10th, 2008
Nirmal
I liked the snap links add-on.
Mar 10th, 2008
Pumxee
Never heard of them before. Looks very useful.
Mar 11th, 2008
debsalmi
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)
Mar 11th, 2008
Mike Dunn
Great, thanks
Mar 11th, 2008
ThePagemaster
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
Mar 11th, 2008
rahul
I will check them 1 by 1 , thanks for don’t know about some of them
Mar 12th, 2008
K-IntheHouse
Just in time buddy! Nice list and I found a few I haven’t seen and will update my list of extensions.
Mar 13th, 2008
Tushar
smashing….mind blowing post.!
Mar 13th, 2008
Ashwin
Amazing article, Shankar. After seeing these, makes it switch back to Firefox from Safari.
Mar 13th, 2008
Raseel
Good ones. Picked up 3.
Mar 13th, 2008
Shankar Ganesh
Thanks you guys again.
Thanks for the stumbles and diggs, this story went up to Lifehacker
Mar 14th, 2008
Srikar
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
Mar 14th, 2008
Greg
what about Socialphile Extension for users who like social news websites like DIGG, Stumbleupon and etc?
http://www.socialphile.com/
Mar 15th, 2008
Brown Baron
I use Reminder Fox and Fission. That’s a great list buddy.
Mar 17th, 2008
ReviewSaurus
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
Mar 18th, 2008
Zia
Thanks for this
Check out my suggestions
http://zia.blogspot.com/2007/1.....sions.html
http://zia.blogspot.com/2007/0.....ons-i.html
Worth also checking what the Firefox community at large reckons is their best add-ons:
http://zia.blogspot.com/2007/1.....e-are.html
Mar 19th, 2008
Tome
Good job.Thanks for “Tab Scope”. I use it in opera
Mar 19th, 2008
Ashfame
Snap Links is something that I am in need of. Thanks for sharing.
Mar 20th, 2008
Russell
Thanks. Great list, especially PicLens!
Here are a few others for anyone interested:
http://jrussellpowell.wordpres.....xtensions/
Mar 24th, 2008
The Shape of Things to Come
I like the 3D cube simulator the best!
Apr 8th, 2008
satheesh
SRIKAR said “Cricfox- live cricket status”.. i want that extension.. where will i get that extension???
sattheone[at]gmail[dot]com
Apr 12th, 2008
Chris
WOT is very good…
Apr 19th, 2008
matt
great list! I use several of these and i’ll have to go check out a few more.
May 11th, 2008
sdh
finally, someone who actually came up with an interesting list.
May 15th, 2008
Tassadduq
================
Great Extensions!!!!
================
May 18th, 2008
Harshil Zaveri
Wow! I really love the tab effect!
May 18th, 2008
Stuart
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!
May 22nd, 2008
Firefox 2
Sweet list, a personal favorite of mine though, is the web developer toolbar. As a designer I couldn’t live without it.
May 22nd, 2008
Firefox 2
Sweet list, a personal favorite of mine though, is the web developer toolbar. As a designer I couldn’t live without it.
May 22nd, 2008
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