Purpleslog has outlined his firefox setup. There was one or two I hadn't seen so it was a useful list, as is the comments section.
Kristan of Sources and Methods also mentions that his students use firefox a lot, I'd be interested in what extensions some they use for research purposes or other interesting extensions they may have.
Here are mine:
Security related extensions (All are recommended, first three are a must IMO)
- Adblock plus (with adblock filterset.G updater that updates adblock every week)
- NoScript
- Flashblock - blocks flash from opening automatically.
- CustomizeGoogle - Stops google ads. Automatically makes gmail and Greader into secure https rather than http. Creates competitor searches under multiple specific google searches like google images etc.
- FEBE - Backs up everything about my firefox.
- CLEO - works with FEBE but puts my backed up extensions into a ready to use file.
- Foxy Proxy - used in conjuction with the Vidalia/TOR software.
Top extensions I use
- LibX - This is a generic library search tool that allows you to search most libraries including universities. I use this all the time. It allows for search of authors, titles, keywords and others. It also automatically reverses an author for you, so if you see an author called joe bloggs and you highlight it and search, it reverses it to bloggs, joe for a library database search. It also puts a little sign next to books on Amazon for you, so if you an interesting book, click the sign and it'll search your uni library for the book.
- Zotero - Excellent research tool. Stores all my papers and books within my browser and allows me to tag and search through them.
- All-in-One sidebar - I use this all the time for looking up what downloads I have, to search history etc.
- Greasemonkey - Whilst other extensions actually effect your browser, greasemonkey extensions effect the webpage you are browsing itself. I only use a few and they are fairly specific to certain websites so I won't post them here.
- Auto Copy - Highlight a text on a webpage and it automatically copies to the clipboard. Saves time, but is quite confusing at first.
- Better GReader - tweaks google reader.
- BetterSearch - Tweaks numerous search engines for more indepth results.
- ConQuery - context sensitive queries.
- del.icio.us bookmarks - stores all my bookmarks and allows me to search quickly through bookmarks rather than the rediculously slow del.icio.us site (still the best social bookmarking site next to stumbleupon though).
- Dictionary Tooltip - highlight a word and it gives you the definition on the screen in a pop up window.
- Download status bar
- ErrorZilla Mod
- Fasterfox
- Foxmarks bookmark synchronizer - allows me to sync up my bookmarks with other browsers on other computers.
- Organize search engines
- pageaddict
- pdf download
- QuickJava
- SearchStatus
- SmartSearch
- StumbleUpon - Great for knowledge discovery if you want to find random quality websites.
3 comments:
Here are some of the ones my students say are particularly useful.
Kris
Bumble Search – Allows ultra efficient web browsing.
Crash Recovery – Automatically recovers all windows after a crash.
Fasterfox – Performance and network tweaks for Firefox.
NoScript – Extra protection for Firefox.
Firefox Showcase – Easily locate any tab you have opened in Firefox.
Scrapbook – Helps you save Web pages and organize the collection.
Colorful Tabs – Colors every tab in a different color for distinction.
Hyperwords – Makes every word on the webpage interactive.
Tab Mix Plus – Tab browsing upgrades.
Forecastfox – Displays weather forecasts and radar images on your toolbar.
IE Tab – Open an Internet Explorer tab in a Firefox window.
Firefox Menu Buttons – Adds 41 buttons on the browsers customizable toolbar.
BetterSearch – Adds thumbnail previews to search results.
Morning Coffee – Keeps track of daily routine websites and opens them in tabs.
StumbleUpon – Browse through random pages in topics of your choice
Tab Effects – Adds a spin effect when you switch between different tabs
Cool Iris – Provides a popup preview of a page before you click on it
Download Status Bar - A simple extension to keep track of downloading progress: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/26
Reminder Fox - Helps you keep track of dates and deadlines, a mini calendar of sorts: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1191////
~Adblock-Once installed, it's a snap to filter elements at their source-address... Just right-click: Adblock: done. Adblock
~Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper- Tired of that ad on the right side of your mindmap....Fight the text ads! Element Hiding Helper is a companion extension for Adblock Plus meant to make creating element hiding rules easier.Adblock Plus
FlagFox-Displays a country flag in the status bar depicting the location of the current website's server, and provides quick access to detailed location and webserver information. FlagFox
Thanks much, kris and munz (and Pslog) for that extensive list! Some time ago I stumbled upon a way to increase the browsers pipeline. The result was a marked increase in page load efficiency. From what I read, however (and bare in mind I'm just barely above drooling, helmet wearing idiot when it comes to the intricacies of all things computer) to much of an increase can get you firewalled from various servers. I'll have to research it and provide a link.
Munz, isn't GreaseMonkey an addon that allows one to download or view the html of a given page? I'd downloaded that add on a few years (and Firefoxes) ago and never really looked into it.
Lastly, did either of you experience any loss of speed with more add-ons?
Cheers Kristan, some of those are great.
Hey jay, i know the one you are talking about. It's here i think: http://lifehacker.com/software//speed-up-firefox-030871.php
I use Greasemonkey in conjunction with certain websites like Metafilter, where it makes the websites easier to use. There are also a couple of other scripts like if I went to a website with any photos, I can view all the photos related to the website as a slideshow automatically. Works useful for google images and flickr.
Yeah it slows down a bit with more addons. Del.icio.us toolbar especially.
I've heard from others that the new version of firefox 3 beta is actually much much faster, so that is hopeful.
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