Hello all!

Recently I installed Linux on my home pc. (Which by the by, went great!) I find myself with a fresh new Firefox installation. The bad part is, it’s not really Firefox yet, at least to me. That’s right folks. I have become so dependent on an ever growing list of extensions that I can’t even browse properly.

I need to share this list with all of you. I need you to understand MY need. So take a look, grab some of these bad boys and don’t look back.

Adblock Plus

So just in case you didn’t pick on what this guy does by the name. It blocks advertisements. In a nutshell this extension will hide all banner ads from a website. That includes images and flash. In the old days it used to be called just “Adblock” and you would have to teach the extension what ads to block. Eventually you would get to the point where 80% of all ads were gone. With the release of Plus in the name (Which used to be another extension you could get) it has a feature where it downloads a list of ads already put together for you. So you simply install and they are gone.

BUT please take note. There are some great sites out there that stay afloat and earn revenue through ads.

Here is CNet and Digg. mmm refreshing.

Colorful Tabs

This wonderful little extension simply changes the colors the of your Tabs. I know. I know, but hear me out. At first you like it because everything is colored. Then you realize that the genius behind this extension made it so that tabs from a specific site stay the same color all the time. Once your brain catches on you start to rely on the colors.

A quick glance without reading can tell you have 3 Digg Tabs, One TGFT tab and 4 ummm.. Educational ; ) tabs open! The colors are retained even through the opening and closing of the browser!

Download Statusbar

One of my biggest pet peeves with downloading and Firefox is the UI for downloads. When I download something I never clear it from the list. I just close the window and therefore It gets really full. This large list causes my Fox to bog down. The other thing is MSN messages. I don’t know about AIM or ICQ but with MSN messenger when a conversation or message is delivered the item in the taskbar flashes.

In Firefox when I’m downloading a file and put focus back on the browser continuing on my merry way I get alerted the download is done by the download window flashing in the task bar. I know this is finicky but I always see this box in my peripheral vision and assume it’s something important. But it’s not. It’s just Firefox Download telling me a PDF of my manual for my DVD player is done. That does not acquire my immediate attention and yet It’s gaining the same amount as that beautiful girl from last night’s chat window.

The great thing about download statusbar, it creates a bar at the bottom of your browser. Wherever you browse, whatever tab, you can see the status of all your downloads. When a download finishes. It simply tells you. It’s great. It’s a must have.

Internet Explorer Tab

So you switched from Internet Explorer(IE). Congratulations! but what’s this?! OH No! This site requires IE?! WHY! That’s horrible! What’s so different? The insanity.

This used to be me. To access my work’s outlook web access you need IE. For sharepoint (fancy Micro$oft web stuff) I need IE. For me to check my student loan, my government makes me use IE. What’s a guy to do? Use IE tab!

With the simple click of a mouse you can switch the rendering engine inside of Firefox to IE. You can still use your bookmarks, tabs and many other tools, but be in Internet Explorer.

It’s also great for web developers who need to cross browser check.

*note: This doesn’t work on Linux, obviously. Just use wine with IE 6

Tab Mix Plus

What a great add-on. With Tab Mix Plus you can easily open a copy of a current tab by double clicking it. This alone makes this a great addition. My other favorite feature is the tab history. Sometimes I go a little trigger happy with my middle mouse button on my tabs. Doing so almost always ends up with me closing a tab I never intended to. Well don’t fear anymore! You can now double click in that empty area where there are no tabs and it will reopen! Hooray!

The feature most dearest to my heart is what it does to the background of each tab. Lets say you load a large page and don’t want to wait for it. So you browse away. Wouldn’t it be nice to know how far along that tab is from loading? Well Tab Mix Plus makes a status bar in the background under the name of the tab. Have a look. Tab mix plus is a keeper.

(Notice the light blue bar behind the name of each tab)

Google Sync

Google Sync is my saving grace. It came to me in a time of need. The need of organization. There was a time when I was on a computer at home, my latop, school and work. Each place I would browse and find great links. I would register on amazing sites. I would login and want them to keep me logged in, but alas the internet was not ready for my need of making things simple. I was forced to sit at home and google that great site I found at work.

I would never keep my bookmarks organized. Between me moving around and computer reformats there was no way my bookmarks would be retained. That was until Google sync.

This great extension stores all your bookmarks, passwords, cookies and history on Google’s server. (Use at your own discretion. If you feel comfortable and trust Google, go for it.) I would go home. Click on the bookmark I created at work and be already logged into the site I registered at hours before. Amazing! I found myself starting to really make sure my bookmarks were organized due to the fact I now only had one set shared between all computers. I would recommend this to anybody who uses more than one computer. If you want an alternative that just does bookmarks, nothing more, try Foxmarks.

All other addons I use are based more on the type of browsing I’m doing from a specific computer. For work I have another 5 or so I use for developing. At home I have more of the fun ones like stubleupon. On my laptop I only use these as I like to keep it running fast.

These 6 Addons are required for me. They are part of my regular Firefox installation and I couldn’t function properly without them. If you try and use at least one out off my little list. My job is done.