FireFox 3.5 has just been released and yes it’s pretty damn fast! I’ve been using it since the Release Candidate 3. The only reason I did not get on the Beta Train was the lack of support for my favourite add-ons and extensions. As a web developer and WEB2.0 Junkie, my needs are a little different than most but I’m pretty sure most of you will agree that this are solid add-ons to build from.
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Tab Mix Plus 0.3.7.4pre.090516
Above anything other plug in, this is the one I can not live without. I will never install another version of FireFox without this add on. Unless of course every single feature is finally rolled into FF once and for all. It slices, it dices, it soaks up excess spillage, it even walk the dog. From removing the close button on any tab but the one that is in focus to allowing 3-4 rows of tabs. It forces FF to open tabs new links in another tab, it has customized mouse events, better session handling. The list goes on. Needless to say if you’re not using Tab Mix Plus, you’re just not trying hard enough.
Adblock Plus 1.0.2
This add-on is probably the one that saves me the most amount of time by actively blocking slow loading double-click and flas ads that usually make a page all buggy to begin with. This is also my most controversial add-on as we here at 2FatDads so serve up Google Ads in out posts and the sidebar which help pay for the site. The way I use the Adblock Plus is that I have it turned off for all sites and then consciously turn it on for blog and sites that I like and want to actively support by visiting their sponsors.
Web Developer 1.1.8
The Web Developer add-on is a toolbar and a menu button, when is pure browsing mode, you can click the big cog and hide it away in order to give even more browsing real estate. Some of it’s coolest features are: View Colour Information, Outline page elements like layers for easier debugging, Feed, CSS, & HTML validation, View source, selection source, frame source. There’s a whole bunch of other features that would take far too long to explain the virtues of, but needless to say that this toolbar makes Firefox the choice development browser for all of my projects.
FireFTP 1.0.5
What can I say it’s a free FTP tool built in to a tiny seahorse looking browser button that allows me to upload any content to any of my sites in very little time. This add-on saves me a ton of time in not having to open up a Filezilla(all OSs) or Transmit (Mac Os X) just to upload one image or review a .htaccess file.
GreaseMonkey 0.8.20090123.1
This add-on is a like a super FireFox plug in that allows the next three add-ons to exits. Basically, it let’s you run client side script and CSS in order to modify somebody else’s page in order to perform something a little easier or simply to adjust the UI?
Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that allows you to customize the way webpages look and function.
Hundreds of scripts are already available for free. And if you’re the tinkerer sort, you can also write your own.
So the next three add-ons highlight haw cool GreaseMonkey really is.
Better GMail 2 0.8.2
The Better GMail 2 add on was compiled by Gina Tripani for a large selection of other scripts that basically give GMail a little face lift and enhance the interface. It includes: attachment icons; unread message count in favicon; add row highlights for easier; appends an easy filter creation button on a messagenavigation; display the full details of the top messages in a conversation; Folders4Gmail—Lists labels in a folder-like hierarchy. These little scripts have made GMail so powerful that I rarely ever use the Mail app on the MacBook and on the work’s Dell book, FireFox has become my new Outlook. Listen to our Google Wave DadCast to find out more about this.
Better GCal 0.3
Another one of Lifehacker’s Gina Tripani’s compilation of extremely useful GCal hacks. Includes the following scripts: Force Google Calendar to use a secure connection (https); Can switch display of the header and the navigation bar by click triangle icon on top or on left; Colorizes Saturdays and Sundays on calendars that start on Monday; Colorizes Saturdays and Sundays on calendars that start on Sunday; Displays the current time on today. (Disable GCal’s default timeline in settings.); Show the week number in monthly view; Wraps long text titles of events.
Better Flickr 0.3
Another one of Lifehacker’s Gina Tripani’s compilation of extremely useful Flickr hacks. Includes the following scripts: Add a reply link to each comment which will generate the buddy icon code or bold username code in the add comment textarea on flickr; Adds useful links to external services to the user sub-menu. Based on Browse by Interesting script by steeev and Scout Link by netomer; Add a magnifier to the photo pages. Click+mouse drag will zoom in and out. You can configure the quality of the image through the greasemonkey user script menu. (magnifier code by Janos Pal Toth); Adds links to different sizes directly to a Flickr photo page, generates html code to easily copy’n paste thumbnail & description, and automatically loads your 20 most used tags when you click “Add Tag.”; Adds a simple rich edit interface (Italic, Bold, Blockquote, Link) to any comment text area on flickr and any in-situ description editor.; Flickr Thumbnails Enhancer: Adds more information (comments, notes) to lists of thumbnails on Flickr.
Delicious BookMarks 2.1.041
As much as I love Google, I am still a huge Flicker and Delicious fan even if they now belong to the ill-fated Yahoo. The Delicious bookmarks buttons allow you to add bookmarks to the cloud instead on the browser which makes it much a whole lot easier to work on mutliple computers. It also allows you to create group bookmarks which you can share amongst other developers and web surfers.
