My 10 reasons why Firefox is the best browser
Posted 22 August 2007 at 8:51AM by Simon Dickson in Connecting to the Internet
If people ask why Firefox is my web browser of choice, the answer is very simple: its vast collection of free add-ons. If you've ever wished your browser could do something, the chances are that someone else has had the same thought - and has written a Firefox add-on to do it. This makes it a doddle to configure your own personal Firefox setup, making it work exactly how you work.
The official list at addons.mozilla.org has details of over 1,800 add-ons, all of which can be installed in a couple of clicks. And because they're generally based on Firefox's cross-platform code, the vast majority will work on Windows, Mac, Linux, and one or two others. But in a collection so large, where do you begin? Well, these are the ten add-ons which make it the perfect environment for me: your own needs will undoubtedly differ.
Autocopy
Such a simple idea. When you highlight some text on a web page, Autocopy automatically puts it on your 'clipboard', as if you'd pressed control-C. I mean, why else would you have highlighted the text in the first place?
British English Dictionary
Leaving aside the name, which is a travesty in itself... as we all do more and more via the web, rather than the desktop, it's great to have Firefox's built-in spellchecking function. Of course, by default, your installation probably speaks American. Teach it to talk proper in seconds. (Celtic readers may also be interested in Cymraeg and Gaelige options.)
Copy Plain Text
Another very simple idea. How many times have you tried to copy text from a web page to a Word document, only for it to bring the web page's font (and everything else) with it?
Deepest Sender
Write your blog from inside your browser. Not as full-featured as something like Windows Live Writer, but certainly adequate for most day-to-day blogging. Works with most blogging systems, including LiveJournal, Blogger and WordPress.
del.icio.us bookmarks
Now owned by Yahoo, del.icio.us was one of the first 'web 2.0' sites, allowing users to store their web 'favorites' online, and share their finds with fellow members. It's great being able to switch from machine to machine, and always have your bookmarks readily available - and built into the browser interface itself.
FireFTP
Every now and again, I need an FTP program, usually to upload files to a web server. FireFTP would be an excellent FTP tool in itself, with drag-and-drop being a particularly welcome feature - but with the added convenience of its integration with Firefox, it's a must-have.
GMail Manager
Sits in the corner of your screen, and checks your Google Mail account(s) every few minutes, as you require. If you like, it can alert you via popup or noise. It even works with 'GMail for your domain' accounts, which is more than can be said for some of Google's own tools.
URL Fixer
I'm so glad someone developed this. If you ever find yourself typing .co.ku or .cmo, this add-on will spot it, and fix it automatically. You get the occasional 'false positive', but it's definitely a time-saver overall.
View Source Chart
If you ever find yourself browsing HTML code, especially other people's, you'll love this add-on. It puts boxes around matching HTML tags, and adds colour-coding, making it much easier to 'read'.
Web Developer Toolbar
The must-have for anyone in the web business: countless tools and tricks to help you analyse and build web pages. So good, the author just got hired by Microsoft.
Tags: add-ons, browsers, extensions, firefox
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Comments
2. At August 22, 2007 12:23 PM, Anjanesh wrote:
excellent topic ; thanks for the tips.
-> broadband diagnostics add in;
a tool that runs dowload upload and other quality checks on the line
-> Ip viewer - a tool for the IP challenged
- > Download status bar - an add in that neatly arranges all downloads along the bottom with addtional detailsand a zillion more...
3. At August 22, 2007 3:30 PM, Chris Robb wrote:
The dictionary is awesome. Saves me having to go back and alter everything in the painstaking fashion of checking in Word first!
There is a couple there that I didn't know about but seem pretty cool. The broadband one Anjanesh mentioned shall be added-on when I return home from work.
Sadly its only IE here :(
I like my 'foxy in its sexy skins!
4. At August 22, 2007 4:40 PM, Simon wrote:
Yes, I tried Anjanesh's 'broadband diagnostics' suggestion... and it's looking good so far. If we get enough other recommendations, I'll maybe do a follow-up item next week.
5. At August 23, 2007 8:04 AM, Mark Thorpe wrote:
I rarely used firefox until recently with all your constant rambling Simon....but I'm glad I started using it!
One thing that worries me is why MS hasn't implemented things like this before.....is it perhaps because they were saving it for the Vista toolbar? The toolbar has very similar functions, which I find very useful; network monitor, ram/cpu usage, notes etc etc....and hundreds of others.
6. At August 23, 2007 9:26 AM, Anjanesh wrote:
Reference to Robin Hay on first post : I believe this site renders perfectly well on all my browsers - including IE7 and any support for Firefox is simply due to obvious reasons - it is THE best !
7. At August 23, 2007 2:15 PM, Scott wrote:
So given that you keep raving on about Opera, you now say Firefox is the best??? Do you want to say they're equally as good or do you feel one is better then the other?
8. At August 23, 2007 2:22 PM, Sam Pearce wrote:
View Source Chart (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/655)
This is great thank you very much.
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1. At August 22, 2007 12:07 PM, Robin Hay wrote: