Regardless of the operating system on your computer, if you’re spending time on the Internet, you need to do so with a good web browser.
Fortunately, there are so many good ones available these days. By themselves, the browsers connect you to so many good resources and points for information/research/play/work. Even at that, they can’t cover every base and you may wish/need additional functionality to be at your most productive. There have been a lot of articles recently about extensions for the Google Chrome browser. That makes sense since it’s so very popular and school using Chromebooks spend their lives in the browser.
It’s been quite a while since I saw a similar article for the Firefox browser, my favourite. Perhaps people just read the Chrome stories and go for the same in Firefox? I don’t know but I decided to share what I use. Here, in the Firefox world, we call them add-ons, although the menu is interesting in and of itself.
There’s probably some deeper meaning that I’m missing.
Over the years, I’ve found that I don’t have a static list of add-ons. Some come and go and I try to keep up with the best of the best. Also, some are redundant when you already have that functionality with your operating system. An example of that would be a screen capture utility. There are some pretty good ones for the browser but Shutter works with anything on the screen so I’ve elected not to have one in my browser – logic being that I want to keep things mean and clean.
Here are the ones that I currently use to get through the day.
- With a leaky memory like mine, it’s so nice to be able to make myself a note or add to a list while I’m browsing so that I can return it it later.
- I’ve worked with a number of advertisement blockers over the years. This one seems to be very efficient in terms of speed and memory and has been getting lots of great reviews. When you have a slow internet connection, it’s amazing how getting rid of the advertising can speed things up. There was a time when I didn’t mind advertising but now it’s so “in your face” and time consuming while downloading, I’d just rather not be annoyed.
- You can save yourself a lot of extension resources by just installing this one.
- Except Pinterest. While the Chrome version of Shareaholic has a Pinterest option, it isn’t available in Firefox. So, since I keep a Pinterest board of my blog posts, I have to have this extension to make that bit of life easier.
- Unless your memory is better than mine, or you don’t mind using sticky notes or the same password on every site, having them securely stored on the computer is a must. There are many utilities to do this. I just happen to like LastPass and have it installed everywhere I am!
- Regular readers will know that I have enough troubles with English. It’s so nice to have a translator handy to translate pieces of text or entire websites into English so that I can understand.
- For a blogger, this is a wonderful tool. The normal copy routine also copies the formatting. Sure, you can always go in and edit out the HTML codes afterwards but why not just not copy them in the first place?
- I’m working in it right now. This is my blogging tool. Rather than working online in WordPress or downloading a separate application, it’s so handy to just open another tab and start blogging.
- I’m generally not a fan of toolbars but this is a keeper. Much of what I bookmark to my Diigo account is done automatically but there are times when I find something that I want to add/annotate immediately. This is the tool for that. But it’s so much more than that – I have access to lists, groups, and more.
- My community is a great deal smarter than I am. So, having WOT installed is terrific. With its traffic light signals of red, yellow, and green, it’s nice to know what the community thinks of a site or a link before getting there.
So, there’s my top 10 list. I can’t imagine working without that functionality. Well, actually I can since I’ve tried it with browsers that don’t support add-ons and, when you’ve become used to the functionality, it’s awkward working without it.
What do you think? Do you challenge any of my assumptions? Are there other add-ons that you would recommend? I’d love to hear from you.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.