First off, I would like to welcome all the new readers and thank the commentators who are keeping the community here alive with their discussions. I am going through one of the busiest times at work and in personal life that I am finding it hard to contribute here as much as I would like to. Thanks for being patient and supportive!
Let’s kick off June with a look at some cool new Firefox extensions that I have come across in the last few weeks. With impending Firefox 3 release, I am marking Firefox 3 specific extensions so you can easily see it.
- OPIE (FF2): A lot of Firefox extensions now have preferences that need to be set. Even though you might backup your extensions and profiles with superb extension like FEBE/CLEO, it’s hard to export your individual extension preferences. OPIE works great by allowing you to export.import extension preferences in one shot!
- Edit Middle (FF3 only): Awesomebar is one of my favorite Firefox 3 features. It shows browser history as you edit the end of the url but if you had typos or changes in the middle of the url, it doesn’t recognize it. This extension pulls new search results no matter where you are changing in the url.
- Prism for Firefox (FF3 only): I have talked about this extension before but it’s time to reiterate my love for Prism. Prism lets you run web applications like Remember the Milk, PassPack like a desktop application. You can read my Prism Review to learn more. Prism for Firefox lets you create Prism applications right from Firefox 3.
- IE NetRenderer (FF2/FF3): Extensions like IEView help you open those IE-only sites from right inside of Firefox. Web developers use it too to make sure their design is compatible with IE. But this worked only on Windows. With this extension you can render the current page with IE NetRenderer from any OS. It even supports keyboard shortcuts to render pages in IE 5.5/6/7/8 beta 1.
- Add-Art (FF2/FF3): One of the main things most people start using Firefox is for it’s ability to block ads through extensions like AdBlockPlus. Now, what if you could rejuvenate your browsing experience by replacing those ads with a little art? This extension serves contemporary art in place of ads from a curated database that is updated every 2 weeks. Go ahead. Add a little flair to your browsing. [via Firefox Facts]
- Pronounce (FF2/FF3): Wonder how to pronounce a certain word in English? If you are often doing that, you could find this extension that lets you select/right-click a word to hear pronounciation through Websters dictionary service.
I have made the switch to Firefox 3 RC1 and loving every minute of it. And I hear Firefox 3 RC2 is slated for release this Thursday with a bunch of bug fixes and performance improvements.
If you are unsure of making the switch to Firefox 3 yet, here are a few articles (a little old but highly relevant) that could help you with it:
Do you have a Firefox extension that you use and would like to share it with us?
Firefox 3 is definitely worth using, I was putting back downloading and installing it but I have been using it since FF3 RC1 and definitely love it.
Keith Dsouzas last blog post..Set Facebook Status As Windows Live Messenger Personal Status
Keith, that is so true. I am excited about the Firefox 3 RC2 release this week. It will be cool to see faster compatibility with some of the major plugins such as Greasemonkey, Firebug, etc.
This is an excellent example of why I will only use Firefox. Open source is the only way!!!
Thanks for posting about IE NetRenderer. I wasn’t aware this extension existed. I’ll give it a try. I always have to cruise through different browsers to make sure everything shows up correctly once I make a change to a website.
Wow, “Pronounce” is a really useful tool for English learners! Thanks.
Syahid A.s last blog post..How to Capture / Extract Human Faces from Photos Quickly
Thanks for sharing the Ad-Art extension. I hate when I block ads and nothing shows up. The page looks too empty.
is the resources usage a big improvement with FF3?? I ask because I use it on a vista machine that could use every resource it can find 🙂
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Tom.. I can’t agree more!
barry.. this is slightly better than browsershots.org in that the wait time isn’t there as in the other. There are a couple more ways you can do this. Hmm,, may be a post idea. 🙂
Syahid.. that’s so true.. and I am loving it.
Fred.. you are welcome! Glad you found it useful
BlogMetheMoney, with 28 extensions installed in my Firefox 3 RC2, it definitely is waaaaaaay faster than Firefox 2 for me. And it has had fewer crashes even though I am using soem extensions with the extensions compatibility turned off. My wife using it in Vista has said the same to me. HTH.
Pronounce and edit middle is very useful for me
Glad you find it useful, Ajay! 🙂
Thanks for giving information about pronounce, I think it consumes some much bandwidth
Supermans last blog post..Getdiz : A simple text editor