How to make FireFox even cooler

[giza]

Okay, so people know I'm a fan of the FireFox web browser. There is certainly a lot to like about it. It is more secure "out of the box" than Internet Explorer is, and it's available for all major platforms. I can run FireFox on Win XP and GenToo Linux at work, or on OS/X and RedHat Linux at home, and have pretty much the same user experience on all platforms. That being said, there are plenty of free extensions available that add even more functionality onto FireFox. I'd like to talk to about a few of them, and how they can make the web browsing experience even better.

Extension #1: SessionSaver - SessionSaver keeps track of what URLs you have open in your browser, and in the event that you quit your browser or it crashes, restarting the browser will reload all of those URLs so that you can pick up where you left off. This feature first appeared in the Opera web browser, and I'm glad that it's available for FireFox now.

Extension #2: Bookmarks Synchronizer - This utility lets you connect to an FTP server and upload/download your bookmarks as an XML file. Even neater is that you can configure this extension to automatically download your bookmarks at startup and merge in any changes, as well as uploading them when you quit FireFox. This allows you to keep your bookmarks in sync if you use FireFox on multiple machines.

One minor issue posed by using this extension where to find FTP space? If you're fortunate enough to run your own server somewhere on the net, you can easily set up an FTP service. But if you don't have a server or don't want to run an FTP daemon, then you have to find space somewhere. There isn't much in the way of free FTP service available anymore, but one site that does offer free accounts with FTP service is Village Photos. The service is normally used for uploading and sharing of photos, but if you go into Bookmarks>Synchronize Bookmarks, you can change the path of the bookmark file to be "bookmarks.jpg" or something similar. It's kind of silly, but it works. (If anyone else has suggestions for free FTP services, please send them my way)

Extension #3: TinyURL Creator - TinyURL (TinyURL) is a free service that lets you turn large URLs into much shorter ones. For example, let's say you're looking up directions on MapQuest and you'd like to send them to a friend. Rather than sending them a URL in excess of 100 character long and risk having your IM client truncate it, you can paste it into the form on the TinyURL website and create a nice short URL to send. This extension makes the TinyURL service even easier to use by integrating it in with the browser. When installed, you can right-click on any page or link, then click on the option, "Create TinyURL for this Page/Link", and it will contact the TinyURL service and store the link in the clipboard. A popup will display success, and give you the option of saving the URL in your bookmarks as well.

In conclusion, FireFox is a cool browser, and can be made even cooler through the user of extensions that increase its functionality. Happy browsing!

Comments

[drleo.livejournal.com]

Let me also suggest a few other extensions I like, although I don't have URLs handy. Most are available from the FireFox extensions site.

#1: BugMeNot (from bugmenot.com). BugMeNot is a service that provides username/passwords for mandatory registration sites like the New York Times. The extension lets you just right click on one of those login boxes, and there's a "BugMeNot" option in the context menu which will fetch a username/password and puts it in there.

#2: Image Zoom. Lets you zoom in and out on an image, or fit it instantly to the size of your browser window. I think some or all of this functionality might be standard in FireFox now, but I'm not sure. Either way, this extension lets me set my browser up so I can right-click on a really big image, and there's an "Image Fit" option in the menu which instantly shrinks it to size.

#3: Gcache. Lets you look up a page in Google's cache if the actual page has gone away or is unavailable.

#4: ieview. Lets you instantly bring up a URL in an IE window for those cases when a page just refuses to work right in FireFox.

[rustitobuck.livejournal.com]

Images always zoom-to-fit by default in Firefox now, and if you click on them, they go to 100% and you can scroll around.

[giza.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I forgot about that one. That's another really nice feature to have.

[drleo.livejournal.com]

That's true, but the problem I've found is that when you load a webpage that's just contains an image (as opposed to directly loading the image), like the way photo galleries often display pictures, Firefox doesn't zoom-to-fit. So I still need the Image Zoom plugin for those cases.