Author Topic: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful (Read 770214 times)

alexey_r · « **Reply #300 on:** June 27, 2009, 11:18 AM »

What makes it the must-have extension is that there's practically no other reason to highlight text on a Web page except to copy it to your clipboard.

Oh yes, there is a reason. You may want to search for it, for example. You may think this requires copying it to your clipboard, but SmarterFox and Easy DragToGo (and several other dragging extensions) disagree.

Curt · « **Reply #301 on:** June 27, 2009, 12:39 PM »

Cnet download blog proclaims "AutoCopy" the 'best' firefox extension.
-mouser (June 27, 2009, 07:15 AM)

- personally I find Auto Context to be better. Many more options, including auto-copy, if you want it to.

http://autocontext.extra.hu/
https://addons.mozil...g/firefox/addon/5714

mwang · « **Reply #302 on:** June 28, 2009, 12:09 PM »

Auto Context may be nice if you copy-paste infrequently, AutoCopy saves you the extra click when you have to do it often.

I wouldn't call it the "best" extension, but it's indeed among the first I grab when reinstalling Firefox.

justice · « **Reply #303 on:** June 29, 2009, 03:23 AM »

If you were interested in my uncluttered usability extensions mentioned earlier I made a collection: https://addons.mozil...13-762a-454e2f2e87e9

Innuendo · « **Reply #304 on:** June 29, 2009, 11:08 AM »

Just posted this extension over in the "Annoyances" thread and thought it might get a warm reception here as well.

Lazarus is an extension that basically saves web forms so if 'Something Bad' happens and all the data you typed is lost forcing you to start over you can restore all your hard work with a single click.

http://lazarus.interclue.com/

mouser · « **Reply #305 on:** June 29, 2009, 11:48 AM »

Lazarus is an extension that basically saves web forms so if 'Something Bad' happens and all the data you typed is lost forcing you to start over you can restore all your hard work with a single click.

that could be VERY useful.

CleverCat · « **Reply #306 on:** June 30, 2009, 01:52 AM »

Useful for when I do a listing for my friends business...

app103 · « **Reply #307 on:** June 30, 2009, 03:22 AM »

What makes it the must-have extension is that there's practically no other reason to highlight text on a Web page except to copy it to your clipboard.
-mouser (June 27, 2009, 07:15 AM)

Not entirely true. I do a lot of highlighting of excerpt text for sharing things on Friendfeed. When clicking the button for the bookmarklet, it automatically adds selected text to the comment field. I wouldn't want to have the clipboard text I planned on using for the title wiped out by an extension like that one.

Another reason for highlighting text is if you are using something like Surfulator. Or how about just for making it more visible if the contrast on the page is bad?

f0dder · « **Reply #308 on:** June 30, 2009, 10:21 AM »

I highlight things all the time when reading stuff on the web - and not just when the contrast is bad, I use it as a visual indicator of how far I've read. I'd absolutely hate if selecting text automatically copied it to the clipboard

lanux128 · « **Reply #309 on:** June 30, 2009, 10:52 AM »

to set bookmarks within a page, i use the aptly named: Book Text Mark.

Innuendo · « **Reply #310 on:** June 30, 2009, 11:00 AM »

Here's a little plugin that I don't think has been mentioned before but makes the Find function in Firefox nicer.

The Findbar Basics extension adds four basic features to Firefox's Find Toolbar:

   * a Statusbar button that toggles the Find Toolbar on and off.
   * a Clear button inside the Find Toolbar for clearing all text from the input box.
   * an optional toolbar button that toggles the Find Toolbar on and off. You can place this button anywhere you like by dragging it from the Customize Toolbar window.
   * Ctrl-F key command to toggle the Find Toolbar on and off.

That last bullet point makes the extension worth installing all by itself. Why the Mozilla team didn't make Ctrl-F a toggle is a mystery to me.

Get it here:

http://www.tom-cat.c...s-findbarbasics.html

Curt · « **Reply #311 on:** June 30, 2009, 12:35 PM »

* Ctrl-F key command to toggle the Find Toolbar on and off.

That last bullet point makes the extension worth installing all by itself. Why the Mozilla team didn't make Ctrl-F a toggle is a mystery to me.
-Innuendo (June 30, 2009, 11:00 AM)

- nice feature. And to make it even easier, just hit Escape.

mwang · « **Reply #312 on:** July 03, 2009, 03:20 AM »

That last bullet point makes the extension worth installing all by itself. Why the Mozilla team didn't make Ctrl-F a toggle is a mystery to me.
-Innuendo (June 30, 2009, 11:00 AM)

I actually prefer the way it is. When I hit Ctrl-F, I want to search, period. I certainly understand your preference, though. To me that's the beauty of Firefox: letting you change the way it works through extensions. In fact, I use an extension called XUL/Migemo that let me switch among 3 different search modes (normal - regexp - migemo) by hitting Ctrl-F.

4wd · « **Reply #313 on:** July 03, 2009, 04:45 AM »

* Ctrl-F key command to toggle the Find Toolbar on and off.
-Innuendo (June 30, 2009, 11:00 AM)

I don't understand why you can't just hit the default '/' and start typing, (although I turned off having to hit it). And then hit Escape to hide it.

If nothing else, it saves having to use two fingers

And you can always hit Ctrl-F if you're trapped in a text input area.

Or ' if you want to search for links only - finally remembered that one, since I have it set to just search for everything.

Innuendo · « **Reply #314 on:** July 03, 2009, 03:48 PM »

4wd,
Didn't know about the Quick Find functionality, but where is the Next/Prev functionality? Not to mention if you pause to think too long the Quick Find box goes away.

4wd · « **Reply #315 on:** July 03, 2009, 07:34 PM »

Didn't know about the Quick Find functionality.....
-Innuendo (July 03, 2009, 03:48 PM)

Been there longer than I can remember, since version 1 or before, IIRC. They call it 'Find As You Type'.

... but where is the Next/Prev functionality?

F3 for forward, Shift-F3 for backwards, Ctrl-Z to clear.

The way I look at it is, I've already got my hands on the keyboard - I don't want to keep reaching for a mouse just to push a button.

Not to mention if you pause to think too long the Quick Find box goes away.

But the last search is still in effect, you hit (Shift)F3 and it will find the next/last occurance.

I think you can change the timeout but I've always found it faster to just start typing what I'm looking for, (you can turn off the requirement for hitting '/' first: Tools->Options->Advanced->Start searching when I type). Plus I prefer the uncluttered look of not having a Find bar there.

I don't think I've ever used Ctrl-F to initiate a search, actually I don't think I've used Shift-F3 to search backwards either - it was easier to hold down F3 and let it cycle around

Addendum: For some typeahead parameters that you can modify in about:config see here: about:config Category:Preferences for the following Accessibility.typeaheadfind.[parameter]

Take heed of the warning if you do choose to use about:config.

Nod5 · « **Reply #316 on:** July 04, 2009, 05:47 AM »

In relation to the findbar tweaks above: the Stylish style "Findbar: Top Left On Menubar" http://userstyles.org/styles/15881
decreases the findbar width and moves its position from the lower window edge to be placed on top of the menu bar (file, edit ...). That saves some screen space.

Innuendo · « **Reply #317 on:** July 04, 2009, 09:59 AM »

Been there longer than I can remember, since version 1 or before, IIRC. They call it 'Find As You Type'.
-4wd

Now that I have had time to mull it over I did know about this at one point, but I gravitated towards using the Ctrl-F way as a lot of the programs I use have that hotkey to bring up the search functionality.

The way I look at it is, I've already got my hands on the keyboard - I don't want to keep reaching for a mouse just to push a button.

Oddly enough, installing Findbar Basics was because of that very reason - I didn't want to keep reaching for a mouse to dismiss the Find box. Hit Ctrl-F, type what you want to find, hit Alt-N (Next), Alt-P (Prev), Tab and then space (to clear the search box), Alt-A (to highlight all) or Alt-C (to match based on case) as needed, and then Ctrl-F to send that Find box to whence it came. I don't have to touch a mouse even once.

To each their own, I guess. That's the beauty of Firefox. There are usually multiple ways to do everything unlike with other browsers one is stuck doing things the way the author envisioned. With Firefox a person is free to make the browser work the way s/he works.

app103 · « **Reply #318 on:** July 20, 2009, 10:41 PM »

I just made a collection of all the ones I use in my "normal" firefox profile. Feel free to browse through it. Never know if you'll find something you never noticed before.

Innuendo · « **Reply #319 on:** July 21, 2009, 11:11 AM »

App103,
Thanks for sharing your collection. the TinEye Image Search extension looks like it'll come in handy.

Ummm...you mentioned these were from your "normal" Firefox profile. Do we dare imagine what your other profile looks like? Are we going to start referring to you as 'that scary firefox profile girl', too?

urlwolf · « **Reply #320 on:** July 21, 2009, 01:59 PM »

to set bookmarks within a page, i use the aptly named: Book Text Mark.
-lanux128 (June 30, 2009, 10:52 AM)

I use diigo. It's a killer app. Beats delicious.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #321 on:** July 21, 2009, 02:58 PM »

I just made a collection of all the ones I use in my "normal" firefox profile. Feel free to browse through it. Never know if you'll find something you never noticed before.
-app103 (July 20, 2009, 10:41 PM)

Hmmmmmm, the download status bar thingy looks interesting. When I don't use GigaGet I hate when that default download dialog pops up.

Innuendo · « **Reply #322 on:** July 21, 2009, 06:37 PM »

MilesAhead, I've been using DownloadStatusBar since the Firefox v2.x days and it's been spectacular. When I first made the switch from IE to Firefox that default download dialog popup irritated me to no end and DownloadStatusBar was instrumental in keeping me using Firefox (Yeah, I hated that popup THAT much!).

The configurability is great as well. You can configure what file extensions stay visible till you deal with them and which ones disappear on their own. Since I have configured NZB files to open in my binary downloader I don't need them hanging around so they automatically get dismissed after 5 seconds.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #323 on:** July 22, 2009, 07:08 PM »

That's good to know. That Opera download tab can get annoying too. I mainly use Opera these days to listen to music clips on AllMusic.com. It plays them navtively.. so I don't have to mess with a media player addon/plugin. Just about everything else I do with FF though.

The main thing bugging me with FF now is I'm using Minefield and I like to update it often. With the nightly builds that's very very often. But every time I have to open application.ini and set the Crash reporting to 0, and kill those DDE exec registry settings. I have a .reg script but to get it to "take" I have to run an Explorer Environment refresh utility about 3 times(just calls AutoIt UpdateEnv() function.) Sheesh!!! At least that saves me from having to log off. I'm surprised 3.6pre is in limbo for so long. Seems to work fine for me. Then again I don't stress it with rows of tabs or dozens of addons. Seems to run as good as any other FF I've used though.

app103 · « **Reply #324 on:** July 23, 2009, 01:41 AM »

Ummm...you mentioned these were from your "normal" Firefox profile. Do we dare imagine what your other profile looks like? Are we going to start referring to you as 'that scary firefox profile girl', too?
-Innuendo (July 21, 2009, 11:11 AM)

The other one is web dev stuff.