Firefox Extensions

There are pros and cons to every web browser on the market these days. My personal preference is for Firefox, and the main reason for this is that it's highly customisable with the many add-ons that are available.

According to it's website, Firefox has over 5000 different add-ons that could make your browsing much easier. These are a few that I could not live without.

1. Delicious Bookmarks
We all know how great delicious is for storing your bookmarks for easy access eveywhere. This add-on allows you to quickly and easily access your account. You can also create your own little menus using the tags that will update for you automatically.

2. DownloadHelper
There are a number of websites and applications that can download and convert video for you, like KeepVid, Vixy, or Zamzar. This add-on scans the page you are viewing in search of video files to download. If it finds one, the click of a button will download it for you to your computer. No need for copying and pasting urls, or waiting for the file to convert. It does download the file in it's original format, so if you want to convert it you can use some video conversion software, or just do what I do and use VLC Player for everything. I highly recommend this add-on.

3. Download Statusbar
It really used to annoy me when I would start a new download, and a seperate window would appear. With the amount of windows that I have flying around my desktop, another one is the last thing I need. This add-on creates a skinny little bar at the bottom of you browser window when you start a download. As the download progresses, the little status bar fills up. Hover over the bar and you are given information about download speed, file size, eta, and so on. The status bar will stay on this bar until you clear it, so that new freeware can wait until you've finished your meeting. Simple and unobtrusive, but still has all the important stuff you need.

4. Read It Later
I do a lot of wandering on the net, and often find articles or blogs that I want to read, but not right now. I could save it to my delicious account, but then I don't want a million bookmarks kicking around my account creating delicious clutter. One answer to this problem is Read It Later. Simply click the icon, and your page is stored in a menu that you can access, edit and revisit at any time. You can even read them when you are offline. When I get a free couple of minutes, I can go back to my menu, read that article that looked good, and then bookmark it if I want, or clear it off if I don't. Again, simple, unobtrussive, and makes prioritising a breeze.

These are just 4 add-ons that I use. Next time I'll bring you a few more that I like to use. If you have some that you can't live without, let me know - I'd love to hear about them.