Give your surfing a boost with these 10 Firefox extensions

by Guest Contributor | Aug 26, 2005 3:11:00 PM

Tags: Web browsers, Digital music, Digital media, StumbleUpon Firefox extension, Guest Contributor, Mozilla Firefox

Takeaway: Because it is an open source project, the Firefox browser is continuously being improved and enhanced. These 10 Firefox extensions are just a few of the applications created for the platform by the community at large.

With more than 64 million satisfied users at last count, the Firefox browser is currently one of the biggest open-source success stories. And, like all open-source projects, the code tree is still evolving and improving, as developers from all over the planet contribute to the core engine.

Many of these contributions are in the form of Firefox extensions, add-ons which significantly enhance the browser's capabilities. Some of the more popular extensions include a news reader, mail notification, a weather forecaster and an MP3 audio controller. All of these, and many more, can be freely downloaded off the Firefox Web site.

In this document, we highlight ten of the most interesting and useful extensions currently available for Firefox. If you see something that strikes your fancy...hey, just go ahead and download it!

1. ForecastFox

This extension provides weather information for your location in the Firefox status or tool bar. This information includes a radar image, current weather, and a weather forecast for the next few days. It's also possible to customize the display with information on the current moon phase, sunrise and sunset times, wind speed, humidity and other information.

2. StumbleUpon

The StumbleUpon Firefox extension is an interface to collaborative browsing: it lets you rate sites as your browse them, add reviews, and view reviews submitted by other users. You can also browse sites by categories, send your favorite pages to friends with a single click, or invite others to view or review pages you've browsed.

3. GmailNotifier

This extension checks your Gmail account and notifies you if you have new mail (with a count of your unread mail messages in the Firefox status bar). You can configure the refresh interval, and automatically browse your Gmail mailbox by clicking the GmailNotifier icon.

4. FoxyTunes

Ever wished you didn't have to interrupt your browsing to control your CD player or MP3 jukebox? Well, FoxyTunes has a solution�"this Firefox extension integrates a complete set of multimedia controls into your Firefox status bar, allowing you to play, rewind, fast forward and pause tracks without leaving the browser. Most common media players (including Windows Media Player, WinAmp, iTunes and MusicMatch Jukebox) are supported.

5. ocd

This extension queries a particular Web page repeatedly, alerting the user as changes occur. The refresh interval is user-defined.

6. MeasureIt

This extension makes it easy to measure the dimensions of any image on any Web page, by providing a pullout on-screen ruler. Simply drag the measuring box until it covers your image, and MeasureIt will display its width and height in pixels. Great for Web developers who need to quickly check images on a Web page.

7. Greasemonkey

This powerful extension allows you to customize the appearance and behavior of any Web site, through the use of client-side "user scripts". A Greasemonkey script lets you change a Web site's interface so it's more usable, automatically remove elements (such as ads or banner images) from Web pages, import content from one Web site into another, or add your own custom functionality to someone else's Web application. A repository of ready-made user scripts is also available online�"you can use these, or just write your own.

8. StockTicker

StockTicker lets you track stock movements within your Firefox browser, by displaying the latest stock price and changes in a Firefox toolbar or status bar. Color coding provides fast visual notification of whether a stock is moving up or down, and the ticker can be customized to retrieve stock information from a Web site of your choice.

9. Sage

Sure, Firefox lets you subscribe to RSS feeds with its "live bookmarks". But what if you want more? Turn to Sage, a full-featured (yet lightweight) RSS and Atom feed aggregator that displays feeds and stories in the Firefox sidebar. Selecting a story from the sidebar displays its contents in the main browser window.

10. Google AdsenseNotifier

Feel like keeping an eye on your AdSense earnings as you surf? The Google AdsenseNotifier tracks your AdSense page impressions, clicks and earnings, refreshing itself at a user-specified interval to make sure that you always have the latest figures at your fingertips. The filter criteria currently available in the full AdSense application are also available in this extension.