Take Firefox and make it your own
As we all know by now, Firefox is the best web browser in the known universe. But did you know that you can make it even better? Yeah, that’s right. As of right now, there are 1320 extensions and 190 themes available for Firefox! Okay, so most of these are basically either useless or ugly, but I can help you separate the what from the chaff when you visit Firefox Addons (this week’s Website of the Week).
I’m certainly no stranger to “pimping my browser”. I’ve been using extensions and themes since they all fit on one page and I even tinker with my profile by hand. Don’t worry, though. You can get your feet wet with extensions and themes with nothing more than a few mouse clicks.
As of today, I have eighteen Firefox extensions installed. Most of these are only useful for web developers, but a few have wider appeal. Check out the complete list on this page from my wiki (yeah, I have my own wiki). Here are the ones you might like:
- Forecastfox - This handy extension adds live Accuweather forecasts for the location of your choice down in Firefox’s status bar. It’s highly customizable and fun for anybody who likes weather (and who doesn’t?).
- Google Toolbar for Firefox - The best thing about the Google Toolbar is auto-complete. As you start typing your query, the toolbar shows you similar queries as well as the number of results for each. There are other nifty features as well.
- Sage - This is my favorite news reader and I use it several times a day. If you have yet to discover the time-saving benefits of RSS and Atom feeds, Sage would be a great introduction. I check sixty websites for new content in less than a minute!
- Tab Mix Plus - This one is quite complicated, but definitely well worth the investment of time to figure it out. It adds a lot of optional enhancements to the tabbed browsing experience that Firefox offers out of the box. My favorites are close buttons on each tab, the ability to reopen a closed tab, and opening Firefox each time with all the same tabs that were open when I closed it (session restore). Check it out if you’re feeling intrepid.
I just have a couple of recommendations when it comes to themes. One excellent replacement for the less than desirable default theme is Qute. It’s definitely a step up in visual appeal. Or if you’d like to test-drive the same theme that I use, try Brushed. It’s a fairly minimal, brushed metal theme that I think is the best of all of them. Still not satisfied? You have 188 more to choose from. Have fun…
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