Firefox 3 and Extensions You can't live without

[bbusybookworm]

Well after trying to use a computer that did not have Firefox installed on, I've been reminded of how dependent I've become on having Firefox.

In fact, nowadays even Firefox is not enough, must have Firefox 3 Goodness!

I've only been using it since Beta5, but the changes are so great that I can't really go back. And while all my extensions don't work with it, most of the important ones do. and as such feel a little naked when I dont find them on a machine.

So what I want to ask you all is how many of you are running Firefox 3, and what extensions could you not live without.

My personal list is as follows -

Adblock Plus (Couldn't live without it)

Better Gmail (Nice compilation of the Greasemonkey scripts)

Better YouTube (I Admit, I Admit, I'm Addicted)

Bookmark Duplicate Detector (With 3000+ bookmarks, Its a necessity)

British English Dictionary (The only reason, most of my posts are legible )

Download Statusbar

Download Helper (Easy way to grab a clip for offline viewing)

FasterFox

FlagFox (Nice and easy way to see the I.P of the website, and which country it's located in)

FlashGot (Great way to manage multiple downloads, especially with FlashGet)

Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer (God, this is a great way to sync bookmarks across multiple machines and have a online backup. Plus you can acceess all of them from the website as well so, if you just need one specific link from you home browser at work, just log in and grab it)

Google Browser Sync (the same, but also syncs passwords, cookies, tabs, etc. Only problem, can't access them directly without installing it on a machine)

I.E. Tab (No need to launch I.E. Enough Said )

Image Zoom (for those really annoying pages where you just need the image to able a little bigger to make sense of it)

Password Exporter (So that my 250 page login can be backed up securely)

PDF Download (Oh Firefox, why dont you have this built in!)

Piclens (Nice way to browse pictures on supported sites)

Session Manager

Toggle Word Wrap (saves having to open notepad to read that annoying page)

User agent Switcher


And those are the ones that just work in FF3

[daffy4u]

I downloaded FF3 last night. I do miss my Google toolbar and have been downloading subsitutes for some of it's parts. I found a Google lite toolbar and it is "lite".

Still playing with FF3.

ETA: I'm in a dual boot situation so I'm using FF2 on XP and FF3 on Vista.

[zelda_pinwheel]

i had to check five different browsers, because i have to test my work on all of them and then "fix" the code until it looks approximately the same everywhere. feel my pain.

my MAIN browser of course is Firefox (2). (as if you even need to ask). i'll install FF3 as soon as i hear a bit more about how stable it is, how well it manages memory (better or worse than 2) etc.

as for plug-ins, i won't list all the ones i *have* installed (like i have that kind of time), just the ones i really couldn't live without :

- Web Developper Toolbar
- ColorZilla
- MeasureIt
- HTML Validator
- All-in-One sidebar
- Bork Bork Bork ! (no, i really can't live without the Swedish chef. particularly when i am obliged to visit a site where the bork version is more comprehensible than the normal one, such as the taxes center).
- Dictionnaire MySpell en français
- Dummy Lipsum (lorem ipsum generator)
- Firebug
- FireFTP
- Firesomething (it just brightens my day no end to see windows called "Mozilla Sunaardvark" and "Mozilla Junglelemur". seriously, for a while i was keeping a list.)
- Greasemonkey
- IE View (uses less system ressources than IE tab)
- Screen Grab
- Session Manager
- View Formatted Source
- View Source Chart

If any of these didn't work in FF3 when i installed it, i would probably cry (especially because you can't even hack them anymore to work with later versions by editing the userconfig file).

[GeoffC]

There's an F3 ?!
Why hasn't F2.0.0.14 told me about it as an automatic whatsit - that's it, I'm off now........

[bbusybookworm]

FF3 has been pretty stable since Beta4 or 5.
And the memory management is tons better then FF2, especially if you are like me and have a dozen tabs running constantly for days.

Some sites do cause the memory usage to balloon, but normally with 11 to 12 tabs, my machine hovers around 220 MB of usage.

And Zelda, you can force Compatibility override for any extensions you want. Now I just have to remember whether that is a feature of the nightly tester tool, or built right in

GeoffC, its definitely worth getting, especially RC2.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

FF3 has been pretty stable since Beta4 or 5.
And the memory management is tons better then FF2, especially if you are like me and have a dozen tabs running constantly for days.

Some sites do cause the memory usage to balloon, but normally with 11 to 12 tabs, my machine hovers around 220 MB of usage.

dozens ? is that all you have ? very good to know about the memory improvements. i've seen mine go up to over 450 on occasion i really don't like that. (i do realize it's my own fault for having 10 windows open all day with 80 tabs each). maybe i'll switch sooner than i thought.

And Zelda, you can force Compatibility override for any extensions you want. Now I just have to remember whether that is a feature of the nightly tester tool, or built right in

are you sure ? i'm pretty sure the last time i checked on that, they had disabled / discontinued it. i don't think it's worked since they released FF2. *i* couldn't get it to work, anyway... if you find a way, please let me know...

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

dozens ? is that all you have ? very good to know about the memory improvements. i've seen mine go up to over 450 on occasion

Ouch!
I used to keep about 50 to 60 under FF1 but could not keep that many stable under FF2 , so learned to keep the number down.

The dozen or two that I have running all the time are the websites I tend to check every few minutes (Includes Mobileread )

are you sure ? i'm pretty sure the last time i checked on that, they had disabled / discontinued it. i don't think it's worked since they released FF2. *i* couldn't get it to work, anyway... if you find a way, please let me know...

Well, I've got the option when I right click on an extension, and an option on the Add-ons menu to override compatibility for all extensions. So yes I can say that it is available.

Now whether it is built into FF3 or a function of the Nightly Tester Tools I'm not sure. Think it is part of the tools.

Yes, here's the website http://www.oxymoronical.com/web/firefox/nightly

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

Ouch!
I used to keep about 50 to 60 under FF1 but could not keep that many stable under FF2 , so learned to keep the number down.

The dozen or two that I have running all the time are the websites I tend to check every few minutes (Includes Mobileread )

heh, i have a whole window just for Mobileread

actually i might have been exagerrating (but just ever so slightly ). right now i have 5 windows open and each has multiple tabs. i like to have one window per theme : for example, i always have one window for mail, with the 3 email accounts i check regularly and a few messages open in tabs ; i have an MR window of course ; today i also have a window of latin proverbs open because i was researching something and found some interesting reading to come back to later ( you see how it goes...), then i have one with some books on PG by John Kendrick Bangs i was looking at, and another one with some articles about interlingua i was looking at... since i have plenty of work to do today, i don't have any windows with blogs or news articles (smashing magazine and fluctuat.net often get their own windows as well, or maybe linkdup or FWA) to read as i might normally.

Well, I've got the option when I right click on an extension, and an option on the Add-ons menu to override compatibility for all extensions. So yes I can say that it is available.

Now whether it is built into FF3 or a function of the Nightly Tester Tools I'm not sure. Think it is part of the tools.

Yes, here's the website http://www.oxymoronical.com/web/firefox/nightly

oh, yes ; there is the nightly tester tool to do that. i know about that one. but before you could also edit the user:config file (on the releases, not the nightly builds. or maybe "in addition to") to force compatibility, and that doesn't work anymore.

[tirsales]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i had to check five different browsers, because i have to test my work on all of them and then "fix" the code until it looks approximately the same everywhere. feel my pain.

I can feel your blues ... I like CSS. Really I do. I just loath the "browser compatibility" ... Spending ages to adopt a layout to a new browser - it just sucks.

my MAIN browser of course is Firefox (2). (as if you even need to ask). i'll install FF3 as soon as i hear a bit more about how stable it is, how well it manages memory (better or worse than 2) etc.

Could it possibly be worse then FF2?

i like to have one window per theme

Me 2

I normally have one windows for each of my regular forums (ARGL, that pain - its foren in german and forums sounds strange), one for news, one for webcomics, at least one for work and one for "will come back to you later" ...

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by tirsales

I can feel your blues ... I like CSS. Really I do. I just loath the "browser compatibility" ... Spending ages to adopt a layout to a new browser - it just sucks.

actually, CSS is infinitely easier to adapt than tables (which i loathe), as well as being more flexible and more fun. trying to hack tabled sites so they would work in IE is a nightmare. (box model hack anyone ??) i put a "friendly suggestion" to use FF on every site i make, and the next time i can get away with it i'm going to put the Explorer Destroyer.

or at the least a link to drop ie or kill bill's browser.

Could it possibly be worse then FF2?

well... you never know... i'd rather wait until someone else tests it for me.

Me 2

best way...

[tirsales]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

actually, CSS is infinitely easier to adapt than tables (which i loathe), as well as being more flexible and more fun. trying to hack tabled sites so they would work in IE is a nightmare. (box model hack anyone ??)

That's why I like CSS. NTL: Can you imagine a world without browser-compatibility issues? *dream*

and the next time i can get away with it i'm going to put the Explorer Destroyer.

or at the least a link to drop ie or kill bill's browser.

Thanks for the Links

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by tirsales

That's why I like CSS. NTL: Can you imagine a world without browser-compatibility issues? *dream*

*dream*....

(what does NTL mean ?)

Thanks for the Links

my pleasure. spread the word.

[Azayzel]

OMG bbusybookworm, I just gotta say thanks for throwing out this topic to make me give FF a second look again. The extension list is phenominal, I had to call it quits after page 16 so I can try and get some sleep (it's well after 5:00am now, yikes!). I've been running FF2 for while, but never really saw any reason to use it over IE7 other than when I wanted to use anonymous proxies. Well let me tell you that FF3 & it's extensions have just made me switch over for good now! Now all I gotta do is get it loaded on a thumbdrive so I can take it with me when I have to use another system.

I won't list all the ton 'o extensions I loaded, but here are a few:

All the AdBlock ones I could find
BlockSite - get rid of pesky sites that slip under Google's radar
CS Lite - control pesky cookies that are no better than roaches
FoxyProxy & PhProxy - good for getting to sites restricted to a single area
noScript - let me control what scripts are run on my PC & what websites can run them
TinyMenu - all I want to see is the website, no joker toolbars

... and my favorite barring all the cool utilities

PicLens - You just gotta try this to see how cool it is. It basically makes viewing photos online so much more fun & cool... I just don't have the words for it. I have a lot of friends that use MySpace and this makes viewing albums there so much easier... and did I mention cool! Works with YouTube too. Man I love this app!

Anyway, thanks for making me give FF another look. I'm sold!

[tirsales]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

*dream*....

Dream On
Dream until your dreams come true

(what does NTL mean ?)

Never the less

my pleasure. spread the word.

My pleasure, sensei

[zelda_pinwheel]

Azayzel : firefox is available in portable version.
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable