Firefox extensions
This is just a list of the many Firefox extensions I find myself using.
General
These are extensions intended for normal browsing that you'll probably find handy.
- Adblock
Allows you to block any ad based on the URL it's loaded from. Highly recommended.
- Customize Google (homepage)
Offers a lot of nifty improvements to Google searches and removes ads.
- DownThemAll! (homepage)
An excellent download manager/accelerator. It also allows you to quickly download all files on a page that fit a specified filter, and save them into a specific directory. This can even include things that are linked on the page but not actually displayed.
- ErrorZilla Mod
Replaces the built-in Firefox error pages with a better one that has buttons for whois, Google cache, etc.
- FirefoxView
Adds an option to the Internet Explorer right-click menu that allows you to open a page with Firefox.
- GooglePreview
Displays a thumbnail of a website next to each Google search result.
- GraphicsEx
Allows you to save entire pages as PNG images. Worth noting: It functions much better than the Java-based Screen grab! extension.
- Greasemonkey
Allows you to run custom JavaScript on specific pages, much like Opera's UserJS.
- gTranslate
Use Google Translate to translate highlighted text through the right-click menu.
- IE Tab (homepage)
Opens Internet Explorer inside a Firefox tab.
- IE View Lite
Adds "View this page in IE" and "Open link in IE" options to the right-click menu.
- Image Zoom
Increase/decrease the size of an image by holding right-click and using the scrollwheel.
- Long Titles
Causes Firefox to display full titles/alt-text instead of the first few words.
- Mouse Gestures
Hands-down one of the most useful extensions. Allows you to navigate by right-clicking and moving the mouse. You won't know how you lived without it.
- OperaView
Works like IE View Lite, except it opens the pages in Opera.
- ReloadEvery
Reloads pages at specified intervals.
- PDF Download
Allows you to choose what to do when you click a link to a PDF file.
- repagination
Allows you to right-click a "Next" link (or something similar) and have the extension "repaginate" those pages by stitching them, in order, onto the end of the current one. Can greatly speed up viewing forums, search results, etc.
- Resizeable Textarea
Allows you to stretch any textarea to give you more writing space. Simple and useful.
- Save Image in Folder (homepage)
Easily save an image to any of a list of user-specified folders through the right-click menu. Very handy.
- Save Link in Folder (homepage)
Works like Save Image in Folder, but for links (of any type).
- SessionSaver (if you haven't upgraded to Firefox 2.0)
Automatically saves your current browser session when you exit. You can also save and load sessions. Note that this functionality is built into Firefox 2.0.
- ShowIP
Show the IP address of the current page (and its dependencies) in the status bar.
- Tab Effect
You'll probably get tired of this, but it's still pretty cool. When you switch tabs, it turns to the new tab as if each tab were the face of a cube.
Site-specific extensions
These are designed to improve specific websites. If you don't visit the sites, you probably won't get much use out of them.
- 4chan
Adds a "4chan" option to the top menu with board shortcuts, quick quote/reply, thread watching, inline full-size image viewing, and various other improvements.
- Something Awful (Forums) Last Read
Adds a quick reply (with live preview), marks your place in a thread, colors names of notable posters, adds an "SA" item to the top menu, and a bunch of other useful stuff. Highly recommended if you read SA.
- Waffle Images right-click
Upload images to WaffleImages through the right-click menu. Note: WaffleImages only displays the images if they are posted on Something Awful.
Programming-related extensions
These are extensions that I use often whenever I'm writing web pages.
- ASCIItoUnicode
Converts selected characters to HTML character entities (&#xxx;). Can be useful.
- ColorZilla
Allows you to use an eyedropper tool in the status bar to get color info from a pixel on the page and outline DOM elements. More handy than you'd probably expect.
- Firebug (homepage)
Features a nifty HTML editor, JavaScript console/debugger, and CSS editor.
- JavaScript Debugger
Adds an excellent JavaScript debugger to the Tools menu.
- lori (Life-Of-Request Info)
Measures request time, loading time, total page size, and request count for a page after it loads. Keeping your site small and fast is always a good idea.
- MeasureIt
Measures the size of a box you stretch across the page. Helpful for layouts.
- QuickJava
Just adds a quick status bar shortcut to turn Java or JavaScript on/off.
- View Dependencies
Adds a "Dependencies" tab to the Page Info window, containing all the files loaded by the current page. This includes images, JavaScript files, CSS files, and embedded content such as Flash, music, videos, applets, and iframes.
- rikaichan (homepage)
A Japanese dictionary that activates whenever you mouseover a Japanese word.
- TamperData (homepage)
Allows you to tamper with the headers Firefox sends to web servers.
- Web Developer
If you're looking to write web pages in Firefox, this is the first thing you should get. Includes all sorts of useful tools and options.
Other extensions
These are extensions that I don't personally use, but that may be useful anyway. Some duplicate functionality offered in the larger extensions listed above, some were uninstalled for one reason or another, and some are just for fun.
- FlashBlock (homepage)
Prevents embedded Flash from being downloaded until you click it.
- FxIF (homepage)
Adds JPEG EXIF data in to the Properties window.
- Google official extensions
Some cool extensions from the folks at Google.
- Linkification (homepage)
Converts text links (like this one: http://www.google.com/) into clickable links.
- Menu Editor (homepage)
Edit Firefox's top menu bar and right-click menu.
- RefControl (homepage)
Control how Firefox sends referer headers and to whom.
- Slim Extension List (homepage)
Sorts and shrinks the list of extensions.