Home » Internet » Browsers » Firefox

10 Add-Ons To Improve Firefox

9 Comments

19 Like

Like 19

Pin It

Ranked #2,129 in Internet, #125,872 overall

Make Your Browser Work For You

Is your Firefox looking slightly out dated? Want to be able to load pages faster and download in a flash?

Well hopefully this lens will point you towards some of the best Firefox extensions around which will really spark up your browser. The add-ons are always up to date so there won't be any compatibility issues. All of the following can be found via the search option on the Firefox add-ons page.

Don't forget to keep checking back to find about the latest add-ons available.

Top 10 Add On's

1. Greasemonkey

If you don't already have it then Greasemonkey is an absolute "must have" for all Firefox users. It will allow you to customise the way that web pages act and function though a system of userscripts that are available to download. Essentially, a userscript is something which edits the way in which a website, or selection of websites, is seen. There are 1000's of userscripts available which offer a range of different customisations.

Ranging from time management scripts, to spam blocking scripts, there really is a wide range of enhancements ready to be made to your browser here.

More information and downloads for Greasemonkey can be found at http://www.greasespot.net/

2. Fire.fm

Are you a Last.fm user?

This cheeky little add-on creates a toolbar at the top of the browser from which you can search for music and stream it straight from Last.fm. You'll find it easy to access all of the main components of the Last.fm website in just the click of a button. Listen to your favourite tunes while browsing the web, wherever you are.

For those of you that don't know, Last.fm is a website which allows music to be streamed from the internet - like a radio station where you pick all of the music. You can add your friends and see what they've been listening to recently, create and share playlists, or even just check what your favourite band is up to at the moment.

Essentially, if you have a Last.fm account, you're going to love Fire.fm.

3. Apture Highlights

This unique little add-on will completely change the way that you browse the web. It allows you to highlight any word or phrase in a passage of text, and immediately find search results, images, videos related to what ever you highlight. This is ideal for researching famous people, places, buildings, products, brands, sayings, sports ... The list goes on....

Instead of having to leave the page you are on, a pop out box appears with all search results. If you're concerned that it might make browsing awkward when you accidentally highlight something, then don't worry about it. A button appears which needs to be clicked in order to see the results.

This really is the perfect add-on for anyone who regularly reads articles or literature online.

Still confused? Take a look at their website.

4. Adblock Plus

This one is pretty self explanatory. You can right click on adverts which you don't want to see, and it will block them every time they appear. Essentially giving you ad free browsing. There are also updates available which act as very useful pop-up blockers. Unlike many similar 'Adblockers', this one is fully customisable to block exactly the ads that you want it to, and not just all that it sees.

It really is a great add-on if you're getting sick of pesky adverts.

5. DownThemAll!

DownThemAll! is a tool which allows you to download all of the links shown on a web page at once. A downloads window appears and it becomes very easy to manually manage the downloads that are active. Inbuilt into this add-on is a download accelerator, which will offer you higher download speeds than you would conventionally achieve. For most people, the download could be between 30% - 60% quicker than without the accelerator. Obviously this is a great time saver if you have any large files to download.

With lots of small features, such as a beep to signal a completed download, it becomes a very versatile add-on. It's easy to use and definitely well worth a try.

Cheap Flash Drives

6. Web of Trust - Safe Browsing Tool

The Web of Trust (WOT) is an add-on which gives every website a rating dependant on how legitimate it seems. A traffic light system illustrates when a website is either suspicious or untrustworthy, making sure that any shopping or banking you do online, is through only the safest websites.

The database is regularly updated with rating alterations and any new websites. This means that your browser will be fully up to date when you next come to use it and you'll be able to surf the web (relatively) care free.

7. Awesome Screenshot

This tool allows you to printscreen a web page, edit and crop it in your browser, and then save it as a JPEG file on your computer. The opportunities are endless: save Facebook conversations, print off a recipe you found online or even just collect images that you like the look of. You can set up shortcut commands for this add-on, which will enable you to easily and quickly take screenshots - as if you were copy and pasting some text.

The ability to crop and resize before you save the image allows for almost complete customisability and saves you the hassle of saving an image, then having to go and edit it.

Definitely one of my preferred add-ons.

Quality Headphones

8. Stumble Upon

Perhaps you're new to the concept of Stumble Upon? It's a social bookmarking website where you can randomly "Stumble Thru" interesting web pages that other people have added. If you haven't come across it before then I'd definitely recommend taking a look at their website. By selecting a category, such as Bizarre/Unusual, you will randomly be taken to a web page which fits that category. The best way to work it out is just to have a bit of a play around with it.

Anyway, this add-on allows the user to Stumble pages straight from a toolbar embedded in the Firefox browser. A great little tool to help you discover something amazing every day.

9. SkipScreen

Do you ever download files from sites like Mediafire, Megaupload, zShare and Rapidshare? Tired of having to wait to download your file?

SkipScreen will automatically download your file for you when the timer runs out. Instead of having to sit there, watching a 60 second countdown, you can carry on with whatever else you were doing, safe in the knowledge that your download will take care of itself. There are an increasing number of sites that it works for and it really is a great time saver.

For more information, take a look at the SkipScreen Homepage.

10. Youtube mp3

This is a great little add-on which makes downloading mp3 files from youtube incredibly easy. It places a "Download" button next to all youtube videos, which will take you straight to a download page. The site offers high speed downloads with no waiting times and can strip the audio from any youtube video.

You may have come across similar websites which offer the same service, but the fact that this requires just one mouse click makes it by far my favourite. It's completely free, produces high quality sound files and has regular updates for all new versions of Firefox that are released. What more could you want?

Try it out here.

Firefox News

Chrome steals second from Firefox in browser wars: By Gregg Keizer Computerworld - Google's Chrome passed Mozilla's Firefox in May to become the world's second-most-popular browser, according to data released today by Web analytics company Net Applications. The California-based firm was the second ...
Make web pages more comfortable to read in Firefox: June 01, 2012, 11:52 AM ? Here's how you can adjust the background and text colors of web pages in Firefox, to make them easier to read. 4. Click the Text button to change the color of text and change it to white. 5. Click the Background button and ...
Firefox is Still the Leader: It has been recently revealed in a report that Firefox is currently at the top of the game when it comes to browsers. Google Chrome is also currently behind Firefox in these wars. This throws light on the sort of tough competition being faced by the ...

Feel Free to Leave Me a Message...

Reply

kinworm Dec 7, 2011 @ 4:58 pm | delete

I love firefox and I also love top 10 lists of useful things. Great job!

Reply

whoisbid Aug 28, 2011 @ 10:00 pm | delete

Are you programming add ons? Interesting topic you are covering

Reply

mattyrobinson Sep 1, 2011 @ 5:40 pm | delete

No, I'm not really very into programming. I just use these and find them really useful.

Reply

rinzelwrenzel Aug 27, 2011 @ 4:23 pm | delete

Great Lens

Reply

Wbisbill Aug 26, 2011 @ 10:03 am | delete

Thanks for the info!

Reply

Ivalotasay Aug 23, 2011 @ 10:09 am | delete

I use WOT to protect the children and computers. You can always check the reviewers comments to see if their comments are justified. I recently added a favourable comment to a site which was accused of spam - they create personal celebration tunes for birthdays etc with e-cards. My view balanced out the bad comments as in my opinion, people like to be reminded of such a service when you jhave a poor memory for sending out cards like me!