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Lens Workshop Addon for Firefox

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Enhance Your Squidoo Experience!

This addon for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome incorporates extra features into the Lens Workshop and a few other pages on Squidoo. The most significant improvements are: Lensrank updates, colored tags, detailed stats, integrated ping, and more...

Updated 7th March, 2012 - Version 2.53
Jump to installation instructions for Firefox and Chrome

Got IE or Safari? Get the Squidoo Toolbar instead...

Ping Lens After Publishing

Whenever you publish a lens, an extra link is added to the box at the top of page: "Ping lens". This will notify a variety of search engines and blog aggregation services that your lens has been updated. The best time to click on this is just after publishing a lens for the first time, or after doing some major rewriting of it. If you've only made a really small change to the lens, then it's probably not worth doing a ping.

Color Coded Tag Editor

When editing the tags for a lens, each one is color-coded depending on it's popularity.

100+ - lots lenses use this tag
21 - 99 - some lenses use this tag
5 - 20 - a few lenses use this tag
2 - 5 - not many lenses use this tag
zero or 1 - no other lenses use this tag

New in version 1.8: underneath the tags will be a list of suggested tags, based on what other similar lenses use for theirs.

It is best to pick tags that are popular, as it increases the number of lenses that your lens will appear on via the Discovery Tool. Make sure that any keywords you pick are directly related to your lens. Avoid using 'long tail keywords' as these will add no value.

For more tips on tags, read Making the Most of Squidoo Tags.

Access to Tools in the Sidebar

Sidebar Tools

One new box is added to the sidebar on the right of the workshop. The box is titled "SquidUtils.com", and it is opened by default. This box contains links to some of the tools on SquidUtils, and will open in a new tab or window.

Edit Dashboard Labels

Edit Dashboard Labels

Dashboard Labels are a great way to organise your lenses in to groups so they are easier to manage. Now, you can assign your lenses to labels within the Workshop itself.

Link to Any Module...

Module links

At the top of every module there two extra links: [#link] and [Top]. 'Top' takes you to the top of the workshop, while '#link' to that module when it is published, so that you can provide a link to it from elsewhere on your lens. Simply right-click on the #link, and select 'Copy Link Location' from the menu.

Main Dashboard

Dashboard LinksAt the top of the main dashboard, above the list of lenses, a small graphic will notify you when Lensrank has been updated:


In the sidebar, you will find a bunch of links:

Login to SquidUtils - automatically login to SquidUtils
Advanced Dashboard - jump directly to your list of lenses
Lensmaster RSS Feed - get all your lenses in a RSS feed
Check For New Script - get the latest version of the addon

More Detailed Lens Stats

Summary of Lensrank and Traffic

Detailed Stats Table

Click-through Stats

Click Through Rate

When you view the stats for one of your lenses, you'll see some extra links a features:

- just below the lens title, there's a new 'Edit' link that goes directly to the workshop.
- below the graphs is a table showing the actual traffic and Lensrank from the charts.
- the Traffic tab will show the total click-throughs, and calculate the CTR.

How To Install The Addon

Step by step instructions
for Firefox and Chrome

Get The Workshop Addon for Firefox

in 2 easy steps...

  1. Install the Greasemonkey plugin and then restart Firefox.
    (Skip this step if you've already done this before, and are just upgrading)
    Install Greasemonkey
    When successfully installed, you will see a monkey face on your status bar.
  2. Click on this link to install the script. You should see this popup window:
    (if you get a screen full of text instead, check step 1 again)
    Install Script
    Click on the Install button, and you're done!

    No need to restart - just go to your Dashboard to see the improvements...

You can also use the Cleaner SquidU script for an improved interface on the forum.

Get The Workshop Addon for Google Chrome

If you prefer to use Google Chrome instead of Firefox, then here's how to install it:


  1. Click on this link and then click the 'Continue' button that appears at the bottom of the window.
    Click on Continue...
  2. Next, confirm that you do want to install this addon:
    Click on Install...
  3. That's it! You should see the new features on your Dashboard and Workshop.

Tested in Chrome version 7.0


You can also use the Cleaner SquidU script for an improved interface on the forum.

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Lensmaster Feedback

  • kaazoom May 23, 2012 @ 4:09 am | delete
    This looks really cool. Thank you for developing these tools
  • CCGAL May 7, 2012 @ 7:49 pm | delete
    Had to start usin' Chrome - so I'm super happy to see you've included it. Thanks!
  • DarleneN Apr 3, 2012 @ 5:12 pm | delete
    I've used this to update two of my lenses so far. This is an amazing tool! Hope to see more traffic after optimizing my lenses. Thanks!
  • notimetoulouse Apr 2, 2012 @ 9:51 am | delete
    works like a charm on FF for Mac too
  • VinceErrichiello Mar 27, 2012 @ 8:27 pm | delete
    That was a very persuasive lens. I just downloaded the Chrome version of Lensmaster Tools and Utilities and it is really useful. Thanks for the information!
  • Tipi Mar 20, 2012 @ 6:29 pm | delete
    Thanks again Fluff. Just had to reinstall, for FireFox.
  • mediawizard Mar 11, 2012 @ 7:51 am | delete
    Great lens I use the workshop add-on always to add tags
  • ilike2create Mar 6, 2012 @ 11:35 am | delete
    Wow thank you, I never knew something like this existed. I am using firefox right now so it could be really useful.
  • lovegrowth Mar 1, 2012 @ 3:10 pm | delete
    Ever since I updated my tags are not color coding or suggesting tags. This was my favorite feature. I am using chrome
  • thefluffanutta Mar 8, 2012 @ 10:27 am | delete
    There is a new version of the addon for you.
    Visit http://www.squidoo.com/lens-workshop-addon to upgrade.
  • AcornHaven Feb 29, 2012 @ 2:34 pm | delete
    Great I did not know this existed I will be using it regularly
  • JEMArtistry Feb 28, 2012 @ 2:35 pm | delete
    This looks like a great addon! I am definately trying this! Thanks for providing all this information (and building them!)!
  • curious0927 Feb 13, 2012 @ 12:48 pm | delete
    I love the Lens Workshop Addon!!!! However, I updated to version 5.1 and I show 2 Lensmaster Tools and Utilties on the right side of of my editing lens. Is this normal?
  • thefluffanutta Feb 20, 2012 @ 6:18 am | delete
    Sounds like you may have both the Chrome and Firefox versions installed. Check your Extensions page, and uninstall the old one.
  • kievan Feb 13, 2012 @ 7:51 am | delete
    I've looked at the source code of the workshop script and it is an amazing effort on your part!! Also the bonus script for the squidu forum is a great addition. Thanx!
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About thefluffanutta

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thefluffanutta

I write about what I know, and I build tools for Lensmasters at SquidUtils.com. Read more about me on my Lensography, and follow me on twitter. more »

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