Firefox is everyone’s favorite browser. At it’s core, Firefox a quality piece of open source software but it can be made even more functional by using any number of extensions that do various things while browsing the web. Installing these add-ons is a simple process which can help personalize and expand your web browsing experience.
These are my top 5 extensions that I run on my home computer.
1. All-In-One Sidebar.
This add-on was inspired by the sidebar feature in Opera, another fine web browser by the way. AIOS is a sidebar that opens on the left or right side of your browser window and can display your bookmarks, downloads themes, extensions and many other Firefox goodies. You can configure the sidebar to appear automatically or by clicking on the side of your window or on the grippy.
AIOS can be configured to display a multi-panel in which you can open websites, page source, or display various browser specific information, i.e. about:config, about:plugins, about:cache, about:cache?device=disk, about:cache?device=memory, about:buildconfig, about:, about:credits, about:license, about:mozilla.
This is one of the best add-ons that I use consistently and without problem.
2. Sage.
Sage is the simplest RSS feed reader to use in Firefox. This add-on reads RSS and Atom feeds through a configurable style sheet method which allows the user to set any and all options for your greatest viewing efficiency. Simple and lightweight Sage is available for the sidebar AIOS and is tightly integrated with Firefox’s built-in bookmarking utility. Definitely a must have!
3. Tab Mix Plus
Tabbed browsing is one feature that Firefox does quite well. Tab Mix Plus improves on that inbuilt functionality and adds extreme control of the tabs settings. Every detail of tabs can be configured from the width of tabs and how the title is displayed to the colors and fonts used in tabs. One nice feature is the ability to mouse wheel scroll through all available tabs.
4. Image Zoom
This is another extension that I use frequently. Image -Zoom does exactly what it says, that is, put the Zoom on Images on web pages. Interfaced through the context menu or with the wheel mouse, Image-Zoom works by either zooming or shrinking images on web pages or web based email. A handy utility.
5. No-Squint
At times as I surf the web, it becomes obvious that my eyes are straining to read the print of many pages. No-Squint solves the dilemma by increasing the font size and remembering that size so that the next time you visit the site the font is set at the same level. A simple extension that yields great results. If you need help with small print this is a great help.
There are a multitude of add-ons for Firefox and this is only my top 5. You can find many more on the Firefox extensions web page.
