Neil's Favorite Firefox Extensions
A path to less "annoyingness"
A path to less "annoyingness"
Here is a text version for easy bookmark or printing.
These are just some of my favorite extensions for Firefox. Most of them add functionality rather than bloat. I decided to do this list alphabetically because it's easier for me, but I will be sure to highlight my favorites amongst the list. I hope you guys like the list!
Adblock Plus - Adblock plus blocks those inline (embedded) advertisements. It not only blocks the annoying flashing animating ads (sometimes have sound too), it also blocks textual advertisements. It is especially useful because reading news articles is not interrupted by an inconveniently placed, animating advertisement.
Add to Search Bar - Lots of times, I wanted to search a website that wasn't in my search bar and I would find myself repeatedly going back to sites like You-Tube or Answers.com. Now, when I need to search something, I just right click the search box and hit "Add to Search bar" and it prompts me to choose a name for the search bar drop-down item. Hey, it's easier than searching a search engine for a search engine.
All-in-One Sidebar (AOS) - At first glance, All-in-One sidebar is bloated with unnecessary extra functionality, but due to an abundance of options, you can tweak it to perfection--both for usability and display. AOS converts the Add-Ons, Download Manager, Page Source, and Page info windows into sidebars. Better yet, it lets you add a drop-down icon to the Firefox toolbar that lets you choose the appropriate sidebar. AOS will let you create a backup of your AOS settings and import them later. Great for making the ideal AOS config to send to all of your friends.
Back/Forward Dropdown Remover - This one lets you remove those pesky drop-down arrows on the navigation buttons in the Firefox Toolbar. When was the last time you actually used the Back and Forward history menus? ... Exactly. Get rid of them.
CuteMenus - This one is all eye candy, but after an annoying battle with my right click context menus, I decided to add icons to them so I could find the right ones faster. It helps me find the "Copy Link Location" when I right click a link.
Download Statusbar - Now, this, I absolutely cannot live without. By default, the Firefox download manager is a pesky little thing, chocked full of annoyances that make me want to rip my hair out. The Download Statusbar solves this problem by eliminating the need for the Download Manager initially. Download Statusbar puts little buttons at the bottom of Firefox with progress meters, statistics, and enough functionality you'd expect from the regular Download Manager. The appearance is customizable too. The best part is it lets Firefox continue downloads in a small window if I accidentally close Firefox before my downloads finish.
Find Toolbar Tweaks - Until Recently, the Find bar was just an annoying toolbar.. never closed when I want it to be, never opened when I need it to be. Find Toolbar Tweaks makes the Findbar more usable and less annoying. The find toolbar is especially useful and less annoying if used in conjunction with Firefox's built in "Search for text when I begin typing" feature and Find Toolbar Tweak's "Close toolbar by page click".
FireFTP - FireFTP is a fully functional integrated FTP manager for Firefox. It sports dual paned usability, multiple instances via tabs, profiles for logging into several FTPs, and easy access to FTP via the Firefox Address Bar. It has everything for general purpose FTP accessing, but some of the more recent or advanced FTP features might be lacking. Thankfully, FireFTP is updated frequently and will not disappoint!
Fission - Fission takes the address bar and overlays it with a color of your choice. This color is the progress meter that shows the loading of the web page you're viewing. It effectively replaces the normal progress meter in the statusbar. Sure, it's not essential, but it's better.
Grab and Drag - Grab and Drag is the Firefox equivalent of the Adobe Acrobat hand tool. This is great for reading very long webpages or browsing a list of various purposes. This tool is highly configurable, so give it a try.
Linkification - This extension is basically the installable incarnation of a Greasemonkey script, but with more functionality. It scans the webpage and converts text URLs into clickable links. Convenient for lazy people who don't like to copy and paste into the Address Bar. I know, I'm a lazy son of a... mmm cheesecake.
McAfee SiteAdvisor - 9 out of 10 times you will know you are visiting a trusted website. What about those rare occasions where you venture outside of the normal realm of websites? Do you really want to expose your computer and / or sensitive information to website's you've never even visited before? McAfee SiteAdvisor sticks a button in your statusbar. The website is clean if it's green. It's bad if it's Red. It's questionable if it's yellow. SiteAdvisor has detailed statistics of every webpage it visits, so don't take it in stride unsure of a website's integrity.
More Tools Menu - If you find that Firefox extensions are making your tools menu messy, don't worry. More Tools menu is exactly what it reads. A menu with more tools. It will even move existing extension menu items to the More Tools Menu. Talk about convenience.
Organize Search Engines - This extension will let you add subfolders and separaters to the Search Bar in Firefox. Great for categorizing Search Engines or Torrent Search Engines.
Personal Menu - This removes the "File Edit View" toolbar at the top of Firefox and turns it into a drop-down menu icon. Just one less toolbar to get in the way.
Searchbar Autosizer - No, this does not put a little grippy on the search bar to let you resize it. It does all the resizing for you. If you type a long sentence, the Search Bar simply expands to fit the sentence. Don't worry, it won't go off the screen if you type too much.
Smart Middle Click - Have you ever middle clicked a javascript link only to find it creates a useless tab with no content inside? This extension seeks to rectify some of Firefox's inconsiderateness in terms of javascript and tabs.
Tab Mix Plus - This extension is the ultimate tab bar utility. It lets you decide where the tab lands when you open it. It lets you decide what links open in tabs, whether it be a webpage link, an address bar link, a searchbar link, a bookmark link, or other kind of Firefox link. It's great for making Firefox less annoying.

