Miles’ Blog

Continuing with Jerry’s trend, here are the Firefox add-ons I’m currently using, ordered from ‘Can’t live without’ to ‘*shrug* it’s kinda useful’:

• Web Developer - this conglomeration of useful development tools replaced a large number of smaller add-ons I was using, and added even more shortcuts than I’d imagined possible! Ability to live edit CSS and HTML is a great time saver.
• Firebug - Only misses out on the #1 spot due to its bugginess (no pun intended). Its power to ‘edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page’ never ceases to amaze me. Its only at 1.01 so I’m hoping it gets more stable as it matures. Regardless, I am finding I use it more than Web Developer nowadays, and bug squashing is only a Firefox restart away.
• HTML Validator - On the fly validation for W3C standards. A must for any content editor working with standards-compliant websites, or developer wanting to ensure ongoing compliance when coding.
• Live HTTP Headers - View HTTP headers of a page while browsing. Great for debugging session problems and other bugs that can cause rapid hair loss.
• FaviconizeTab - Make persistent tabs display only the icon, saving space for the tab titles you really need to see.
• Tab History - Links opened in a new tab retain their history.
• Screen grab! - I loved this add-on, but unfortunately it hasn’t been updated to support more recent Firefox versions. You can save an entire page as an image (it scrolls around the page taking shots and stitches it together), just the visible portion, or the browser window. I anxiously await its return…
• IETab - Lets me access some of our IE only internal sites without having to open IE. Gives me a warm feeling inside knowing that I’m stickin’ it to the man. Doesn’t always provide everything a real IE window will…
• Undo Closed Tabs Button - Like Jerry, this has saved me on numerous occasions. It even remembers partially entered form content!
• del.icio.us Complete - Provides numerous interface hooks into your del.icio.us bookmarks to view, add and edit. I especially like its ability to return suggested or popular tags when adding a new bookmark.
• Aging Tabs - Makes unused tabs fade with age and highlights the selected tab. Its usefulness is dependent on your browsing behaviour, helps me to remember tabs I’ve opened but forgotten to visit.
• Adblock Plus and Filter set updater - Does pretty much what the name says and hides most if not all banner ads and other random annoying stuff. Sometimes it can block something it shouldn’t, so I find myself toggling it on and off when I’m coding interfaces. Use in conjunction with the filter set updater for best results.

It’s hard to put a limit on the number of add-ons to have. There’s been times I’ve had at least 2x this list, but over time I trim it down to the ones I’m benefiting from regularly.