Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

I've just started using a really useful browser extension.

I'd used to keep a Temporary folder in my bookmarks, where I'd keep links I wanted to read later. However, to be honest, it got clogged up, or just plain forgotten about.

Friday I came across Read It Later. It's a really simple idea - it just adds a new option to the browser's right click menu, and a couple of extra buttons in the menu bar.

Right click Read it later instead of opening a link (or click the Read Later button in the toolbar when you're on a page), and the page is added to the Reading List. When you want to read the page, just click on the Reading List drop down, and when you're done click the Mark as Read button to remove from the list and add to any of a whole host of bookmarking services (including Firefox's own...).

Simple, and sensible.

Now all I want it is a synchronisation web service, so I can access the same Read It Later bookmarks from my laptop and my desktop.

Firefox extensions are very useful indeed - adding lots of extra functions to the browser. They're often small, quick to install, and simple to use. I've got a lot installed, and use FEBE to backup and manage them all. It also produces a formatted list of what you've installed so far.

After I ran today's extension backup, I took the list, tidied it up a little, and stuck it behind a cut tag...

( Here's a nice long list of all the Firefox extensions I use. )

So what are your favourite extensions? And do you have any recommendations for me?

FEBE is the Firefox Extension Backup Extension, a "does what it says on the tin" Firefox extension backup and synchronisation tool - as an extension (of course). Oh, the recursiveness...

Now almost all of my browsers can behave the same way...

Windows only

One of the good things about Firefox is the ability to add new features through extensions. If there's something you've wanted a browser to do, then there's probably a Firefox extension already written to do it...

Here's my list of extensions (all working on Firefox 1.5). With links so you can install them too!

• Forecastfox - instant weather forecasts all the time!
• Google Toolbar for Firefox - it's the Google Toolbar. You need an explanation?
• PDF Download - manage whether PDF files are rendered in the browser (you can even view them as HTML), or if you'd rather download them for future reference.
• IE View - launches the page you're viewing in Internet Explorer - a useful tool for debugging pages, and testing code.
• BugMeNot - get past those pesky log ins for sites like the New York Times...
• FlickrFox - integrated Flickr browsing.
• Tabbrowser Preferences - I mainly use Firefox for the tabs. This extension makes using them a lot easier.
• Web Developer - see just how that page was put together - including DHTML and CSS features.
• Allow Right-Click - disable JavaScript right-click blockers, so you can get the URIs of images and print pages...
• Bookmarks Synchronizer - I can keep my bookmarks on a public web server, and make sure all three of my machines have the same bookmarks.
• del.icio.us - manage social bookmarks from inside the browser.
• Viamatic foXpose - see all your tabs - in one view. More useful than you might think at first...
• SessionSaver .2 - saves open tabs when you close the browser, so you come back to the pages you were at last time.
• Clip to OneNote - adds the selected content to a OneNote side note. Only useful if you use OneNote as your standard note taking application!
• Restart Firefox - one button restart for when you install a new extension or theme! With SessionSaver, you're back the way you were in seconds.
• DownThemAll! - download everything from a page, faster than using Firefox's own download tools.
• IE Tab - embeds IE in a Firefox tab, ideal for debugging web sites and working with IE only sites (Windows only).
• FireFTP - a full FTP client, right there in the browser.
• Colorful Tabs - colours tabs, making it easier to see the active tab, and switch between sites and pages.
• How'd I Get Here - takes you back to where you started to explore a site - even across tabs.
• Blogger Web Comments - keep an eye on what one small part of the web is saying about the page you're viewing.
• Spell Bound - form field spell checker.
• Fasterfox - network speed tweas for Firefox.

What are you using? And why?

Here's a nifty Firefox extension that runs Internet Explorer inside a Firefox tab.

So now you can use Windows Update and the like without leaving your day-to-day browser. It's still under development, and somewhat buggy, but it's promising and useful.

Windows only