10 Useful Firefox Add-ons

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 was launched with millions of people downloading it around the globe to make it a Guinness World Record! So what makes Firefox so special than other browsers? Apart from the simple interface, tight security, add-ons are something that make Firefox really powerful. Developers have built really cool and useful add-ons that have changed the face of Firefox. So lets look at some of the useful Firefox add-ons that you must have installed on your system.

1. Read It Later

“Read It Later allows you to save pages of interest to read later. It eliminates cluttering of bookmarks with sites that are merely of a one-time interest.”

This is an important add-on as it adds the ability to save the page in the browser’s cache so that you do not have to bookmark it for future reading. Also it works offline, allowing you to read those interesting articles you found at your favorite site without having access to the net.

2. ChatZilla

“A clean, easy to use and highly extensible Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client.”

Are you an IRC geek? ChatZilla comes to your help by integrating an IRC client into Firefox itself.  ChatZilla provides all the usual IRC client features: multiple servers, a built-in list of standard networks, easy searching and sorting of available channels, logging, and DCC chat and file transfers, plus easy customization with JavaScript plug-ins and CSS styling.

3. TwitterFox

“TwitterFox is a Firefox extension that notifies you of your friends’ statuses of Twitter.”

Are you an avid twitterer? Then you surely ought to have TwitterFox add-on installed in your Firefox browser. Apart from viewing tweets by your friend, you can also tweet using this add-on. Although there exist many add-ons related to twitter, TwitterFox is simply the best of the  lot.

4. FireFTP

“FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers.”

FireFTP is great for website developers/bloggers who need to upload files to the server rather frequently. With the help of FireFTP you can do the task quickly without the need of another software. Along with transferring your files quickly and efficiently, FireFTP also includes more advanced features such as: directory comparison, syncing directories while navigating, SFTP, SSL encryption, search/filtering, integrity checks, remote editing, drag & drop, file hashing, and much more!

5. Ad-Block Plus

“Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the Internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.”

Advertising has gained momentum and every site wants to earn some revenue. That boils down to readers watching pesky ads which can range from static HTML one to dynamic flash ones. It becomes highly irritating sometimes as they not only waste your time but also suck up your Internet bandwidth. Adblock Plus gets rid of them very effectively.

6. Cooliris

“Full-Screen, 3D — Cooliris (formerly known as PicLens) transforms your browser into a visually stunning experience for searching, viewing, and sharing online photos and videos. Our “3D Wall” lets you effortlessly search and zoom your way around thousands of images, videos, movie trailers, news feeds, and even online retailers. To share stuff with friends, just drag and drop”

It is an awesome add-on which has a stunning UI. It brings in a 3D interface to view videos and pictures.  You can your watch videos and pictures in full screen. The 3D Wall is a unique feature allowing you to search for videos and images effortlessly. It has its own gallery too which shows up interesting results for various categories. Words are not enough to describe this add-on, you got to experience it!

7. Pencil

“Pencil is a Firefox add-on to do GUI prototyping and simple sketching”

Pencil is a unique add-on for anyone looking to sketch simple diagrams. It has an extremely simple but a functional interface which makes it easy to use. It has quite a few options which take little time to get used to, after which you will be breezing away making your own cool diagram, right within Firefox!

8. FoxyTunes

Do you listen to Music while surfing the Web?

FoxyTunes lets you control almost any media player and find lyrics, covers, videos, bios and much more with a click right from your browser.”
Shuttling between your browser and your music player can become irritating at times. FoxyTunes comes to the rescue with this useful add-on. It supports a wide variety of music players, so you are unlikely to face problem on that front. Controlling the music player through FoxyTunes is fairly simple and easy. You can control most of the features of your favorite music player through it.

9. Firebug

“Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page…”

This add-on is aimed towards developers who need the tools for editing/debugging the various aspects of a live website. Firebug is an excellent tool that offers that and more with its advanced interface. It makes it easy for developers to pick out flaws with the website. A must have add-on for website developers.

10. Wizz RSS News Reader

“A constantly improving RSS and Atom feed reader. It is fairly powerful, feature rich and is well supported.”

Mozilla has unfortunately does not have a great inbuilt RSS feeds reader. Wizz RSS News Reader fulfills that task by bringing together your RSS and Atom feeds into your browser, so that you can read them easily. With feed readers, interface is of prime importance and Wizz RSS News Readers offers a neat and clean interface.

These are just a handful of useful Mozilla Firefox add-ons that exist. You can find thousands others online which you might like. Found a cool add-on, share about it in the comments.