I know, there's dozens and dozens of lists of Firefox plugins out there, but I just have to add my own. I really like Chrome a lot, but I just can't switch due to my heavy reliance on add ons. Here's a list of a few of my favorites, some IT-focused, some not. Read on for a list of useful addons.
Firefox
- Autocopy automatically copies text when you select it. It can be configured to not copy on form fields, which I find useful - I rarely copy and paste out of a form. Very handy.
- Cooliris is just a cool add on. It searches a dozens (hundreds?) of multimedia sites, like flickr, Hulu, Google images, and YouTube, and creates a 3D wall display. I use it mostly for looking up travel-related images. I wish that I could disable the shopping/channels display on the left. Already filed a feature request.
- Firebug is the uber-developer add on. If you're a web developer in any capacity, you're probably already using it. If not, you're missing out.
- FireFTP is an in-browser FTP and SFTP client. I prefer WinSCP for most file transfers, but sometimes it's handy to have something in the next tab over.
- Fission is a simple addon that adds a progress bar component to the address bar when a page is loading.
- Who doesn't use Flashblock? I get super annoyed at ads, especially when they're flash-based. I especially like that I can remove flash frames entirely. It has a whitelist for sites like YouTube that you always want flash to work on.
- Forecastfox gives me weather in the status bar of my browser. I have it customized to display a 5 day forecast without annoying slider notifications for extreme weather conditions.
- I use Live HTTP headers for security and web testing. It shows exactly the requests that the browser sends to a remote server, along with the response. Especially useful for crafting complex Curl or wget commands.
- Similarly, Tamper Data lets you modify HTTP requests, including POST variables, before they are sent to the server. Since it sits in the browser it can intercept even HTTPS requests without any problems. Not as polished as something like Microsoft Fiddler, but more convenient IMHO.
- Last but not least, I use Xmarks to sync bookmarks between the many computers I use on a regular basis. I make extensive use of bookmarks, including the tags feature built in to Firefox. For example, if I'm doing research on a project, I'll tag all relevant articles with the project or technology name. Then I can just type the tag in to the address bar and quickly see a useful list of all the sites I've linked. Xmarks syncs all the data between my systems. I highly recommend disabling the password sync feature, however - I don't need my passwords stored in mystery database somewhere..
Thunderbird
- The AutoCopy plugin described above also works in Thunderbird. I like it for copy and paste out of emails.
- Enigmail is an excellent OpenPGP add on, allowing for one click signatures and encryption. It can also search for public keys online. I only wish more people used PGP.
- Finally, my absolute favorite Thunderbird add on is Nostalgy. Do you sort your mail in to multiple folders? I save every valuable message I get, and I sort them extensively in to around 50 or 60 different folders. Nostalgy gives quick keyboard shortcuts to move messages to a folder, saving me many mouse clicks. Probably the most useful add on in the list for me.
So point your browser at the links and install some new add ons. Did I miss any that you really like?