[Sharing] My Favorite Firefox Add-ons

I have been using Firefox as my primary web browser since 2005 year. Now I am using Firefox 3.0.1, and here I list my favorite Firefox Add-ons.

To maintain/synchronize bookmarks:

  • Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer
    I think Foxmarks is great: simple idea, graceful, and powerful. It help me to synchronize my bookmarks between my home computer’s firefox and office computer’s firefox. It also free me to backup bookmarks to against any computer disaster. I knew Delicious is the world leading social bookmarking service and there is an add-on Delicious Bookmarks, but since I do not use Delicious so much, so I never used that Delicious add-on.

To check Email such as Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and/or GMail/Google Apps:

  • WebMail Notifier
    Most people need a tool to periodically check popular free email service such as Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and/or GMail (Personally I used all these three email services). This add-on, WebMail Notifier, is such a tool. Currently it supports mail.google.com(Gmail & Google Apps), mail.yahoo.com., and mail.live.com(hotmail,msn,live) and several other email services. I love this add-on because it supports Hotmail and Yahoo Mail.
    Note: If you use only GMail or Google Apps, then there are lots of other good add-ons such as Gmail Manager and Gmail Notifier.

To check new blog/RSS feed entries:

To facilitate browsing:

  • All-in-One Gestures : excellent tool to use mouse gestures.
  • QuickDrag: this tool gives the convenience that you simple drag any URL and it can open a new tab for the URL. I guess another add-on Easy DragToGo should be similar.
  • IE Tab: Sometimes you still have to use Microsoft Internet Explorer because some bad-designed websites only supports Microsoft Internet Explorer.
  • MediaWrap: Some websites use Microsoft technology such as ActiveX for some media files, and this add-on can transparently wrap ActiveX into the Plugins which supported by Firefox.
  • Google Toolbar. The official toolbar from Google.

To better download:

  • FlashGot: It claims it is the best Firefox download manager integration. Anyway I usually use this FlashGot add-on with the real download manager software FlashGet. Do not get confused. FlashGot is a Firefox add-on, it is NOT a standalone software. FlashGet is a standalone software which is a real download manager.
  • Video DownloadHelper: This is a wonderful tool to download web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites. Together with FlashGet and free Applian FLV Player, I can download YouTube videos as .flv files and use the Applian FLV Player to watch the videos even when I am offline.
  • Download Statusbar: Not a must-to-have tool. Just give you convenience to view and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar.

To backup your Firefox Add-ons:

  • FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension)
    NEVER underestimate the importance to backup. So this tool is just what you need for your backup solution. It can easily backup your Firefox extensions, themes, and (optionally) your bookmarks, preferences, passwords, cookies and just about everything else Firefox offers (it can even backup/restore your entire profile).

To cross GFW(Great Fire Wall) (You can ignore this if you are NOT in mainland China)

  • FoxyProxy : an advanced proxy management tool.
  • Access Flickr!: Flickr is banned in mainland China and several other countries. This add-on help you bypasses the flickr.com filter in Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and other banned countries and places…

Other tools:

  • FoxClocks: it can display world times in your statusbar (or any toolbar). It is just a neat tool to help me working in a multinational environment.
  • Speed Dial or Fast Dial or even Auto Dial: I am only using Speed Dial. It is an interesting add-on to let you easily access your most used websites.

Thanks so much for all developers/people to make/develop/contribute the above add-ons. All of them are great tools to facilitate my on-line life. Thanks a million for your efforts.