Set Firefox on fire

By Jeremy Roche, Alex Kidman, Jason Parker and Peter Butler on 13 July 2006

Firefox Extensions

Firefox's extensions can make a good browser into a great browser. We show you how.

While Microsoft's Internet Explorer still rules the roost in terms of sheer numbers, there's a growing crowd of Net users flocking to the open source free alternative offered by Mozilla.org, namely Firefox. The little browser that could scores over the established Internet Explorer in a host of areas -- better pop-up blocking, better security, tabbed browsing, and, above all, a host of customisation options that make IE look like it's stuck in the mud.

There are two routes you can go down to make your copy of Firefox your very own. If you're a dab hand at programming, then the interfaces are all available to you to modify just about every element of the browser's appearance and performance. That's fine if you're a programming type, but what if you're not?

Well, there's no need to despair, as Firefox has robust support for what it calls Extensions -- little snippets of pre-written code that can radically alter the way that Firefox handles its many tasks -- and even a few it wasn't designed to do in the first place!

Installing and checking your extensions within Firefox is as simple as clicking Tools>Extensions. A little pop-up window will emerge, letting you know which extensions you've got installed. From here you can configure them, uninstall them, and check for updates, as well as visit the main Firefox extensions page at Mozilla Update to find new extensions. Here are a few extensions that every Firefox user should check out.

What do you think? Which extensions make Firefox truly compelling? Let us know your thoughts below!

Topics: browser, add-on, translate, tester, extensions, googlepreview, tabbrowser, dictionarysearch, googlebar, foxytunes, firefox, bandwidth, mouse, gestures

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Comments (11)

  • ruby commented on 18/07/2009 16:30 Report abuse

    all the extensions aside, the best thing is that it's skinnable and looks great with firefox personas

    and it's just gonna keep getting better

  • jku27201 commented on 12/05/2008 13:48 Report abuse

    How can I remove the weather it is Australia plains S A and is not relevant to me it takes a while to load Thanks Jan

  • DD commented on 18/09/2006 10:53 Report abuse

    I use SessionSaver. Great extension!

  • Tim commented on 30/08/2006 16:44 Report abuse

    I use Sage to read the RSS feeds from CNET in Firefox "AWESOME". This is a great news tool for Firefox. I also use the firefox faststart to speed it up. Provided I keep the updates updated I have no problems at all and prefer it although I use both IE and 1.5 Firefox.

  • Kurt Suma commented on 21/02/2005 18:24 Report abuse

    I like the ADBLOCKER extension, super-kewl !
    I use it to block banners and gifs from frequently visited sites. Pages load faster and I no longer need to look at unwanted images.
    100% success, foolproof and free.

    I want to have FireFox's baby!

  • Tim Koop commented on 16/02/2005 06:17 Report abuse

    These are the Firefox Extensions I use the most:
    Adblock
    googlebar
    Web Developer
    Live HTTP Headers
    ieview
    SpellBound

  • pvb commented on 06/02/2005 14:36 Report abuse

    Firefox crashes for white or yellowpages.com.au if on my computer, yet IE has no problem?

  • esky commented on 01/02/2005 11:48 Report abuse

    Why does Firefox take so long to load cnet.com.au and zdnet.com.au pages? And when it is finished it only loads half the page. IE is slow but faster than Firefox in loading your pages and it loads the whole page completely. Your sites are the only websites I have found to have this problem.

  • anotherkjb@yahoo.com.au commented on 17/01/2005 20:58 Report abuse

    Kidman and Roche say: "it's not unknown for Tabbrowser Extensions to cause a few bug issues here and there..."

    Heaven help us -- TBE will cause a few more than just "a few" bugs!

    TBE *used* to be an excellent extension, and if you intend installing no others, then possibly it's still ok.

    However, piro (the author) insisted on bloating it with every option under the sun, and consequently it now has so many bugs and compatibility problems with other extensions it's a nightmare.

    But a silent nightmare -- the worst part about TBE is that you will not realise it's TBE actually causing the problem. Such as with Java apps, something TBE should not be touching. Oh, but it does, it does.

    Do yourself a favour and avoid TBE like the plague. Even the author himself has a warning on the download page: Use at own risk!

  • Osden commented on 14/01/2005 17:26 Report abuse

    Cool .. this is my project for the weekend ... gonna try all of those ...

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