Favorite FireFox Extensions

Web Developer Toolbar (http://chrispederick.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/) Invaluable tool for web geeks of all shapes and sizes. Allows you to hack on forms, css, javascript etc. It also lets you nuke your cookies and session variables on a single site with one click.. which is very handy for testing web apps.

Color Zilla (http://www.iosart.com/firefox/colorzilla/) This extension started out as a simple color picker, so you could mouse over an image, or html element and colorzilla would tell you what hex color it is. It then blew up into a handy ass web developer tool. You can configure what it tells you, but when you mouse over elements now it'll tell you the class name or id of an object, where in the dom that object resides what it's sizes are (specified and actual) etc. It also outlines objects as you 'scrub' with your mouse. Very handy for finding out where exactly that pesky <div> has chosen to position itself.

Twanno's extensions (http://twanno.mozdev.org/) I use all 3.. Tab Clicking options, close tab on doubleclick, and duplicate tab. Combined they make tabbed browsing kickass.

Tab Mix Plus (https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1122) gives you full control over tabs. Add close boxes to tabs, change tab spawning behavior, add double/middle/click-on-tab options. The sheer number of preferences is dizzying!

Live Http Headers (http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/) This extension allows you to see the http your browser is sending and receiving. Great for troubleshooting web apps, hacking someone elses webapps (your cookies are sent and received in clear text) or learning about how http works.

Greasemonkey (http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/) This is a cool app. It allows you to add your own custom javascript to any website. Think about that, you can take control of what the site author wants you to see and consume it however you want. There are user scripts that skip over interstitial ads (like salon.com). There are scripts that change broken (or stupid) web designs. There are even scripts that pull content from one site for comparison on another (like prices on amazon). If you're a code geek, the possibilities are endless.

Bug Me Not (http://roachfiend.com/archives/2005/02/07/bugmenot/) Integrates bugmenot.com's functionality into your browser. You just right click on a pesky login field, it does a lookup, and enters the login on the stupid NYTimes who for some reason needs to know where you live.

AdBlock (http://adblock.mozdev.org/) Allows you to block ads from websites. See an ad, right click on it, click adblock, specify how you want to filter (generally you just ditch all images from the offending ad server eg: xxx.com/ads/*) and you never see their ads again. Makes for a really nice browsing experience.

For even better ad blocking, download the AdBlock Filterset G extension, (https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1136) which automatically updates AdBlock's settings with an up-to-date set of filters to block out most advertisements. It keeps your own AdBlock settings intact, too!

Bookmarks Synchronizerlets (https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=14) you maintain an online copy of your bookmarks and sync them up between different machines. Even works with Firefox on a PC syncing with Firefox on the Mac. The official release isn't compatible with v1.5, but BeatnikPad (http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2005/09/09/firefox-15-beta-compatible-extensions) has an updated version.

Sage (https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=77) is an excellent RSS reader set up as a sidebar for Firefox. Easier to view large number of feeds than the bookmark-RSS features built into the browser.

Mime-Types Editor (http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=179&hl=Mime+Type+Editor) gives you a simple means to add new download -> application mapping without having to first set a default action and then go in and edit it. This is especially useful on the Mac, where Firefox seems determined to make me open Acrobat Reader instead of Preview. I just don't have time in the day to load Adobe's reader.

FTP Fire (https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=684) This is a very nice little plug-in. It opens a new tab in FireFox that is your ftp client. Very easy to use. One of my favorite plug-ins.

Firefox Preloader (https://sourceforge.net/projects/ffpreloader/). Okay, it's not really an extension, but it is a tiny add-on program for Firefox. It loads up Firefox at Windows startup so that the program opens faster. On some PCs, Firefox takes FOREVER to open up. This way it's always available.

FireBug (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1843/). Another webmonkey tool. Allows you to inspect things in the source code of a loaded page by clickin on em. Also helps for tracking down what the heck is causing that CSS to work that way, when you don't remember all the places you referenced that a element. Also puts a better face on the javascript error console.

Google Browser Sync. (http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/browsersync/index.html) Syncs up your Firefox configuration (cookies, bookmarks, history and saved passwords) with multiple Firefox installations. Works cross-platform and is fairly quick. Way better than Bookmarks Synchronizer, too, because it works with the latest releases of Firefox.

Showcase (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1810/) gives you all kinds of options for displaying mini-thumbnail-pictures of whatever's loaded in each tab and/or window in Firefox. Kind of like IE7's multi-tab-picture view, but can also be loaded in a sidebar like OmniWeb's tabs.

Google Notebook (http://google.com/notebook/) lets you annotate and take notes on pages while you surf. You can have multiple notebooks and even collaborate on notebooks with others.

Nightly Tester Tools (http://users.blueprintit.co.uk/~dave/web/firefox/nightly) contains a number of tools to make life easier for folks testing out new builds of Firefox or Thunderbird, such as log file parsing, build number display, etc. Most importantly, it lets you run old extensions with new versions of FF/TB without having to edit them or anything. (Of course, some extensions just won't work, but many will.)

Fission (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1951/) puts a customizable progress bar in the address bar (like Safari on the Mac). Easier on the eyes and much more obvious than the typical "throbber." Plus it leaves space free on your toolbar for other stuff.