Making the Web a Little Better for Firefox Fans

Comments · July 7, 2008 at 6:08 am · Firefox Usability

  Need to make Firefox a little better you say? From Gmail to Flickr and all the neat applications in between, the “better” series of add-ons for Firefox is getting, well… better looking every single time I check them out.

Here are the list of the “better” Firefox extensions and what has come with the most recent update:

Better Gmail 2 - Version 0.5.2: Updates and fixes the Redesigned skin; Adds Hide Gmail chat script.

Better Flickr - Version 0.3: Adds Firefox 3 support, Rich Edit, Photo Page Enhancer, and Thumbnail Page Enhancer.

Better GCal - Version 0.3: Adds the Redesigned skin beta by Globex Designs.

Better GReader - Version 0.3: Adds Colorful List View; Updates the Minimalistic skin; Adds international domain support including google.co.uk, google.es, google.de, and others.

Better Lifehacker - Version 0.2: Adds HTML Helper and Nested comment replies.

Better YouTube - Version 0.4.3: Adds Firefox 3 compatibility; Fixes FlowPlayer (alternate, non-autoplaying player) and YouTube Theater view.

I’ve always enjoyed Gina’s work on these plugins, cause with each I am shocked and amazed with how much functionality she’s able to pack into there. Make your Firefox a little better with these additions too!

Firefox Universal Uploader

Comments off · July 13, 2007 at 9:38 am · Firefox Usability

When it comes to using some of the Online hosting systems out there, sometimes the Web interface just does not cut the case. The Firefox Universal Uploader extension hopes to change that though by giving you a much better interface to work with.

Here is a little more information about the extension:

As the name says, this firefox extension allows you to upload/download files from any website using a friendly interface. Upload files/photos/videos to Flickr, Picasa, Youtube, Box.net(1GB of free space), Facebook, Webshots and OmniDrive in this version. Next versions would support other websites like Google Videos etc. You can add multiple files to the queue at a time. Extension will take care of uploading them for you.

I think the services themselves should be releasing tools like this. I don’t think that will happen though - so until monkeys fly out of a hole somewhere on me - this will have to do.

Best Flickr Greasemonkey Scripts

Comments (4) · May 30, 2007 at 8:45 am · Greasemonkey

Many people love Flickr, but that doesn’t mean it is perfect. There are a lot of little things that Flickr could do better - and thankfully with a tool like the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox, you can put in what the Flickr developers might have left out.

Here are five of the best Flickr Greasemonkey scripts on the Web today.

1. Flickr Image Unblocker - This script gets rid of that annoying image that hovers over an image to keep you from saving it. It remove the “spaceball.gif” blocking and does so very well.

2. Multi Group Sender - This script enables you to easily send your Flickr images to multiple groups at the same time. It works by overriding the normal “Send To Group” button on your Flickr photo page.

3. Flickr EXIF Decorator - Hover over a photo on Flickr to get an unobtrusive translucent overlay in the top left corner showing meta data including camera model, aperture and shutter speed.

4. Flickr Shades - Changes colors of all Flickr pages pages to white text on a black background. You can also easily edit the colors in the script to whatever your preference is.

5. Flickr Photo Magnifier - Have a look at the notes on the images. Basically, when you toggle the magnifier on, you have a small rectangular magnifier on the medium sized image to look at the details. Great for seeing details in photos.

Need more? You can always find more Greasemonkey user scripts for Flickr right on Userscripts.org. Have any favorites I didn’t mention? Feel free to drop in a comments and share with the group.

Flickr Sidebar

Comments off · November 8, 2006 at 5:00 am · Entertainment

Flickr is a great resource for photography fans and regular folks alike Online. If you find yourself search for photos there though, and get a little lost or even confused - it is understandable. I feel your pain, and that is the reason I went out and found the Flickr Sidebar.

+ Learn More About the Flickr Sidebar!

Flickrfox

Comments (1) · August 21, 2006 at 9:25 am · Entertainment

Do you want quick and easy access to your Flickr photos? FlickrFox is an extension for Firefox and Flock that lets you browse your Flickr photostreams in a sidebar. After you install it, enjoying your photos is as easy as turning on the sidebar menu. To make that a little easier, you can customize your toolbar and add a Flickrfox icon to it as well. This extension gives you an easy access to your photostreams.

[Learn More About Flickrfox]

Greased Lightbox

Comments (1) · July 26, 2006 at 10:58 am · Greasemonkey

As far as viewing graphics goes, Lightbox development has gone a long way for making it look more professional and pretty. What if you could add that to a Web site that didn’t provide it in the first place? To do that, you will need the Greased Lightbox Greasemonkey user script.

Greased Lightbox is a Greasemonkey/Creammonkey/Opera user script designed to enhance browsing on websites that link to images such as Google Image Search, Flickr, Wikipedia, Facebook, MySpace, and deviantART.

This script adds a nice interface to any graphics you might be browsing. I have been using a lightbox script for WordPress on SB1Online.com for some time now and I just love it. Adding that functionality to a Web site that doesn’t have it is even cooler.

To use this script you must have Greasemonkey for Firefox installed.

[Learn More About Greased Lightbox!]