best guide to add-ons, themes and tips for Firefox
Are you a big fan of Google’s custom search feature, which allows you to customize your own search engine to fit your needs? The Custom Google Search add-on for Firefox, in that case, is a perfect companion.
In a nutshell, this extension for Firefox allows you to create, use and mange your own Google Custom Engines from within the Firefox browser interface.
You can pick up the Custom Google Search add-on for Firefox on the Firefox Add-ons web site.
Looking to make drag and dropping a little more functional in Firefox? The Firefox add-on QuickDrag will let you load URLs, do web searches and more just by highlighting text, grabbing it and dragging it to the right location.
Here is what QuickDrag looks like in action, as well as more details on how you can use this great extension for Firefox to speed up your browsing.
Now, some might look at this add-on and say that is not much, however after you start using it, you really start to realize how much more functionality this adds – just be adding a few tweaks to the browser. For more help, you might also check out the author’s FAQ.
You can pick up the QuickDrag add-on via the Firefox Add-ons web site.
Another jewel in the ruff I discovered when browsing around the Mozilla add-ons site was SmarterFox. What does this add-on to the browser do for you? It helps make browsing the web just that much faster…and smarter!
Where are the features? Here are some of the thinks I liked about this awesome add-on to your browser:
There is definitely a lot of browser tweaking to be loved here. It is that type of extension that does many things well, instead of focusing on doing one thing really well. So if you would like to kill several birds with on stone – this is the pick me up your browser has been looking for.
Want to give it a shot? Pickup SmarterFox on the Mozilla add-ons site and let me know what you think. Has it helped you browse the Web any faster or smarter?
The idea of having a Firefox extension that gives you content related to what you are looking at is nothing new really, however I have found a Firefox add-on that will help you get it done in a new and exciting way.
Headup underlines words on pages when you browser. When you hover over those words, you get relevant content from popular web services.
Technically speaking, they “presents you with textual and rich media content related to the objects and terms it identifies on the pages you browse.” Here are a few more examples from their web site:
Use Headup’s ability to recognize objects and relationships to discover all kinds of information quickly and effortlessly. Here are some examples:
- Discover which of your friends like a particular band and gain access to the band’s videos and lyrics.
- Find blog posts and stock news about a company and discover which of your contacts work there.
- Get alerted about your friends’ birthdays and see which books they’re likely to enjoy as a gift.
Overall, I have to say it is an interesting idea – and a cool tool. Sometimes these semantic plugins kind of confuse the general public, so I would really recommend playing with Headup to see if it is right for you. You can pickup the Headup add-on on Headup.com or the Mozilla Add-ons web site.
We have looked at the ten most popular search extensions for Firefox, however we can not overlook the many popular search engines you can add to the Firefox search box.
Most Popular Search Plugins for Firefox *
Roll Your Own Search Plugin
Want to roll your own search plugin using any web site search box out there. That is an easy task to accomplish with the Add to Search Bar extension. If you want to “do it by hand” you can also create your own plugins with this handy tutorial from the Mozilla Developer Center.
More Search Plugin Databases
Now with those mentioned, you can’t mention the search engine box without mentioning the MyCroft project. There you can find a search engine plugin or search provider that you can quickly add to the Firefox search box.
To check out their most popular search engines, be sure to check out the Top 100 listings.
What tools and plugins do you use to keep your searching in order?
* – Yes,I left Google off the popular plugin list, cause everybody knows about Google.
Want to discover great web sites without the work of searching for them? SimilarWeb, an add-on for Firefox, will do the searching for you. Its job is to suggest similar web sites you might enjoy as you browse around the Web.
I am always looking for new ways to find new and interesting sites out there so this is an add-on I really enjoy. There are several ways to customize the way you view the similar sites too, that are displayed as a sidebar on the left of whatever web site you might be browsing at the time.
Here is a rundown on the various cool features:
For more information on SimilarWeb be sure to check out their web site at SimilarWeb.com. Right now the extension is available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Want to get real time Twitter search results on Google? Depending on the topic you are searching for (especially if it is a newsworthy event) you might be surprised by the range of coverage that you get from Twitter. Why not harness that and have it handy when searching Google? Now with this userscript for Greasemonkey you can do it.
After installing Twitter Search Results on Google, here is an example of what your searches will look like:
It displays the most recent 5 tweets for the query that you are search for, giving both real-time Twitter search results and Google results on the same page.
I have got to say, over the past few weeks I have been pretty happy with the Twitter searches I have done, so mixing these two into one could lead to some really good results. You have the power of Google mixed with the social aspects of Twitter.
Once you get Greasemonkey installed (of it it is already installed) then all you need to do is pick up the script for it here at UserScripts.org. Big thanks to MT-Hacks for providing this to the public too, it is one of the best scripts I have seen for Greasemonkey in a long while.
I got an e-mail from a reader of Firefox Facts, and they wanted to know how can you re-organize your search engines in Firefox’s search box that lives in most people upper-right hand corner of Firefox.
This can easily be done via the built in search engine manager.
Click on Firefox’s search box, as if you were going to change search engines, and look at the bottom for a menu selection titled, “Manage Search Engines”. Clicking it will bring up the Manage Search Engine List. From here you can:
There you have it. Now Firefox has not always had this option. Back in previous versions, you had to do some heavy duty hunting and pecking to really edit and organize your search engine selections. This at least gives you a more user friendly interface, and I am all about the user friendly around here.
Is there much you can do to improve on the modern search engines? They all do the same thing, so it comes down to who does it best – but is that the end of it? Maybe not. Inserting a cloud of search terms may help make even the best search engine out there even better. Search Cloudlet inserts smart tag clouds into Google and Yahoo interface to help you search faster.
The way this add-on for Firefox works is that it contains the most relevant information about the search term in question. The more important the word, the bigger it gets in the text link cloud. Here is more about the add-on from the developers:
If you often use Google or Yahoo to search through news or blogs, then Search Cloudlet is exactly what you need. For News search there are Source Cloud and Location Cloud. These clouds can help you determine country, region or state of the found news and their publishers. For Blogs search there is also Author Cloud view. You can use these context-aware clouds to narrow your search the same way you would do it with tag clouds.
Overall, I found this extension very useful. You can find out more about the project at GetCloudlet.com and pick up the extension via Firefox’s Add-on site.
Firefox’s find bars (yes, there are two of them) are often classified as the good one that is hard to remember, and the not so good one that is easy to remember.
The good one nobody remembers, is hitting the “/” key while browsing a page. If you hit Ctrl+F you get the not so good one that is easy to remember. This is the one that we all use most often. The Hide Find Bar add-on for Firefox merges the greatness of these two searches into one.
How does it do that? It is very simple. It allows you to hide the find bar after a certain interval of inactivity has elapsed. So, when activity in the find bar has been idle for a certain interval it will automatically disappear.
You can try it out for yourself, all you need to do is download the Hide Find Bar extension from the Firefox Add-ons site.
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Mitch Keeler is nothing more than your average Joe trying to leave his mark on the world though both his professional work and his online projects, articles, podcasts and more.
