Need to duplicate a tab in Firefox, so you can have the same content loaded up in two Firefox windows?  Not sure, you could just copy and paste the URL into both browsers – but who has the time?  I have an easier solution to fix this problem.

The answer is the Duplicate This Tab add-on for Firefox.  With this extension installed, You can detach a tab from one Firefox window, load it up in a new one and keep the tab loaded up in the old Firefox window. 

Now for those of you who say, "Firefox already does that!" let me set you straight.  Currently, when you left-click on a tab and drag it down and then let go of the left mouse button, it does detach and create a new Firefox window. 

What makes this add-on special is it keeps that same web page loaded in the older Firefox browsing window too, rather than just moving it to the new Firefox window.  This add-on gives you the following options:

• Duplicate Tab
• Duplicate Tab to New Window
• Detach Tab
• or Merge Windows

You can pick up the Duplicate This Tab add-on from the Firefox Add-ons web site.

For years now, I have been highlighting the best Firefox add-ons out there for you all to check out and use, if needed.  However, not often do I go that extra mile to help you replace an add-on that I don’t think is that handy to have.  Amazingly enough, ImTranslator is an add-on that have enjoyed a lot of popularity (3,875,310 downloads to be exact) however I think there is a better solution out there, that doesn’t even need an add-on for Firefox to be used.

One of the reasons I do not like ImTranslator is it looks junky.  It is riddled with advertisements, such I understand is great for when it comes to making money – however, I don’t think they serve a purpose inside of a Firefox add-on. Now, let us move on to what I think you should use instead.

What Replaces ImTranslator?

Just bookmark the Google Translate web site.  I have been using Google Translate for many years to help translate text and it has never let me down.  While the translations are not perfect (no translation tool ever is) it does the closest job, from what I have seen.  To use it, all you have to do is copy and paste the text you wish to translate, select what language it is in, what language you want to translate to, and then hit the button labeled, “Translate”.

By using Google Translate instead of ImTranslator, you not only save clutter from your Firefox add-on installs, but you also gain access to one of the best free translation tools out there today. Using the tools they provide, you can also get a bookmarklet that does a one-click translation of any web site into the language you wish to read.

So, let me know what you think.  Is Google Translate a suitable replacement for ImTranslator or do you think ImTranslator is still a better translating solution?

From head to toe, this add-on for Firefox will give you a lot of new toys, options and more to play with on your Facebook account, to make the Facebook experience even better for you.

Better Facebook Activity Tracking

After Installing, just navigate to Facebook’s web site to get started. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that your most recent notifications are now pinned to the right side of the Facebook window, as seen here:

If anybody un-friends you, you will also get notification from the front page of Facebook under the “Friend Tracker” section.

My Group Activity will alert you to new posts, members, and more in groups you are a member of.  This is much more handy than visiting each, one by one.

Better Facebook News Feed

On your news feed, you have a few more options to play with too.  Here is a little more about those from the developer:

Click ‘Mark All Read’ once you have read every story on this page. The stories will then be hidden the next time you view the page. But don’t worry – if any new comments are added they will show back up! This will let you keep track of conversations that you otherwise might have missed.

You can always go back and see all the hidden stories by clicking ‘Show All’, then hide them again by clicking ‘Hide Read’.

Better Facebook Options and More

By clicking the “Options” button on the front page, you can quickly configure and edit how you want to see updates come up.  For example, you can show, minimize or hide new friend notifications.

You can pick up the Better Facebook! add-on for Firefox from the Firefox add-ons web site.

More Facebook/Firefox Fun > Best 5 Add-ons for Facebook Fans

It is known as one of the most popular, lightweight and reliable external download managers out there.  The real benefit with the FlashGot add-on is being able to download multiple files from multiple links at the same time, all at once.

Here are some of the other features worth diving into:

FlashGot Link – downloads through the default download manager the link under the mouse pointer.

FlashGot Selection – catches links in highlighted text/images, attempting also pure text to anchors conversion, performing some “smart” replacement like turning “hxxp://” into “http://”.

FlashGot All – grabs all the links found in the current page and dispatches them to the default download manager.

FlashGot Tabs – performs a “FlashGot All” on every tab open in the current window.

FlashGot Media – it’s enabled only when a streaming video or audio clip is playing in the current browser tab: this command intercepts downloadable addresses of the content pieces played so far in the page and sends them to the download manager.

Here you have five different ways to download files, that you do not have without the add-on in question.  You can download the FlashGot add-on from the Firefox Add-ons web site, and learn more about it on it’s official web site – flashgot.net.

How do you use it?  That much is simple:

1. Click the "Add Proofreader" link on your link bar to add a Proofread button above each text box.
2. Click to find spelling mistakes, misused words, and grammar errors
3. Click to continue editing.

Right now the bookmarklet does have a few limitations, such as it is limited to 7,000 characters worth of text, and it only works in text area form elements, however this is a great way to bring a great tool with you, no matter what web site you are on.

You can pick up the After the Deadline bookmarklet on AftertheDeadline.com.

Reload All allows you reload all the tabs in the window at one go.   Need to reload most, but not every single tab?  It can handle that too.  It features a selection tool in case you want to reload a few tabs while leaving out the rest of them.

Here is what that feature looks like in action:

Now, I am not crazy about the toolbar icon it adds (it’s rather ugly, sorry to say) but the functionality is definitely there. This also definately beats the process of visiting a page, refreshing, visiting another page, refreshing again, so on and so forth. 

You can pick up the Reload All extension on the Firefox Add-ons web site.

By default, it gives you a simple numerical count, as seen here:

However, when you expand it, you get much more information about each link:

This comes in really handy when your looking to see how many links you have on your web site, and then see how many are external compared to internal (linking to somebody else versus linking to your own pages inside your web site).

You can pickup the Simple Links Counter for Firefox at the Firefox Add-ons web site.

This littlest add-on of them all spread joy a harmony throughout the Internets by allowing all those in Twitter land to send tweets to their friend, families and that guy who keeps spamming affiliate deals.  It didn’t do this by any normal means.  Oh no.  It did it’s work by simply highlighting text on any page.

Ok, that is all the fairy tail talk I can handle.  TinyTweet is another one of those, small extensions that simply gets the job done.  All you have to do is highlight any text inside of any web page, and a “Tweet This” button will magically appear.  Click it, and an automatically generated bit.ly link is created and the text you highlighted is ready to be shared to all your Twitter followers.

You can pick up the TinyTweet add-on from the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Need help watching your feed subscriptions in Google Reader? 

The Google Reader Watcher add-on for Firefox is here to help.  With this extension, you can be instantly notified when your favorite new source, blog or any other web site with an RSS feed is updated and ready to read in Google Reader. 

There is not a lot to  be said here.  Google Reader Watch (yes, the name does sound like it is having an argument with itself) simply checks your Google Reader for unread feeds and if you have, the plugin will display them on your browser’s status bar.

Now I usually only check my own Google Reader account once or twice a day.  However, if you want to stay on top of the latest updates this extension gets that job done.  For example, you could easily subscribe the your favorite Firefox blog, the greatest podcast about web hosting, and some guy named Mitch’s techie blog and find out all three were updated this morning.

You can pick up the Google Reader Watcher from the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Since Facebook is the king of the hill when it comes to social networks, there have been a lot of add-ons dedicated to making it better.  Facebook is great, but is not without flaws.  Thankfully, these Firefox add-on developers have worked out some of the kinks and have masterminded some of the best add-ons for Firefox to date. 

Here are my top five Facebook add-ons you can add to Firefox.

 Friendbar

Facebook and Twitter are now easier than ever to use. Friendbar displays a running stream of text and photo updates right on the toolbar, and allows you to post updates, to like, comment, update, retweet, dm, and reply from the toolbar itself.

 Facebook Toolbar

Facebook seems to quickly be outgrowing the other social networks by leaps and bounds.  It is hard to find a friend that hasn’t switched over to it from the other social networks like MySpace and the like.  So with that said, why not grab a toolbar that will help you get a little more out of your Facebook usage and help you stay connected with your friends even better?

 Facebook Photo Album Downloader

In need of a way to download all the images you may have uploaded to your Facebook photo album?  Sure you could go through each image, click by click and download each one individually.  Why do that though, when you have FacePAD.  This extension will let you grab all the photos from any album you need on Facebook.

 Facebook Video

The popular Greasemonkey Facebook video script is now a full-fledged Firefox addon that lets users download or convert Facebook videos, and embed videos outside of Facebook.

 Facebook Dislike

You can “like” things on Facebook, so why can you not “dislike” things too? If you use Facebook, and you have Firefox – you can now add the feature some have really been wanting. You get the ability to dislike things that your friends have posted.

There are my top five, which one is your favorite?  I would have to say that the Facebook Photo Album Downloader is probably the most functional, so in turn – my favorite of the favorites.  What also would be the Facebook flaw you wish you could fix?  You might just be the inspiration for some Firefox add-on developer’s next creation.