Here at the Compu-KISS website, We  have many folks who have not only given Firefox a try, but who are having fun with the Firefox extensions.

For more information on using Firefox, see my Customize your Web Browser article. Like the Firefox browser, the extensions which are  little add-on programs that are used with Firefox are free. They are easy to install, and they can add much to your surfing experience.

Here are some of my favorite Firefox extensions:

 ColorfulTabs

ColorfulTabs is an extension that colors each tab with a different color so you can easily differentiate between tabs. Even more useful is the fact that the color of the current tab is enhanced and other open tabs are slightly faded, so it is easy to tell which tab is active. It's also easy to access the ColorfulTabs options, just right-click on any tab and choose ColorfulTabs from the menu.

Quick Zoom

QuickZoom adds two icons that look like magnifying glasses to the status bar at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on the magnifying glass that displays the plus sign will make the text larger. Clicking on the magnifying glass that has the minus sign will make the text smaller. 

Speed Dial

The Speed Dial extension is my current favorite. Speed Dial puts two new icons on your main toolbar. Both are easy to see and to identify as they as marked with nine purple squares. Once you have installed Speed Dial, you simply surf over to a website that you visit often. Then click on the Set as Speed Dial icon and choose one of nine positions for that website in your speed dial page. You can add eight other web pages in the same way. Then you can open any one of them by clicking on the Speed Dial icon and clicking on the graphical representation of the web page. Each web page has a set position, so it always appears in the same place on the speed dial page.  You can also open each web page by clicking the CTRL key along with the number that corresponds to the Speed Dial square of that web page. I have set Speed Dial to load every time I open a blank new window or tab. Once this is set up, (Click on Tools-Add-ons. Highlight Speed Dial and choose Options) it makes Speed Dial very visual and very useful. Every time you open a blank new tab or window, you see a large visual representation of the nine web sites that you are most likely to visit. This makes your favorite websites easier to find than using bookmarks.

Session Manager

Session Manager is another useful add-on. Once installed, you can set the options to always startup the browser with the tabs that were open when you closed the previous session. It is great to be able to close your browser and have all the tabs that you had open reopen on startup. This even works if Firefox crashes.  Although Session Manager has more capabilities, this is the one feature that I find most compelling. Once installed, the options for the Session Manager can be found in the Tools menu.

Hyperwords

How would you like to be able to quickly get a definition or translation of any word on any webpage? The Hyperwords extension will do just that and more. It makes every word on the web interactive. Just double-click on any word and the Hyperword menu will appear allowing you to get the meaning of that word, get more information about it, translate it into 13 languages, email it to someone, search for that word on the web and more. Hyperword will let you choose whether or not to install the Hyperword toolbar. The toolbar expands the Hyperword usability, but if like me, you like to save on screen real estate, Hyperword works well without the toolbar.  Hyperword comes with a nice tutorial that explains how to use it.

Forecastfox

Forecastfox adds icons to the bottom of the screen (or other location of your choosing) indicating present and future weather for the zip code or city of your choice. You can right-click the icons or click Tools - Add-ons - and double-click the Forecastfox on the Extensions tab to change the options for different locations including international choices. This extension has extensive options including the ability to display many options and several different sets of icons. Double-click any Forecastfox icon to get directly to AccuWeather.com for more weather information on the chosen zip code.

PicLens 

My daughter puts all her pictures of my two little grandchildren on the web using Picasa Album. All I have to do is click over to her Picasa site to see the happy little faces. But sometimes the pictures are, well, kind of small. However, with the PicLens extension installed, I can mouse over any picture and click it to see if full screen. PicLens even lets me do slideshows in full screen. The extension works with Picasa Albums, Flickr, and Google Images. If you use any of these web image programs, it is a don't-miss extension.

Google Toolbar

One of my extensions that get the most use is the Google Toolbar for Firefox. Its capabilities include extensive search options, spell checking, translation, pop-up blocking, highlighting search terms, and more. The Google Toolbar is also available for Internet Explorer.

Give them a try and have some fun with your browser!!