Ethernotes

I keep switching between Firefox and Camino browsers on my home and school Macs. I like Camino because it is fast(!) and uses Keychain to store and encrypt passwords. Unfortunately, Camino doesn’t have as many options as Firefox to enhance the browsing experience.

Firefox enhancements are referred to as extensions or add-ons. You access the extensions by going to the Tools|Add-ons menu. You’ll see a window with a list of extensions already in use. It’s likely you have some extensions installed and didn’t even know it. In the bottom right hand corner is a link called “Get extensions“. The extensions I find useful are usually in the link titled, “Recommended Add-ons”.

On every computer I use, I install the following add-ons for Firefox:

Forecastfox, “Get international weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com, and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable and unobtrusive extension.”

Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer, “Install Foxmarks on each computer, and it will work silently in the background to keep your bookmarks synchronized.”

Tab Mix Plus, “Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox’s tab browsing capabilities.”

Download Status Bar, “View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar – without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.”

Be sure to explore more add-ons because your browsing needs are different than mine. I’ve added these add-ons to ravennaschools.org’s ikeepbookmarks.com service.

Filed under: Help, WWW Browsing