Archive for the ‘Firefox Facts’ Category
March 8th, 2010
Do you use multiple computers and want to sync your saved passwords between them all? LastPass is an extension for Firefox that will allow you to do that easily within the browser. LastPass hides all your individual passwords behind one master password. When you type in that master password, then LastPass automatically logs you in to any web site you have set it up to remember.
Along with the whole password syncing and simplification, you can also set LastPass up to store secure notes for you, or automatically fill in forms for you. This might possibly be the best Firefox password related extension on the market today, plain and simple.
Here are a few more features of LastPass worth mentioning:
- Access and manage your data from multiple computers seamlessly
- Share logins with friends and let others share logins with you
- Use One Time Passwords, and a Screen Keyboard to help keep you safe while on the road.
- Supports IE as well, so if you switch browsers you’re always in sync, as well as when you switch computers
- Supports Opera, Google Chrome, Safari, iPhone, Opera Mini, via Bookmarklets
- Supports importing passwords from other password managers such as Roboform, Keepass, PasswordSafe, MyPasswordSafe, Sxipper, TurboPasswords, PassPack, Firefox and IE’s built in password manager
So, if you have been in search of a way to sync up your online passwords, and need a tool to help you do so, LastPass is definitely worth checking into. To learn more about the LastPass service, go check out LastPass.com and to pick up the add-on go visit the Firefox Add-ons web site.
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
March 3rd, 2010
Is it time yet?
Come on, is it time yet?
If you find yourself asking this question time and time again, it might be about time you picked up the Simpler Timer add-on for Firefox. This clock and timer, once installed, lives inside your status bar (or toolbar) for easy access.
The built in timer mode has three different functions:
1. Count up from zero.
2. Count down from any time (less than 24 hours). You can set as many
timers as you want.
3. Select a specific time of the day to receive a notification. You can also
specify the day (daily, weekdays, weekends or a specific day).
You can set as many notifications as you want.
The Simple Timer add-on also features a clock mode, that will amazingly enough tell you the time.
You can pick up this amazing little Firefox add-on from the Firefox Add-ons web site.
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
March 1st, 2010
The Mozilla Labs Design Challenge based around redesigning the home tab is just about over. This contest was put together by the Mozilla Labs team to inspire some new discussion and creativity on how a new home tab might look and feel in future versions of Firefox, such as Firefox 4.
Now that the contest is coming close to the conclusion, we can all check out the top 10 designs that were voted on the most by the Mozilla fan base. Here are the top 10 voted on submissions in the first round of voting for this specific challenge.
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Alberto Moreno
Alecsandru Grigoriu
Amine Zafri
Chad Pommiss
Daniel Goodwin
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Manu Kumar
Maurice Lam
NorCal Design Council
Sam Horne
Yatrik Solanki
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Be sure to check out more (including video tours for each winner) here:
Remember to check back on the design challenge site March 15th to see who wins the best in class honors. I also want to give my own pat on the back to all the designers who submitted their entries and that made it into the top ten. All of the submissions I checked out were top notch, and I am sure they will all help Mozilla decide on the best new home tab for Firefox 4.
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
February 26th, 2010
Love them or hate them, Personas are here to stay, and I have to say the abstract category of Personas on Firefox’s web site are probably some of my favorites of them all.
Now I know I went on a ‘bit of a rant the other day about how some Personas just are not worth the time of day, however some really do fit in well with the Firefox browser too. Here are 10 of the most popular abstract Personas I found usable and beautiful.
There you have 10 of the most popular abstract Personas out there today. Which is your favorite? Do you have an alternative abstract Persona that should have made the list?
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
February 25th, 2010
Looking for a way to keep your eye on your stocks?
Sure, there are a number of different web sites that will do this, but adding this functionality to Firefox would be even cooler. StockFox is the best lightweight stock ticker you can integrate into the Firefox browser.
You can setup your favorite stocks to either rotate in the status bar of the Firefox browser, or scroll across, like you see on the big cable news networks.
Does StockFox look like the tracking tool you need? You can pick it up on the Firefox Add-ons web site.
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
February 22nd, 2010
Now, Firefox’s new Personas feature has seem taken off really well. Each time I visit the Personas web site, there are more and more backgrounds to use for Firefox. So with such a good start, what will be the downfall of the Personas?
It all comes down to quantity over quality. Some of these backgrounds just are not any good. The same could be said for many Firefox themes too, but with Personas – there are a few simple things that could go a long way before you submit it for the public, that would be so easy to check into.
For example, look at this:
I am not going to use a Persona where I can’t read anything inside of the browser.
Other annoyances would be having text in the background, having the background be too busy, and general “why the heck did you think that would make a good background” questions of designing competence.
So you tell me, what makes for a better Firefox Persona or have you been turned off my many of the ugly background out there? Post your feedback and thoughts in the comments.
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
February 20th, 2010
Do you find yourself typing the same snipits of information over and over again? Maybe it is a form you need people to answer, or perhaps it is just your e-mail signature. With Clippings, an extension for Firefox, you can quickly archive all your most used blocks of text to be used anytime.
Once you have this add-on installed, you can save frequently entered text for later really easily. All it takes is two mouse clicks and your text is there. Just right-click in the textarea, select clippings and then select the name for the text you wish to paste in.
Some of the features also include:
- Create clippings from selected text in a form field or Web page body (Firefox), or from selected text in an email or newsgroup message (Thunderbird)
- Create clippings by dragging and dropping text into the Clippings icon on the status bar
- Paste clippings into form fields (Firefox) or new email or newsgroup messages (Thunderbird) from the Clippings context menu. Individual clippings can be pasted as rich text if they contain HTML tags.
- Assign shortcut keys to clippings for quicker pasting
- Define placeholders inside a clipping that you will be prompted to fill in when you paste the clipping. Built-in placeholders for the date, time, clipping name, user agent, etc. are also available.
- Organize your collection of clippings into folders using Clippings Manager
- Import and export clippings to or from datasource files to share with other users
This is a great extension for Firefox if you find yourself typing the same things in over and over again. It can really help save a lot of time. You can pick Clippings up at the Firefox Add-ons web site.
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
February 19th, 2010
Want to be able to create a much more dynamic signature for your webmail accounts and more, the will show off your instant messenger names, social network links and more details about yourself? WiseStamp is a pretty awesome addition to Firefox, that will let you do that and so much more, in a very stylish way.
Once installed, you get your own WYSIWYG editor to create and edit your own signature collection. You can add links via RSS, instant messenger service or social profiles from around the Web too.
Still need more information? Check out this awesome video tutorial demonstrating what all you can do with this amazing add-on for Firefox.
WiseStamp has gotten praise from all around the Web, from Lifehacker to Mashable – so it is well worth checking out if you need to micro-manage a lot of e-mail signatures, or rotate the one you use around a ‘bit depending on your mood.
It has built in support for these webmail services:
- Gmail
- Yahoo! Mail
- AOL Mail
- Hotmail
As far as social profiles and services you can plug with it, there are almost 50 to choose from, including: Netflicks, Youtube, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Friendfeed, Digg, Google, Blogger, Tumbler, Twitter and many more.
You can pick up the WiseStamp extension for Firefox on the Firefox Add-ons site, and learn more about the amazing tool on their official web site, WiseStamp.com.
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
February 18th, 2010
Filed under, “not sure if I need it – but thanks, just in case” we have Texto. This add-on for Firefox will allow you to launch an external text editor to edit text forms in Firefox.
Here is a little more about the add-on from the Texto developer:
This add-on strips out much of the Mozex functionality to focus on launching external text editors. Features the ability to customize editor behavior for different websites, and uses the asynchronous process support in Firefox 3.6 to update textareas automatically when the external editor is finished, without polling.
Troubleshooting Tips for Windows Users
Seems as if version 3.0.1 of this add-on has some problems with Windows 7 and Windows Vista (possibly) so there is your official word of warning. If you have any trouble, try the beta release of the newest version here (scroll down for the “Install beta version” link).
Overall though, I have to say this is a pretty neat function for those who might need it. You can pick up the Texto add-on for Firefox on the Firefox Add-ons web site.
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!
February 15th, 2010
When you load up a dozen or more tabs all at once, Firefox can slow down to a crawl. Now, you can either choose to stop overwhelming Firefox with too many tabs or you can grab this helpful add-on for Firefox that will only load up the tab you need at the time, with multiple tabs still available.
Just put it on your Bar Tab.
Here is how the magic happens. When you click on a link that is going to be opened in a new tab, Firefox would normally go ahead and load up that content in the background. What BarTab changes is the fact that it prevents Firefox from loading any content until you actually click over to the tab, saving yourself some resources and wait time. You only pull up the data from the web page when you need it.
If you restart Firefox a lot with multiple tabs open, you get one more bonus. It will work on a browser restart too, which means Firefox will be coming back a lot quicker.
You can pick up the Bar Tab extension from the Firefox Add-ons web site.
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© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!