A bare copy of Firefox is a wonderful thing, but when you start stuffing it with add-ons it gets even better.
So what are the best add-ons for power users? Here's our top 25:
1. All-in-one Sidebar
All-in-one Sidebar makes Firefox's Sidebar more useful by displaying pretty much anything you might want: source code, downloads, add-ons, page info, entire web pages…
2. Stealther
Jealous of Safari's Porn Mode – ahem, Private Browsing? Now you can have it too, with Stealther.
3. Web Developer Toolbar
The name's a clue: the Web Developer Toolbar adds a toolbar containing useful tools for web developers.
4. Instapaper
Install Instapaper's bookmarklet and you can store interesting things to read later. You can view pages without ads or other distractions, and it works on phones as well as PCs.
5. FireFTP
FireFTP is an excellent bit of charityware – it's free, but donations are encouraged. It puts a fully featured FTP program right inside your browser.
6. Greasemonkey
The Swiss Army Knife of the Internet, Greasemonkey enables you to bend sites to your will through the power of JavaScript.
7. Tab Mix Plus
Get complete control over Firefox's tab handling, from the way tabs look to the way they work, with Tab Mix Plus.
8. User Agent Switcher
Browser sniffers stopping you from seeing sites? Pretend you're using a rubbish browser by changing the user agent string with User Agent Switcher.
9. IE View
Sometimes you need to view or test a page in IE. IE View is a Windows-only extension that makes it a one-click job.
10. IE Tab
Does much the same as IE View, but opens IE within a Firefox tab. Once again IE Tab is Windows-only.
11. Sage
Firefox's RSS support is pretty basic. Sage gives you a fully-featured RSS and Atom feed reader that's a joy to use.
12. HideBad
Pretend you're busy working with this excellent boss key. Not only does HideBad replace the current tabs with safe ones, but it zaps your browsing history, too.
13. Download Statusbar
Keep track of and control your file downloads without leaving the main browser window with Download Statusbar.
14. DownThemAll
Download every link or linked image from a web page in one fell swoop, filtering out unwanted file types automatically with DownThemAll.
15. FoxyTunes
FoxyTunes lets you control your music player, or take advantage of Yahoo!'s online MP3 player, while you wander around the Web.
16. Gmail Space
So unofficial that Google will probably kill you if it catches you using it, Gmail Space turns Gmail into an online hard disk.
17. StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is the easy way to discover sites that other people liked.
18. NoScript
Eliminate annoyances and security risks by blocking scripts and other executable content from sites you don't trust with NoScript.
19. BugMeNot
Don't want to register to read an article? BugMeNot gives you other people's logins.
20. Mouse Gestures
A massive time saver, Mouse Gestures enables you to navigate with a quick flick of the mouse.
21. Fast Video Download
Download embedded video clips with Fast Video Download so you can watch them at your leisure.
22. ScribeFire
ScribeFire is a superb in-browser blog editor that works with everything from LiveJournal to WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
23. BetterSearch
BetterSearch adds previews to search results so you don't end up on irrelevant, malicious or obscene websites. Unless that's what you're looking for...
24. FlashBlock
Flash is often used for in-page annoyances, so FlashBlock gets rid of all of it unless you specifically click on a bit of Flash content.
25. Adblock Plus
Adblock Plus eliminates invasive ads and makes some sites look very weird as a result.
Now read 8 hacks to make Firefox ridiculously fast and 7 Firefox add-ons that will save you a fortune
Your comments (17) Click to add a new comment
a.n.other
June 9th
17. Hello
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stewsofdoom
October 20th 2008
16. Its nice that half I knew about and used, and the other half I checked out. Download them all I got a while ago, and its great for websites that archive pictures.
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deborah
October 20th 2008
15. <a href="http://www.mywot.com">Web of Trust</a> is an essential security add-on that warns you about risky websites to help you avoid spyware, browser hijacking, identity theft, phishing and other Internet scams. Website rating information is updated continuously by the user community and trusted sources, such as listings of malware and phishing sites.
Give WOT a try for safer surfing!
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stewsofdoom
October 18th 2008
14. Fasterfox tweaks your speed settings so that pages take much less time to load, and comes with a built-in time so you can see the difference for yourself. For some reason, it hasn't been upgraded for FF3 compatibility yet, but FF3-capable copies do exist in some places.
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stewsofdoom
October 17th 2008
13. yeah it does seem to work
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stewsofdoom
October 17th 2008
12. So, in the interest of promoting ones that you didn't mention (in alphabetical order):
1) Add Bookmark Here2: lets you browse to a folder and choose to add a bookmark
2)Download status bar: embed download info in status bar.
3)Feedly: excellent feed reader
4) Foxmarks bookmarks and password synch
5) Locationbar2: makes address in url bar formatted to reveal root domain, clickable so you can drill up to the root
6) Nuke Anything Enhanced: Before you print use this to kill/erase any objects or text you don't want displayed
7)Screen grab!: lets you take screen shots including shots of entire web page, not just the visible portion in the window.
8) Tiny menu: fold entire menu into one drop down "menu" to compact screen real estate.
9) Zotero: great bibliographic tool. Free replacement for endnotes program.
10) Honorable mention: Pencil and APNG Edit; Pencil lets you mockup diagrams and interfaces using your browser window. APNG Edit lets you edit png graphics. The only reason these two get honorable mentions is that I've never actually used them, but they sound great.
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