This is just a little quickie that I find handy to use. I’ve been meaning to write this for a while but life kept getting in the way.

Prefsearch is an easy-peasy way to search the names of preferences in about:config via Google. There are a million preferences scattered about in there, and I found myself repeatedly copying a preference name, opening a new tab, going to Google, and searching for said name. This is just a simple hack that lets you right-click on a name, select “Google Name,” and you can figure out what happens next.

If you can’t, I’ll let you in in the secret: a new tab is opened in focus or in the background, whatever you have your preferences set as, and Google tells you what’s what regarding the name you just selected. Groovy.

Screen shot:

Install Prefsearch 0.1
(Size: 8kb Release Date: January 19th 2008)

Tested on Firefox 2.0.0.11

I say, “Nay.” This beauty adds features that are simply not available in the default Firefox setup. There are some things it can take care of that are a short tweak away in your about:config page, but there are many, many options it adds. I only use a few, but the few I use are indispensable.

My favorite thing that I love to do is inadvertently close tabs. Well, let me re-state that. I inadvertently close tabs from time to time, and I cry if I can’t remember where I was or if I am unable to retrieve them. This extension will let you undo a series of tabs so that you shant have to shed a tear.

I know there’s a separate extension that does just that, but that’s all it does. If minimalism is your thing and that’s the only thing you need, then that would be perfect for you. But you’re not. You’re a Firefox junkie and you need it to survive, to feel young again. To feel free, to feel the blood rushing through your veiny paws. Wait, where was I?

Okay, Tab Mix Plus. It has a plethora of options, admittedly, that I do not take advantage of. Another option that I do take advantage of is focusing on the last tab selected when a tab closes.

That’s not a wonderful way to describe it, but it’s logical and makes sense to me. Say you’re browsing around, checking your e-mail, and you happen to have a few tabs open. A friend sends you a “funny” link, so you check it out, and close it mere seconds afterwards. Now you’re looking at some other web site. What the hell? I was just looking at my e-mail, so shouldn’t I be back there immediately? Well, Firefox default behavior is to re-direct you to the tab to the immediate left of the one that was just closed. This may suit you, or it may not. It does not suit me. So, focusing on the last tab selected can cure your ails, if this particular nebbish thing is what ails you.

Tab Mis Plus has the power to change tabs’ appearance, behavior and even controls the overflow that is bound to happen if you open one too many pages. It is not for someone who refers to the internet as the “Blue E,” but we all know that is not you, Gentle Reader. You are in it for something more customizable and something more anal-retentive, god bless you.

Get it now. There’s too many tab-filled days that lie ahead that need to be whipped into shape.

Tab Mix Plus

A slider bar indicates that there are coupon treasures that await you. If you’re not interested, you can close the bar or simply ignore it. Once you surf away, the bar discretely closes.

I have used the web site for quite a while now, usually as a last check for saving me a little bit of cash. The extension is great because if you forget to check online, it’s no big deal- it will let you know from the get-go if there’s deals to be sliced and diced.

It’s an unobtrusive little gem of an extension that I recommend. Go check it out for yourself.

RetailMeNot Firefox extension

So, IE Tab saves me the trouble of opening multiple applications for one purpose, which is grand. Here’s a sample screenshot:

The icon in the tab lets you know that the Internet Explorer engine is being used on that page. Nice, simple, effective notifications- that’s what makes a great extension great. It doesn’t pop up in your face, yet it lets you know exactly what’s going on.

I first used an extension that would simply open up the current web page in an Internet Explorer window. It was basic, but it got the job done. IE Tab has taken it a step further, and actually embeds IE right in a Firefox tab. The best part is that it is customizable with a whitelist- so every time I go to my school’s web page, which refuses to function in any other browser besides Internet Explorer, it opens without a hitch, showing that little comforting blue E in the lower right of my screen.

It’s a crying shame that this extension should even be necessary, but for some reason, schools, government agencies and banking institutions love to hire designers that are totally clueless about browser behavior, or that there’s even an alternative to Internet Explorer. Until that day comes when all pages are deisgned using strict compliant code, IE Tab can make it a more tolerable experience.

IE Tab

Without changing any default settings, any file you download is retrieved in the background, straight to your desktop. You can of course change the options in the settings to prompt you for a different location, or to ask you every time, which is nice. The alert slider is a nice visual clue that your file has arrived, but there’s nothing really useful about it as far as functionality goes. It would be intuitive for me to click the alert, which could either activate the file or bring up the folder it was downloaded to, but it does nothing. You need to bring up Windows explorer, or show the desktop in order to find it.

Download Statusbar, on the other hand, will let you open the file after a successful download, pause it or cancel it, all while letting you see the speed of the transfer, the estimated time of finishing, a progress meter, and a few other tidbits of information.

Let’s take a look at it:

It’s simplicity at it’s finest, while having any information you could possible want while in the process of retrieving a file. Everything is customizable- the information, the colors, the placement, buttons, etc. Devon Jensen has done a wonderful job with this, and I encourage anyone out there who assumes the standard Firefox behavior is fine to really try this out.

Download Statusbar

So what is it? Basically, it allows you to select text, link, or image on a page, and “throw it” any where on your screen, and a new tab will open in the foreground (or background, if you want to try out the experimental build, which works flawlessly for me). If you select text, you can do a Google search. If you select an image, you can download it. The options menu lets you customize its functions:

Works in current versions of Firefox. Check it out, I think you’ll find it pretty damned handy.

SuperDragAndGo installation page

You want to be productive, right? Right. Here’s a Firefox extension that will possibly save your loafing butt from unemployment. Enter PaNIC: Productivity and Networking Information Component.

PaNIC is set to be activated by the Alt key and the tick ` symbol up there by the 1 on your keyboard. Press those two buttons at the same time, and all of your tabs in Firefox will get killed instantly, and replaced with a Google search for “increasing workplace productivity”. You can edit the hot keys and web page address via the extension’s preferences menu.

Important! This is tested on Firefox 2.0. This might blow up earlier versions of Firefox.

Install PaNIC 0.2
(Size: 8kb Release Date: October 24th 2006)

Tested on Firefox 2.0.

Changes the default error page from basically having a reload button to having the following choices: a google cache, an archival snapshot from the wayback machine, a ping, a trace route, and a whois lookup. Updated: version 0.2 adds a coralize feature.

Install ErrorZilla 0.2
(Size: 23kb Release Date: September 24th 2006)

Tested on Firefox 2.0b1.