Best Firefox Add-ons of 2013 | Hacker News Reader

Best Firefox Add-ons of 2013

blog.mozilla.org

115 pointsyeukhon53 comments

A few less-popular addons:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/findbar-tweak... replicates the scrollbar find result highlights you see in Chrome and IDEA

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/mozilla-archi... saves pages to .mht or .maff format, with a reasonable pre-filled filename. Also reads .mht files.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autopager/ loads all pages of paginated content in the current tab. This also works great with Mozilla Archive Format for saving entire forum threads/articles/user comments.

Autopager is amazing, I never have to click the next buttons anymore.

I highly recommend one of the plugins on this list, "Google/Yandex search link fix". It rewrites Google's tracking URLs in search results on the fly.

This to me is offers both convenience and privacy benefits - (a) I can right-click and copy actual URLs from a Google search instead of gibberish, and (b) Google does not get to know which links I'm clicking on from its search results.

Is there a similar Chrome extension?

If you are concerned about google tracking you then the links in search results are the least of your worries when using chrome.

I was wondering when someone would make a comment like this. I don't have a problem with Google tracking me, but I do have a problem with not being able to right click and copy links from a search results page.

The "remove redirects" bookmarklet is handy for this

https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html

But it's not automatic.

There is a greasemonkey script: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/121261

For Me:

Adblock Plus - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/

Tab Mix Plus - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-mix-plus

iMacros - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/imacros-for-f...

SearchLoad Options - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/searchload-op...

DownloadHelper - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloa...

DownThemAll - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/downthemall/

Dictionary Tooltip - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/dictionary-to...

FoxClocks - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/foxclocks

IE Tab 2 - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ie-tab-2-ff-3...

Memory Fox - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/memory-fox

All-in-One Sidebar - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/all-in-one-si...

For me:

FirePicker for Firebug to quickly adjust colors in CSS https://addons.mozilla.org/hu/firefox/addon/firepicker

Yet Another Smooth Scrolling to make scrolling smooth like on touch devices https://addons.mozilla.org/hu/firefox/addon/yet-another-smoo...

NetVideoHunter to download videos from YouTube and music from Grooveshark https://addons.mozilla.org/hu/firefox/addon/netvideohunter-v...

Omnibar https://addons.mozilla.org/hu/firefox/addon/omnibar/

I made a Firefox add-on recently [1], and it was horrible. The API is underdocumented and obtuse, and the dev enviornment is annoying to get set up. On top of that, AMO review times are on the scale of months. Writing the equivalent Chrome extension [2] was a considerably better experience.

[1] https://github.com/MediaCrush/Firefox

[2] https://github.com/MediaCrush/Chrome

Very different experience here while developing a Firefox add-on [1] with the Add-on SDK [2]: I think that the API is nice and well documented, the development environment - based on virtualenv - is very easy to set up (I work under Ubuntu), and AMO review times are in the order of weeks - not months.

[1] Google Plus Follower Stats for Firefox [ https://github.com/vannitotaro/gpfs-firefox ] [ https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/google-plus-followe... ]

[2] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/docs/sdk/latest/

Did you write a similiar extension for Chrome? My opinions may be made skewed by my experience with the Chrome extension. Chrome extension development is sublime, the APIs are great and well-documented, and the enviornment couldn't be better.

Hugely different experience here. I wrote one extension[1] on a Sunday a couple of weeks ago. I had never touched Firefox development or extension development before, so I was a bit overwhelmed when trying to go through the documentation. After I got Jetpack[2] running, though, development was a breeze. Good docs, reasonable develop/reload cycle.

I only requested the preliminary review at AMO so far, and that took about 24h.

[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/css-live-relo...

[2] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/docs/sdk/latest/

I switched back to Firefox from Chrome last week and I'm loving it! It may be the SSD I recently upgraded from a traditional hard drive, but it feels really really snappy. Unfortunately, I don't find use for any of the addons mentioned here or in their top lists. I just don't need 'em. I only have Adblock Plus for most websites which I disable on websites I use regularly.

A lot of the addons in this list just seem like bloatware to me, trying to create a problem that allows their fix to exist.

It isn't only the SSD... Firefox is alot faster then it used to. Also, those are new addons, not necessarily the best.

Regarding #1: Even without the plugin you can drag a highlighted URL to a new tab and presto it opens.

Regarding Video Resumer: I watch a lot of longer video lectures online, and being able to resume where I left off is a great feature. Why the dudes at Google haven't added this themselves is beyond me--it's how TiVo worked since 1999. Maybe a patent issue?

Firefox actually lets you select a URL and right click to see the normal link options. I assume the addon makes even malformed URLs work though.

There is also Adblock Edge which is a fork of Adblock Plus without the "acceptable ads" feature:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/

I made this one when I was trying to learn JavaScript: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/budaneki/

It's an on-the-page look up and translation extension, I believe it was the first of it's kind when I made it and didn't use any JS framework but pure JS. I am kind of proud of it.

Still have users regularly asking me to implement it for Chrome :)

It's so refreshing to read an end-of-year list that isn't a slideshow. One of the many things to love about web-friendly companies like Mozilla.

I try to consult the Firefox /g/uide: http://www.logicalincrements.com/firefox/

If you use Firefox in a corporate environment that requires you to change an LDAP password every couple months, the "Mass Password Reset" add-on lets you change multiple saved passwords at the same time:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/mass-password...

For me it's these:

    AdBlock Plus 
    Firebug
    HTTPS Everywhere
    JSONView
    Markdown Here
    PDF Viewer (former pdf.js)
    Readability
    SPDY Indicator
    User Agent Switcher
    Web Developer

And in case you use Firefox, but like Chrome's UI: FXChrome + Omnibar

For me, in addition:

  TreeStyleTabs
  TabMixPlus
  Status-4-Evar
  RefControl
  Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus
  Export Cookies
  FireGestures
  Flashblock
  FoxyProxy
  Image Zoom

> Image Zoom

It's such a simple add-on, but I use it daily. Along with NoScript, it's one of the reasons I switched back to FF from Chrome.

There are so many Chrome options for the same thing. Hoverzoom was the original, but became commercial-fied and was forked to create Hover Free. The Hover Free devs were recently impressed with a couple other guys' great work on a competing add-on, Imagus, and abandoned their own work to help on Imagus. I have to say, Imagus is pretty awesome -- it even lets you page through (arrow buttons) imgur galleries inside the popup.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/imagus/immpkjjlgap...

> Status-4-Evar

Status-4-Evar is a nice little helper:

" ... status bar was removed in Firefox 4.0. ... Status-4-Evar aims to bring back (some of) the old status bar items, give you more control over the built-in Firefox features, and provide new alternatives."

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/

This is not for everyone, but I recommend vimperator[0] for anyone who wants to use vim in their browser.

0 - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimperator/

Or Pentadactyl (http://5digits.org/pentadactyl/) -- the nightly build works on the latest version of FF.

Nice to see New Tab Plus, a new tab replacement add on mentioned.

We have a new tab replacement out as well as well. Unlike NTP, it's similar to the old style Chrome new tab page: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/starthq/

The functionality is pretty basic for now, but we're slowly rolling out much cooler features like deep links, multiple screens and Greplin like cloud search.

I've been enjoying Ghostery. Nicer / cleaner than most privacy plugins, and it speeds up pages noticeably (same as adblock, mostly through killing iframed social things).

It shoud be all privacy plugins, such as:

HTTPS Everywhere

Flashblock

Disconnect

Noscript

AdblockPlus

Duckduckgo

They are listing the best NEW addons.

No, they aren't. Taking a look at the first one on the list... the latest version was published in 2011.

Unfortunately, not all of those are appropriate for everyday users. HTTPS Everywhere breaks several sites, possibly due to misconfiguration, and can trigger switches to a server's self-signed HTTPS certificate which, in Firefox, makes it look like the site got hacked. Noscript is really only for techies and breaks all kinds of sites since there's not much reason to build or test for browsers without JavaScript anymore.

What is the benefit of Disconnect if you are using Adblock Plus and HTTPS Everywhere already?

Disconnect, which I work on, is designed to filter requests faster: https://disconnect.me/faster.

Disconnect also does some fancy visualizations, if you're into that sort of thing: http://youtu.be/Lvem1Z66C7Q?t=40s.

From the Disconnect FAQ:

On Firefox, if Disconnect is the first blocking extension you install, then Disconnect will work even if you subsequently install other blocking extensions. On Chrome, Safari, and Opera, it's the opposite: in order for Disconnect to work on these browsers, it must be the most recent blocking extension installed.

Do you know what effect this has on extensions like Adblock Plus and NoScript? If I install Disconnect first, are those addons going to do less for me?

This is the first I've heard about installation order affecting how well the addons work. I'd like to make sure I've got the right info before informing others.

Hmm, that FAQ isn't the best (will fix). This explanation is better: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6888514.

If you install Disconnect first on Firefox then install other filtering add-ons (ABP et al.), you should get faster overall performance. The reason is Disconnect filters faster, so requests that Disconnect blocks won't have to be processed by your other add-ons. All other requests will still be processed by them.

Disconnect prevents some MITM wifi attacks as well.

https://blog.disconnect.me/widgetjacking

Cookie Monster too - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-monste... - which is like Noscript, but for cookies.

And http://www.requestpolicy.com/

All of these, plus Self-Destructing Cookies (featured on Mozilla's list).

I love plugins like this that just quietly get on with their job without bothering me with too much noise, allow me to easily override their functioning when I need to and just work smart.

I'm always amazed at how many people never heard or don't use Tree Style Tab. This is the only plugin that makes Firefox a must have.

Completely agree. It makes it a cinch to nicely organize one hundred active tabs or more within a single modest sidebar.

Last time I checked there's nothing for Chrome that's as good. Tree Style Tab is one of the things that could keep me on Firefox forever.

Thank You.

Hackernews OP here: I am so glad I shared this on hacker news. I think this is great because you guys put time into listing things you use and provide food feedback, way better than some of the review feedback one would find in an addon.

No mention of GreaseMonkey? I'd put it at number one, simply because it gives you a way to write extensions that run on every browser with a *Monkey compatibility layer. Half the stuff I use is just userscripts.

I would recommend tor button, which makes it easy to use firefox with tor

Can we have a chrome edition as well? :)

wise of Mozilla to milk that add-on lock-in while they still can

Mostly bloatware. :(

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