Let me begin by suggesting that if you haven’t already, you should download or upgrade to Firefox 3 which is now out of beta mode. Firefox had over 15 million downloads in a day while trying to set the Guinness record for downloads in a 24 hour period. They are still crunching numbers to determine if it was a record.

Depending on how much experience you have coding websites, you’ll probably already now how much of a pain Internet Explorer is to deal with. Especially IE6 and below; versions 7 and 8 are an improvement, but getting things in CSS to work just right can still be quite a headache! Anyway, that is my rant, and why most of us in the design community push browsers like Firefox. Well, that and the fact that it’s open-source with a ton of awesome and useful add-ons, that make Firefox endlessly customizable.

Here’s a list of my 10 favorites in no particular order…

• Firebug

  OK, I said in no particular order, but it’s no coincidence that this add-on is listed first. As a web designer, I’d have a tough time imagining what to do without this awesome tool. Anytime I need to figure out what is causing a CSS element to style a certain way, I just hit ‘F12′ and Firebug pops up giving me the ability to inspect any element on the page. I use this plug-in to diagnose issues on my own pages and to get some insight on how other sites do things. This is the best way to debug your HTML, CSS and Javascript code.

• Web Developer Toolbar

  As long as we are on the subject of web development add-ons let’s talk about Chris Pederick’s Web Development Toolbar. This add-on provides you with a toolbar for many of the same web development inspection tools. You can use it to check out and manipulate the CSS of any page. It’s great for debugging elements by using the outline tools. Another simple, but cool option is to view how your site will look on different monitor sizes. This and Firebug are a must have for any web developers.

• Download StatusBar

  When you go to download something in Firefox, it’s default is to open up a window with the built in download manager. This is sufficient, but I always thought it was cumbersome and got in the way. The Download StatusBar is a nifty little plug-in that adds a graphic into the statusbar at the bottom of the page. It doesn’t get in the way of you surfing and it gives you all the necessary info about the download, including: download left, speed, where it’s from and where it’s going.

• FireFTP

  FireFTP is an awesome and free file transfer program. It’s secure, simple and gets your files from point A to point B. It even has many more advanced features like: directory comparison, syncing directories while navigating, SFTP, SSL encryption, search/filtering, integrity checks, remote editing, drag & drop, file hashing, and more.

• Screengrab

  Sometimes you need to grab more than just what appears on the page using the print screen keyboard button, and who wants to keep copying and pasting into Photoshop all the different pieces as you scroll down the page and then have to piece them together. Screengrab places a small icon in your statusbar that gives you the options to save complete page/frame, visible portion or selection or to copy (same three options). This is a very useful, time saving add-on!

• Forecastbar Enhanced

  This is really the first add-on on this list that is not mostly designed for web developers, but what can I say, I love weather! I’m not really sure why, but that’s not the point; the point is that if you have an interest in weather, then you’ll love this add-on. It’s super customizable, everything from the size of the radar, to the number of days forecasted, to the look of the icons. And it fits nicely on your statusbar.

• Quick ReStart

  Have you ever needed to restart Firefox after installing an add-on or a theme, but wanted to keep your current session, or just wanted to save time, then you’ll like this add-on. It’s real simple, but worth the download. It adds a quick restart to your file menu, or you can use the keyboard shortcut (ctrl, alt, r).

• PicLens

  This may be the most visually impressive add-on available. PicLens is an amazing plug-in that transforms image searches into a powerful fullscreen 3D experience. It works on most of your favorite sites including: YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, Google Images, Photobucket, DeviantArt, Picasa Web Albums, Smugmug, FotoTime, Fotki, Bebo Hi5, Friendster, Yahoo Image Search, Ask Image Search, Live Image Search and AOL Image Search. This add-in is beautiful, even if you don’t find it useful, you will find it impressive to look through!

• IE Tab

  IE Tab adds the ability to see how your site will look in Internet Explorer without leaving Firefox. You can use this to view your site in IE in a new Firefox tab. Simple, but useful, and worth the download.

• Aging Tabs

  Simply fades the tabs you haven’t used in a while, they fade according to how long it’s been since you used them. It’s a nice feature and makes it a little easier to know what tabs to close, because if you’re like me, you probably have about 10 open at once, at most times.

Honorable Mentions

• Webmail Notifier
• All-in-One Sidebar
• Broadband Speed Test and Diagnostics
• Delicious Bookmarks
• XML Developer Toolbar

There are so many more to choose from, what are some of your favorites? Let me know, drop me a comment or send an email to info@myinkblog.com

About the Author

Andrew is the founder and primary contributer for MyInkBlog. He is a full time web developer for Niagara University. When he's not working there, he's a blogger, twitter'er, wordpress'er, silverstripe advocate, blessed father and husband.

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