If you are not already using Mozilla FireFox, you should try it. It’s the most flexible web browser yet, and the first major competition that Microsoft Internet Explorer has had since NetScape. One of pleasures of FireFox is the large collection of free add-ons that are available. Many of the add-ons are high quality, and tremendously enhance FireFox’s functionality.

Since installing a lot of add-ons that run all the time can slow down FireFox, we have focused on a few choice FireFox add-ons that have a minimal impact on the total system performance. Some are useful to everyone, and others will be more useful to programmers and developers.

Adblock Plus
by Wladimir Palant
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
Adblock Plus is a utility that allows you choose to block downloading banner ads on sites. You can select which sites you allow to display ads and banners, and there is a directory of known adware sites that Adblock will recognize and block.

DownThemAll
by Frederico Parodi and Stefano Verna
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201
Have you ever seen a web page with multiple images or links to files and wanted to download them all, but were forced to click on each link individually and save the files one at a time? DownThemAll is the solution to that problem. It allows you to define link filters that determine the types of files you want to download. Right-click on the page and select DownThemAll. The plugin handles the rest.

FireBug
by Joe Hewitt
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843
Edit and debug HTML, XML, CSS, and JavaScript. Allows you to inspect the DOM and highlights page elements as you navigate through the code. Supports JavaScript step debugging with a variable watch window.

FireFTP
by Mime Cuvalo
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/684
A great Mozilla FTP client. FireFTP will compare and synchronize local and remote folders.

Pearl Crescent Page Saver
http://pearlcrescent.com/products/pagesaver/
Takes a snapshot of the current web page and saves it as a JPG or PNG image. Can save the entire web page, or just the portion that is visible in the browser window.

Reload Every
by Jaap Haitsma
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/115
A simple automatic page reloader. The timer can be set to refresh a page every few second, or minutes.

ScribeFire
by Christopher Finke
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1730
A full-featured remote blog editor. Support WYSIWYG editing.

Zotero
by Center for History and New Media
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3504
Zotero is a tool for gathering and collecting research media off the web. It allows you to take notes that are linked to web pages and resources that are saved in local folders. It is able to extract citation data from bibliography information. You can create a timeline that displays notes and resource links.

Tags: FireFox