I can’t use any other browser no matter how fast or cool because I’ve gotten so used to add-ons for firefox!
Here are mine, and in case you’re wondering, I have all these currently installed (Mac OS, is my current OS of choice) and Firefox runs at nearly the same speed as no add-ons:
——— These are INDISPENSIBLE: ———
DownloadStatusbar: Simply a much better download manager.
http://downloadstatusbar.mozdev.org/
FlashBlock: Replaces flash objects with a play button (‘>’) you must click before you can see it. Purpose is to lessen the amount of distracting things shown on most webpages. You can add any website to a whitelist.
http://flashblock.mozdev.org/
NoScript: Extra protection! You must explicitly opt-in to any javascript or java (and other plugins) for every website (permanently or for just this session). You can add any website to a whitelist.
http://noscript.net/
Tab Mix Plus: Lots of fantastic tweaks for tabbed browsing.
http://tmp.garyr.net/ lastest (beta) versions here:
http://tmp.garyr.net/dev-builds/
Nuke Anything Enhanced: Allows you to select any object (e.g. text, image) in a webpage and choose to remove it or remove everything else (can bring everything back with a simple page refresh). Fantastic uses: delete an annoying animated gif!, or clean up a page before printing!
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/951
——— Adds lots of convienience: ———
MouseGestures: Use your mouse for navigation. For example, holding the right mouse button while clicking the left, takes you back a page.
http://www.mousegestures.org/
LinkAlert: Changes the cursor to indicate the target of a link (e.g. shows a small pdf image if it links to a pdf)
http://linkalert.googlepages.com/
ForecastFox: Displays the current weather (including radar/satellite) and forecast info constantly in your toolbar or statusbar. Nicely configurable. Sure nice to have in a place where it actually rains!
http://users.rcn.com/shoofy/forecastfox_enhanced/
Fire.fm: Brings last.fm audio streaming (free) to your browser with a handy small controller!!
http://sourceforge.net/projects/firefm/
Mac PDF: (Mac only) displays pdf documents in their own tab (instead of launching Mac’s built-in “Preview”)
http://code.google.com/p/firefox-mac-pdf/
GMarks: Allows you to have access to your Google Bookmarks everywhere and easily. I’m still getting use to this as I’m not a very organized bookmarker. What’s cool about this is that you can search for text within the entire webpage of any bookmark you have – pretty powerful that is!
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2888 see also
http://www.google.com/bookmarks/
BugMeNot: Allows anonymous logins to those annoying “free” websites (e.g. NY Times)
http://erichamiter.com/firefox/bugmenot/
——— KEY Webpage Development or Tweaking or Investigating Tools: ———
Firebug: Tons of tools; can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page!
http://getfirebug.com/
Web Developer Toolbar: Big and extremely helpful set of tools for messing with webpages.
http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/
TamperData: View and modify HTTP/HTTPS headers, etc.
http://tamperdata.mozdev.org/
——— Some ‘niceties’ provided by lifehacker.com: ———
All these allow small tweaks to the way their respective websites are displayed:
better-youtube:
http://lifehacker.com/software/exclusive-lifehacker-download/better-youtube-firefox-extension-319925.php
better-google-reader:
http://lifehacker.com/software/exclusive-lifehacker-download/trick-out-google-reader-with-better-greader-262020.php
better gmail:
http://lifehacker.com/software/exclusive-lifehacker-download/better-gmail-2-firefox-extension-for-new-gmail-320618.php
better gcal:
http://lifehacker.com/software/exclusive-lifehacker-download/enhance-google-calendar-with-the-better-gcal-firefox-extension-260074.php
better amazon:
http://lifehacker.com/397946/better-amazon-firefox-extension-upgrades-amazoncom
——— Deactivated mine, but you may want to check out: ———
LiveHTTPHeaders: View HTTP headers of a page while browsing.
http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/
Nightly Tester Tools: You’ll need this to allow add-ons to work if you’re using a beta version (i.e. Minefield) of Firefox.
http://www.oxymoronical.com/web/firefox/nightly
Google Pagerank Status: Display the google pagerank for the currently viewed page. (VERY unfortunately, this add-on is not kept current)
http://www.tapouillo.com/firefox_extension/