The Firefox Internet browser is a useful alternative to Internet Explorer. One nice feature of Firefox is the ability to customize your Internet browsing experience with the use of what are called Extensions. Extensions for Firefox are small add-ons that enhance the functionality of the Web browsers. Today, I want to pass on three Firefox extensions that I recommend for all Firefox users.
Below, I’ve pasted a screenshot of my current Extensions list. I also encourage you to go to the Firefox Extensions homepage and browse through the endless add-ons you can use to customize your Firefox Internet browser.
Forcastfox provides up-to-date weather information from accuweather.com right in your Firefox Internet browser. Based on the zip-code you provide, you get extended forecasts as well as current weather conditions with radar pictures. Information you can get ranges from temperatures to moon phases to wind speeds.
What I enjoy about Forecastfox is that I am constantly updated about current weather conditions without even clicking the mouse. When the temperature or forecast changes, a little pop-up display lets me know of what’s happening. The current and extended forecast is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the browser screen, so it doesn’t interfere with my normal Internet browsing.
I don’t have an Internet connection every place I go, but am constantly doing online research for the blogs I write for Families.com. Sometimes, I want to take an extended look at a Web site, but know I will be without an Internet connection for a while (e.g., air travel, subway rides). ScrapBook alleviates this problem by saving entire Web sites on your computer for offline viewing. A similar option is built into Internet Explorer (IE), but IE’s offline viewing option has never really worked very well.
With ScrapBook you save entire Web pages that function as if you are connected to the Internet. You can choose to save all of the pictures, sounds, linked files, and so on. You choose how may links deep you want to save, so rather than saving one Web page at a time, you can save multiple pages that are all linked together. For example, last week I wrote about the Cybertipline, a Web resource from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that handles information about child predators. I knew I was going to be without an Internet connection overnight, but wanted to browse through the many wonderful resource pages that the Cybertipline Web site has to offer. So, I used ScrapBook to save the Web site up to 3 links deep, including the PDF reports and news briefs linked on the pages. I was able to spend the evening browsing and reading the Web pages as if I was connected to Internet.
Some Web pages are created for viewing in Internet Explorer (IE) and don’t display properly in Firefox. Rather than copying the URL (Web address) to IE, you can simply click a little icon within Firefox and display Web pages using the IE engine (see below). For example, while reading about Microsoft’s product support policy, I was unable to view the bottom of some of the Web pages using the Firefox display engine. All I did was click the Firefox icon in the status bar and the page was displayed using the IE display engine. IE Tab is a must if you primarily use the Firefox Internet browser.