These are Add-ons which I either have installed now, or have had in the past and found useful. They are listed in alphabetical order, and I have rated them according to their usefulness to me and/or how good the add-on appears to be.  The notes below each one should clarify.  If you wonder why there aren’t any with really low scores, that is because I will have uninstalled them, and don’t intend to reinstall!

Having many add-ons installed can slow down Firefox on startup, and possibly slow it down during normal use.  For this reason, I don’t have all of these add-ons installed on every computer I use.

BTW, they used to be called “extensions”, so don’t be confused if you read that somewhere ;-)

To install:
– click on the link below, which will take you to the Add-on’s homepage on addons.mozilla.org, then click the large green button to install.

  1. Adblock Plus 10/10
  2. Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper 10/10
    – Both of these are essential if you dislike ads distracting you on your favourite websites.
  3. Add Bookmark Here 2 8/10
    – Makes it easier/quicker to add a bookmark to the right folder, therefore keeping your bookmarks tidy.
  4. Add to Search Bar 7/10 – alternative to OpenSearchFox
    – Say you have a favourite site that has a search facility (e.g. the search box at the top of this page ;-)) this add-on lets you add that search to your Search Bar allowing you to search the site directly from your Search Bar without having to visit the site first.
  5. Better Gmail 2 6/10
    – IMO essential if you use Gmail, but not needed for everyone, hence only 6/10
  6. Bookmark Duplicate Detector 7/10
    – Allows you to easily see if you’ve saved the same bookmark twice!
  7. British English Dictionary 6/10
    – Highlights spelling errors in form fields (e.g. using webmail, or typing in forum message boxes.
  8. BugMeNot 6/10
    – Bypass compulsory web registration
  9. Clippings 7/10
    – Save frequently-entered text for pasting later.
  10. ColorfulTabs 6/10
    –     Colors every tab in a different color.  Not essential, but can be useful/visually appealing.
  11. ColorZilla 6/10
    –     With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program.
  12. Copy as HTML Link 8/10
    – An incredibly useful add-on that I keep forgetting to use!  Creates an HTML link to the current page using the selected text and copies it (into the clipboard) for pasting into other applications.
  13. Copy Link Name 9/10
    – Copies the name of a link, rather than the link location (shortcut URL).
  14. CSS Validator 7/10
    – Validates a page using the W3C CSS Validator.
  15. Custom Toolbar Buttons 10/10
    – A button pack for Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird, but that’s just the start; if you don’t want so many buttons in one extension you can choose individually from a list, and create a specific extension just for the button(s) you want!
  16. CustomizeGoogle 7/10
    – Enhances Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam).
  17. Domain Details 6/10
    – Displays Server Type, Headers, IP Address, Location Flag, and links to Whois Reports.
  18. Download Statusbar 8/10
    – View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar – without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.
  19. dragdropupload 6/10
    – Drop files into attachment boxes instead of browse for them or type in the filename.  In Gmail it’s possible to drop the attachment files directly over the ‘Attach a file’ link. A great add-on, but not needed for everyone, hence only 6/10
  20. EverNote Web Clipper – 7/10
    –     Provides a button and context menus to easily add a selection or an entire page to Evernote.
  21. Fast Dial 8/10
    – Visual bookmarks. Create a page of thumbnails of your chosen websites for quick access.  Can be configured to open with a new tab.
    The author of this add-on made an horrendous misjudgment and release a couple of “updates” that caused a lot of negative feedback.  However, he responded to user’s messages and the add-on is now as good as before 🙂
  22. FaviconizeTab 7/10
    – This extension adds “FaviconizeTab” to the tab context menu.
    When clicked, the width of the tab narrows to the size of the favicon.
    It returns to the former size when “FaviconizeTab” is clicked again.  Useful if you often have many tabs open and the websites have recognizable favicons.
  23. Firebug ?/??
    – A wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.  I haven’t really used this yet, which is why I haven’t rated it.
  24. Firefox Accessibility Extension 7/10
    – Tool for testing websites for accessibility features.
  25. FoxClocks 6/10
    – FoxClocks lets you keep an eye on the time around the world – or just your local time – by putting small clocks in your statusbar.
  26. Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer 9/10
    – If you use Firefox on more than one computer, you’ll want Foxmarks. Install Foxmarks on each computer, and it works silently in the background to keep your bookmarks and (optionally) passwords synchronized.
  27. Gmail Manager 8/10
    – Allows you to manage multiple Gmail accounts and receive new mail notifications in the Status Bar.  For latest (beta) versions view the mozillazine topic.
  28. Gmail Space 8/10
    – Allows you to use your Gmail Space (4.1 GB and growing) for file storage. It acts as an online drive, so you can upload files from your hard drive and access them from every Internet capable system.
  29. Google Gears 5/10
    – Not strictly speaking a Firefox add-on, although it appears in the Add-ons list, Gears work with other browsers too.  5/10 only because I haven’t had cause to use it properly yet.  It looks interesting and could be an excellent add-on for Gmail when it is finally implemented for it.
  30. goolash 6/10
    – Experimental add-on (you need to have an Add-ons login to install this).  If you like using Google services, but are a little concerned about everything you do on your computer being tracked, then you might find this useful.
    “GOOLASH keeps you logged out from the search engine of Google, regardless of any other “G” services you might be using, like Gmail for example. GOOLASH keeps your web searches disassociated from your Google username, meaning that the results are not being filtered according to the profile Google has on you, neither the context of your requests is being attached to your persona.”
  31. HTML Validator – Windows only from AMO, but versions available for other OSs on the author’s website 9/10
    – Adds HTML validation inside Firefox and Mozilla. The number of errors of a HTML page is seen on the form of an icon in the status bar when browsing.
  32. IE Tab 7/10 – Windows only
    – Embed Internet Explorer in a Firefox tab.
  33. IE View Windows only 7/10
    – Lets you load pages in IE with a single right-click, or mark certain sites to *always* load in IE.  Useful for incompatible pages, or cross-browser testing.
  34. IE View Lite 7/10
    – A cut down version of IE View.  Author’s comment: “It works on Windows, Linux, and now Mac (I think).  For Linux, put wine as the path and the location of IE as the parameter.”
  35. Image Zoom 7/10
    – Adds zoom functionality for images.  Easily zoom in, zoom out, fit image to screen or set custom zoom on individual images within a web page.
  36. Link Checker 8/10
    – Check the validity of links on any webpage.
  37. MeeTimer 7/10
    – Logs where you spend your time online, grouping it into activities, and actively discouraging time wasting.
    Alternatives are TimeTracker or Usage Counter
  38. MinimizeToTray – Windows only 4/10
    – Minimizes Mozilla windows into the system tray.  Hasn’t been updated for Firefox 3 (and I rarely minimize Firefox anyway!) hence 4/10.
  39. Mr Tech Toolkit 7/10
    – Provides the tools needed to install and manage extensions and themes locally and tons of other features.
  40. NoScript 6/10
    – Allow active content to run only from sites you trust, and protect yourself against XSS and Clickjacking attacks.
  41. Opendownload 6/10
    Allows you to open any file from the internet into the OS assigned program. This is similar to IE’s ‘Open’ or ‘Run’ file download functionality.  This does not support streaming.  It downloads the file to your temp directory then launches it.  Your operating system will then choose the default application to run it with. After 24 hours the file will automatically be deleted from your system.
  42. OperaView 6/10
    – Open pages in Opera from Firefox context menus.
  43. Paste to Tab and Go 7/10
    Paste a string to tab and load it, this extension will paste a string from clipboard to a tab without switching to the tab first.
  44. Remove Cookie(s) for Site 7/10
    – A very simple extension to remove all the cookies of currently opened site. Very useful if Gmail ‘hangs’ during an operation.
  45. SearchBox Sync 7/10
    – Automatically updates the search box content when you search directly in a search engine (Google, Yahoo, Live, MSN, YouTube, …). Custom synchronization rules can be easily added for your preferred search engine.
  46. Searchload Options 7/10
    – Tweak the searchbar’s functionality.
  47. Smart Bookmarks Bar 9/10
    – Hides bookmarks names and only shows the favicons.
  48. Stylish 6/10
    – Customize the look of the application and of websites with Stylish, a user styles manager.
  49. Tab Mix Plus 10/10
    – Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox’s tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager.
  50. Tidy Browser Button 7/10
    – A toolbar button to toggle the size of the FireFox browser between the two standard web page widths on the Internet.
  51. Total Validator 7/10
    – Perform multiple validations and take screen shots in one go. This 5-in-1 validator works with external, internal, or local web pages.
  52. Update Notifier 6/10
    – Notifies you when updates are available for your extensions and themes. Allows quick access to your extensions and themes and the ability to check both types for any updates. Easily configurable.  I used to find this essential, but with later versions of Firefox that check for updates themselves, it is less necessary.  If you absolutely must know immediately when an update is available, then it’s definitely worth having.
  53. Update Scanner 9/10
    – Monitors web pages for updates.  Particularly useful for websites that don’t provide Atom or RSS feeds.
  54. Web Developer 8/10
    – Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.
  55. Window Resizer 7/10
    – Resize your browser to various standard resolution sizes (height and width).
  56. WiseStamp 5/10
    – Experimental add-on (you need to have an Add-ons login to install this). Enhance and customize your email signatures.  Use multiple Business and Private email signatures, inserts HTML to signatures & much more.  Works with Gmail, Google Apps, Yahoo, Hotmail, and AOL. Not needed for everyone, and “experimental” hence only 6/10.

Add-ons that look interesting but I haven’t tried yet: