Firefox Addons
A bit ago I was giving the Firefox browser down the road and even as I did so I was lamenting the lack of some of those cool extension in the other browser platforms, especially Google’s Chrome. There seems to have come some stability and not a new update every week for the last little bit. With that I have stopped having the hangs and crashes I was having for a while there with Firefox. During my multiple fights with Firefox there was more then one complete uninstall, download, and reinstall completely new. As I started putting my plugins back in place, I have pleasantly found a couple that I am not sure how I lived without.
First up is this little tool called ReminderFox. It does just about what you would expect it to do with that name, letting you place reminders, or as I like to call it a todo list. I have given a try at more then one of these kind of tools that fills in the void between keeping it in my head and forgetting or putting it on my Google Calendar as a full blown event (which clutters and does not keep it in front of you if you miss a date). None of the tools I have tried in the past stuck with me for very long, either seeming to be overcomplicated for the intended usage or not having enough options to truly be useful. You can associate things with date, but if the date rolls by and it is incomplete, it keeps pushing to the next day – a feature I very much like. The cool part is ran in a status bar (or anywhere really in firefox) and a hover over pops up the list. You can attach notes, repeat things, and nice options without it being a full blown calendar. I have not looked fully into it, but apparently there ability to also share the list between multiple computers, interact with I-Cal based calendars, and some ability to function in conjunction with the Thunderbird email program.
Next up is a nice add on called Read It Later. A bit of background is order first on how I use the browser, but I think it is something that works for everyone at some level. I have a home page set with links that I use almost daily – that is all it is. About once every two to three months I run through them and make sure they are are still appropriate. One big advantage is those are always on the web, even on a different computer that does not have GMarks installed. Next up I have those pages I hit once every two weeks or maybe closer to a month or two in between. I put those in my bookmarks – which I actually use GMarks. GMarks is a plugin too, that allows me to share the bookmarks from computer to computer, but you have to have the plugin installed – not always a handy thing to do.
Somewhere in between is that bookmark that you just want for the day or until you remember to investigate it further, which may be a week or ten before you get to it. This is where Read It Later comes into the picture. I mark the link as read it later, it stores it – without putting it in my GMarks, messing up my bookmarks in general, and I do not have to add to my special built page. I read them at some point later, use it as the reference for a blog, or send it to the friend I was thinking of at the time when I get the chance and it is removed, unless I re-add it. Great all the way around!
Three I will mention in passing that seem to be more hype than value, or maybe more aggravation than value include the following: Skype Extension – turns every phone number into a click and dial number for Skype. Seems like a good thing, but it messes up formats and seemed to be making things harder to read then normal. Also I am usually going to call on my cell or more often the business phone if I am looking up a number. Java Quick Start – Okay, I am giving up on all such things labeled as quick starters or automatic starters and so on. First off, the more of those I have going on the more it is actually slowing down the start up of my computer, browser process, etc. And they slow down the whole system too, often not being used during the entire session, but eating resources all the same. If and when I need Java it will launch and I will take the minute hint at that time. Further, I am not completely convinced that Java QuickStart was not responsible for some of the hangs and crashes – as disabled they seemed to have occurred less frequently. WordPress Helper was the biggest waste of time I think I have seen. Basically you put into it blog URL, admin URL and a few other things. It was suppose to spend things up. Via my own links I have the same or better speed already and it got confused and would drop even logged in sessions if you tried to go from looking at page to back to editing.
For those readers that are not interested in all this technology and computer stuff, I promise I have a few really good blogs coming soon that deal with other stuff. Some that come to mind are green-living, medieval stuff, art and music, and some experimenting with writing – so tune in soonish!
