Kevin's Watch

So, I recently learned to my horror that Sorus runs Firefox without any plug-ins or add-ons or whatever. (I know, right? )

That made me think of my browser add-ons, and wonder what other cool stuff I was missing.

At home, Firefox is my primary browser, (at work I use them all, often simultaneously), and I these are my plug-ins, none of which I can live without:

Adblock Plus
Better Privacy
Classic Theme Restorer
Classic Toolbar Buttons
DownThemAll
Fireshot Screen Captures
Ghostery
Lazarus Form Recovery
RefControl
SEOQuake
Speed Dial
The Addon Bar (restored)
Video DownloadHelper
Web Developer Tools

I also run a custom theme of course, and an SA dictionary.

(I really hate it when an update breaks one of my plug-ins. I usually wait a few weeks before updating, so there's time for plug-ins to be updated too.)

So...what add-ons can't you live without?

--A

I recently put on the Adblocker, but I'm wondering if they are really the best idea as quite a bit of stuff I like to view (newspapers etc.) may end up behind a paywall. I'm no fan of advertising but I recognise that good content needs to be paid for and, up until now advertising has been the main revenue stream.

I have also used ColorZilla which is really useful if you want to pick up colours from websites and picture etc.

I tried using some webscrapers previously, but I couldn't ever really get any of the free ones to do what I wanted.

u.

ussusimiel wrote:I recently put on the Adblocker, but I'm wondering if they are really the best idea as quite a bit of stuff I like to view (newspapers etc.) may end up behind a paywall. I'm no fan of advertising but I recognise that good content needs to be paid for and, up until now advertising has been the main revenue stream.

An interesting question, but one the outcome of which is probably still too far away. The majority of people don't use things like ad blockers so the foundation is still solid.

The fact that most things behind pay walls are available elsewhere for free is still going to inform the behaviour of users for as long as that remains true, which it will as long as advertising is still effective.

--A

I played WoW with no addons for the first few years too. Luci will never let me forget that.

The only ones I use are Adblock Plus, Classic Theme Restorer, and Media Hint (which tells streaming sites I'm in the US; I switch it on when I want to watch something I can't watch from the UK. Watch a lot of US Netflix with it (with my paid UK account, not illegally)).

I use Chrome. Because it's not 2005 any more.

I've tried chrome and just got annoyed with it.

I'm Murrin wrote:I've tried chrome and just got annoyed with it.

I'm annoyed that it's the only browser that works for everything I do. I keep trying to break away from it, as other browsers do certain things better, whereas Chrome is now just mediocre at everything.

Anyway, I started using LastPass a while ago, and now I'm hooked. It's a must-have for security.

I really don't get a lot of ads, or maybe I'm just used to them. The pop-up ads are the ones I can't stand, but I can't remember the last time I saw one of those.

wayfriend wrote:I use Chrome. Because it's not 2005 any more.

I run a lot of those same plug-ins on Chrome at work too.

--A

Ad-blocker. I can't live without it cause without it a video site I frequent inserts ads right into the middle of what I'm trying to watch. And when it takes me back to my page, I have to start the video over from the beginning.

That's terrible usability.

--A

Isn't there an "ethical" ad blocker out there, that lets through non-annoying ads, but blocks anything and everything else?

You know, nothing animated, no sound, nothing deceptive, etc.

No, but you can whitelist sites you want to support so that their ads get shown.

As for being deceptive...well, I just never click on an ad. (Unless somebody annoys me...then I have been known to click so that they have to pay, and bounce from the landing page so their ad looks irrelevant to the advertiser. )

--A

Avatar wrote:That's terrible usability.

--A

You mean the video site I mentioned? Yeah, it sucks.

I also watch Doctor Who on Firefox, which enables me to skip over the BBC America annoying (and repetitive!) ads. It's bad enough watching ads, but who wants to watch the same one in every single commercial break?

Urh...setting up a new machine for myself at work...so much customisation...

--A

That's why I don't customize computers at work anymore. It's better to get used to doing things the dumb way MS wants you to do it than to need to customize each new system in order to get things done.

I've found Invisible Hand useful on Firefox when shopping. It offers me price comparisons for items I shop for, as well as coupons and free shipping offers.

wayfriend wrote:That's why I don't customize computers at work anymore. It's better to get used to doing things the dumb way MS wants you to do it than to need to customize each new system in order to get things done.

I can't. I can't. If it doesn't do what I want, the way I want, I can't reconcile myself to it.

Hashi Lebwohl wrote:I don't use any add-ons whatsoever. Anything which might put adware or malware onto the computer is a no-go for me, even if it might possibly be positive such as an ad-blocker. If a website needs an add-on to function then I don't visit it any more--I lived without it before it existed so I can live without it now.

It's not to be able to visit specific sites, it's about easily or conveniently being able to carry out useful functions. And TOR is too slow.

--A