Last Updated on February 26, 2018
It is becoming increasingly common for open source developers to concentrate on providing core functionality in their software applications, and to include a framework for additional functionality to be added using plugins and add-ons. Mozilla Corporation, the developers of Mozilla Firefox, are no different. Despite developing a feature-laden Web browser, the Firefox team recognised at an early stage that individuals have different priorities and requirements. Extensions offer the means for software to be tailored accordingly to these needs. One of the reasons why Firefox has been so successful is because of extensions.
There are thousands of extensions for Firefox. They add a whole raft of additional functionality to Firefox, such as allowing users to download videos from websites, integrate more closely with social networking sites, and create web content. Whilst it is perfectly reasonable for some users not to wish to experiment with extensions, they are missing out on harnessing the real power of Firefox.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of our favorite Firefox extensions. The vast majority of these add-ons are released under a freely distributable license. We strongly recommend that you try out the extensions that interest you, and hopefully you will agree that they add so much to the web experience.
So let’s explore the Firefox extensions at hand. For each add-on we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, a screenshot, together with links to relevant resources and reviews.
| Firefox Extensions | |
|---|---|
| Vimperator | Strong inspiration from the Vim text editor to provide efficient web browsing |
| Firebug | Edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript |
| Feedly | News aggregator |
| FireFTP | Secure, cross-platform FTP client |
| Ghostery | Web detective - your window into the invisible web |
| ScribeFire | Full-featured blog editor |
| Zotero | Collect, manage, cite, and share research sources |
| FlashGot | Turns supported download managers into a download manager for Firefox |
| Greasemonkey | Customize the way web pages look and function |
| YouTube Downloader | Quickly and easily download videos from YouTube |
| LastPass | Browser plugin password management |
| WOT - Safe Surfing | Shows you which websites you can trust |
| FastestFox | Makes Wikipedia more convenient to use from the browser |
| Chatzilla | Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client, written in XUL and JavaScript |
| Sage | Lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator extension |
| Shareaholic | Easy way to share interesting links using Facebook, Twitter and others |
| FoxClocks | Keep an eye on the time around the world |
| RightToClick | Removes many common Javascript annoyances |
| Flagfox | Displays a flag icon indicating the location of the current server |
 Read our complete collection of recommended free and open source software. Our curated compilation covers all categories of software. The software collection forms part of our series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. There are hundreds of in-depth reviews, open source alternatives to proprietary software from large corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. There are also fun things to try, hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. |