Enhance and improve Firefox’s usability with these essential addons.

Firefox is impressive but how can you make it more useable? Try some of these addons that help improve the browsers ability to handle the most demanding users.

1. Text Link

This addon does a real simple job. It makes any non-HTML formatted URI like say “oxyweb.co.uk” into a clickable link so that anything that looks like a link can be double-clicked to open it up on the same page, new tab or new window. It’s clever, it does it across many lines and when an accidental space has been put into the link. I used to use Linkification but this alternative covers more bases.

2. ScreenGrab! (& ScreenGrab! with Online Upload)

A saviour for bloggers, web designers and anyone who needs to prove a point. ScreenGrab! screenshots whole pages aswell as selections and the visible portion. It also has a “Copy” only option so rather than save a screenshot, it copies to the clipboard which makes it great for pasting into other apps like Photoshop (for doing mock ups).

The even more useful ScreenGrab! with Online Upload, an experimental addon created by imagebam.com which will take your screenshot and upload it to it’s free image hosting website. Cool enhancement.

3. Add Bookmark Here ²

Although I love the idea of pressing a little star on the Awesome bar to bookmark a URL, but i’m not a huge fan of Firefoxs bookmarks implementation. I tend to stay more organised with the use of this addon which puts a “Add Bookmark Here” option in every folder so you can bookmark quickly and stay organised.

4. Stealther

We won’t go into reasons but sometimes you do wish that there was no history of you visiting to certain websites. We’ll just say you have to. Press the Stealthier button and from then on anything you do will not be logged so no URLs in the address bar, no cache, no cookies, nothing. I

This is the best implementation of a privacy browsing mode - better than Google Chromes implementation because it’s just a button click away as opposed to a new window appearing. Alternatively try Distrust.

5. Foxmarks Bookmark and Password Synchronize

If you use more than one computer with Firefox you’ll love this tool, heck if you use Firefox you’ll love this addon. It makes a secure online backup of your bookmarks and synchronizes them across many computers. Since version 2.5 it can optionally synchronise your Firefox passwords too. - securely of course (You’ve probably heard of this addon).

6. Shareoholic

If you’re a fan of user submitted content sites like Digg and Reddit or some of the lesser known ones like Ma.gnolia or Simpy then you’ll love Shareholic. It’s a button and context menu submission tool that can submit to a plethora of different sites with just a couple of clicks.

7. Video DownloadHelper

This really is the best addon for downloading videos it works with dozens and dozens of video websites and most importantly it does it seamlessly.

8. Morning Coffee

Perhaps everyday, like m,e you visit digg.com and every Monday and Friday you have a look at your Google Analytics account oh and every Wednesday you need a failblog pickup then this addon takes the incessant clicking out of the equation. Just select the day and it opens up the URLS for that day. I’m sure you can use this for much more productive uses but it suits me fine.

Alternatively Speed Dial and Fast Dial are both popular but no where near as good as Google Chrome’s implementaion which picks the websites automatically. Firefox camp is sussing things out.

9. PermaTab Mod (& PermaTab Beta)

This little addon makes a tab sticky so you can’t accidentally close it. I find this invaluable when watching videos online at BBC iPlayer or having music playing via last.fm. It’s an experimental addon so you have to log in or visit the Permatabs support page for the latest beta

I hope you like the list of firefox addons that I can’t do without. If there’s another addon which you can’t do with or have something to say, leave a comment below.