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The above screenshot shows a styled Google Reader page. You can browse the huge library at userstyles,org for more user styles. With Stylish installed, every user style’s page will offer a green installation button – hit that, and the next time you visit that website for which you got the style, it will appear in a totally different light.
The hallmark of good computer organization is everything in its rightful place. Proper file naming follows in the steps of good folder organization. Check back into the directory structure of your computer. Do you have folders set up to store specific kinds of files?
If not, then you are a few steps behind on the road to productivity. Of course, the hallowed portals of the Grand Council of Uncluttered Minds shall always remain closed for you. If you are serious about organizing your computer, let’s go back to where it all starts – downloads.
Presumptively assuming that you use Firefox for downloads, let’s see how we can download files in Firefox and automatically put them into their proper folders. As it is with everything in Firefox, we fall back on two little browser applications from the Mozilla Add-ons Gallery.
Download Sort is a Firefox add-on that automatically sends downloads to specific folders depending on the file extension or a keyword in the URL. To make it recognize the file extension or the keyword, we have to get into the browser extension’s Settings and do a bit of work.
The important thing to remember is that the sorting of downloads in designated folders only works with the right click (Save Link As/Save Image As) – not with the left.
Here are all the options that you can tweak under Settings.
You can set up download folders or subfolders for each file type. For instance, any doc or PDF file that you download can go into your My Documents folder or alternatively, you can create an eBook folder within the documents folder to catch all the incoming PDF files.
Here are some of the other features you can find under the Settings for Download Sort (screenshot above)…
Instead of sub-folders, you can also collect downloads in a folder by bracketing them according to the criteria given in the dropdown for Autosave Sub Folder.
You can route downloads by catching them using a keyword that could be in the specific URLs. This is useful if you download a lot from particular websites.
Download Sort can be set up to prompt you for a filename or give an alert if a duplicate file is found in the target folder. A set of actions can follow – Prompt for a new filename, Auto-increment the filename, Cancel the download, Overwrite the file.
With some work on the rules for the file types and the corresponding folders, Download Sort cuts short a few downloading steps for us.
In spite of it not being developed further since 2006, Download Sort works fine with the latest version of Firefox. If you do mind that, let’s go on to the next Firefox add-on.
Automatic Save Folder is a similar download tool that automates the process of saving and sorting of downloaded files into specific folders. Again, you have to set up a few rules to catch files by their file types and redirect them to the right folders.
With Automatic Save Folder, you can set filters according to the file extension or the domain. But it handles downloads a bit differently from the previous Firefox add-on.
Automatic Save Folder’s download rules will only work if Firefox always asks where to save the files. This setting for the browser is under Tools – Options – General tab – Downloads. Make sure that’s checked as in the screenshot below.
Unlike Download Sort, Automatic Save Folder works with single clicking on a download link as well as a right click.
When a download link is clicked, Automatic Save Folder opens the File Explorer at the right download folder (as set for the file type). Alternatively, you can also go into the Options of the add-on and set it to save downloads automatically bypassing the File Explorer.
Similar to the previous add-on, dynamic folders can also be created on the fly to hold downloads. The download folders can be named with a variety of variables.
Automatic Save Folder is compatible with Firefox 1.5 – 3.7a1 pre and works on Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.
It all boils down to user choice. Automatic Save Folder has some distinct advantages. It can handle both left click and right click downloads. It is more flexible with its filters. But the clincher could be that Automatic Save Folder is being kept updated.
De-cluttering and organizing your computer is a habit. These two addons just make the habit a trifle easier to maintain.How do you download files in Firefox? Are you showing all your downloads the right path?
Source : MakeUseOffStealther – Stealther provides you with what can be called a private browsing mode. It allows you to browse the web without leaving any trace. The addon disables browsing history, cookies, cache, recent tabs and sending of referrer header for as long as you want. It’s lot like the incognito mode in Google chrome. Distrust is another similar addon that allows you to acheive the similar results.
Close ‘n’ Forget – While Stealther and Distrust require you to turn on private browsing explicitly, what if you happen to stumble upon a site that you wished you would have known to turn on the private browsing mode for? Close ‘n’ Forget comes to your rescue. Just hit the special close button once you are finished and that site will be deleted from history and cookies cleared as if you had never visited the site.
WOT – We all know about the threats which surfers suffer like viruses, spywares, adware, malicious spam, phishing etc., but here Web of Trust comes to rescue. WOT warns you about risky websites that try to scam surfers before they enter in them using a safety rating of 21 million websites, WOT combines evidence collected from multiple sources. Not only does it help surfers but also sets a protection level for children by blocking inappropriate content.
NoScript – An absolute must have security addon for your browser. NoScript gives you the power to specify the sites you trust and only those sites will be allowed to run active content like Javascript, Java code and other executable code. The addon thus protects you from cross-site scripting attacks and clickjacking attacks.
Panic – Panic allows you to instantly close all the open tabs and replace it with another tab of your choice. So next time while you are on facebook and your boss drops to check in just hit Alt + ` and you would be taken to predefined page in no time.
hideBad – Hides bad things! Saves all the tabs, closes them and opens your home page. Allows you to clear history, cookies, cache and passwords at your will and then restore them later.
TabRenamizer and Page Title Eraser – Do your tabs give you away? Why not change their names with TabRenamizer or remove the names all together with Page Title Eraser? Both these addons let you play with the tab titles so that you can change them according to your will.
Gish It!, TemporaryInbox, spamavert – These addons allow you to protect your inboxes from Spam by getting throwaway email addresses to be used with web forms while registering for sites you are not sure about.
BetterPrivacy – Now you don’t need to worry from anything like ‘you are being tracked..!!’ BetterPrivacy is a Super-Cookie Safeguard which protects from usually undeletable Flash-Cookies. It blocks long term tracking on Google, YouTube, Ebay to name a few.
Ghostery – It keeps an eye on the websites that are keeping an eye on you i.e. it finds out that which web sites which are tracking you and would alert you about the same.
Torbutton – It provides a button to securely and easily enable or disable the browser’s use of Tor. Tor can be used for anonymous browsing and has been covered on makeuseof in detail.
FoxyProxy – FoxyProxy automatically switches an internet connection across one or more proxy servers based on URL patterns and switching rules defined by you.
JSview – Allows you to view the source code of external files like javascript and CSS files. Although it would require a bit of knowledge and looking through the code to determine if it really is harmful, it can be quite useful to see if there is some malicious code sending off your passwords to somewhere else.
You have more such addons .. please share in comments.
Source : MakeUseOf
As a web writer, correct spellings are essential to my work. As it is something that I have to be a perfectionist about, I take a lot of care with my proofreading with an installed dictionary. I also ‘live’ a lot within the Firefox browser and that too necessitates a good spell checker.
Thankfully, Firefox has a good one built right in. The worth of a spell checker can be realized when one is composing a professional email within a compose box or filling up a web form or writing in a blog. An error can spell bad results.
So, here’s a tour of spell checking with the Firefox dictionary.
By default, Firefox catches all misspelt words since the spell checker is enabled. If it is not, then all the user needs to do is to check and enable ‘Check Spelling’ in the context menu. The wrongfully spelt out word gets marked out by a red dotted line. Right click on the word and you will get in the context menu a few correct options to choose from. Select the right one and your mistake stands corrected.
In some cases, spell checking might not work. The antidote then lies in a byte-sized download. Firefox makes available to the user a number of dictionaries varying across languages. These dictionaries can be accessed via a download from the ‘Add Dictionaries’ context menu entry. The steps to follow are…
The browser directs you to the ‘Dictionaries & Language Packs’ page. There are nearly 71 available for download. You can download and use more than one dictionary. For instance, I use the English (US) and the English (UK) ones interchangeably because of the minute nuances in usage.
As a last confirmatory step, go to ‘Tools’ (on the Firefox toolbar)…choose ‘Options’…click on‘Advanced’…and under the ‘General’ tab make sure that ‘Check my spelling as I type’ is checked.
Just below the list of correct words in the context menu is the ‘Add to Dictionary’ entry. This allows individual addition of new words into the database of the dictionary. But sometimes because of our own click-happiness a lot of wrong words also find a place in the dictionary.
To correct the error of our ways, we have to drill down into our application folders where the Firefox profile folders are stored.
For Windows XP, it is - C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\
For Windows Vista, it is - %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxx.default
Note : For viewing the ‘Application Data’ folder, you might need to enable ‘Show Hidden Files And Folders’ through the ‘Folder Options (View)’ tab under ‘Tools’ on the menu toolbar.
Thanks to Firefox, now spell checking is just a right click for the alphabetically challenged. :-)
by : MUO
Everyone these days seems to have a particular application which they label their killer app. As I depend on FireFox more and more to get things done, I have come to rely upon a set of extensions which really enhance my productivity. Here are the extensions which I consider to be the ones that give FireFox the title as "Killer App".
Built In FTP Client - By using the FireFTP extension, I have access to the various FTP servers of the sites that I write for at the click of a button. Having an FTP client built into the browser means I can get things done faster as acquiring links to files is a matter of switching tabs rather than application windows. If you would like to learn more about this particular extension, please see this article. (FireFTP - The Best FTP Client I Have Ever Used)
Easy Access To Google Services - Despite the funny name, Gbutts is a FireFox extension which provides easy two-click access to the majority of services that Google Provides. I am only two clicks away from Google Docs, Gmail, Google Earth, etc. The extension can be configured so that only those services that you use, appear in the drop down menu. Since I routinely access Google Docs and Google Maps, this is yet another time saver.
Measuring Pixels - If you do any design work, you'll know that at times, it can be time consuming to figure out the pixel size of an image. Thankfully, the MeasureIt extension takes the guess work out of the equation. MeasureIt provides an easy interface to measure things within the browser window by pixels. This extension saves time because you no longer have to open an image within an editor to figure out its dimensions.
Keeping Tabs On Forums - I've noticed in my own self monitoring that I spend a lot of time checking out the newest posts on the Hive and on various other forums I participate in. Intead of visiting the forums, I've since installed a RSS FeedReader for FireFox called SageToo. SageToo is a continuation of Sage with additional functionality. Essentially, it is a feedreader for FireFox. I use this tool to check out the latest forum posts on multiple forums from a sidebar rather than having to view the actual forum. This saves time because I tend to click on other things once I reach the forum and before I know it, I'm a long ways away from where I started.
Multi Blogging - Long time readers of Performancing will recognize this next extension called ScribeFire. Although I'd like to think that I don't have any time to publish articles on my own blog, ScribeFire changes that by allowing me quick access to a blog editor which if configured correctly to take advantage of the XML-RPC features of WordPress, I can quickly write an article, place it in a category, tag it and then publish it live on my blog, all without thinking about it.
Page Rank And Alex Rank Without Searching - Ever come across a cool site within your niche and wondered what their Alexa rank or Google PageRank values were? Typically, you would have to use a tool and type in their domain name to figure out the values. With the SearchStatus extension, that information is provided to you within your browser. You can even check out the Compete rankings with this extension.
Creating Screen Captures - One thing every blogger has in their toolbax is a service, program, or extension in which they use to capture images. In my personal toolbox, I use a piece of software known as SnagIt by Techsmith. Although I don't use the specific software by itself, having the software installed gives me access to the SnagIt Extension. This extension has saved me a boat load of time when it comes to creating images since I can create them on a per pixel basis within the browser window, edit them within the SnagIt software, and then save them to the desktop. Although the full version of the software is not free, this is the best screen capturing tool I have used. As an alternative, you can use Jing Project which is a project sponsored by TechSmith.
Creating TinyURLs In Seconds - Long URL's are a pain in the rear to send someone whether it be in an email or a message that can only contain 140 characters or less. Navigating to the actual TinyURL web page to create the tinyurls can be time consuming. That's why I've included the TinyURL Creator extension. This bad boy makes it as easy as a few mouse clicks to create a tiny url from a page or from a specific url. When created, the url will automatically be saved to your clipboard leaving you the only step of pasting it into the desired location. Definitely another time saver if only convenient.
TwitKit - I don't care what anyone says, Twitter is a great service for networking and conversation. However, using Twitter through the actual website is a time consuming and mundane process. It's much better to use a third party application such as Twhirl or in this case, TwitKit. Now, I typically use Twhirl for all things Twitter but when I want to quickly share a link or publish a quick thought, accessing Twitter through a sidebar in FireFox is a time saver.
Real Time Monitoring - Often times, I have no idea if my blog has received a major spike in traffic through the likes of Digg or Stumbleupon until after the fact. Watching these types of traffic spikes in real time is exciting and an amazing boost of confidence, even if the feeling only lasts for ten minutes. Whos.Amung.Us is a service that has been around awhile which is used by many to keep tabs on who is browsing their site in real time. After registering your site with the service, they provide you with a unique 8 character key which you then plug into their FireFox extension. The extension will then display the number of concurrent visitors on your blog in real-time and upon clicking on the number, you'll not only be able to see the number of people browsing your site, but the URLs in which they are viewing and the number of people per URL. Woopra, and Pmetrics have this LIVE capability but having it built into my browser is convenient and notifies me of when I am in the middle of a traffic storm.
If you have any FireFox extensions that are either alternatives to the ones listed above or, makes you more productive, please share them in the comments.
If you don’t already use Firefox, then shame on you. Go here and install it.
Today I stumbled across Piclens, which I think is probably the best Firefox extension I’ve ever seen. Install it and give it a whirl on Google image search. And it works in Facebook, Flickr and Picasa and a bunch of other places. It’s basically a 3D image browser which shows the thumbnails in a ‘wall’ which you can scroll down and zoom in and out as well as view the high-res version of each image. Pretty damn cool. (Official site).
