When I started using the Internet, I used Netscape 3 then Netscape 4 (Communicator). But then Netscape went down hill. There was no Netscape 5, Netscape 6 was bloated and slow, and then Netscape died (well, actually there was Netscape 7 and may be 8, but I think they are more of Mozilla than Netscape). In the mean time, IE was gaining momentum. Some, like Joel, blame it on the decision to rewrite Netscape.
From the ashes of Netscape, Mozilla was born, and then Mozilla was forked (or re-packaged/re-branded?) and Firefox came into existance. Firefox sounded hot and foxy, so I gave it a go and I never looked back since then. It’s the best browser.
Firefox is very customable and the amount of control it gives to its users is incredible. There is probably a Firefox plugin for just about anything! Yes, anything! It finds you interesting websites, reminds you stuffs, blocks spams, colours tabs, syncs bookmarks, plays mp3, connects to IRC, even changes your babies diapers (it really could, if only it has hands).
Over the years I have tried many firefox plugins/add-ons, here are my all time favourite:
- My all time number one favourite as a web developer has got to be … Firebug! It is to me like Olive tree to the people of Athens. Firebug allows you to monitor and debug almost all requests, responses, and javascript codes of a website. All that in a very user-friendly intuitive interface. It really is the ultimate web debugger.
- My next all time favourite firefox plugin is Greasemonkey. Although I rarely use it these days, I did wrote some greasy monkey scripts (some called these scripts userscripts). It basically allows you to write javascript codes that can change the way a website works. So, you want to see the lyrics of music videos you watch on Youtube? Download Youtube videos? No problem, get a greased monkey to do the donkey work.
- Next is Stumbleupon. It really is fun to stumble random interesting websites when I’m bored.
