Fireday - Firefox Extension Reviews on December 1, 2006

This Week: iMacros, Microsummaries Generator, and Gift Tagging (for Christmas)

December 1st, 2006 at 7:00am — Comments: (0) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Fireday

I'm running a little late today because of my machine was being formatted last night, so I'm trying to recover quickly. :-\

But a formatted hard drive won't stop the Fireday from continuing! Let's move on to the extensions!

iMacros

Rating: 4/5

If anyone has read about the Selenium IDE extension from a previous Fireday, this was a great concept for Quality Assurance testers of web sites (oh, and developers as well). The new guy on the block, iMacros from iOpus, has the same functionality, but I haven't found one feature that has put either one ahead of the other. Heck, this may even constitute a comparison review in the future.

When installed, it automatically displays the side panel of the interface. There are already samples included with the extension. Double-click on one to see a demo of each "script."

iMacros is broken into three compact tabs: Play, Record, and Edit. Simple enough. I like the interface of the extension and making it a side-panel is an awesome idea. Instead of opening up a brand new window that you need to move around, you simply use the side panel to record your web changes.

The Play tab is pretty self-explanatory. Select the script you want to test and click play to run the script. You can execute a certain script a number of times or stop it right in the middle of the execution or even loop the macro.

The Record tab allows you to select the commands you want to run while you are surfing. The controls are very intuitive and provide an easy way for even a novice tester to create a test case of how the application should be handled. Of course, I'm looking at this as a testing utility for web applications as opposed to a web surfing enhancement, and looking at it from that perspective, could provide a framework for creating a hierarchy of tests based on different sections of your web application.

The Edit tab is very simple, providing the ability to edit the macro using notepad to edit the contents. The other options Refresh Macro List and Options, again, are self-explanatory.

One of the items I noticed iMacros doesn't provide is a way to run a batch of macros, but this is provided in the Scripting and Pro editions of the commercial software.

Another thing that confused me were the products they were offering. After downloading the iMacros Firefox extension (which is in beta, BTW), I went back to look for the extension from the site and looked at the products comparison page. I was trying to determine where the iMacros Firefox extension fit into this comparison chart. When I downloaded this extension, it felt like I was getting the Power Surfer Edition ($29.95) for free. Was I?

It makes me wonder what is included with the Scripting Edition ($499) when I feel like this extension has everything I need. I understand there may be some limitations to the iMacros Firefox extension, but for a free extension, what else can you ask for?

Note: The Selenium IDE will have a proper review in the near future. The Selenium IDE review from before isn't really what I would consider a review. :-)

Microsummaries Generator

Rating: 4/5

Microsummaries is relatively new and it was a feature that snuck its way into Firefox 2.0, but not many know about it. If you need to catch up on Microsummaries, check out the Mozilla wiki on Microsummaries.

A disadvantage to creating Microsummaries is that you need a good understanding of XML and XPath. Johannes la Poutré has created an excellent Microsummaries builder for those who want to move ahead and create their own Microsummaries.

The best way to look at Microsummaries is that it provides a way to add additional titles to your page that someone bookmarks. When someone bookmarks one of your pages that contain a microsummary, they have a choice of which title they want to save the bookmark as. For those interested, I will be talking about Microsummaries in a future post.

This extension is definitely for the hard core, who ride the crest of the technology wave, but for the rest of the Firefox users, just keep in mind that Microsummaries will be an important asset in the future.

GiftTagging

Rating: 4/5

Ho, Ho, Ho! Since it is getting closer to Christmas, does everyone have their Christmas list prepared and ready to go? Tis the season, ya know. :-)

The GiftTagging Firefox extension allows surfers to tag gifts they want for a special occasion. The installation is simple, but you are required to register on the site, which is no big surprise. You have to store your wish list somewhere, right?

As soon as you install the extension, two icons show up to the left of the address bar: a gift icon and a tag icon. The gift icon is to look at your entire list of "stuff" you want. The tag icon "tags" and stores the current web page you are looking at to your list.

The cool thing about this is that anyone can look at your list by going to gifttagging.com and on the right-hand side of the site, you can enter in any friends email and find out what that person wants.

The one downside to this is the data entry page of a gift that I'm adding to my list. They may want to minimize the amount of data you enter. I thought the price may be entered automatically, but coming from a programmer's standpoint, I understand that would be difficult. The label at the top called "Name" confused me at first. Do I enter my name or a product name or a name of who I was going to buy this for? Renaming it to "Item Name:" would seem more appropriate.

I love this concept. How many of us are constantly asked, "What do you want for Christmas?" Well, just tell them to look at gifttagging.com and type in your email address for your wishlist.

Problem solved. :-)

Have a great weekend everyone! If you have any comments, please post them below or Contact me directly.