Fireday - Firefox extensions for March 3, 2006

Discussion of new Firefox extensions on every Friday.

March 2nd, 2006 at 10:32pm — Comments: (2) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Fireday

Here are some of the newest, most notable extensions that came out this past week for Firefox.

SiteAdvisor

On deck is SiteAdvisor. The SiteAdvisor takes your Google, Yahoo!, or MSN searchs and applies safety ratings next to each search results entry. When you view your results, each entry will receive one of the following indicators:

• Safe: The green checkmark means the site was tested and didn't find any significant problems.
• Caution: The yellow exclamation point means the site revealed some issues you should know about.
• Warning: The red X means the site revealed some serious issues where you may not want to visit this site.

An indicator on the bottom of the status bar displays the status of the site you're currently at. Clicking on the indicator allows you to view the site details, change particular settings, tell a friend, or send feedback.

This extension has already proved helpful in the workplace and is a great extension for beginners who are having issues with spam, spyware, viruses, and online scams.

Check it out! There are more features included than what I covered here. Learn more about it.

Firefox Extension Backup Extension (FEBE)

FEBE goes beyond backing up your extensions. It allows you to backup your existing Firefox extensions AND package them up into an installable .xpi format. So you can take them back and forth between work, travel, and home.

Three cons to using this extension: this extension only works in Firefox 1.5 or higher; when the backup starts, a DOS window displays; and you must have the archive utility "7-zip" installed for this extension to work.

If they come out with a new version that fixes these issues, the extension would be a great addition to my collection. The packaging of the extensions into an .xpi almost trumps the disadvantages...almost.

Adsense Preview

The AdSense Preview extension is for users who are part of the AdSense community and allows you to preview the Google Ads that may show on any web page.

From what I've been hearing, if you aren't part of the AdSense community, this extension will mostly be an annoyance. However, for those who ARE part of the AdSense community, this extension gives you a preview of what the ads will look like on your web site.

"[The extension] lets you preview the Google ads that may show on any web page. THIS TOOL IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH GOOGLE.COM. Clicking the ads does not count as impressions nor will the advertisers be charged anything."

Good to know. :-)

See ya next week!