I’m an obsessive tinkerer. I can’t install configurable software without spending forever trying to get my personal configuration right instead of using the application.

For a long time I hated “browser nazis” who were always telling me that I should switch to [Mozilla|Firefox (pre 1.0)|Opera|Something Else] and eventually I gave in and switched to Maxthon. Then Firefox 1.0. Which really did make me feel silly. Once using Firefox 1.0 I realised the others had been right. IE was terrible. Firefox was awesome. But not too silly as Mozilla, Opera and other alternatives before Firefox were pretty rubbish too (Opera is sounding interesting now, but Mozilla and Safari etc still leave me cold).

I still can’t stand the thought that I might not have an “optimal” Firefox extension set enabled, so here’s what I’m using, is there anything you think would be best added to this list.

Firstly, I have three profiles. Lite - Need a browser fast. Default - Just for surfing. Developer - for doing web development. I don’t load firebug/developer’s toolbar and their overhead just to check my online bank. I’m most interested in optimising my Default profile, but that builds on my Lite profile.

(All profiles include the British English spell check add on and talk back crash handler)

Lite
This needs to load fast and provide a fast browsing experience. I have only a few extensions in this:

1. Adblock Plus - Remove banner ads, save network time on them.
2. FilterSet.G Updater - Keep my Adblock Plus filters up-to-date with the excellent FilterSet.G
3. CS Lite - Prevent those horrible advertising types tracking my surfing patterns with a nice “AdBlock for Cookies” style tool.
4. Del.icio.us Complete - The official Del.ico.us extension to replace per-profile bookmarks. I have access to the same bookmarks in all profiles.

Default
This is where I live when not in a rush and not coding. It’s optimised for surfing experience:

1. Deepest Sender - UI For posting to LJ
2. Digger - Right click the “go” icon to mess with the URL, very, very handy
3. ErrorZilla - Better than a server not found message
4. Greasemonkey - Tweak sites my way
5. Leechblock - Keep me off “slacking off sites” when working
6. TwitterFox - Update Twitter
7. Google Reader Notifier - Check my RSS feeds
8. IE View - Open current page in IE, if it’s not working in firefox (useful for MS sites!)
9. Customise Google - but thinking of removing this…

Development
Really, this just adds Developer Toolbar, HTML Validator and Firebug to the above.

What essentials am I missing?

Popularity: 39% [?]

This is version 1 of this entry and was posted 2 years ago on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Opinion. It's popularity ranking is Popularity: 39% [?]. It has been tagged with firefox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. This is the first version of this post.