Enhance The Web With Firefox Extensions

I talk a lot about web usability – building a site that is useful, easy to use and read. But it doesn’t always begin with your website. A website’s usability can also have a lot to do with what browser you are using.

I personally use Firefox (and advocate everyone to switch if they are still using the dinosaur Internet Explorer). The developers at Mozilla, creators of Firefox, had the ingenious idea of building it for the masses and letting others improve upon it with extensions.

Firefox Extensions

Extensions, in the eyes of Firefox, are “small add-ons that add new functionality to your Mozilla program. They can add anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature.”

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite extensions that enhance my web browsing experience and thus provide a more useable website.

1. Text Size Toolbar: One of the most annoying things about websites is that the text size is usually too small. We older folks sometimes can’t read your websites. This extension helps. With one click of a button, you can increase the size of the text on the website.
2. Paste and Go: Sometimes you have to copy a website address into the Address bar of your browser. Instead of (1) pasting (2) and clicking Go/Enter, with Paste and Go you simply select ‘Paste and Go’ from the right-click menu and the website loads immediately.
3. Mouse Gestures: With just a movement (or gesture) of your mouse, you can go back a page, close a window or open a new window. This eliminates the need to move your mouse up to the Back button or close window buttons.
4. Google Preview: My favorite. After doing a search on Google or Yahoo, GooglePreview inserts a thumbnail image of the website next to your search results.

With the ability to add new functionality to an already great browser, the Mozilla community have given us web surfers a much more user friendly and enjoyable web experience.

Mike Swartz says, “Check it Out.”