Pimp my Firefox

Well, my week in Chrome was nice, but as I posted on Friday, it just didn't quite live up to what I wanted from a web browser. Yes, the statistics certainly seem to show Chrome as the winner in the performance stakes at least, but if you take into account other factors like the level of extension support, customisability, memory usage, etc. the results could look pretty different and, as I concluded in my previous post, it's these very things that have led me to revert back to using Firefox, at least for now.

So, being the inveterate extension-junkie that I am, here's an update on my latest browser configuration.

(I should point out that even though I have a lot of extensions installed, I'm quite particular about them. For a start, they must be stable, have good reviews and ratings and a good track record of usage. Secondly, I only install extensions that provide some specific functionality that I particularly need or want.I'm not into just downloading things for fun; I'm looking to make my web browser look and work the way I want it to. And finally, I'm always mindful of the need to constantly keep an eye on what I have installed, get rid of it if I don't make much use of it or it doesn't work properly, switch to something else if another extension does it better, and regularly update everything. I realise there's a performance hit with having a lot of extra stuff installed, so I'm always trying to keep a balance between browser enhancement and speed.)

Currently installed extensions:

Adblock Plus
Speeds up browsing and makes pages cleaner by blocking ads from loading and displaying.

AFOM
Automatically recovers memory leakage to make Firefox run faster

AVG Safe Search
This gets installed automatically with AVG antivirus. Some people find it annoying, and while it can be removed (using a hack, admittedly) I find it reassuring to have that extra level of security.

ColorZilla
As a web developer I find this one of the most useful extensions. An unobtrusive statusbar icon gives you an eyedropper to select (and copy) any colour off web pages, along with the option (highly configurable) of displaying various bits of info such as element name, size, DOM path etc to the element you're hovering over in the statusbar.

CookieSafe
Lots of options to configure how Firefox handles cookies. Personally I disable all cookies by default, then only allow the sites I trust and visit regularly. If I make a one-off visit to a site and need cookies, I can enable them temporarily just for that visit or session.

Download Statusbar
Replaces the downloads window with a neat, configurable statusbar.

Firebug
Loads of web developer tools. I've added the 'Inspect element' icon (spectacles) to my toolbar for quick checking of information relating to page elements.

Gmail Manager
Until recently I was using GMail Notifier, but this one just seems a little nicer with a few more features.

goo.gl lite
Adds a toolbar button that, when clicked, automatically copies a shortened version of the URL (using Google's new URL shortening service) to the clipboard. Essential if you're using a Twitter client that doesn't have URL shortening built in (which would obviously be ideal, but you can't win them all!)

Google Gears
Required in Firefox for various Google applications/features.

Greasemonkey
I don't make a huge amount of use of this at the moment except for Flickr - there are a bunch of really nice userscripts that make browsing and using Flickr so much better (Flickr Multi Group Sender, Flickr Auto Page, Flcirk Group Pool Admin - Warn + Delete, Flickr Tag Autocomplete, Flcirk Filter Hearts, FlickrZoom2)

Hide Menubar
Until recently I was using Personal Menu, but that just has far too many options and is unnecessarily complex. This extension achieves exactly what I need so much more simply - auto-hides the menu bar and lets you temporarily display it by pressing Alt. I've also customised Friefox's toolbars so everything else is displayed on a single toolbar - nav buttons, followed by location bar (which doubles as a search bar with the aid of keyword searches and a config tweak - see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Location_Bar_search), followed by a few extra icons (goo.gl lite, Web Developer and Firebug inspect element buttons), followed by the bookmarks toolbar (which I limit to one or two items I need quick and frequent access to (To save space I've deleted the title if they've got a decent favicon. If I need more than one or two items here I'll put them inside a folder so there's just a single folder icon on the toolbar itself)).


Html Validator
Essential for web developers - a statusbar icon shows the validation status of every web page, including local ones, and clicking it opens the source code with the validation report.

JSView
Provides quick access to javascript files used by the current page.

KeyScrambler
See my last post - its a nice extra layer of security but I'm in two minds about it, as it is a bit laggy.

Locationbar Limit
Lets you show more items in the location bar dropdown, so saving scrolling if you're searching through a lot of results.

Locationbar2
Emulates a feature built in to Chrome, where the domain of the current page is highligheted, and URL segments are selectable.

MeasureIt
Statusbar icon which, when clicked, allows you to drag out a rectangular box/ruler over any area of the current page, showing the dimensions.

NoScript
I use this in a similar way to CookieSafe - set all scripts as blocked by default, then only allow scripts on sites I trust and visit regularly, then just temporarily for other sites. You have fine-grained script control so if you don't want to allow scripts for a particular advertising service included in a page you don't need to.

OpenBook
Enhances Firefox's built-in bookmark management by allowing customization of the 'Add bookmark' dialogue, such as automatically opening the bookmark tree, etc.

Organize Status Bar
Essential if you have as many extensions as me!!! Lets you organize what icons are displayed and where.

Resizeable Textarea
Forces all textareas to be resizeable.

Speed Dial
Create a new tab/start page showing thumbnail links to all your favourite sites. You can have multiple tabs as well if you like (I have one for 'Work' and one for 'Personal'). Loads of customisation options.

Unsorted Bookmarks Folder Menu
Adds a link to Firefox's 'Unsorted Bookmarks' folder in the  bookmarks menu. Simples!

Vacuum Places Improved
Optimizes Firefox's places.sqlite database - really makes a big difference to browser speed if your history file is quite large.

Web Developer
Absolutely essential for web developers. End of.

Xmarks
Bookmark backup/sync. A million times better than Google Bookamarks.

Yoono
I've only just discovered this so it's still 'on trial' but it's an integrated social networking sidebar for Firefox. Seems pretty good at the moment and I think I prefer this to loading a separate app like Digsby when I've got the browser opan all day anyway.

Finally, here's a screenshot of how my browser looks:

Google Chrome - week 1

Well, it's been just over a week since I decided to try using Google Chrome as my main web browser. How have I found it? Will I stick with it?

To be honest still I'm torn between Chrome and Firefox. There are pros and cons to both. Here's  a quick list of where each browser scores, from a fairly non-technical perspective (i.e. I'm sure there all sorts of things 'under the hood' that could affect the comparison but which I don't know enough about):

Chrome

• Significantly faster startup time
• Separate processes for each tab and extension (if one crashes you can carry on using the browser)
• Memory is periodically 'cleaned' to prevent memory usage constantly creeping up (although it uses more memory overall)
• Looks nicer!
• Web search integrated into address bar (although FF similar, though not quite so good, with search keywords)
• Searching browsing history searches page content, not just titles
• Generally, Google apps (which I use a lot of - who doesn't?) work better with Google browser

Firefox

• Uses less memory overall (although memory leaks do tend to mean it increases over time)
• Several key extensions not available for Chrome (yet), e.g. Web Developer, Colorzilla, NoScript, CookieSafe
• Better bookmark management (e.g. tags)
• Sorting options for history
• Right-click to view images/background images (have to open developer console in Chrome)
• Toolbars are customizable (particularly important with extensions - Chrome's extensions all get added into the main toolbar and move around randomly! Plus FF has the added advantage in this respect of a status bar for extension icons etc.)
• As a colleague pointed out yesterday, from a web development and browser compatibility point of view, Firefox is the most widely used browser (if you treat each major version of IE as different browsers) so it makes more sense to use it as your primarily browser when developing sites.

So, the jury is split! I expect Chrome to catch up with Firefox in many of these areas, although having said that, I know that the Firefox developers are already looking into many of the things where Chrome has taken the lead, such as separate processes, better search integration, etc. for future versions, so nothing is a foregone conclusion!

Google Chrome extensions

This week I finally made the big switchover from Firefox to using Google Chrome as my web browser of choice. I'd tried several times before, but the lack of extension support in Chrome put me off as I'm a bit of an extension junkie, as those of you who know me will testify!

However, with extensions now supported in the Beta version of Chrome and soon to be in the main release version too, I decided to make a serious attempt at switching over. I was already convinced about the browser itself - it wins hands down on the speed and stability stakes, compared to Firefox which, while it started out so well, has just got slower and clunkier as time has gone on (partly a result of all those extensions, but by comparison Chrome hasn't seemed to be affected too noticeably yet).

Admittedly, Chrome's extension gallery is still in its infancy. There are a number of things that are not yet catered for and many of the existing extensions are still in the early stages of development and quite buggy. However, there seems to be just about enough to work with and obviously over time things will improve.

I started out by making a list of all the addons I've got installed in Firefox and then searched for equivalent Chrome extensions.

Here's the list as it stands at the moment:

Firefox	Chrome
Adblock Plus	AdBlock
AFOM Addon	-	Not needed in Chrome as memory leaks are not such an issue
AVG Safe Search	WOT	However, Chrome's built-in security features make the need for this less urgent.
Colorzilla	-	One of my most-used FF extensions. However, the various functions are fairly well covered by Pendule and Chrome's built-in developer tools.
CookieSafe	-	This is one that I'd really like to see ported over to Chrome as soon as possible (I'd do it myself if I knew how!). In FF I disabled all cookies and then just enabled them on a per-site basis only when absolutely required, and temporarily unless for trusted sites I visited regularly.
Download Statusbar	-	No need for this as Chrome already shows download status in a fairly unobtrusive way.
Fasterfox Lite	-	Chrome is already a lot faster so no need for this at the moment.
Firebug	Firebug Lite	However, Chrome's built-in developer tools provide all the Firebug-like functionality I need at the moment.
GMail Notifier	Google Mail Checker Plus	The Chrome extension is actually much nicer than the FF one, although still has a few bugs.
Greasemonkey	-	It is possible to enable userscripts in Chrome, but as the only Greasemonkey scripts I used in FF were for Flickr, I've managed to find Chrome extensions for Flickr that do most of what I want anyway. Still, a standard way to add userscripts would be handy.
Html Validator	-	There are several validators for Chrome, including HTML Validator, but none currently works with locally hosted pages, like the FF one, which is a shame.
JSView	-	I never used this all that much anyway, but occasionally it was handy for quick access to scripts. The lack of an equivalent for Chrome is not a big deal though.
KeyScrambler	KeyScrambler Pro	Although I do like the added layer of security this provided, I did often find it a bit slow meaning I'd sometimes find myself typing garbled text into the browser. You can use the Pro version of KeyScrambler which works with a whole host of desktop applications, but I'm not about to fork out for it at the moment,
NoScript	-	Like CookieSafe, this is another one I'd really like to see ported to Chrome. FlashBlock provides some of the functionality (blocks Flash and Silverlight) but not all.
OpenBook	-	Chrome's bookmarks don't seem to have a tagging mechanism so this is fairly redundant. It would be nice to see more bookmark features in Chrome though.
Organize Statusbar	-	A must if like me you had so many extensions installed. Chrome doesn't have a status bar, but it would be extremely useful to have some way of customising and managing extension icons in the toolbar and address bar as currently there's no way to arrange them and they swap order for no reason every time you open the browser!
Personal Menu	-	See above. Thankfully Chrome has a much more minimal interface which minimises the need to mess around with the built-in menus etc.
Profile Switcher	-	I'm not sure if Chrome even supports profiles yet. This was handy at home with my wife and I using the same browser. However, as I've just bought her a netbook this won't be a problem in the future!!
Resizeable Textarea	Always Resize	Chrome supports resizing textareas by default anyway, but this extension makes even locked textareas resizeable.
Speed Dial	Speed Dial	Not quite as feature-rich as the FF one yet, but nonetheless does the job.
Split Browser	-	Never made too much use of this anyway, but Chrome's nifty ability to drag a tab out into a new window makes this less necessary anyway.
Unsorted Bookmarks Folder Menu	-	Not needed due to the different way Chrome handles bookmarks. It was a bit of a hack for Firefox anyway!
Vacuum Places Improved	-	FF got slower and slower the more pages were stored in it's history. However, even after importing my browsing history from FF into Chrome, it's still incredibly fast, so no need for this.
Web Developer	-	Number one on the wishlist of FF extensions for Chrome. Chris Pederick is apparently looking into the possibility but its a complex extension so could take a while even if he does decide to give it a crack! However, Chrome's built-in developer tools do cover a lot of the more useful functions, and Pendule has a few more, so its not the end of the world.
XMarks Bookmark Sync	XMarks Bookmark Sync

In addition, I've found a number of additional Chrome extensions that are proving (or look) useful, either in covering some of the fucntionality of one or more of my old Firefox extensions, or providing other functionality:

Fittr Flickr
Facebook To-Go with Instant Notifications
RSS subscription extension
Flickr Gallery Plus!
Chromed Bird
Google Calendar Popout
AutoPager Chrome
Slideshow
Google Apps Shortcuts