Mozilla Firefox
Firefox is, by my point of view, the best browser. Even when working in MS-Windows I prefer it to Internet Explorer, and though I have a KDE based Linux, I prefer it to the default Konqueror, which is a relative of Apple's browser.
My favorite add-ons to Firefox are:
- Vista-aero theme. This theme gives the Firefox, which I think is quite not pretty, a look which resembles Internet Explorer, which is probably the best thing about IE. Requires Java plug-in to run the install.
- Adblock Plus. This excellent add-on simply blocks most of the adds in a web page. It supports a variety of sites which provide data for the blocker. Let me just say that although there is no Israeli site, it still stopped Ynet from displaying most of its numerous adds. Impressive.
- Google Notebook. This add-on is distributed by Google and allows saving notes, web pages and comments. It is excellent for reminding yourself of things you see and want to come back to. It is offered also for IE.
- Faster Fox. This add-on helps configure Firefox to be an even faster browser. It has several presets, but also allows the advanced user to customize it. The options are almost limitless, and include caching, downloading of "future links", rendering, number of pipelines, etc, etc. Sure, everything may be configured from the about:config in Firefox (another great feature in Firefox), but why not do it with a nice graphic interface?
- Google Preview. This add on does a simple thing. It shows a thumbnail of the web page that Google returns. Why do you need it? Try it for some time, and you'll be hooked.
- Fast Dial, which generates a page with many small pages, like in Opera browser.
- Mouse Gestures, which allows to control many frequently used operations by mouse gestures, as in Maxthon browser. unfortunately, this is not too useful when using a touch-pad instead of a mouse.
- iMacros, which allows to record sequences of operations and then execute them as a single macro. Yes, just like what Apple OS-X Leopard does.
Thunderbird is an excellent e-mail client. It beats Outlook Express used in MS-Windows. I may agree that Outlook is a better personal organizer, but hey - that's a whole different league. If you want to compete at this level, try Evolution or Kontact. I prefer Evolution in Linux, but Outlook is - for me - a better application.
Nevertheless, Thunderbird is very light-weight, which makes it comfortable, and just as configurable as Firefox. Here are my favorites:
- Nautipolis. This theme applies icons from art.gnome.com. It is offered in two versions for different versions of Thunderbird: 1.0, and 1.5 to 2.0. As any theme in Mozilla, this too requires Java.
- The most important add-on, as I see it, is Lightning, which adds a calendar support to Thunderbird. After adding this add-on Thunderbird becomes a light-weight personal organizer. Isn't that nice?
- Provider for Google Calendar. After adding Lightning, why not add your Google Calendar to it? If you don't have one, well, maybe this blog isn't for you. But if you do have one, then this is undoubtedly what you need - a two way synchronization between Google Calendar and Lightning. Did anyone say MS-Exchange server and Outlook?
- WebMail. With Gmail supported by Thunderbird as a built in, you may wonder what to do with Yahoo mail or Hotmail. Use WebMail as a proxy and then add the extension for your email provider.
- Update Notifier. When you have so many extensions, you want someone to keep track of their updates. This extension does that and notifies you when updates are ready.
- BiDi Mail UI. If you write emails in Hebrew or Arabic, or other languages which are written from right to left, this Bi-Directional extension will allow you to control the paragraph direction.
As mentioned earlier, there are virtually endless optional add-ons. If you find add-ons you like, please add them in the comments so I can check them out. Thanks!
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