DownThemAll!
http://www.downthemall.net/
If you’re downloading a large file (for example a website backup) it can be very irritating if you get disconnected or your computer crashes.  Typically this always seems to happen within the last 10%!
DownThemAll! is a download manager integrated into Firefox which is able to pause and resume downloads.  The neat thing about it is that its completely integrated – when you start a download you get an option to download with DownThemAll!.

Xmarks (previously Foxmarks)
http://download.xmarks.com/download/all
Thanks to the recent fashion of “small cheap computers”, it seems everybody has at least 2 computers nowadays.  With my home PC, laptop and work computer I can’t live without Xmarks – it’s a bookmark synchroniser which keeps your bookmarks identical across computers.  It has some nifty features such as bookmark profiles (so you can vary your bookmark toolbar at work for example), and if you’re on a computer where you can’t install the add-on, you can still see your bookmarks from a web page.
It’s compatible with Firefox on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux – as well as Internet Explorer and Safari.

TwitterFox
http://twitterfox.net/
If you’re a Twitter fanatic like some of my colleagues, you’ll find this simple add-on a blessing.  It adds an icon on the status bar which will notify you when someone you’re following tweets on Twitter.  You can also quickly tweet or reply to a tweet directly from your browser without loading up Twitter.  Don’t forget to follow @heartinternet while you’re there!

Firebug
http://getfirebug.com/
This is one for the web developers out there (and with our new HostPay themes out last week, everyone should be trying their hand!).  Firebug lets you inspect and alter the current webpage – allowing you to explore the document tree and CSS styles of a specific element and tweak them instantly in-place.  It’s also got a powerful JavaScript debugger/profiler that helps you track down those annoying errors.

VertTabbar
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8045
When one of my colleagues mentioned this add-on to me, I was sceptical.  But I find myself becoming more and more attached to it.  The add-on simply moves the tab bar to a vertical position on the left-right of your browser.  This means you can have more tabs open and still see their titles.  It works perfectly on a widescreen monitor where horizontal space isn’t at a premium.

Speed Dial
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4810
Speed Dial adds a “quick launch” page to Firefox, where you can put your most used websites with thumbnails for each of them.  This feature will be familiar to Opera and Chrome users.  It can be configured to appear every time a new tab is opened, making it a good “jumping page”.  It’s just a shame it can’t be synchronised with Xmarks!

What are your favourite add-ons?  Or have you jumped ship to Chrome or IE8?  Let us know!

Name:Rik Brown

About:Rik is one of Heart Internet's System Administrators. Having worked at the company for the past couple of years, Rik is responsible for looking after webservers, mailservers, upgrades and security.

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