There are a lot of Firefox plugins that add cool little features to your browser, but only a few have really changed my life and the way I use my Firefox browser. Unfortunately, there are just as many blogs on “top Firefox plugins” that don’t really do more than to showcase a bunch of popular, most-downloaded plugins.

Here is a short list of plugins that have really made a difference for me. There may be some that you have seen or not seen, but they are definite must-haves for me. Props to the creators of these plugins!

1. Firebug

This is absolutely my most favorite plugin as a web enthusiast and as an aspiring web developer.

Firebug has made it possible for me to understand how websites are built and how specific layouts are coded. It allows you to “edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.” This is great if you wish to learn hands on how code effects the design. You can simply tamper with the code in Firefox and see the effects of the change right away! This is also a perfect tool if you have no idea how HTML or CSS works, but wish to create your own website. The easiest approach is to find a template that has a layout that you like then use Firebug to play around with the coding to perfect how you want it to look. This saves loads of time, since you don’t have to waste time uploading your website files just to see the effects of your changes. - Download Firebug

2. No Squint

If you are like me, you like your browsing experience to be as relaxing and laid back as possible. What I like to do is sit on my reclining chair with my feet on the table and my wireless mouse and keyboard on my lap while browsing some websites. I’m a big fan of Digg and do quite a bit of reading from there (going from site to site, of course) and occasionally I run into long articles that completely ravage my eyes due to the font size and the resolution of my monitor (1440×990). No Squint allows you to remedy this by allowing you to set the default text size for Firefox, as well as remembering your text sizes for specific websites. Say good-bye to retina detachment! - Download No Squint

3. Image Zoom

For the same reasons above, Image Zoom has really helped me relax a bit more while surfing the internet. I simply have to use my scroll-wheel while clicking the right mouse button to instantly scale images. - Download Image Zoom

4. Google Preview

I don’t know what I’ll do without this one. This simple yet ingenious Firefox plugin includes a small picture of each website listed in the search results. This is an excellent way to assess the quality and design of a website before actually entering it. Talk about judging a book by its cover… - Download Google Preview

5. BugMeNot

BugMeNot was really useful in the beginning, but now that a lot of websites I visit are aware of this plugin (and website) a large amount of accounts on there no longer work. It usually works less than half of the time for me now. - Download BugMeNot

6. StumbleUpon

I have Digg for this! - Download StumbleUpon

I also use a bunch of other really cool plugins, but they do not really impact my browsing experience by that much. Nonetheless, the more notable ones are listed below:

Auto Copy - automatically copy highlighted text

Fasterfox - automatically tweaks your Firefox for ultimate speed and performance

Link Alert - displays small pictures indicating what kind of action is performed upon clicking on a link (ex. pop-up, script)

All-in-One Sidebar - view dialog windows such as downloads, extensions, and view source or websites in the sidebar

PDF Download - gives you the option to open, close or download PDF’s before downloading anything

Tab Mix Plus - gives you more functions and customizations for your tabs

Hope you enjoyed the list!

- Peter Kao