I recently went back to work, this time for a very large company with an IT staff dedicated to keeping things on total lock-down so we (the employees) can’t waste time or share corporate secrets via the internet or installed programs.  What this meant for me was a return to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as my one and only browser choice.  My first thought was “how bad could it be?”

Fast forward 6 working days and find me strongly considering the purchase of an iPad, just to use at work for surfing the internet and keeping up with my Facebook and Twitter updates and follows.  Just as I was about to justify the purchase cost to my significant other, we discovered something miraculous…. we could install Firefox!!!  Whether it was allowed via an error on IT’s part or simply the granting of my third wish, I couldn’t be happier.  Why, because now I was in control.

As soon as Firefox was finished installing, I jumped to the Mozilla Add-Ons web site.  From there, I can choose from thousands of add-ons, which let you add new features and change the way your browser or application works.  Think of them as little programs that run from within your browser and not your operating system.  Add-ons start when you open Firefox and can do anything from change the color of your navigation buttons to notify you when your friends are on their XBOX.  If there is a special need for anything internet related (in some cases even that doesn’t matter) add-ons are the resource you need.

The Yoono Sidebar

Yoono

Once within the add-ons web site, I stumbled around a bit until I found Yoono!  What a discovery that was.  Yoono allows you to get all your updates, update your status and share across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube & more – all at once! As it turns out, that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Look at this list of features:

• Update your status across all your social networks at once!
• Chat while surfing the web via AIM, Google Talk, etc., right there in the browser!
• Discover “cool stuff” while surfing, all related to what you are currently viewing.
• Easily share links, images and video with all your social networks.
• Drag and drop links, images and video into your IM conversations.

The best part is, this is all done from within the browser, so if you can install Firefox, you can get Yoono.

Don’t Stop There

Yoono is a wonderful tool, but one of only thousands of add-ons available from Mozilla.  Visit the add-on web site now and see what is possible in Firefox.  Also, if you are interested in getting regular updates on new add-ons and updates, follow Mozilla (also known as mozamo or AMO) via one of these methods:

Add-ons Blog

Add-ons Newsletter

mozamo on Twitter

Related Articles

We’ve written about Add-Ons before.  Want to know more?  Check out these articles:

Take Back Your Browser with JumpstartMyFirefox

Firefox Add-on BarTap – How Did I Live Without It?

My first thought was “this looks like XOBNI for Gmail” and, according to the comments and feedback I have read on this product, I am not alone. XOBNI is another fantastic tool, but unfortunately is only available for Outlook users, and a product that I have missed terribly since switching from Outlook to Gmail.  Both of these products make it very easy to see what social networking services your friends, family and even customers are using.

Once installed, the social networking information on the person/company that emailed you appears out to the right of an open email.  Icons (with links) are provided for services like Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, etc.  Simply click on any of these to open the profile page of that individual in a new tab.  Below the links you will find a comment area that you can use for keeping track of customers, but I am sure individuals will find some other creative and unique ideas for this space.

Installation

First of all, Rapportive is an add-on, so there isn’t the same commitment level that you might have with a full-blown program installation.  If you don’t like it, it takes just a few button clicks to disable it.  I had it up and running in less than 5 minutes, thanks to the well-thought out installation page from the Rapportive web site that includes step-by-step install instructions.

Link: http://rapportive.com/install

** One user did comment that any users of the Ad-Block Plus add-on (Firefox) might have to disable it to perform the installation of Rapportive.

After installing, you’ll just have to restart and then open an individual message (any one will do) to access the login button.  Grant permission to Rapportive to access your Gmail account and you are on your way.

Login Screen for First Time Use

Concerns

Initial concerns from most seem to be the fear that Rapportive will have access to your login credentials and/or email content.  Their FAQ page addresses this concern head-on:

“We never see your password. We use Gmail’s OpenID login system, which means only Google receives your password. All we get from Google is a token that proves you’re really you, and a few details (like your name and preferred language)… The contents of your email never leaves your browser, and we never store your emails anywhere. We’re finding peoples’ email addresses in the browser, and sending those back to our server to look them up.”

Verdict

I have only used Rapportive for a few minutes, but I am already a big fan.  There are definitely some areas for improvement, but the makers of Rapportive have provided numerous areas within the sidebar and their website for you to provide feedback.  I will be using their service and providing my ideas and concerns as time goes on and I encourage you to do the same.

PrintWhatYouLike.com was created by two developers who shared our frustrations with printing from the web and decided to do something about it.  The PrintWhatYouLike tool comes in several forms (listed below) and provides users the ability to choose what elements of a web page they want to print before the information is transmitted to their printer.  Print a single paragraph, an article, an image or several pages of information.  It is entirely up to you.  This truly amazing service is provided to you for FREE, so there is no reason not to start using it today.

For those of you who don’t want to print at all, or simply want to archive information found on the web in a different way, PrintWhatYouLike also offers the ability to save the pages you find as a PDF.  Just use one of the options below to activate the PrintWhatYouLike feature and then choose Save as > PDF instead of Print.  Save the file anywhere you want and access it later on.  This is a great feature for those of us who don’t want to shell out several hundred dollars for a PDF creation software.

The Many Forms of PrintWhatYouLike

Every user has different ideas of how a tool should be used, so the folks at PrintWhatYouLike gave us some options on how and where we can implement their service.

Bookmarklet

Link: http://www.printwhatyoulike.com/bookmarklet

The bookmarklet is a simple way to integrate the PrintWhatYouLike feature into your browser without any sort of installation.  Simply visit the link above and follow the instructions to drag some text to your bookmarks/favorites area in your browser.  The next time you want to print something, simply click on the bookmark and the PrintWhatYouLike editor will appear around the page you are on.

The Bookmarklet Looks Like a Bookmark but Functions Like a Print Button

Firefox Add-on

Link: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9290

This add-on provides a more integrated option (for Firefox users).  Visit the link above and install the add-on**.  It is listed as “experimental” right now, but I have been using it for months myself.  Replace the standard “print” icon in your browser with the PrintWhatYouLike button.  This will help you remember to use this great feature when the time comes.

** After installing this add-on, you will need to restart Firefox and then take one additional step to get the icon to show up in your browser.  Right click in the menu area (somewhere near help) and choose Customize.  Scroll down and look for the PrintWhatYouLike icon (like the one at the top of this article) and drag it into your menu bar, wherever you want it.

Customize Your Firefox Menu Bar to Add the PrintWhatYouLike Button

Look for Our Pre-Configured Print Button

For regular readers of the JumpstartMyPC.com blog or anyone who wants to print out today’s article for later use, you can now use the green Print button located at the top of our articles.  This button has been configured to print only our article and images, without all the menu options and sidebar information.  Push print and send the information to your printer without any hassle or selection.  We’ve done the work for you.

The Print Button is Now Part of Every One of Our Articles

Customer Service is King

On a side-note, I would like to point out that the PrintWhatYouLike.com team is as fantastic as their product.  I ran into some trouble when creating the Print button for our articles and received A+ support from Jonathan, who is actually one of the creators of this product.  This top-notch customer service, in addition to a great product, means I won’t even think about trying a competitor’s product.  It is a shame that other companies don’t understand the importance of communicating with and helping their clients.

We all find new and exciting sites as we explore the internet.  These aren’t necessarily our “favorites” or sites we want to “bookmark” but sites we just want to investigate later and now there is a way to save the links for these pages without destroying our desktop.  SaveLink is an add-on for Firefox that incorporates a new option to your File and right-click menus.  That option, shown as “save link as file” allows the user to save an entire page or an individual link as a shortcut in a folder of their choosing.  Below, we have some screen shots of this great Firefox add-on in action.

Installation

First, you’ll have to install the add-on for your copy of Firefox.  Head over to this link and click on Add to Firefox.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/14019

SaveLink Add-on Web Site

Use

Once you’ve installed and restarted, you can begin using SaveLink in one of two ways.

Entire Web Pages – Simply navigate to the page you want to save, then go to File/Save link as file…

Go to File if You Want to Save an Entire Page

You’ll be asked where you want to save the file and what you want to name it.  Pick any folder you like and then name your file, or use the default name that pops up.  You can create a folder on your hard drive for “Sites to Research Later” or even put the new shortcuts into a Dropbox folder and access them on the go.

Individual Links – Right-click on any link within your browser and choose Save link as file …

Save a Link from A Web Page or Article

Now, you can go back to your newly created folder and access these shortcuts any time you want.  Your desktop will thank you.  Your friends and family will thank you.  Best of all, you’ll actually be able to find that link again, without straining your eyes or your nerves.

Over the past few years, Firefox add-ons have grabbed my attention more and more.  Each time I found myself with a browsing need or problem, a quick Google search led me to a solution using add-ons, which are basically mini-programs that work within Firefox to customize some part of the browsing experience.  I have installed and tested many add-ons during that time and today I bring you my own collection, titled JumpstartMyFirefox, to help you take back your browser.

Getting Started

If you are an Internet Explorer user, I urge you to at least try Firefox and these add-ons.  Installing Firefox will not replace or delete anything you have done in IE, so you can always switch back if you would like.  If you are already a Firefox user, this might be the time to start with a fresh install of Firefox.  That’s what I did and I couldn’t be happier.   Jump on over to firefox.com and get started.  It takes just a few minutes to download and install this great browser.

BEFORE: Default Install for Firefox (version 3.6)

Now that you have Firefox installed, you’ll need to install the recommended add-ons below.  The article looks lengthy, but these add-ons can be installed in about 10-15 minutes.  The only time consuming part is waiting on Firefox to restart after each one is installed.  Direct links are available (below) or you can visit the Official JumpstartMyFirefox Collection page on Mozilla.

AFTER: JumpstartMyFirefox Add-ons Image Map

Security and Speed Features

1) Adblock Plus – gets rid of most of those ads and banners that often take longer to download than everything else on the page. Install

2) NoScript - stops active content on sites until you “whitelist” the page or site.  Protects your computer from malicious attacks. Install
NOTE: NoScript takes some time to learn and can seem a bit strict at first, but WILL help protect your computer.

3) Web of Trust (WOT) – warns you about risky sites that cheat customers, deliver malware or send spam.  Install

4) Optimize Google (not shown in image above) – works behind the scenes to enhance Google search results and remove ads and spam. Install

Layout and Streamline Features

5) App Tabs – Pin favicon-sized app tabs to the left side of the tab bar.  A must have for anyone who visits the same sites throughout the day.  Install
NOTE: This add-on is listed as experimental.  I have seen no issues or side-effects from use of App Tabs.

6) Download Statusbar (not shown in image above) – View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar – without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.  Install

7) Strata40 – a theme that changes the layout of the browser (colors, icons, etc.)  Install

StrataBuddy – A companion add-on that adds new features to Strata40.  Install

9) Fission – Fission combines address bar and progress bar.  This makes the progress bar more visible and allows for a nice visual effect.  Install

Further Customization

After you have Firefox and all of the add-ons installed you can begin fine-tuning your Firefox layout to get everything right where you want it.  Here are a few small changes that I made to the interface you see above.

• Add icons for bookmarks and printing – By default, you only have a few icons to work with (back, home, stop, refresh), but a right-click anywhere in the menu options will allow you to Customize what buttons you see.  With the Customize Toolbar window open, you can drag and drop icons anywhere you want them, move search and address bars around, etc.
• Change the View to remove the Bookmarks Toolbar – If I want to access a bookmark, I can simply click on the star (between the address ans search bars) to see my bookmark links.

Related Articles

Want more add-ons for Firefox?  There are thousands to choose from on the add-ons web site.  At JumpstartMyPC.com, we have already written a few articles on some other great add-ons to help you with printing, tab reloading, etc.  Click on the links below to find out more:

My Web of Trust – You Cannot Afford to Surf Without It – more detailed information about WOT add-on.

Firefox Add-on BarTap – How Did I Live Without It? – BarTap helps speed up the restart time of Firefox after a crash or shutdown.

Site Launcher – Like Having a Remote Control for Firefox – It’s like having a remote control to your favorite web sites.

ShareThis makes sharing easy – There is no easier way to share web sites or articles with friends and family via email, Facebook, Twitter or any other sharing site you can think of.

Firefox Reloading Tabs after Restart

I am a tab person.  If I see a link that I want to check out later, I right-click and “open in a new tab.”  My thought process are arranged by windows and each tab is a work in progress.  I jump around from tab to tab and use them as reminders of what I was researching, working on or playing.  To me, they are kind of like post-it-notes.  Thankfully, Firefox added the ability to restore sessions a few years back.  Until then, my thoughts and projects would vanish.  Until this morning, I would just have to wait patiently as all of those “dot circles” finally turned into real icons.  I assumed that this was just part of life and something that I was gong to have to deal with on a regular basis.

What changed this morning?  I was introduced to a new add-on for Firefox called BarTap.  BarTap is a FREE add-on that loads your tabs, but holds off on loading the page until you click on the tab.  By doing this, Firefox can load quickly and you can keep your system resources.  Luckily, the names of the sites still load, so you get an idea of what was on each tab before the restart happened.

FireFox Reloaded with BarTap

BarTap is one of the many add-ons for Firefox that I have desperately needed forever but never thought to search for.  Actually, that seems to be the case with most add-ons.  It isn’t until someone else introduces me to an add-on that I would even think of trying it.  Hoepfully, you will thank us for introducing it to you.

Add-on Link – CLICK HERE to visit the BarTap add-on page.

Site Launcher is a “simple Firefox add-on that gives a highly convenient and clutter-free method to quickly open websites that you need often. One keyboard hotkey makes the ‘Launcher’ panel instantly appear, followed by a single key press to jump to the site you wish to open.” (quote taken from donesmart.com web site) I took a few minutes yesterday to install and test this great new FREE feature and I have to say I love it!  The only trick now is remembering that it is there.

How it Works

You install the Site Launcher add-on (which only takes seconds) then “setup” the launcher application to assign the sites you visit most often (see image below).  Setup is a loose term because the makers have already assigned a number of the most popular web sites (amazon.com, ebay, facebook, google, etc.) and I really didn’t have to change or add many additional sites.

Once, you have your “channels” set up, you can go on with your normal browsing.  When it’s time to visit one of your favorite sites just press CTRL + Spacebar (that is Control and the Spacebar at the same time) and the “on-screen guide” will come up (see image below) .  You can then click on the site you want to visit or simply press the letter for the corresponding site.  It really could not be any easier.

There are a number of options for the program which can be found under the Site Launcher menu options (now appearing in your FireFox menu system right next to Tools).  You can change colors, number of columns, size of icons… The list goes on and on.  I just tested different options until I finally came up with a setup I liked (shown above).

Your Browser Can Look Like This

For the last couple of days, we’ve talked about increasing your elbow room in your workspace.  Once you’ve tackled that project, you might find yourself just motivated enough to handle some other issues in your office (home or work).  Removing clutter and reorganizing can also be applied to another important part of your daily workspace, your browser.  This might not be something you have thought about before, but once you see what is possible, you’ll realize just how crazy your browser was getting.

Remember when you first started on your new computer or new install of a browser?  It was clean, organized and ready for you to destroy.  You began browsing for work and/or personal use and quickly began collecting bookmarks, toolbars, sidebars, etc.  Reading your favorite blogs, participating in social networking, playing your favorite online games and checking your personal email quickly caused a disorganized, overloaded browser.  The more you used it, the less space you were actually left with to view web sites at all.

Internet Explorer Disaster

Thanks to a great article on the site Lifehacker.com, I was introduced to a great new, FREE tweak for my browsing experience and I want to share it with you.  You can use FireFox, along with some “add-ons” to create a simple, clean browsing experience that will help you gain back some of your “internet view.”  I know that many of you are already saying “FireFox!  I don’t want to change to FireFox.  I don’t like it.”  Don’t worry.  Adding an additional browser to your computer does not mean that your old one goes away.  Try FireFox for a few days and, if you don’t like it, switch back.  Your old browser it just a few button clicks away.

Step-By-Step (takes about 15 minutes)

• Install Firefox – Download HERE
• Visit the Add-ons page for Firefox (add-ons let you add features which aren’t part of the standard application)
• Locate Strata40 by searching or clicking HERE
• Click on the “Add to Firefox” button and follow the on-screen instructions (you may be warned about this add-on being experimental)
• Restart Firefox when prompted
• Locate and install the following add-ons
  • Strata-Buddy
  • App Tabs
  • Fission (download depends on your version of FireFox)
  • Tab Progress Bar

You are now ready to enjoy a browser experience that looks a bit more like this:

FireFox Browser after Strata40 and other Add-Ons

What You Can Do With Your New Setup

Now that you have installed the add-ons, you can begin tweaking your browser to match your tastes and needs.  Here are few of the highlights:

• Mini-Tabs – See those small tabs to the left of the JumpstartMyPC.com homepage (image above)?  To create a mini-tab you simply hold CTRL and click on any open tab.  Keep your most-visited sites open, but free up room for other tabs.
• Colors – You can change the color of the surrounding window and tabs.  Change from the default (shown above) to one of 5 other options by going to Tools/Add-Ons/StrataBuddy/Options.
• Toolbars – Notice in the image above that there are no toolbars.  Limit yours in View/Toolbars by removing the checks fbeside any you don’t want to see.

You’ll notice that the image above still looks a bit different.  Why is that?  Well I have been using add-ons for some time now and had already altered my navigation buttons and address bar to appear beside the the menu.  This shows you the power of add-ons.  There are thousands to choose from and no-limit to the areas of use.  I have add-ons that notify me of new mail, let me know when friends are online playing XBOX, show me previews of images from links, etc.  Visit the add-on site today and see what you can find.

Image taken from informationmadness.com

Which browser is better?  An ongoing debate in the computer world and one that you and your friends or co-workers may have already had.  Internet Explorer was the only game in town for a long time, but other choices have emerged to give the end user both a choice and a reason for debate.  The list of browsers goes on and on, but the most widely used are Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari (for Macs) and Opera.

I initially set out to research and then provide you with some cold, hard facts about why one browser is better than the other, but that proved to be rather difficult.  It seems that most of the online information I could find was strictly personal preference.  Since that is the case, I am going to provide you with my own preference and experiences.  That said, I am married to Firefox, with a Google Chrome mistress.  Let me explain further.

There are a few criteria that I use when choosing my browser:

• Speed – When I sit at a new computer for the first time, I immediately open Internet Explorer (since most people still use it) and see how long it takes to open.  In most cases, I then visit Firefox.com or Google.com/chrome.  Why, because Explorer is slow to load and usually littered with toolbars and shortcuts.  This mess of options and folders slows the PC down and drives me bananas.  Personally, I see a huge difference in speed by switching to Firefox or Chrome.  Again, I couldn’t find any test results online, but my history tells me that IE is sloooooowwwwww.
• Security – Data was hard to come by for this category as well, but there are at least two reasons why I feel more comfortable when using Firefox.  First, Firefox is open source.  This means that thousands of programmers and experts work on making it the best, versus one company (Microsoft).  Open source means more checks and balances.  Secondly, I have worked on a lot of PCs and I see the most issues with Internet Explorer.  When I sit down at a troubled PC, IE is usually the problem and Firefox or Chrome are usually the biggest part of my solution.
• Customization – I haven’t used IE8 much since it was released, so maybe something has changed there, but I know that Firefox allows me a lot of choices for customization.  There are currently over 5000 FREE extras that let me customize and extend Firefox to meet my needs.  Toolbars, themes, search providers, common tasks…. The list goes on and on.
• Look and feel – Referring back to my comments about speed, there is way too much going on in the typical Internet Explorer install.  Most of this boils down to the user of the computer I am sitting at, but I know that a fresh install of Firefox, along with a few adjustments via add-ons, gives me an organized browser with a lot more real estate for the web page I am on.

To prove a few of my points from above, I urge you to follow the provided link (below) to an article over at Lifehacker.com.  The author has provided step-by-step instructions on how to reorganize your Firefox browser to streamline the menu system and provide you with more viewing area for surfing the web.  The article references making these changes for “your netbook” but it really works on any computer.

Maximize Firefox 3.5’s Viewing Area

Using these steps, I organized my browser and I am very happy with the results.  Here is “before and after” to paint you a picture of how changing to Firefox and following the article can make a difference.  Note the gold/yellow area in each screen shot.  This represents your internet viewing area.  The rest is toolbars, menus and other clutter.  There is a bit of dramatization in the first picture.

(left) Explorer with Toolbars - (right) Firefox with Maximization

There is one downfall to this conversion to Firefox.  Currently, not all web sites support the Firefox browser and you may experience some issues when trying to access these sites.  In that case, you can still use Internet Explorer, but given that Firefox is gaining market share every day, I don’t think you will have this issue for long.

Any thoughts or comments?  Please feel free to leave them below.  If you have any questions, you can leave them there as well.  If you like our article and think someone else might benefit from it, please pass it on using the ShareThis button below.