Have you browsed for apps in the Firefox Marketplace or did you not even realize the site existed? The Firefox Marketplace is full of options for Android devices as well as for the desktop. Here is what you can expect from the site and its desktop-specific apps and games.

How to Use Firefox Marketplace

To access the Firefox Marketplace, just click on Tools in your menu and then select Apps. Once you arrive on the home page you will be greeted with featured apps and categories to explore. You can select from New, Popular, or a particular Category in the top navigation menu, with the categories including Games, Productivity, Shopping, Business, and Entertainment.

There is a search box at the top if you know what you are looking for and you can display results in a small or large grid format for easy viewing. You can also choose to display All Apps, Desktop Apps, Firefox OS Apps, Android Mobile Apps, or Android Tablet Apps. This is great for narrowing down your search or browsing options.

Selecting an app shows you most of the information you need to know about the app: the number of reviews, the star rating, screen shots of the app, a brief description, and a few user reviews at the bottom. You can also see compatibility details, most recent version information, and content ratings. Once you click the Install button and confirm the installation, the app will appear on your desktop.

Available Apps and Games

As expected, there are many popular apps to choose from such as The Weather Channel, Pinterest, Outlook.com, and SoundCloud. As for games, you can find Cut the Rope, Tic-tac-toe, Reversi, and Sudoku. However, there also appear to be many apps and games that are not as well-known. So, this might be your chance to experiment with something new.

How Well Do the Apps and Games Work?

Some appear to work much better than others. Each opens in a small window which you can enlarge to fit your screen. Here are few other observations regarding some specific desktop apps and games.

Yahoo Weather

Upon opening the app, the main weather information for your location of choice is displayed on the home screen. The Yahoo Weather app also contains navigation to other Yahoo sites such as News, Sport, Finance, and Flickr. You can also sign in if you have an account or check your Yahoo Mail from the app. This is convenient if you are an avid Yahoo user, but if you are not it may be distracting as some links will open your browser window instead of keeping you in the app.

Yelp

There are a few ads within the Yelp app, but for the most part it does exactly what it is designed to do which is provide local business information. The app has options for you to sign up or log in to Yelp and there is a convenient search option at the top with results displayed nicely below. The Yelp app works pretty well for the desktop.

Cut the Rope

Cut the Rope technically works as it should, by letting you cut ropes using your mouse to feed candy to the little monster Om Nom, with your progress saved when the app is closed. The graphics appear to be a bit fuzzy, so this game definitely shows room for improvement. When opening in full-screen mode, the display switches to a large black background with the game somewhat off-center. However, the smaller display doesn't appear to consistently center the game either.

Have You Used the Firefox Marketplace?

The marketplace is generally easy to navigate, search, and browse. However, there could be a lot more apps and games to choose from when browsing for desktop apps. Also, the screenshots of the apps are for mobile devices even when filtering with the Desktop App option, when it would be helpful to see the actual desktop screenshots instead. The Firefox Marketplace is still displayed as a beta version, so hopefully there will be improved and additional apps down the road.

What are your thoughts on the Firefox Marketplace for desktop apps? Do you find it lacking or does it have exactly what you are searching for? When it comes to desktop apps and games do you think they work well or are you hoping for some improvements? We would love to hear your thoughts below!