Many of us prefer to dual boot our systems. It could be that we don’t want to completely move to Vista or it could be that we are trying out Linux along with Windows.
Let’s face it, no matter which operating system you are using, you got to surf the web. It seems like a good idea if your browser automatically knew what you had bookmarked on the other operating system and you don’t have to customize your settings, passwords and search pages all over again.
Well if you use Firefox, and want to achieve something like this, then read on:
Firefox is close to our hearts. In the past, we’ve reviewed a number of Firefox add-ons here on Make Use Of. Any guesses what this article is about? Yes, you’ve guessed it - it’s the ever popular Firefox add-ons list compilation.
However this time, its a list with a difference. The add-ons in this list are the Winners of the Extend Firefox contest organised by Mozilla Labs.
The add-ons are classified into three categories.
Pencil is a GUI prototyping and diagramming add-on. This means that you can use Pencil to create mockups of windows, buttons, panes etc. Some of the features of Pencil are:
Zigtag is an awesome social networking, web tagging, digg-type site. The name should give most of it away - Zigtag - tagging being their main purpose. It essentially makes available all of the sites that people thought were cool.
Zigtag is currently in private BETA, yet the wonderful folks at Zigtag have given MakeUseOf readers exclusive BETA invites. The only other thing you need is their Firefox/Internet Explorer Add-On which allows you to add tags, share pages, etc. (You are also able to simply drag and drop a bookmarklet if you are unable to install the add-on.)
Hooeey is a free service which lets you track and organize the websites you surf, on any computer. It goes one step ahead of Google Web History and stores all of your web history online in your Hooeey account which then lets you access it from any computer. It can be a pretty cool service especially for those who spend a lot of time online doing research and may forget to manually bookmark the sites.
So far I have not been a huge fan of any social site. Don’t get me wrong, I love social sites like Digg, Del.ico.us, Flickr, Twitter and so on, but that list is one reason I haven’t used them much. I need to visit four different sites to manage myself, not to mention additional stuff like StumbleUpon, Youtube and some more I use. Even if I use desktop clients, I still need to download separate tools for most of these sites.
There are so many websites out there that it’s getting harder and harder for developers to come up with a good idea. Since all the ‘good ideas’ have been taken, website owners need to come up with innovative ways to portray their web application.
The problem with this is that many people think these websites are useless because the website is either hard to use, a waste of time, or too different. But there are a lot of sites out there that people should take another look at, even if they do seem to be useless at first. Sites that are in beta will improve overtime, and a “useless” product can turn into the “next big thing”.
With the unexpected news that Google was dropping its Browser Sync Firefox addon, attention is now turning to Mozilla Labs’ “Weave” project.
Weave is also a Firefox add-on and its purpose is to allow you to backup your Firefox settings such as your bookmarks, history, passwords, customizations and preferences and then sync them with the Mozilla servers so that you can access them from anywhere that allows you to access the internet. Obviously this data is encrypted so that it’s securely stored.
We have already covered the Read it Later Firefox extension twice before, once when I wrote about some time-saving Firefox extensions and also when Mark wrote about the benefits of this extension.
But now this wonderful extension has been updated for Firefox 3 and in a big way. It brings some awesome new features which, I am sure, could make it one of the most popular extensions for Firefox 3.
So without any further delay, here are the power packed features of this updated extension.
If you browse the internet on a regular basis (and which Make Use Of reader doesn’t?), it doesn’t take long to stack up a big list of website URL’s that you will want to check up on later. The default bookmarking feature in the Firefox browser only takes you so far, so let’s take a look at some ways to better organize your growing bookmark collection, whether it’s synchronizing with another computer or just accessing the links a little bit easier.
1. Foxmarks : The Add-on Multiple Computer Users Can’t Live Without
When I go through my RSS feeds every morning looking for story leads, I end up finding approximately 10-20 stories that I see some possibilities in. But I don’t want to end up with a Firefox tab jam having those 10-20 tabs constantly open. When that happens, browser organisation gets shot to hell and my overall productivity goes down as a result.
So what’s the solution? Build up a reading list for later with the Firefox “Read It Later” extension. This instantly became my number one Firefox extension of all time, so much so that I eventually removed the bookmarks menu from Firefox to use the RIN extension exclusively.
There are literally hundred of new Web 2.0 sites that appear every month and many of them sound interesting, but only a few actually get people excited and anxious to get their hands on the goods! Most of these sites start out in private beta, so only a few select people get to play around with them.
Here’s my list of some of the popular and most anticipated Web 2.0 sites that are still in private beta, but already have a pretty large following!
Got a blog ? If so this post is for you: 12 truly useful tools and widgets that can make your blog better. All listed services work on any blog, whether it’s a Wordpress, Typepad, or a hosted Blogger blog. Enjoy!
1. Amung.us - Amung.us is a tiny real-time traffic analytics widget for your blog. It tells you (and your readers) how many people are currently on the website, what pages they’re reading, where in the world they’re coming from, and more. See our Amung.us widget below:
Posted by makeuseof guest-writer Mark O’Neill
With all the hype surrounding Del.icio.us and Digg, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that they are other bookmarking sites out there on the Information Super-Highway. If you are a blogger, knowing about the “alternative” bookmarking sites can be very useful for spreading the word about your latest blog posts.
Some of the following services have niche subjects such as news or blogs, while others allow you to bookmark pretty much anything.
Finally my hunt is over. Aibek, the main author of MakeUseOf told me when I first started being a guest writer that there is a “free version for everything”. So I sought out to replace any of the desktop applications that I used with free (and preferably open source) desktop only programs.
I don’t feel ashamed that I had paid for these programs since they did provide useful services to me until recently. Now I know better. Here are the results (please note I tried several other options before deciding on these applications):
(1) Office Software
Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website belonging to Yahoo that let’s you store, share and organize yours and discover others favorite links. While this may not sound very enticing as many people can simply store their favourites on their computers, there are two main things del.icio.us gives that your locally stored bookmarks don’t. Firstly, by storing your favourites on del.icio.us server you can access them anytime from anywhere as long as you are connected to the internet. Secondly, and most importantly it provides you an access to favourites of other del.icio.us users, and there are millions of them.
