Firefox Extensions

Firefox extensions range from the indispensable (ad blocking) t­o the utterly silly (an extension that changes the Options menu's definition of "Cookies" from a technical explanation to "Cookies are delicious delicacies"). Here are a few of the more notable extensions.

• That's Funny Bork Bork Bork! -- View Web pages or e-mail as spoken by the Swedish Chef Hammer Time -- Hear Hammer's voice every time you stop a page from loading Xoom -- Adds a racing game with a top-down view to the browser.

  Themes -- Themes are technically a separate category from extensions, but they all do the same thing -- they change how Firefox looks. There are several dozen themes to choose from on the official Firefox site. If you want your browser to look like it's made out of wood or have big, brightly colored icons or look sleek and futuristic, there's a theme for you. You can change it every day if you want to.

• Gestures -- Mouse gesturing is a feature taken from another browser, Opera. When this extension is installed, users can execute various common Web surfing commands by holding down the right mouse button and "gesturing" in a certain direction with the mouse. A gesture to the left takes you back one page, while a gesture to the right takes you one page forward. You can customize the gestures and combine them (a down-then-left gesture minimizes the browser window, for example).

• FoxyTunes -- This extension places a small control panel on the Firefox toolbar, allowing users to control any media player software from within the browser.

Screenshot by HowStuffWorks.com
Firefox extensions range from indispensable to silly. Explore Firefox extensions like mouse gesturing, FoxyTunes, Ad Block, ForecastFox and RadialContext.

• ForecastFox -- This popular extension puts a short-range weather forecast in your toolbar. You can select your location (or several different ones), how many days you want in the forecast and whether you want only daytime forecasts or both days and nights.

• RadialContext -- Most browsers give you a drop-down menu of options when you right-click on a Web site. The RadialContext extension livens this up by giving you a small dial of graphical options (sort of like the controls on your car stereo) instead of that plain text menu.

RadialContext

• Adblock Plus -- There are several different ad-blocking extensions available in addition to the pop-up blocking Firefox has built-in. These extensions allow users to block some or all banner ads and other advertisements that appear on Web pages. Some use a list of known ad servers or block images from servers with the words "banner" or "adserver" in the domain name. Others display ads normally, but if a user finds a particular ad exceptionally annoying or obtrusive, he or she can right-click on it and choose to remove it in the resulting drop-down menu.

Before and after using the remove-ad feature

On the next page, learn about Firefox security.