DRX

Web Developer Resource Index: Firefox

Firefox is a fast, free, open-source, multi-platform, extensible Web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation. It has excellent support for Web standards, using the Gecko rendering (or layout) engine. Firefox has many user-friendly features including tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, improved privacy and security, and installable themes (or skins).

Firefox is supported by a large international team of programmers, independent developers and advocates. There are 100s of installable extensions to enhance the product, including many written specifically for Web developers and designers that are listed in this directory.

Many aspects of the Web and the Internet have been dominated by open-source software, such as the Apache Web server, the Linux operating system, database systems like MySQL and programming languages such as C, Perl, PHP and Python. However, commercial control of PC-based operating systems like Microsoft Windows has kept the client-side outside the reach of open-source alternatives since the early days of the Web.

Until 2005. Firefox has already made incredible inroads into the browser market. Watch for this category to grow as Firefox improves even more and we see how the commercial vendors respond. I’m hoping it touches off a new wave in standards support by browser makers, and an overall improvement in the quality of the resources that are available on the Web as a result.

Note that within the Browsers category of drx I have chosen not to include a Mozilla Suite sub-category, since mozilla.org has decided to concentrate all of its efforts on Firefox. I do list SeaMonkey in the Browsers category if you’re interested in installing it and giving it a try.

For additional news and links, visit the Firefox Rave page. For developers that are interested in what is possible with XUL and other Mozilla framework tools, visit the new Firefox Extensions index.

Updated: Sunday, April 9th, 2006 @ 5:25 PM EST [32]

Internet:WWW:Clients:Browsers:Firefox {0}(61)

Navigation

Resources

• 1.Firefox: Rediscover the Web

  The wait is over. Firefox empowers you to browse faster, more safely and more efficiently than with any other browser. [103]

  ★★★★★
  URI:http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=affiliates&id=20976&t=1
  Author:
  Ben Goodger
  [3]
  Reviewed:Wednesday, April 6th, 2005 @ 5:52 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Firefox: Rediscover the Web browserclientfirefoxmozilla
   

• 2.Firefox Facts

  With over 150 pages of tips, tricks and extension reviews, even the most seasoned Firefox user is sure to learn something new from this free ebook in PDF format. Mitch frequently adds new hacks and reviews using a category, tag and commented blog format. [1687]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://firefoxfacts.com/
  Author:
  Mitch Keeler
  [1]
  Reviewed:Sunday, April 9th, 2006 @ 5:25 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Firefox Facts ebookextensionfirefoxhowtoreviews
   

• 3.View Rendered Source

  This Firefox extension creates a color chart of a Web page's rendered source code, displaying a structured, nested, collapsible view of the browser's internal state of the document, including after the DOM has been modified by JavaScript. A powerful tool. [1686]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://jennifermadden.com/scripts/ViewRenderedSource.html
  Author:
  Jennifer Madden
  [1]
  Reviewed:Sunday, April 2nd, 2006 @ 10:11 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  View Rendered Source codedebugdomextensionfirefoxjavascript
   

• 4.InfoLister

  A simple Firefox extension that prints a list of your installed extensions, themes and plugins. While that may not seem very interesting, what is slick about this one is you can save the data as XML, and even automatically upload the results to your host. [1667]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://mozilla.doslash.org/infolister/
  Author:
  Nickolay Ponomarev
  [1]
  Reviewed:Thursday, March 9th, 2006 @ 1:25 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  InfoLister extensionfirefoxxml
   

• 5.CookiePie

  A Firefox extension that allows developers to test code designed for multiple user/profiles using tabs, with each tab having a separate cookie "environment." End users can open multiple Gmail/Yahoo! accounts in different tabs and windows simultaneously. [1657]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://nektra.com/oss/firefox/extensions/cookiepie/
  Author:
  Sebastian Wain
  [1]
  Reviewed:Tuesday, February 28th, 2006 @ 9:52 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  CookiePie cookiesdeveloperextensionfirefox
   

• 6.ChatZilla!

  A cross-platform messaging client that combines Internet Relay Chat (IRC) with existing Web standards like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. Built as a Mozilla Firefox extension, it is very easy to install and use. Get connected to the Web developer community! [1653]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://chatzilla.hacksrus.com/
  Author:
  Robert Ginda
  [2]
  Reviewed:Sunday, February 26th, 2006 @ 3:09 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  ChatZilla! chatextensionfirefoxircjavascriptmozillaxul
   

• 7.Firefox Extension Development Tutorial

  Created for individuals wanting to develop full-featured extensions for the Mozilla Firefox browser, the tutorial has been constructed as a step-by-step guide to building a real extension, and providing many examples, explanations and external references. [1650]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://www.rietta.com/~frank/firefox/Tutorial/overview.html
  Author:
  Extend Firefox Team
  [1]
  Reviewed:Tuesday, February 21st, 2006 @ 1:04 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Firefox Extension Development Tutorial domextensionfirefoxjavascriptmozillardfxul
   

• 8.Restart Firefox

  A drop-dead simple Firefox extension that adds a new item to your File menu and provides a button you can drag and add to your toolbar(s). What does it do? Just what the name implies, and it makes installing other extensions and themes that much easier. [1638]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1249&applica...
  Author:
  Jed Brown
  [3]
  Reviewed:Thursday, February 9th, 2006 @ 1:32 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Restart Firefox extensionfirefox
   

• 9.Performancing

  A full featured blog editor that sits right within Firefox. It supports Wordpress, MovableType, Blogger and other systems if they have a compatible API. Features include Technorati/del.icio.us integration and drag and drop formatted content from any page. [1637]

  ★★★★★
  URI:http://performancing.com/firefox/
  Author:
  Jed Brown
  [3]
  Reviewed:Thursday, February 9th, 2006 @ 11:04 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Performancing apiblogdel.icio.useditorsextensionfirefoxtechnorati
   

• 10.Console²

  In addition to Javascript errors and warnings, the new Firefox 1.5 console also supports CSS and XML messages. Building on these improvements, this extension provides an upgraded, and customizable user-interface, easier filtering and search capabilities. [1575]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=318102
  Author:
  zeniko
  [1]
  Reviewed:Monday, December 19th, 2005 @ 10:49 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Console² cssextensionfirefoxjavascriptsearchuser interfacexml
   

• 11.Mozilla.com

  With the exciting release of Firefox 1.5 comes a brand new .com domain as well. The best open-source, open-standards, cross-platform, secure, accessible Web browser just got that much better. I highly recommend upgrading or installing this version today. [1569]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://www.mozilla.com/
  Author:
  Mozilla Corporation
  [1]
  Reviewed:Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 @ 7:42 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Mozilla.com browserfirefoxmozillaopen source
   

• 12.View Cookies

  Adds a new tab to your Firefox Page Info dialog so you can view (and remove) cookies from any site. Includes the name, value, domain, path and expires parameters of every cookie set by the visited site. Test your own, or see what other sites are setting. [1567]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://bitstorm.org/extensions/view-cookies/
  Author:
  Jolie van der Klis
  [1]
  Reviewed:Tuesday, November 29th, 2005 @ 12:47 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  View Cookies cookiesextensionfirefoxmozilla
   

• 13.UrlParams

  Displays GET and POST parameters for any page in your Firefox sidebar. A great tool for debugging forms and testing complex GET URLs (e.g. Google search this site). Also includes the referring URL, and allows you to add/edit name/value pairs on the fly. [1566]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox...
  Author:
  Erik Schmidt
  [1]
  Reviewed:Tuesday, November 29th, 2005 @ 11:44 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  UrlParams developerextensionfirefoxmozillaurlweb
   

• 14.Blogzilla

  Blogzilla is a weblog about Mozilla. The site covers news, tips, info, links, and hacks related to the Mozilla project. Why Mozilla? Because IE sucks. Not to be confused with bugzilla, which you should also investigate if you want to understand Mozilla. [1552]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://deftone.com/blogzilla/
  Author:
  Pinder Johal
  [1]
  Reviewed:Friday, November 11th, 2005 @ 12:44 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Blogzilla blogbrowserfirefoxmozilla
   

• 15.Fasterfox

  There are a million and one Firefox performance tweaking guides out there. The great thing about this extension is it installs itself as part of your global settings with a nice GUI interface, and it provides a page load timer so you get direct feedback. [1545]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://fasterfox.mozdev.org/
  Author:
  Tony Gentilcore
  [1]
  Reviewed:Monday, October 24th, 2005 @ 1:17 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Fasterfox configextensionfirefoxperformance
   

• 16.Bloxor

  An XUL-based RSS and Atom feed aggregator for Firefox and other Mozilla/Gecko browsers. This is not a stand alone application, although it feels like one. There is no need to install anything, just visit the Bloxor site, create a login and add your feeds. [1507]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://bloxor.com/
  Author:
  George Nava
  [1]
  Reviewed:Monday, August 22nd, 2005 @ 6:39 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Bloxor aggregatoratomfirefoxgeckomozillarssxul
   

• 17.DevBoi

  A sidebar extension for Firefox that provides quick and easy access to reference documents related to Web development, including HTML 4.01, CSS 2.1, DOM 2 and XUL. An offline version is also available for when you're not connected. Very convenient! [1501]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://devboi.mozdev.org/
  Author:
  Martin Cohen
  [1]
  Reviewed:Friday, August 19th, 2005 @ 3:42 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  DevBoi cssdomextensionfirefoxhtmlmozillareferencestandardsw3cxul
   

• 18.Google Suggest

  If you like the Google Suggest search interface, and likewise use the Firefox search box, then this extension is for you. If not, it's like find as you type: simply start entering in a keyword and the extension will drop down a list of suggestions. [1500]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://toolbar.google.com/firefox/extensions/suggest/
  Author:
  Google
  [8]
  Reviewed:Friday, August 19th, 2005 @ 1:21 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Google Suggest extensionfirefoxgooglesearch
   

• 19.The Official Mozilla Store

  Show your support, buy some Firefox swag! I've got a t-shirt, coffee mug and some other stuff. If you don't like t-shirts or coffee mugs, then buy a friend one. Maybe you'll guile them into dumping IE. Now with a brand new interface and lots more choices. [1157]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://store.mozilla.org/
  Author:
  Mozilla Foundation
  [1]
  Reviewed:Thursday, August 11th, 2005 @ 2:15 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  The Official Mozilla Store firefoxmozillaswag
   

• 20.Image Zoom

  Personally, I love the Firefox feature that allows you to zoom text with the Control key plus the mouse wheel. This extension does the same thing for images, only you use the RMB instead. Context menu with lots of other options. No wheel? Sorry Mac users. [1448]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox...
  Author:
  Jason Adams
  [1]
  Reviewed:Saturday, July 30th, 2005 @ 8:34 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Image Zoom extensionfirefoxgraphics
   

• 21.GreaseMonkeyed

  A Greasemonkey script repository, what else? Scripts are categorized by tags, and there are hundreds of them with one or more scripts for each, so do the math. The interface is a large tag cloud, that's easy to navigate and find what you're looking for. [1434]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://greasemonkeyed.com/
  Author:
  Britt Selvitelle
  [1]
  Reviewed:Monday, July 25th, 2005 @ 4:42 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  GreaseMonkeyed firefoxgreasemonkeyjavascriptmozillarepositorytagging
   

• 22.Devmo: Developer Mozilla

  Although still in alpha as of this writing, Devmo looks to become another excellent resource for the Mozilla community. If you're familiar with editing MediaWiki sites like Wikipedia, and you want to contribute, create an account. Or just browse around. [1433]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://developer.mozilla.org/
  Author:
  Open Source Community
  [14]
  Reviewed:Monday, July 25th, 2005 @ 2:21 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Devmo: Developer Mozilla developerfirefoxmozillaopen sourceresourceswiki
   

• 23.LiveLines

  Live Bookmarks in Firefox, frankly, suck. It's nice that the browser provides feedback to the user by placing an icon on your status bar when you visit a site that has RSS feeds. With LiveLine, you can add them to Sage, or your favorite online aggregator. [1425]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://heygom.com/extensions/?p=19
  Author:
  Gomyoung Kim
  [1]
  Reviewed:Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 @ 7:30 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  LiveLines aggregatorextensionfeedfirefoxrss
   

• 24.All-In-One Sidebar

  This extension is rather like a tabbed browsing interface for your sidebars. A collapsable vertical list gives you quick-and-easy access to a plethora of stuff, including your bookmarks, history, downloads, themes, and many other extensions such as Sage. [1411]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://firefox.exxile.net/
  Author:
  Ingo Wennemaring
  [1]
  Reviewed:Saturday, July 16th, 2005 @ 11:07 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  All-In-One Sidebar extensionfirefoxuser interface
   

• 25.Tamper Data

  A Firefox extension that allows you to monitor, view the details of, and alter (tamper with) HTTP and HTTPS requests and responses. Test your Web application for security flaws. I like all the details, including the response time for each sub-request. [1403]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://tamperdata.mozdev.org/
  Author:
  Adam Judson
  [1]
  Reviewed:Thursday, July 14th, 2005 @ 10:22 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Tamper Data extensionfirefoxhttpmozillaprotocolsecurity
   

• 26.Scribe

  Never lose that long post again due to your Internet connection dying or a power outage. This Firefox extension allows you to save, edit and load Web forms with one keystroke. The data is saved as XHTML, so you can even edit it with a WYSIWYG application. [1400]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://prismicspiral.com/scribe/
  Author:
  Prismic Spiral
  [1]
  Reviewed:Thursday, July 14th, 2005 @ 5:39 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Scribe editorsextensionfirefox
   

• 27.delicious

  A Firefox extension that is superior to the Javascript bookmarklets that perform a similar task: integrate your del.icio.us bookmarks with the browser. Supports a context menu, and toolbar icon. Allows you to save the current page, or a selected link. [1399]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://delicious.mozdev.org/
  Author:
  Christian Hellsten
  [1]
  Reviewed:Thursday, July 14th, 2005 @ 5:16 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  delicious del.icio.usextensionfirefoxfolksonomytagging
   

• 28.Google Toobar

  Long available for IE, and now released for Firefox, the Google toolbar packs a lot of functionality into one place. They are a bit late in the game however, as many of these features already exist as other extensions. See also the Googlebar from Mozilla. [1390]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://toolbar.google.com/firefox/
  Author:
  Google
  [8]
  Reviewed:Sunday, July 10th, 2005 @ 12:45 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Google Toobar extensionfirefoxgooglemozillasearchtoolbar
   

• 29.Firefox Toolbar Tutorial

  An 8-page article describing how "easy" it is to create Firefox extensions, in this case a toolbar. Easy, as long as you understand RDF, XUL, Javascript, CSS, and you can do graphics (button icons anyway). Don't get me wrong, this piece is well done! [1379]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://borngeek.com/firefox/tutorial/
  Author:
  Jonah Bishop
  [1]
  Reviewed:Thursday, July 7th, 2005 @ 8:51 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Firefox Toolbar Tutorial cssextensionfirefoxgraphicshowtojavascriptprogrammingrdftoolbarxblxul
   

• 30.Extension Room

  A categorized list of XUL-based extensions for Mozilla, Firefox and Thunderbird hosted by mozdev. Catgories include bookmarks, blogging, configuration, developer tools, downloading, privacy and security, news, searching, tabs and searching, and more. [1374]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/
  Author:
  Project Contributors
  [1]
  Reviewed:Tuesday, July 5th, 2005 @ 12:23 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Extension Room blogconfigdeveloperextensionfirefoxmozillanewssearchsecurityxul
   

• 31.The Firemonger Project

  Slated for a brand-new release soon, the Firemonger Project is a downloadable CD image with the latest stable versions of Firefox and Thunderbird, and includes a whole slew of the best extensions, documentation and other goodies. Rip, burn, distribute. [1369]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://firemonger.org/
  Author:
  Robert Wiblin
  [1]
  Reviewed:Sunday, July 3rd, 2005 @ 9:48 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  The Firemonger Project distroextensionfirefox
   

• 32.Firefox Extension Tutorial

  An overview of the technologies used to create a simple Firefox extension. The Mozilla application framework is designed to be platform independent, and uses XUL/XBL, Javascript, CSS and RDF, chrome and skin, and JAR/XPI rather than a complied language. [1368]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://businesslogs.com/technology/firefox_extension_tutorial.php
  Author:
  Mike Rundle
  [1]
  Reviewed:Sunday, July 3rd, 2005 @ 9:11 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Firefox Extension Tutorial cssextensionfirefoxmozillardfskinsxblxul
   

• 33.Document Map

  Displays a treeview of the document structure in the sidebar of your browser. Try it with drx to see how much this Firefox extension simplifies navigating vertical documents. Also great for complex technical documents such as those found at the W3C. [1363]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://www-jcsu.jesus.cam.ac.uk/~jg307/mozilla.xml
  Author:
  James Graham
  [1]
  Reviewed:Saturday, July 2nd, 2005 @ 5:33 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Document Map browserextensionfirefoxmozillausability
   

• 34.URIid

  Adds an id to the body of each page, allowing a CSS selector to be used in the user stylesheet (userContent.css). By creating site-specific rules, the user can alter the appearance (skin) of any (fugly) site they want. Also works for behavior. [1359]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=563
  Author:
  Chris Neale
  [2]
  Reviewed:Thursday, June 30th, 2005 @ 11:01 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  URIid cssextensionfirefoxmozilla
   

• 35.chromEdit

  Chrome is a Mozilla codename for the visible portions of the user interface in its products. Thus, chromEdit is an extension that simplifies editing the CSS and Javascript files that allow the user to alter the appearance of a Mozilla application. [1358]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://cdn.mozdev.org/chromedit/
  Author:
  Chris Neale
  [2]
  Reviewed:Thursday, June 30th, 2005 @ 10:31 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  chromEdit csseditorsextensionfirefoxjavascriptmozilla
   

• 36.SpellBound

  Not only does this wonderful extension provide spellcheck for Web forms, it's a cure for what I call the postage stamp syndrome. Adjust the window size to your liking, and you have a mini-editor that beats the pants off of a standard form textarea. [1354]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/
  Author:
  Robert Strong
  [1]
  Reviewed:Thursday, June 30th, 2005 @ 6:18 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  SpellBound extensionfirefoxmozilla
   

• 37.Smoke, Mirrors and Silence: The Browser Wars Reignite

  Sadly, I have just heard the news that we have lost Nigel. His contributions to the Web development and Mozilla communities were many, and his role will be missed. This piece was written last year, before Firefox really started to make an impact. [1328]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=174156
  Author:
  Nigel McFarlane
  [1]
  Reviewed:Thursday, June 23rd, 2005 @ 2:24 PM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Smoke, Mirrors and Silence: The Browser Wars Reignite browserdeveloperfirefoxmozillastandardsweb
   

• 38.Mozilla Quality

  Just launched: a Quality Assurance (QA) and testing blog for Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird. Stay up to date on newest releases, test builds, multiple platforms and application bug fixes. Community feedback is strongly encouraged. [1326]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/qa/
  Author:
  Asa Dotzler
  [1]
  Reviewed:Thursday, June 23rd, 2005 @ 11:18 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  Mozilla Quality blogfirefoxmozillaqa
   

• 39.A Firefox Glossary

  The original Mozilla browser suite was aimed more at the power user, hacker type, or simply geeks. Although friendlier, Firefox still has many features and jargon that can make it confusing for the average user. This glossary of terms will help. [1300]

  ★★★★☆
  URI:http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/mozilla/2005/05/06/firefoxglossary.ht...
  Author:
  Brian King
  [1]
  Reviewed:Saturday, June 18th, 2005 @ 11:20 AM EST
  by:
  Douglas Clifton
  
  A Firefox Glossary browserfirefoxmozillareference
   

• 40.Mozilla Amazon Browser

  I've been searching for a Rich Web Application built on Mozilla XUL technology. Well, MAB is it. Very slick interface to Amazon, runs in a browser window (zero install), or as an extension. Way too many features to list. Outstanding achievement! [1287]

  ★★★★★
  URI:http://faser.net/mab/
  Author: