Essential Firefox Extensions

Since my last post on Firefox, I have discovered 2 essential Firefox extensions. How essential? Well, let's just say that while surfing the net, I don't go more than 30 seconds without using one or both of them.

I've already talked about Performancing 1.2 (which allows for easy, one-click blogging) and Forecastfox (which adds weather reports to your browser toolbar or statusbar). But, while not everyone will be interested in those, I can guarantee everyone will be interested in these.

First up is Dictionary Tooltip, which lets you double click (or Press ctrl+shift+D, or right-click) on a word to see its meaning. You no longer need to exit your browser window (or open a separate one) to look up the definition of a word (definitions courtesy of The Free Dictionary.com):

As you can see from the video, you get detailed results (sometimes it even includes a picture) at, literally, the touch of a button. Priceless.

If you're anything like me, your Bookmarks Toolbar (below the url entry bar) gets jammed fast with links you visit daily. When I realized nearly half my links were for search engines like Google and IMDB, I downloaded the second essential extension; Firefox SearchBar.

It comes pre-loaded with Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Answers.com, and Creative Commons search.

Want to add more? Mozilla has a list of popular search engines here, or you can visit this site to search for something specific. Just click on one and it's automatically added to your search bar. Want to remove some of them? Just download SearchPluginHacks to allow easy and instant right-click (or ctrl+click) removal of search engines for customization. (I imagine this feature will come standard with new versions of SearchBar.)

I simply cannot imagine how I managed to surf without these tools for as long as I did. Enjoy!