Firefox Extensions Part 1 - Flash Got, Bookmark Backup, and Session Saver.

Posted April 15, 2005

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After I wrote about how great some of the features are in Maxthon, it didn’t until this week occur to me to check for Firefox extensions that do exactly the same things.

I found just that. At Roundtwo and Pike’s Firefox Extensions, you can find these three great extensions; Flash Got (Roundtwo) and Bookmark Backup and Session Saver (Pike’s). As I understand it, and read on DSL Reports this week, the founder of Roundtwo used to work on the Firefox project, and it really shows as his site is really professional looking and his extensions are very practical for the everyday designer and user.

Flash Got

Just like the one click icon to save Flash from Maxthon, now Firefox will allow more ease to save Flash files out of websites.

Rating : 4 of 10

Granted, I didn’t look at this extension very long, but I thought it didn’t really help me personally that much. Nested up in the tools menu, a couple of clicks can help you get those Flash movies you really like. But knowing how to find the source, and knowing that when you put in the direct path to a Flash movie in Firefox, it lets you save the movie, this wasn’t any easier for me. I actually like the one click solution in Maxthon better.

Bookmark Backup

Like the site says, this will backup your bookmarks every so often automatically in a local folder so in case you have some sort of corruption, you can back them up at any time.

Rating : N/A of 10

I haven’t had to use this yet, so I will have to write about it once I do. But the premise does sound cool and useful.

Session Saver

The one feature that I really missed from Maxthon, this is a great extension. Install it, and away you go, the browser doesn’t even ask you at shutdown whether you want to save your windows. I may work in up to 30 windows at one time, with different articles I read through the day, reference sites, and other design related materials.

If my system crashes, or I have to force quit for some reason, this will open up all of those windows again for me instantly.

Rating : 9 of 10

The only reason I didn’t give this a perfect rating, is because, nothing is perfect bascially. Plus, if you want this feature, but aren’t a designer, chances are you don’t need your tabbed windows opened again. Althought I am sure there is an option to shut this off, I haven’t found it yet. Because I haven’t looked.

There are so many others out there, that is what is great about open source technology and a browser like this. To have designers and coders contribute a module that will do a task they really need. Making a browser work for them in their habits, that is what the web should be all about.

Go exploring, I know I will. It will be a dark day before I switch favorite browsers again.