by Ray Cook

Created on: March 21, 2008

Mozilla Firefox is my preferred browser and has been for the last four years.

As someone who earns their living on the Internet I work with Firefox because it offers a large number of add-ons and extensions which enable me to customize Firefox to a very considerable extent.

Unlike some other browser publishers, Mozilla has always opened up its code by providing an API (Application Programming Interface) which allows anyone with the know-how to create extensions. Mozilla then grant their seal of approval by listing these extensions on their website. They can be found at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/.

FOXMARKS

Fo xmarks is a clever tool which allows you to save your bookmarks on the Foxmark server. If you have as many as I do in many different categories then this can be a lifesaver, especially if you ever need to transfer them to a new computer. Because your bookmarks can be synchronized with the server in the background you have the wonderful possibility of having the same bookmarks on any number of PC's or laptops. All you have to do is log in and download them. If you add a bookmark on your laptop, for example, you can synchronize it with your PC later. Brilliant.

FIREFTP

FireFTP is a fully functional FTP program which runs from a browser tab or window. If you have your own website or are a developer then this can be an extremely nifty little adjunct to your browser. You have the ability to manage accounts. Each account is a connection to a particular FTP server account. There is drag and drop, advanced connection parameters and a running progress bar for uploads and downloads. It is also pretty quick. All in all, considering it is absolutely free, not a bad application at all. I use it frequently.

COOLIRIS PREVIEWS

CoolIris previews may not be to everyone's liking and, to be honest, I am currently trialing it. I may tire of it, but at the moment I am finding it very much to my liking.

CoolIris works as follows: if you place the mouse pointer on a link a small blue icon appears next to it. If you then move the mouse over this icon (this is a choice, you can configure to click as well) then CoolIris opens up its own browser window which you can then use like any other window. This allows you to preview other web pages without leaving the one you are on. Furthermore, you have the option to convert the current CoolIris window into a Firefox tab with just one click. There are many other options such as emailing the page, changing font size and a number of configurable

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