Like most web developers or SEO professionals, I use a vast array of tools to get the job done. I use a combination of desktop and web applications, some purchased and some free. Everyone I know has downloaded a free copy of Mozilla Firefox, but few realize that by installing some of the 1,500 free extensions they can eliminate the need for most of the other applications they currently use. Below are my 13 favorite extensions for web professionals (in no particular order):
HTML Validator (http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/) – validates web pages to the W3C HTML standards with a simple green check in the corner of the page if the page validates, a red check if it doesn’t, and a yellow exclamation point if there are warnings. It also includes an enhanced view of source code that allows you to see where errors are within the code.
FireFTP (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/684/) – free, secure, cross-platform FTP client that provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers. This eliminates a piece of software for those of you who use a separate program for FTP.
Professor X (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2823/) – lets you view header information without having to view source code. The page “slides” down and Professor X shows you the contents of the page's head element, including Meta, Script and Style content.
NikkelWHOIS (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2646/) –view the WHOIS information for any page by clicking the button on the top-right of the browser.
IE Tab (http://ietab.mozdev.org) – sick of swapping between Internet Explorer and Firefox when testing out a web page you’re developing? With IE Tab you can view Internet Explorer in a Firefox Tab!
FireBug (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1843/) – an advanced debugger console that lets you monitor your JavaScript, CSS, HTML and Ajax.
Codetech (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1002/) – web page editor that has the feel of Dreamweaver. An amazing extension for anyone doing web design that doesn’t want to fork out a few hundred dollars for Dreamweaver.
Server Switcher (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2409/) – easily switch between sites on your development and live servers by clicking the switch server icon.
SEO for Firefox (http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html) – pulls useful market research data right into Google's and Yahoo!'s search results, including Google PR, Age, links, Alexa rank, WHOIS, and more. It also adds a few helpful links to the top of the search pages, including Google Trends, Google Traffic Estimator, and the Overture View Bid tool.
Yet Another Window Resizer (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2498/) – allows you to resize browser window to default screen resolutions.
AdSense Preview (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2132/) – preview the Google AdSense ads that would appear on that page. This is incredibly useful if you are considering putting AdSense on a page and don’t want to go through the hassle of signing up for an account and putting the ads up just to see what type of ads will show.
Screen grab (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1146/) – takes a screenshot of the webpage and saves it as an image file. This saves a ton of time compared to the method I used to use – take a screenshot and open Adobe Photoshop to crop the image.
Server Spy (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2036/) – indicates what brand of HTTP server (Apache, IIS, etc.) runs on the visited site on the lower-right side of the browser.
Adam McFarland owns iPrioritize - simple to-do lists that can be edited at any time from any place in the world. Email, print, check from your mobile phone, subscribe via RSS, and share with others.
http://www.amazines.com/article_detail.cfm/134885?articleid=134885&title=seo%2Cmozilla%2Cfirefox
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Mozila Download - Easy To Use And Secure
Mozilla is a not-for-profit Foundation started in 2003 in California. Mozilla includes a group of people from around the world who are dedicated to improving the experience of all Internet users. Mozilla Firefox is free as are other Mozilla products, however, as a non-profit organization, Mozilla accepts donations. All Mozilla products have copyrights and members adhere stringently to copyright rules and laws.
Mozilla strives to develop the very best products possible by collaborating with others. Mozilla members believe the key to good use of the Internet is sharing information and technology openly and honestly. Mozilla welcomes input from users of their products regardless of their technical knowledge. Mozilla listens and responds to concerns, ideas and suggestions of those who use their products and those who have difficulty using a product. It is a goal of Mozilla to improve products, and educate and expand the knowledge of Internet users through communication and collaboration.
The most popular Mozilla product is the web browser, Firefox 2, released in June 2007. This version of the original Firefox is more powerful, with added features to bring Internet surfers and researchers a dependable and efficient Internet experience. When using Firefox, a tab with a close button will open each new web page. If, you close a tab and later want the page back, you will find the link in History under "Recently closed tabs."
What happens, if you open too many tabs? Mozilla Firefox handles this in a simple and efficient manner. No scary warnings, no deleting of your links, Firefox courteously, places scroll arrows on each side of your tabs and adds a button on the right side. Click the button and get a list of your open tabs, click on the one you want to open. When finished with a tabbed page, just click on the black X on the right side of the tab and the tab will close the web page.
Mozilla Firefox is very helpful when you want to find something on the web, but you are not certain what you need to type into the search bar. Firefox comes with search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Answers and others to help you find what you need by making suggestions. Type a word or phrase into a search bar and click. A drop down menu will appear and there will be a list of suggestions to help you find your information. For instance, you want to find a list of places in Daytona Beach, type Daytona Beach, a list will appear with suggestions such as: attractions, churches, events, entertainment, hotels, museums, parks, etc. Click on one of these and receive pages of links from which to choose information. For great surfing, try Firefox.
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/mozila-download-easy-to-use-and-secure-198455.html
Mozilla strives to develop the very best products possible by collaborating with others. Mozilla members believe the key to good use of the Internet is sharing information and technology openly and honestly. Mozilla welcomes input from users of their products regardless of their technical knowledge. Mozilla listens and responds to concerns, ideas and suggestions of those who use their products and those who have difficulty using a product. It is a goal of Mozilla to improve products, and educate and expand the knowledge of Internet users through communication and collaboration.
The most popular Mozilla product is the web browser, Firefox 2, released in June 2007. This version of the original Firefox is more powerful, with added features to bring Internet surfers and researchers a dependable and efficient Internet experience. When using Firefox, a tab with a close button will open each new web page. If, you close a tab and later want the page back, you will find the link in History under "Recently closed tabs."
What happens, if you open too many tabs? Mozilla Firefox handles this in a simple and efficient manner. No scary warnings, no deleting of your links, Firefox courteously, places scroll arrows on each side of your tabs and adds a button on the right side. Click the button and get a list of your open tabs, click on the one you want to open. When finished with a tabbed page, just click on the black X on the right side of the tab and the tab will close the web page.
Mozilla Firefox is very helpful when you want to find something on the web, but you are not certain what you need to type into the search bar. Firefox comes with search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Answers and others to help you find what you need by making suggestions. Type a word or phrase into a search bar and click. A drop down menu will appear and there will be a list of suggestions to help you find your information. For instance, you want to find a list of places in Daytona Beach, type Daytona Beach, a list will appear with suggestions such as: attractions, churches, events, entertainment, hotels, museums, parks, etc. Click on one of these and receive pages of links from which to choose information. For great surfing, try Firefox.
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/mozila-download-easy-to-use-and-secure-198455.html
Why you should use Firefox
By now, just about everyone has heard of Firefox, and most understand that it's an
Internet browser similar to Internet Explorer. You've also probably been told that you should use it because it's more secure. But what does that mean to you? Why should you give up Internet Explorer, one of the most familiar programs that you use on a daily basis so that you can say you're "more secure"? Well, I'll tell you why, and also explain dozens of other benefits that Firefox offers that will make your online surfing safer and definitely more entertaining.
The topic of security between Firefox and Internet Explorer really grinds down to open source versus proprietary software, which I will only touch base with at this time. Naturally the two programs have completely different features, but the "secure" part refers to the architecture of how the programs are built and how quickly newly discovered security flaws are patched. The beauty of an open source project, like Firefox, is that countless programmers world-wide contribute their expertise to continually enhance Firefox to perform as stable and secure as possible. When a security flaw is discovered, it is often patched within hours of the discovery. Very often by the same person or persons that discovered the glitch. With proprietary software like Internet Explorer, a potential security issue has to be reported to Microsoft, researched, and then their team will develop a patch and release it hopefully within the month. Some mischievous weasel seeking to hijack some data, or otherwise cause trouble is very aware of this and will exploit IE as their number one target. Firefox's code is reviewed by experienced programmers across the globe to ensure safe Internet browsing. Assuming your a "hacker" (I use the term loosely) and your goal was a malicious attack on an unsuspecting user's workstation, would you attempt to crack a program written by a global army of coders, or Microsoft's IE team? That's what it means when they say Firefox is a "more secure" browser.
There are also several features that set Firefox apart from it's competitors. Tabbed browsing was an idea that Firefox popularized, and is now emulated by several other browsers fighting to usurp Firefox from its ever-growing command in the ongoing browser war. This function enables you to open up "tabs" in the same browser window so that you can view several pages without having to launch the same program several times. Internet Explorer 7 now offers this exact same feature. However, have you ever tried to completely erase your tracks from the browser history? In Internet Explorer 6 there about so many places you have to go (history, temporary files, cookies, etc...), and they are all in different locations. Firefox makes this easy by going to "Tools - Clear Private Data", and it swipes clean all your personal information out of the program (another idea IE 7 copied). You can also customize the placement of the toolbars and icons, and add, remove, or rearrange buttons the way you want them. For example, if you want to add a button to open a new tab, you go to "View - Toolbars - Customize" then drag and drop the "New Tab" button to where you want it to sit in the navigation bar. This way you won't have to hit "File - New Tab" or press "Ctrl+T" to open new tabs. The same process can be repeated for the other available buttons. For a complete list of Firefox shortcuts click here.
Now comes the best part of the Firefox revolution; themes and extensions. Extensions are basically additions to the browser created by various contributors that enhance or add features to the browser. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of extensions available so I will only mention some of the more popular ones. DownThemAll! is an incredible extension that will enable you to download every picture on a website, instead of having to click each pic, right-click, and choose "Save As". Forecastfox allows you to specify a specific location and then displays the current temperature complete with a clever symbol of the current weather (sunshine, clouds, etc...) in the bottom right hand corner of Firefox. Another more entertaining extension is StumbleUpon. Ever wonder how other people find all the cool stuff on the Internet? Using StumbleUpon, you can specify your individual interests, and when you click the "Stumble" button it will take you to a random page in one of the categories you specified that others have ranked as "Thumbs Up". From there you can rate it thumbs up, thumbs down, or simply Stumble again. Just try it, you'll see what I mean and how fun it can be. There are several other extensions that I'm sure you'll find interesting, just go here to check them out.
Firefox Themes allows you to customize the look and feel of the browser design. Themes can be thought of the same way some other programs refer to "skins". You can select a theme that is more sleak, perhaps reflects your personality, or stick with the default. The best way I can describe this awesome feature is to go there and browse around.
But how do you keep up with the latest versions of Firefox, its themes, and its extensions? When a new version of Firefox is released, it will actually download the updates and notify you that the next time Firefox is restarted it will automatically install the newest version; which is exactly what it does. To update themes and extensions, go to "Tools-Extensions" and "Tools-Themes", respectively, and click "Find Updates". If there are any new versions available, you click "Install" on each one and the next time you restart Firefox you'll have the latest and greatest version.
Hopefully by now you understand that no matter what proprietary browsers do to try to keep up, it's hard to compete with the collective ideas of the entire world. Not to mention that Google heavily endorses Firefox, so many of the gadgets offered work hand-in-hand with some of Google's products. These techneaks should help you add some personality to your browser, what it means to be "more secure", and how to have a little more fun on your side of the Internet.
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/why-you-should-use-firefox-38632.html
Internet browser similar to Internet Explorer. You've also probably been told that you should use it because it's more secure. But what does that mean to you? Why should you give up Internet Explorer, one of the most familiar programs that you use on a daily basis so that you can say you're "more secure"? Well, I'll tell you why, and also explain dozens of other benefits that Firefox offers that will make your online surfing safer and definitely more entertaining.
The topic of security between Firefox and Internet Explorer really grinds down to open source versus proprietary software, which I will only touch base with at this time. Naturally the two programs have completely different features, but the "secure" part refers to the architecture of how the programs are built and how quickly newly discovered security flaws are patched. The beauty of an open source project, like Firefox, is that countless programmers world-wide contribute their expertise to continually enhance Firefox to perform as stable and secure as possible. When a security flaw is discovered, it is often patched within hours of the discovery. Very often by the same person or persons that discovered the glitch. With proprietary software like Internet Explorer, a potential security issue has to be reported to Microsoft, researched, and then their team will develop a patch and release it hopefully within the month. Some mischievous weasel seeking to hijack some data, or otherwise cause trouble is very aware of this and will exploit IE as their number one target. Firefox's code is reviewed by experienced programmers across the globe to ensure safe Internet browsing. Assuming your a "hacker" (I use the term loosely) and your goal was a malicious attack on an unsuspecting user's workstation, would you attempt to crack a program written by a global army of coders, or Microsoft's IE team? That's what it means when they say Firefox is a "more secure" browser.
There are also several features that set Firefox apart from it's competitors. Tabbed browsing was an idea that Firefox popularized, and is now emulated by several other browsers fighting to usurp Firefox from its ever-growing command in the ongoing browser war. This function enables you to open up "tabs" in the same browser window so that you can view several pages without having to launch the same program several times. Internet Explorer 7 now offers this exact same feature. However, have you ever tried to completely erase your tracks from the browser history? In Internet Explorer 6 there about so many places you have to go (history, temporary files, cookies, etc...), and they are all in different locations. Firefox makes this easy by going to "Tools - Clear Private Data", and it swipes clean all your personal information out of the program (another idea IE 7 copied). You can also customize the placement of the toolbars and icons, and add, remove, or rearrange buttons the way you want them. For example, if you want to add a button to open a new tab, you go to "View - Toolbars - Customize" then drag and drop the "New Tab" button to where you want it to sit in the navigation bar. This way you won't have to hit "File - New Tab" or press "Ctrl+T" to open new tabs. The same process can be repeated for the other available buttons. For a complete list of Firefox shortcuts click here.
Now comes the best part of the Firefox revolution; themes and extensions. Extensions are basically additions to the browser created by various contributors that enhance or add features to the browser. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of extensions available so I will only mention some of the more popular ones. DownThemAll! is an incredible extension that will enable you to download every picture on a website, instead of having to click each pic, right-click, and choose "Save As". Forecastfox allows you to specify a specific location and then displays the current temperature complete with a clever symbol of the current weather (sunshine, clouds, etc...) in the bottom right hand corner of Firefox. Another more entertaining extension is StumbleUpon. Ever wonder how other people find all the cool stuff on the Internet? Using StumbleUpon, you can specify your individual interests, and when you click the "Stumble" button it will take you to a random page in one of the categories you specified that others have ranked as "Thumbs Up". From there you can rate it thumbs up, thumbs down, or simply Stumble again. Just try it, you'll see what I mean and how fun it can be. There are several other extensions that I'm sure you'll find interesting, just go here to check them out.
Firefox Themes allows you to customize the look and feel of the browser design. Themes can be thought of the same way some other programs refer to "skins". You can select a theme that is more sleak, perhaps reflects your personality, or stick with the default. The best way I can describe this awesome feature is to go there and browse around.
But how do you keep up with the latest versions of Firefox, its themes, and its extensions? When a new version of Firefox is released, it will actually download the updates and notify you that the next time Firefox is restarted it will automatically install the newest version; which is exactly what it does. To update themes and extensions, go to "Tools-Extensions" and "Tools-Themes", respectively, and click "Find Updates". If there are any new versions available, you click "Install" on each one and the next time you restart Firefox you'll have the latest and greatest version.
Hopefully by now you understand that no matter what proprietary browsers do to try to keep up, it's hard to compete with the collective ideas of the entire world. Not to mention that Google heavily endorses Firefox, so many of the gadgets offered work hand-in-hand with some of Google's products. These techneaks should help you add some personality to your browser, what it means to be "more secure", and how to have a little more fun on your side of the Internet.
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/why-you-should-use-firefox-38632.html
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