Firefox, by the open source company Mozilla, is just a free, downloadable Internet browser that competes ‘profitably’ against Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
What is neat about the Firefox browser is its ability to allow customization using ‘Add-ons’. Add-ons are mini-programs you can add to Firefox that can do interesting functions. Some of the quick Add-ons are ‘interface customizations’ such as ‘ColorfulTabs’ (which “colors every tab in a different color and makes them easy to distinguish”) and ‘ForecastFox’ (which includes unobtrusive icons of weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com in the lower right pane). ‘FlagFox’ displays a flag that depicts the location of the server (so the BBC site will always display the Union Jack, for instance).
A bit more complicated Add-on is called ‘StumbleUpon’. StumbleUpon lets you enter your interests, then ‘learns’ from information given by your rating – thumbs up or thumbs down – of a ‘stumbled’, or any other, site. The StumbleUpon Add-on places a toolbar along the top of the browser that has many buttons. The main “Stumble” button brings up a website that the software algorithm ‘thinks’ that you might like. Other buttons include “Stumble Thru a Website” (including the BBC, The Onion, CNN World, PBS); and “Stumble News Items”.
Another useful Add-on is ‘ScreenGrab’. By adding this little feature, one may do a screen capture of an entire webpage image – not just that portion visible on one’s monitor. All you do is right-click and choose ‘ScreenGrab’ and either ‘Save’ or ‘Copy’. It’s a lot like Camtasia’s ‘SnagIt’ software, but it can be gotten free as a Mozilla Firefox Add-on.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox - Here is how you can get these Firefox Add-ons.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ - Here is the place for downloading Firefox 3, the latest version.
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