Like millions of people, I use Firefox. For those of you who already use and love Firefox you probably are familiar with Firefox extensions or add-ons that enhance the capabilities of the browser. Here are the extensions that I have installed.

I used to have a bunch of extensions installed, but I wanted to cut the list back to the ones I actually use. Keep in mind that I’m a software engineer by trade so most of my extensions are geeky, web app building, help me do my job better type of tools.

DOM Inspector
If you’ve installed Firefox using the Custom selection, then you have the DOM Inspector too. It’s very useful when you need to inspect the DOM (duh) of any web or XUL application. I used this extension recently to help prepare ThumbStrips for Firefox 3. Firefox 3 added a new vbox element to the browser and this affected the positioning of the ThumbStrips toolbar. The DOM Insepctor helped me pick apart the structure of the new Firefox 3 DOM model.

Extension Developer
This is a great add-on for Firefox extension developers. A few of my favorite features let you can quickly build your XPI, edit your XUL with the real-time editor, and reload all chrome without having to re-launch your browser.

Firebug
Simply put, the most valuable extension in my arsenal. Editing CSS real-time has to be the coolest feature of this extension. Now only if I could get Firebug on IE I’d be a happy guy. I’ll have to check out Firebug lite.

IE Tab
Ever hate when a page requires IE and you want to stay within Firefox? No problem. Just install IE Tab and you can load IE inside of a Firefox tab. Genius!

Live HTTP Headers
Ok, this one is for geeks only, but extremely useful when working with some AJAX stuff or if you want to see your http posts.

PDF Download
Solves my pain of clicking on a link not realizing it’s a PDF file. This extension gives you control of what you want to do with PDF files, including download, open, and view as html. Very slick.

PicLens
This one still blows me away every time I use it. It’ll turn your desktop into a 3D viewing space of your picture albums from Picasa, Flickr, you name it. I was surprised at how fast the pictures load and how cool the UI is. I’d love to know more about the technology used behind the scenes.

ThumbStrips
You have to support your own stuff of course! But honestly, an extension that visually captures your browsing history? Brilliant!

Web Developer
This one is up there with Firebug. It’s a must have for web development of all shapes and sizes. My favorite feature is the green check mark in the toolbar that lets me know my page is validating CSS and Javascript without errors (at least that’s the goal).

So which Firefox extensions are in your “can’t live without” list? Let me know if I’m missing any that could make my life easier.

tagged: add-ons, developer, extensions, favorites, firebug, firefox, ie tab, pdf, piclens, ThumbStrips, web, web developer