Firefox Add-on: Mouse Gestures

Mouse Gestures is a useful Firefox extension which helps you execute many of the commonly used Firefox commands thru’ mouse movements. If you are paranoid about only using the Keyboard, then stop here. Or else continue.

Imagine if you could just hold down a Mouse button (configurable) and move it to the left and you navigate back a page, instead of the usual way of clicking on the back button or using Alt-Left arrow!! Wouldn’t that speed up browsing? I am pretty sure it would and once you get used to using Mouse gestures browsing becomes a breeze.

Mouse Gestures has been created by Optimoz and helps the user use the mouse for most of the commonly used browser actions. The most common ones like Back, Forward, Open tab, Close tab, Open Window and many more actions are already available with the pack and it is just a matter of getting to know the gestures. Mouse Gestures basically helps you reduce the stress on your fingers by reducing the repetitive movement of the wrists during browsing. The biggest problem with using Mouse Gestures would be that of learning. Since it is a new way of using a browser, it will take some effort, but it is worth it and will surely speed up browsing.

A word of caution: Please use mouse gestures only for the most commonly used actions. Don’t start using it for everything that is mentioned in the supported gestures page. For ex: To bookmark the gesture is something like D(Down) -> R (Right) -> D (Down) -> L (Left) -> U (Up). The document says DRDLU. I am pretty sure people would prefer Ctrl-D or using the menu to bookmark. So, list down 6-7 of the commonly performed actions and learn those gestures.

Installation and Configuration:

Download the software from the Firefox add-ons site and follow the normal add-on install procedure of Firefox. Once you have done that, go to

Tools-> Add ons and click on Options below the Mouse gestures add-on. The following screen will pop-up.

This screen lets you configure which mouse button you want to use for a gesture and also the time limit of a gesture capture.

I prefer the “Left Mouse Button” for the mouse gesture to be executed and the other options I have left it at default. I wasn’t too comfortable using the Right Mouse Button as it popped up the Right Click Menu on many occasions.

 If you are a beginner, then it is good to enable trails. (3rd tab in the Options window). You can set the colour and width of the trail.

Rocker options are also available. Have a look at the second tab.

 

 

Click on Edit Gestures button and you will see a screen similar to the one on the left. On the bottom left hand corner the notation that is used for explaining the gestures is mentioned and the table on the top left hand corner has all the notations.

:20: Hold the mouse button and move from right to left (Back).

 

 

Some of the drawbacks of Mouse gestures include providing Visibility of the action to the user. The problem is two fold as to provide visibility the gesture has to be drawn on the page, but if the gesture is drawn it becomes intrusive. Also, the feedback provided isn’t that obvious. Voice enabled feedback would be a great addition, but that might become a overkill for a add-on to Firefox.

Download Mouse Gestures

Technorati tags: Mouse, Mouse gestures, gestures, Firefox, Add on

Firefox Add-on: PicLens

Ever wanted to use your browser to view images in the slideshow especially when viewing image search results? If you wanted to do that (even if you didn’t) then PicLens is for you.

PicLens is a Firefox extension that allow you to view all your images in the form of a slideshow. You can use this extension to view the (image) search results of Yahoo and Google in slideshow format. It also supports popular image sites like Flickr, Facebook and all sites that support Media RSS. (What is Media RSS?)

It is actually slightly tricky to use this extension the first time you have installed it as it literally hides itself from the normal places you might look for the option to make it work. It doesn’t show up on the status bar neither does it show up in any of the menus. After quite a struggle, I figured out what to do (accidentally ). Once, you have installed the extension, open Flickr or Yahoo images and place the mouse on the bottom left corner of any picture. You will see a translucent ‘Play’ icon which springs PicLens to life.

(Picture Courtesy: PicLens)

Once you have figured this out, everything else is a breeze. One click on that translucent icon, the images expand into a fullscreen presentation. The presentation also includes a thumbnail strip at the bottom of the screen similar to a film strip. Below is the slideshow for Sunset from Yahoo Image search.

 

The thumbnail strip also has keys for navigation and stop/Pause the slideshow. It also has something called “Cinematic views for the Web” which I haven’t tried. To exit you can press any key or if you looking for a specific key, then press Esc.

Drawbacks:

1. It cannot save images while the slideshow is running.
2. Doesn’t support IE (as of now). I don’t know if this is a drawback as this is another reason to move to Firefox.
3. Takes longer to load.

PicLens Homepage

Download PicLens (Size: Around 540KB)

Learn More about PicLens

Uninstall:

To uninstall any Firefox extension, go to Tools-> Add Ons-> <Search for the extension to be uninstalled> -> Uninstall -> Restart Firefox

P.S: I wasn’t able to get this working with Google Image search. It just refused to display the ‘Play’ icon. Any ideas on what might be wrong? There was no problem with Yahoo or Flickr.

Technorati tags: PicLens, Firefox, Add on

Firefox Add-on: Morning Coffee

If you have a daily routine of visiting a few sites in the morning and currently you either use bookmarks to visit them or go and type each and every address, then you should have a look at Morning Coffee.

This extension helps you streamline your most commonly surfed sites, by opening them simultaneously. You save time and effort in typing those addresses.

It can be customized according to specific days. For eg: You might not want to visit the financial pages on weekends. You can just drop them from the sites to be opened on Saturday and Sunday.

In the configuration window the sites which have to be opened at the click of the Morning Coffee icon can be set. Preferably don’t put more than 10 sites in that list.

You can achieve the same results by bookmarking all the sites and adding them in a folder under bookmarks and then using “Open All in Tabs” to open the sites. The advantage that Morning coffee has over this approach is that you can’t open different sites on different days.

The newer versions of morning coffee will most probably have integration with bookmarks.

Download Morning Coffee (Version: 1.26)

Technorati tags: Morning Coffee, Firefox, Add on

Firefox Add-on: Thumbstrips

I am pretty sure that while researching on a topic you would suddenly remember something you want to access, but you would have forgotten the website or the search query. Everyone would have faced this situation at one time or the other and would have spent a few hours trying to get that information. If you want a simpler solution than breaking your head trying to recollect the website, then Thumbstrips is for you. This is available as a Firefox extension and this is all the more reason for you to start using it.

This extension is especially useful if you are researching on a topic or searching for something on Google. You can always use personalized Google searches or use the Bookmarks and History bars to figure out what you had done, but this is an easy way out. Just tell Thumbstrips when to start recording and when to stop. Voila you have the list of sites in which you had researched for some topic.

Download and installation of Thumbstrips is similar to any Firefox extension. Once you start the download, you will most probably face the situation wherein you will have to allow innovation.intuit.com to install files. Once you allow this the installation happens pretty smoothly.

Once the installation is complete and you restart Firefox, you will notice an icon on the toolbar, just on the left of the Address bar. Click on that icon and you will see Thumbstrips pop-up at the bottom of your screen. It doesn’t occupy too much space (in the picture above I have increased the size to make it clear) and can also track the sites when it has been minimized. It also has the option of “Start Recording” and “Stop Recording” (Blue button on the top left hand corner in the picture below). So, when you are browsing for the sake of browsing you can turn this off. It will lessen the load on the system.

You can also share your strips, if you want. It might just help someone else, if they are browsing on the same topic. But, the user community hasn’t posted too many strips so far.

Just to ensure that your mail pages aren’t captured, start using https:// instead of http:// while accessing mail (gmail allows this. I am not sure of other mail service providers). Or you can specify what all sites to Filter. By default, https:// sites aren’t added to the strip.

I don’t know if this interferes with any other FF extension. It doesn’t with the 20 odd extensions that I am using. But, leave a comment if you feel that your extensions are behaving crazily.

Thumbstrips

Download Thumbstrips (Size: around 850KB) (version 1.0.2)

[via Digital Inspiration]

Technorati tags: Thumbstrips, Firefox, Add on

4 useful Firefox tricks for Google tools

In the last few days I have come across four useful tricks to help you use some of Google’s software better. (Useful only if you are running Firefox)

• Add Google Talk to your Firefox Sidebar [Source : Lifehacker]

Bookmark this URL and then edit the properties of the bookmark to open it in the Sidebar. Voila, you are done. Open the bookmark and the Google talk will open in the sidebar.

• Add Google Notebook to your Firefox Sidebar [Source : Mitchelaneous]

Exactly the same procedure as above. Bookmark this URL.

***You can’t have Google Notebook and G-Talk in your sidebar at the same time. At least I haven’t found a method. Using MultiSidebar extension allows you to have Google Talk/Google Notebook with the other standard sidebar items like History/Bookmarks etc. I wasn’t able to get both on the sidebars even after I shifted Google Talk to the right sidebar. Google Notebook just refused to open in the left sidebar, whereas History/Bookmarks/Sage were able to open without any issues. Maybe this is a config issue or a programming issue.

• Googlepedia [Source : Firefox Add ons]

This is a useful add-on which opens the Wikipedia page of the search query you typed automatically along with the Google Web search results.

This is a screenshot of Googlepedia and Google Talk in the Sidebar.

• Customize Google [Source]

Another very useful add-on which helps you customize the way you search or use Gmail or Google Reader. The option to Stream the web results is very useful. Streaming provides the results continuously rather than you having to navigate page by page.

My Fav. Firefox Extensions – 2

You can find Part 1 here.
(I use these extensions with version 2.0.0.1 and haven’t faced any problems with them.)

1. Colourful Tabs
I like this extension a lot. I use the default Firefox theme which isn’t too colourful, but this adds that little bit of colour to the tabs. Play with the settings a little bit and adjust the colours to your liking.

2. Firefox Extension Backup
Ever wondered how to transfer all the extensions that you have used over time to some other computer? Here’s the answer you are looking for. FEBE allows you to backup your Firefox extensions and also helps you to rebuild the individual xpi’s. This coupled with CLEO (Compact Library Extension Organizer), which can build a single .xpi of all your extensions makes using the same extensions across computers a breeze.

3. Google Reader Notifier
This is for the RSS junkie. This displays the number of unread items in your Google Reader. Can get slightly intrusive at times. But, it is nevertheless a very useful extension. For Bloglines.

4. GreaseMonkey
This is a really good extension to have if you want to tweak around a little with java scripts. I don’t know java, but there are enough scrips floating around which can help you. I like the script called Kiwi Cloak. There are scripts for Google Reader and many other things.

5. Mouse Gestures
Are you a great fan of Mouseless browsing? Then stop reading here. Mouse Gestures lets you execute the commonly used commands like Open Tab, Close Tab, Move Tabs etc, by using the mouse and not clicking on the tab. This is a pretty handy extension to have just for the ‘Back’ and ‘Forward’ commands.

6. Ook
This is a pretty useful extension to have, if you want to download videos from the online video sharing sites.

7. PDF Download
Useful extension, if you have had problems opening PDF documents. It will basically ask you whether you want to open the document in the browser or download it.

8. Split Browser
As the name suggests this is meant for splitting the browser window. This is pretty useful when you are comparing things online. The status of split browsers is saved and restored across sessions. This is similar to Opera’s split browser option.

9. Showcase
Similar to other Firefox extensions that display all tabs in the same window. I am using this as it is the latest extension on this line of extensions. This is like foXpose.

10. Tab Effect
Use it at your own risk. Adds XGL like effect when switching tabs. I only wish that the change happens much faster as it gives me headaches at the current speed.

Technorati Tags: Firefox, Extensions,

My fav. Firefox Extensions

Wasn’t finding anything interesting to blog on (actually am holding back a couple of posts coz, I feel this isn’t the correct time to post them.). So, I have decided to list my favourite firefox extensions (in order).
P.S: All images are from the Mozilla site. The image on the Faviconize extension is from the Lifehacker site.

1. Download Statusbar – Lets you download files without opening the firefox default download windows. Very helpful as it hastens the starting of the download. It also provides a nice visual representation of the download in progress.

2. Sage – As far as I am concerned this is the best in-browser RSS reader. I have tried a lot of RSS readers from Wizz RSS to Flock’s RSS reader (more on RSS in my next post) to Pluck, but have found this to be the best. It has limited functionality, but is really quick while retrieving feeds and is nice and happily ensconced in the sidebar. Would be really nice if it starts offering online synchronization across systems. Currently, I export the OPML from sage and upload it to my Google reader for usage in other systems.

3. Performancing – This is one of the awesome additions to the firefox addon list. It is easy to install and setting up your blog account is very simple. It has a powerful WYSIWYG editor and a stats package. However, adding a spell checker and better image handling can help this blog editor go a long way. Another issue is that it is slightly difficult to locate the options for tagging etc. But, this is still far easier to use compared to some of the other blog editors that I have used.

4. Tab Mix Plus – Gives a lot of control over the tabbed browsing feature. Has the feature to restore sessions.

5. Yoono – I like this extension for the simple reason that it sits in the sidebar nicely and the suggested sites are also pretty useful. I consider this a pretty useful utility as it requires the minimal attention from my side and sits passively on the sidebar of as a toolbar. No tagging or typing is required from the user perspective.

6. Morning Coffee – This extension comes in handy if you are used to browsing some sites regularly. Put these sites in morning coffee and it loads all of them at once. Basically reduces your work of opening tabs and typing the sites.

7. Faviconize Tab – This is a useful extension if you have a lot of tabs open at a point of time. It shows only the icon for a page thereby reducing the tab size. A keyboard shortcut helps in hastening the process of iconizing the tab.

8. Stumbleupon – Discover new websites (atleast that is the intention). I like this as you will come across a site which is useful with repeated clicking.

9. Showcase – This is similar to Foxpose. However, this gives you the provision to search for any query across all the open tabs.

10. MR Tech Local Install – Provides a lot of control over the extensions and themes. BEWARE, please don’t use this if you are starting to use Firefox. This puts too much power in your hands.

Others I occasionally use:

1. Fleck – Helps with annotations and adding notes on the web. Have been using this for the last few days and am still finding it slightly intrusive.

2. Pageaddict – This shows the time wasted on a website. Pretty useful if you are connected to the net for 24 hrs like me. But, all the time spent on the internet is not wasted time. So, be careful while intrepreting the results.

3. FasterFox – Offers some network tweaks to make Firefox faster.

4. Yourminis – This provides a RSS subscription mechanism to Yourminis from the browser.

Technorati Tags: Firefox, Firefox Extensions