Want to know about the 12 Awesome Firefox Extensions For Bloggers? If yes then, keep on reading.
Did you have any idea that, there are Mozilla Firefox Browser extensions for Bloggers?
Well, I didn’t, at least at first.
I have been blogging for almost 3 years now, and one thing I have learned about blogging is that, its not easy. You have to keep up with the latest updates in your niche.
I was wondering, how can I make my blogging life easy!
Then a thought struck my mind, what if there are extensions also known as add-ons for Mozilla Firefox browser which can help me as a blogger.
Since, I have been using firefox add-ons for quite some time now, I know that mozilla firefox has wonderful add-ons, that can help in enhancing the functionality of the browser. And, I have also mentioned about such add-ons in my previous blogs, namely Touch VPN and Hola VPN.
So, I searched, and to my surprise, there were many such add-ons which are quite useful, especially if you are a blogger. I am going to mention a few in today’s article, but first, lets see what add-ons are.
Table of Contents
What Is An Extension
An extension or an add-on, is a 3rd party software, which can be added to another software (in our case Mozilla Firefox), to extend its functionality and give it the additional features, which one seeks.
Consider a general example of an add-on. Say, if you have installed a Windows Operating System on your PC, and you operating system doesn’t have an antivirus pre-installed, then you can always extend the functionality of your Windows OS, by installing an antivirus to protect your PC. This antivirus is nothing but a 3rd party add-on software, which you can use with you OS.
Another such an example of an add-on would be Adobe Flash, which allows the users to watch videos or play games within an Internet Browser.
It is not mandatory, that an add-on is made by the same company, which has also made the main software. Add-ons can be made by different companies who are not even associated with the main company, in any way. For example, Mozilla Firefox is made by Mozilla Corporation, where as, an add-on say Grammarly, which is used with the browser, is made by a completely different company, which is not associated with Mozilla.
Why Is An Extension Needed
As mentioned earlier, an add-on is used to extend the functionality of a software. Say for example, there is a software, that you have to use in your day to day life, while working. Not all the softwares will be well equipped to handle all the tasks, that you might need to do.
So what’s the solution?
Solution is an add-on to that software, which will help your software to gain that extra juice in form of extended functionality. This will not only keep the softwares you use limited in numbers, but it will also help the company save up a lot of money. To put everything in a nutshell, Add-ons can make your life easy and save up a lot of time, energy and money.
12 Awesome Firefox Extensions For Bloggers
Grammarly
As a blogger, one has to write a lot, and while writing typing mistakes can happen. This is where Grammarly plays an important part, in highlighting those mistake, so that, all the written lines are clean and error free, before you publish the article.
Adding Grammarly to Firefox means that your spelling and grammar will be vetted thoroughly.
Grammarly is trusted not only by bloggers but, students, writers, business professionals and plenty of people who just want to write better. Grammarly adapts to your needs and writing style, giving you the confidence of mistake free communication every time you write.
Grammarly also check contextual spelling errors such as, lose/loose or affect/effect etc.
Grammarly can be used by those who’s command over the english language is average and even by those who’s command over english is good.
Providing an error free article to the audience is every bloggers responsibility and Grammarly certainly helps in this aspect.
Feedly Notifier
As described in the image above “Feedly Notifier is a tiny extension that keeps you up to date with your Feedly subscriptions.” In other words, Feedly Notifier is a news aggregator application for Firefox and many other web browsers. It simply works by aggregating updates from a variety of online sources and supplying it on a single platform.
Feedly Notifier keeps you updated with unread news count, unread news headers (with direct link on the news site) in the popup window. Bloggers can use Feedly Notifier to view updates on any topic that they’re interested in, may it be news, other blogs, social media posts, RSS feeds etc. Feedly Notifier also has the ability to mark news as read, save feeds for later reading, filter feeds by category in the popup open the site on button click and open the site on button click.
Lightshot
This Firefox add-on is something that every blogger should have. As a blogger, one needs to take screenshots of the work they are doing and this add-on helps exactly with that.
Lightshot provides bloggers the functionality of taking screen shots of the entire screen. It allows blogger to easily take screenshots of any selected area in a browser tab. They just have to hit Lightshot Icon on the Toolbar or Status Bar, then select area they want to make a screenshot from and Click “Save” or “Upload To Server”.
In case of uploading, they instantly get a link to a screenshot that’s being uploaded. It is also possible to resize and move selection area right in a browser tab without opening any additional applications. Editing of screenshots (add text, draw lines and more other functions) can also be done with this add on.
AddToAny
Sharing content is like a lifeline for bloggers. Who wants to blog and keep their post with themselves!
The answer is, nobody. Bloggers blog, so that they can spread their way of understanding things may it be technology, fashion or news etc. to mass audience. AddToAny Firefox Add-on helps them to share their thoughts to the entire world. AddToAny universal share button makes it easy to share links to anyone anywhere using Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Email, and many more social media services.
One can also customize the services that appear in the sharing menu or simply drag and drop to rearrange the order of services. The add-on is very easy to use and effective as well. AddToAny also has a wordpress plugin to share the content, which bloggers can install for their wordpress website.
Update Scanner
Update Scanner as the name suggest is a feeds and page monitor which tracks the changes that happen on the web. In a way, its similar to Feedly Notifier. Update Scanner add-on is useful for those website that don’t provide Atom or RSS feeds. You get the option to, select how often each site will be scanned. Also, changes to pages are highlighted automatically. This add-on comes with full international support.
Pearltrees
Pearltrees Firefox Add-On gives bloggers a platform to organize, explore and share everything. Bloggers usually need to save web pages, files, photos or notes and organize them meaningfully. This add-on helps them in doing exactly that. They can also explore amazing collections that relate to their interests. Pearltrees also offer dedicated versions of their add-on to individuals, Schools and Companies. This famous add-on is recommended by many biggies such as “The Next Web”, “Digital Trends” and “Forbes”.
Export Tabs URLs
Export Tabs URLs Firefox Add-on is a delight to have, rather a blessing in disguise, for any blogger. This add-on, not only lists all the URLs in the open window, but copies them to the clipboard and exports them to a file, which can be easily saved on the computer. Bloggers have to do a lot of research for their blogs, they have to go through a lot of links to get the reference they need, for writing a blog post. This add-on helps them, by getting all links from any page they want, in one file, so that the they can work as per their convenience, without the pressure of remembering those links.
TickTick
TickTick Firefox Add-on helps you in planning what are the things to do & tasks to perform, to make sure that all things are done and well organized. This Add-on can help bloggers to save the text on a web page as a TickTick task. It also shows your task count on the Toolbar Badge. TickTick also has a reminder feature, that can help any blogger, who is busy in content creation. So, as a blogger you can relax and simply do your work, while TickTick will take care of reminding your to do your tasks.
Undo Close Tab
Another delight for bloggers, rather for everyone. Undo Close Tab Firefox Add-on allows bloggers to restore the tab they might have unknowingly closed, with just a single click, plus it can offer a list of recently closed tabs within a convenient context menu. How cool is that! If a blogger is referring to a page in another tab, and that tab gets closed by mistake, this add-on can undo that operation. Now you, as a blogger, don’t have to worry about knowingly or unknowingly closing your tab. You can always get it back with just a click of a toolbar button. Also, by right clicking the button you can get a quick access to up to 25 recently closed tabs in the context menu.
LastPass Password Manager
LastPass Password Manager is an award-winning password manager, which saves your passwords and gives you secure access from every computer and mobile device. As a blogger you will need to have access to many accounts. This add-on helps you by remembering the passwords for you and frees your mind to concentrate on your blog’s content creating.
LastPass Password Manager not only saves but encrypt all your passwords and logins, automatically. You can simply log into your websites with just a click in a hassle free environment. It will save you a lot of time and energy.
Print Edit WE
As a blogger you might need to save or print some content from the net. Print Edit WE Firefox Add-on allows you to edit that content from the web page prior to saving or printing. With this fantastic add-on, elements in the web page can be edited, formatted, hidden or deleted. Unwanted content, such as adverts and sidebars, can easily be removed. Print Edit WE is the successor to the well established Print Edit add-on. This add-on also has a ‘Web Style’ feature which if enabled, the page displayed will look similar to how the page looks during normal browsing.
Alexa.com Toolbar
As a blogger, you might be interested in knowing the ranking of every website you visit. Alexa.com Toolbar helps you in showing the ranking of a website. Higher the rank usually means more the visitors for that website. Alexa ranking is really important, as it gives credibility to a website. Audience prefer credible websites to browse.
How To Install A Mozilla Firefox Extension
Installing firefox add-ons is a really easy process. I will show you how to do it, by installing one add-on. You can use the same method to install other add-ons.
- Open your Mozilla Firefox browser, and Click on the Menu Tab which is located in the right side of the screen to open all the menu items and then, Click on Add-ons menu item. Or, you can directly go to the Add-ons menu item, by using the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+A.
- On the Add-ons Manager Window, type Grammarly in the box besides “Find more add-ons”, and hit Enter. You will get all the “Search Results” related to Grammarly.
- Search Results are displayed in the below image. Click on the most relevant Search Result.
- Click on Add To Firefox Button to install the Add-on
- You will get a pop-up. Click on Add.
- Again a pop-up will show. Check the Check Box besides “Allow this extension to run in Private Windows” and then Click on Okay, Got it.
- Grammarly will be successfully installed. You might need to Sign Up to Activate Grammarly. Sign Up and Activate Grammarly and start using it.
In a similar manner, you can install the remaining add-ons.
Conclusion
All these add-ons help in reducing the efforts, resulting in enhanced performance, when it comes to content creation. The add-ons can be used by anyone and everyone, who generates content, may it be the media industry or the education system.
Having said that, each and every Firefox Add-on is an essential tool for bloggers, who want to reduce their workload and concentrate more on blogging itself. Which add-on to install is completely up to the blogger, as some add-ons may be needed for the work they are doing and some add-ons may not be needed at all. There are many such tools, tips & tricks for bloggers, which will help in making blogging life easy.
I will write a detailed review separately about, each and every Firefox add-on, mentioned in this article. I have also written a an article on 12 Awesome Chrome Extensions For Bloggers as Google Chrome is also one of the most used browsers.
Hope you liked this article. If you have any more suggestions to make with respect to the Firefox add-ons, please do mention those in the comments section below.