5 More Killer Firefox Addons for Designers

If you compare the way you use your computer today with how you used it, let’s say 10 years ago, you will probably notice a big difference, even if you essentially still do the same tasks with it. Applications replace Software and Add-Ons replace Stand Alone Programs.

It’s obvious, we are doing a majority of our work in our browser. Even designers can utilize free photoshop alternatives which are completely web based, without ever leaving their beloved browser. Extensions and Add-Ons enhance this experience also, by turning your web browser into a real hub. Mozilla Firefox is one of the browsers which can offer you very powerful assets of tools, if it’s used right.

Whether if it’s Web Design, UX, UI, Typography or anything else; some of Mozilla’s Firefox Web Browser’s strong points lie in it’s broad selection of available add-ons. Apart from the must have add-ons as the Web Developer Toolbar by Chris Pederick , and Firebug by Joe Hewitt, there are a lot of other little tools which can make your design life a tad bit easier.

Following is a small selection of great design add-ons for Firefox, which you probably haven’t heard of, but will appreciate getting to know now.

Dummy Lipsum

• Current Version: 3.0.0

• No. of Users: 12.000 +

• Avg. Rating: 4 stars

• Download

Lorem Ipsum: As web developers, we probably remember it better than any verse we might have learned at elementary school. First introduced in the 16th century, it is still useful for us today. It scans like proper text, reads naturally and doesn’t distract the reader (unless you are a latin-reading doctor or DaVinci Code super-fan, of course ).

If you are also one of the Lipsum enthusiasts and tire of opening a Lorem Ipsum generator every time you need to insert dummy text, try out this small add-on which can be accessed very quickly in your Firefox toolbar. You can specify precisely how much text you require, and even insert HTML tags in the generated text.

If you work a lot with text and mockups, this is a must-have tool for you.

FireFTP

• Current Version: 2.0.19

• No. of Users: 775.000 +

• Avg. Rating: 4 stars

Okay, this is not really designer specific, but if you work on any website and tweak and fiddle around with elements, you probably upload and update files several times. In this case, having a FTP File Manager built right into your browser really helps speed up the process.

If you currently use an FTP client like FileZilla, you may well prefer a faster work process, especially for quick and dirty changes.

Once you logged into your FTP account, you can update, edit, move and copy files without leaving Firefox. You can open several files with your favourite program and update them “on the fly” directly, without the need of reuploading them manually.

FontFinder

• Current Version: 1.1.0

• No. of Users: 25.000 +

• Avg. Rating: 4 stars

Typography maniacs, listen up. FontFinder is your new daily companion for all your font needs.

As you can see, you can copy font elements, replace them or even disable them. It also offers you to copy the Color code of any text. Really helpful if you don’t want to zoom in to inspect it with a colorpicker.

The spacing and size tools are also very powerful, especially if you use it together with Firebug and Colorzilla. That way you can prototype even web pages right inside your browser.

If you are not Firebug devotee, or are just looking for fast, hightly-targetted, concise information on the sites you’re looking at, take FontFinder for a test drive.

Lightshot

• Current Version: 4.6.7

• No. of Users: 51.000 +

• Avg. Rating: 4.5 stars

• Download

Lightshot is quite likely the easiest and fastest (if not the best) screenshot tool for Firefox. It’s lightweight, yet very powerful. It offers you the ability to upload your images to imgur with only 1 click, so you can share it instantly.

It even lets you search for similar images of your captured screenshot directly on Google Images, often saving you time on repetitive task processes.

After you have selected a capture area, you can add notes, arrows, shapes, scribbles, markings and similar. This all happens in a very smooth way, perfect for an optimized workflow.

Easy Screenshot

• Current Version: 0.3.4

• No. of Users: 128.000 +

• Avg. Rating: 4 stars

• Download

Easy Screenshot is another useful screenshot tool, which offers an important feature that is missing in Lightshot: It lets you capture whole web pages at once (without windows and browser borders of course).

It’s useful if you don’t want to stitch separate screenshots together yourself.

Like Lightshot, it lets you also capture area selections of your screen, albeit with fewer editing options and no cloud sharing options. However, I’ve found having both Easy Screenshot and Lightshot installed covers off all my screenshot needs in Firefox.

Conclusion

Firefox is clearly a very powerful browser, and with such a broad selection of add-ons and tweaks, it can terrifically enhance your web experience. In 2014, web browsers are no longer just the lens with which we view the web, but they have decentralized many of our working habits from our desktop to the web.

Customizing your experience with addons and other personalizations, can speed up your workflow immensely, regardless what kind of work you do.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Firefox Add-ons for Designers