Adding Spellcheck, others to Firefox

[Boston Guy]

RobPA graciously reported a Firefox bug (it sometimes loses its bookmarks) and the solution (a free Firefox extension) in the other Firefox thread. I downloaded and installed the extension and tested it and am happy to report that it works great. As a result of the extension, Firefox makes a copy of your bookmarks in a "Backups" folder each time Firefox is closed.

 

There are many Firefox extensions available, all of which add some additional capability to Firefox. They're all free (I think) and universally easy to install. Basically, you select the one you want, click the install button and watch it install. Once you close Firefox and restart it, your new functionality is up and available to you.

 

You can find Firefox extensions at these places:

 

https://addons.update.mozilla.org/?application=firefox

http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?act=idx

 

If you install extensions from the second site, Firefox will initially refuse to allow the site to install software on your computer, as a security precaution. It will tell you this in a message line at the top of your browser's window. That line will contain a button that you can click. Doing so will let you "allow this site to install software." Once you've done that, you can go back and install extensions from the site without any problems at all.

 

Most of the extensions that are available are of little interest to me. However, I've installed the following:

 

Dictionary Search 0.8

http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=33

 

This extension lets you highlight any word on any page and look it up in an online dictionary just by right-clicking the highlighted word and selecting the option you want. By default, it's set up to use dictionary.com, which is okay. I generally prefer the Merriam_Webster online dictionary, though, and added it as another option. So, now, if I highlight a word and right-click it, Firefox lets me look it up instantly in dictionary.com or m-w.com. It brings up the dictionary lookup in a new tab. If you install this extension and want to add M-W as an option, follow these steps after you install the extension:

 

1. Select "Extensions" from the Tools menu

2. Select "Dictionary Search"

3. Press the Options Button

4. In one of the free dictionary locations, add the following two lines into the "Text" and "URL" fields:

 

Merriam_Webster Search for "$"

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=$

 

5. Press OK.

 

That's it.

 

Bookmark Backup, courtesy of RobPA.

 

http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=13&hl=bookmark+backup

 

Spellbound

 

This extension adds spell-checking to Web forms, including M4M postings. Once you've installed it, simply right-click anywhere in the text box and choose "Check Spelling".

 

http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=474

 

To install this one, install the appropriate back-end (they're provided for Windows, MacOS and Linux), the dictionaries and the front-end. Each step takes just a few seconds to install.

 

I haven't used it extensively yet, but it seems to work pretty well. It's very easy and a big improvement over no spell-checking it all.

 

Additional information about Firefox extensions can be found at the following locations, among many others:

 

http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=show&id=79&perpage=1&pagenum=1

http://www.bloglines.com/help/firefox

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1721458,00.asp

 

BG

[Rick Munroe]

Thanks for the advice so far...here's a new question. How do you get new windows to open up automatically as new tabs? We installed the tabbed browser extension, but new windows still open up as new windows. I don't want to have to manually open up new tabs in the file menu. :-(

[Boston Guy]

When you a clicking on a link, right-click the link and choose "open in new tab".

 

BG

[Rick Munroe]

OK...so what does the tabbed browser extension do?

[Boston Guy]

I have no idea... the only extensions I've installed are the ones I listed above. Firefox offers tabbed browsing as part of its native functionality.

 

Bg

[Rick Munroe]

Well, the TBE is supposed to allow you to open new tabs without right-clicking. Gosh, this is probably the most boring discussion ever, huh? :o

[HooBoy]

The beauty of Firefox is the tabs because unlike, IE, it does not use up your resources when I keep several operations going at once.

 

I still have not been successful in figuring out the spellcheck in Firefox. The one Valley Dweller North offered us for IE works beautifully. Now if could only rember to use it!

[HooBoy]

The beauty of Firefox is the tabs because unlike, IE, it does not use up your resources when I keep several operations going at once.

 

I still have not been successful in figuring out the spellcheck in Firefox. The one Valley Dweller North offered us for IE works beautifully. Now if could only rember to use it!

[eastbayguy]

AdBlock

 

In my opinion, the very best extension for Firefox is AdBlock. Stops annoying banner ads, more popups and so on. The beauty is that it is fully configurable. You can define your own filters using wildcards, so a very vague sounding thing eliminates a ton of potential ads.

 

The software is here:

 

https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/?application=firefox/

 

--EBG

[eastbayguy]

AdBlock

 

In my opinion, the very best extension for Firefox is AdBlock. Stops annoying banner ads, more popups and so on. The beauty is that it is fully configurable. You can define your own filters using wildcards, so a very vague sounding thing eliminates a ton of potential ads.

 

The software is here:

 

https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/?application=firefox/

 

--EBG