There isn’t a whole lot written about this little gem of an addon, but essentially what it does is integrates the usefulness of visiting TinyURL.com to convert overly long URLs into “tiny” ones. Thus it automates the whole process and reduces the steps down to a simple right mouse click.

Get it here.

Here is what the author has to say about this simply elegent little addon:

Fetch Text URL – Firefox Extensions
“Sometimes there are webpages with URLs that aren’t in “clickable” link form, especially in forums or text documents like the episode capsules at SNPP.com. Thus, if you want to open it in Firefox or Mozilla, you have to highlight it, copy it, maybe open a new tab or select the location toolbar, and then paste the link. Using keyboard shortcuts in Windows, this involves ctrl-c, ctrl-t or ctrl-l, ctrl-v, and enter. If you’re lazy like me, then the Fetch Text URL extension allows you to simply highlight the text URL and open it from the context menu by right clicking.”
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~jchien/code/ftu.html

I used another Firefox addon “Copy URL +” to paste that last quote citation. ;-)

I highly encourage donations to the authors of these wonderfully trustworthy little addons.

Cheers!

So with that here is another Firefox addon I’ve known about but not always had installed. However, for the simple ease of the undo feature when I accidentally close a tab, or for those online classes and web sites that I want to have my session persist, I definitely view this Firefox addon as another one I want keep around.

Session Manager

by Morac, zeniko

More previews…

Session Manager saves and restores the state of all windows – either
when you want it or automatically at startup and after crashes.
Additionally it offers you to reopen (accidentally) closed windows and
tabs. If you’re afraid of losing data while browsing – this extension
allows you to relax…

This extension replaces SessionSaver and Tab Mix Plus’ session manager.
It stores more data than both of them and should be more reliable in
saving and restoring. Although it is not recommended to have more than
one session related extension installed, Session Manager is compatible
at least with Tab Mix Plus.

Works with:

Firefox

2.0 – 3.0a3

ALL

Install now (71 KB)

Version 0.5.3.2,
released on Feb 13, 2007.

Yet right now I am faced with having just installed Firefox on my new Kubuntu (Ubuntu) box, and thought I would finally document which addons I like most because everyonce in awhile I go through the process of reinstalling an operating system or Firefox and it would help if I had this information somewhere with the links to the appropriate addons for convenience.

So without further delay here are the essential Firefox addons that I really like and either use every hour throughout the day or that I like to have installed for the sake of curiosity. I’ll list them in the order I use them most frequently.

1. Adblock Plus and Noscript: These two addons are just so essential, so fundamental to improving security and my browsing experience that I just do not even like to go out browsing the Internet without them. Both projects are actively maintained and have demonstrated they are worthy of being trusted on my computer. I then disable messages about javascript being blocked because this is obvious enough from looking at the state of the icon.
   1. Preferences: I like to configure both Adblock and Noscript so that they appear in the bottom right corner of my browser window.
2. Copy Plain Text: Next on the list is the most simple and useful addon I use numerous times during any given hour. Basically this one is essential for any student required to copy and paste quotes (properly cited of course) in any writing assignment. If you are stuck using Microsoft Word you will be especially grateful for this extension in how it effectively strips all formatting from the source with frequently causes Microsoft Word to stall while attempting to do some kind of reverse internet address lookup or something. But even if you have liberated yourself from dependence on Microsoft Word, this addon provides the benefit of importing text from the clip board while retaining the formating or style you have currently selected in your document. Indispensible.
3. Copy URL +: This is another addon extension that I use fairly constantly throughout the day. It basically allows me to capture a selection of text to the clipboard including the title and url of the source. There is one problem however, and that is that the original author has not updated the addon to work with Firefox 2.0. This is simple enough to fix however, and thus I have rolled my own version which can be downloaded here. As for how the extention works, here is an example of copy and pasted text:
   1. FAA May Ditch Microsoft’s Windows Vista And Office 2007 For Google Apps on Linux
      “March is coming in like a lion for Microsoft’s public sector business. Days after InformationWeek reported that the Department of Transportation has placed a moratorium on upgrades to Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7, the top technology official at the Federal Aviation Administration revealed that he is considering a permanent ban on the Microsoft software in favor of a combination of Google’s new online business applications running on Linux-based hardware.”

      http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197800480

1. type ‘about:config’ into the address bar
2. type ‘search’ in the filter
3. double click ‘browser.search.defaulturl
4. replace string with ‘http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=’
5. done

Now back to the program of exploring the other features.