There are plenty of Firefox Addons for pretty much everything – including blogging. So I thought it would be cool to just share a few of those I found useful and made my life a bit easier. And here it is – a list of 15 Firefox Plugins (or Add-ons), what they are capable of and, how you can benefit from using them.
Add-ons helping you to blog
ScribeFire Blog Editor – This is probably the most popular tool which allows you to blog from within Firefox. Formerly known as Performancing, this handy tool opens a window within Firefox in which you can do rich text editing and all sorts of stuff while doing your research on your web. And when you’re done, just hit the publish button and your post will go live on your blog. Works on a number of blog platforms including Wordpress and Blogger.
Live Writerfox – This is one of my personal favorites. If you think that Windows Live Writer is the next best thing since sliced bread, you’ll love the functionality it provides you to integrate Windows Live Writer with Mozilla Firefox. Helps you “Blog It” straight from Live Writer.
Deepest Sender – Primarily a LiveJournal client, but now supports Wordpress and Blogger. This Plugin provides similar functionality as ScribeFire. You can straight away blog something and publish it from within the Firefox environment. Doesn’t have as much functionality as the ScribeFire – although a strong second-in-place contender.
Add-ons enhancing text editing/formatting
Clipmarks – If there are phrases you use often while blogging, this tool will come in handy for you. Simply select a word/phrase that you’re using frequently and assign it to a shortcut key. Personally, this is really useful to me when I’m commenting on a blog. I’d just store my name, URL and e-mail on macros and inserting them into the commenting fields literally take seconds!
Text Formatting Toolbar – Gives you a handy toolbar to apply HTML/BBcode markup to any text area within Windows Live Writer. It comes really handy when you want to leave a comment on a blog with some HTML formatting or when you want to do some quick edit in any text area that allows BBcode – like forums. Save you a lot of time, and can cut the work in half for you theme developers.
CoLT – Hate it when you lose the formatting/link when you’re pasting a hyperlink from another page – while blogging? You got to have CoLT! This add-on let’s you specify how you want your links, the way you want it.
Zemanta – This is a fun too to work with. Just let it run while you’re blogging and it will automatically recommend relevant links and Flickr pics that matches your content. You can then insert that stuff on your post or read them to refine your understanding on the subject. Totally worth a go!
Feedly RSS News Reader – Another fun tool for your to play around when you want to kill a minute. Feedly RSS News Reader combines your Google Reader and Twitter in a “fun magazine-like environment”. An innovative way to catch the news I’d say.
Blog Management Add-ons
Wordpress Helper – Wordpress Plugin/Theme developers can’t ask for a better tool than this one. This literally puts the whole Wordpress Codex in your fingertips. When you’re ding an edit on a theme or a plugin within Firefox it will provide you with additional documentation and help if you run into some problem, straight from the Wordpress Codex.
Wordpress.com Sidebar – Managing a Wordpress.com blog? Have all the functionality of your blog from within a handy sidebar. This Firefox Plugin creates a sidebar which you can use to manage your Wordpress.com blog on the go!
Third Party integration Add-ons
ShareThis – This Plugin brings the legendary “Share This” button to Firefox. Easily submit your favorite content on the web for your Social Network buddies to see. Provides the same functionality as the Wordpress plugin for any page you are surfing.
FeedBurner Subscribers Display – Tired of checking Feedburner every time you want to check on your Subscriber count? Install this handy add-on and Get your Feedburner Subscriber count right there on the Firefox status bar, so it’ll be visible to you all the time. Additional options are available to display “feed hits” for your feed too.
Google Reader Notifier – Something like the Gmail Notifier, but for Google reader. Shows you when new items are available alongside the count of unread items. A good way to keep in touch with your favorite feeds.
Better GReader – Another GReader tool that enhances few things on Google Reader. It’s actually a Greasemonkey script and you need to install Greasemonkey plugin to activate it. It’s really customizable and has some pretty good tweaks to go with Google Reader.
