Browse Different, and FASTER, with SmarterFox

In the world of Firefox extensions and addons, there are about a million to choose from. Most do trivially convenient things like running background scripts, adding toolbars, or wasting decades of your life.

Beyond the cleaner-uppers like Adblock Plus (which if you don't have, you need immediately), there are few that actually make a noticeable difference in the way Firefox approaches the internet.

That is why I am so impressed with SmarterFox. This add-on really has made a distinct difference in the way that I use the internet and even how I physically view pages.

Letter 1
The first thing you will notice is the popup-widget.



When you select any text (that is not in an editable box), click your selction and up will pop this customizable widget that allows you Wiki, YouTube, Google, and even Twitter search the selected link. You can also tweet the selected text directly.

Now to be honest, the idea of something like this popping up all the time when i'm bored and fidgeting with text seemed annoying at first. I don't wikipedia stuff that often anyway right? Wrong.

The first time I actually used the popup widget was a revelation . I had already copied it, and gotten read to cmnd+t,v, return when I realize NO. I can just click twice and I'm there.

Brilliant.

Number B
Multiple Page Scrolling.

It's. The. Tits.

Instead of having to click through multiple pages, or find the little 'Next' or '234' numbers, SmarterFox just lets you scroll through each page. At the bottom of each page you get a little page-break and then the next beings immediately:



Again, I was thrown off at first, but once you get used to it, this becomes the largest, most lifestyle-changing feature of SmarterFox. Never again will I search through 20 pages of Amazon list to find the right thing, or worry about narrowing my stock-image search parameters more. Whatever it is you scroll for, SmarterFox is tanfastic.

Thirdly
Awesomebar.

So Firefox 3 has recently been getting some *ahem* flack from its more... privacy minded users, but the additions to the Awesomebar that come with SmarterFox are just sweetness.



I haven't had a chance to fully investigate the depths of this awesomeness but, for example, typing "mail" into my address bar no longer just offers me to links including the word "mail", but also gives me options like links to UPS.com, and even typing "Chinese Food" gives me options like Panda Express and general victories like HowToOrderChineseFood.com.

Ok, so it's not exactly perfect, but it is incredibly useful and takes the awesomebar to a whole new level.

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There are a few features beyond that pile of success that I haven't had time to mention. For example the quick-launch tool (pictured at top), while a bit redundant what with the existence of bookmarks and everything, is still very pretty to look at and also is nice to quick-key things. Just choose a hotkey to bring it up, then hit the corresponding key on the list to head to that site. It is a little slow in reaction however, and doesn't seem to like it when you're in an editable text-box.


There is also the neat little "related links" bar it ads into Wikipedia itself which I can see being quite helpful.

Anyway, for a full list of features check out the site.

But if you're still reading at this point, you may as well download the damn thing and try it for yourself.

Get it from Mozilla here.
Official Site.