One of the most celebrated new features of Firefox 3.7 is the feature that will bring the progress bar out of the status bar and onto your current tab.  Did you know though that there is an add-on for Firefox that will let you add this functionality now? 

The Tab Progress Bar add-on for Firefox is the add-on you need.  Having the process bar on top of the tab really makes more sense, as far as functionality goes because you’ll have your eyes closer to the top of the browser (most of the time) than the bottom.  Now I won’t go into detail about how this will save your eyeballs stress, due to the fact that they don’t have to bounce up and down from the top of the page to the status bar bellow, but you get the general idea.

Also worth mentioning is that this add-on will not work with the Tab Mix Plus add-on.  So for the time being, you’ll need to pick to use one or the other.  You can pick up the Tab Progress bar add-on for Firefox at the Firefox Add-ons web site. 

For more help, check these out…

• Get Control of Your Tabs with Tabberwocky
• Add a Recently Closed Tab Button to Firefox
• Store 50 Tabs in Multiple Extra Rows

Here’s a great video that does a good job at telling the story of Firefox, from then to now:

The peeps over at Lifehacker have also written up a great retrospective that is well worth checking out.  What birthday wishes would you like to send to the Mozilla team?  Without Firefox, there would be no Firefox Facts – so as I enjoy three years of this blog, I’d like to thank Mozilla for the inspiration and all of you for reading it every day and making it one of the most popular un-official Firefox blogs out there today.

So happy birthday to Firefox, one of the best browsers out there on the planet.

For more help, check these out…

• Do You Need to Recover from Firefox?
• Interview with John Lilly, Mozilla CEO
• Air Mozilla Rocks

Facebook Dislike – This is an extension for all the pro-dislike Facebook groups out there.  After installing, you can dislike posts, and each time you do, the author of the extension keep track of it for everybody.  So this way, if somebody else installs the add-on, they too can see all the stories that have been disliked.

Facebook Dislike Button – Now why feature two add-ons that do the same job?  Well with this add-on, a comment will also be posted on your friend’s page on your behalf notifying them that you disliked the story using the dislike button. 

While Facebook themselves mull over the idea of adding this to the user interface, you can add this functionality to your Facebook page here and now. 

Just do me a favor and don’t dislike me!

For more help, check these out…

• How to Download Facebook Videos
• Shareaholic – Share the Best of the Web via Firefox
• Script Fight! Best of MySpace vs Facebook User Scripts

Pinned tabs are shifted to the left side of the tab bar where their tab will be changed to just show the favicon for the web site in question. Thanks to the Pin Tab add-on for Firefox, you can bring that functionality to your favorite browser.

Another neat feature of this Firefox add-on is when you type something in the address bar, or select a result in the address bar while a pinned tab is selected, the address you selected will open in a new tab – leaving your pinned tab alone.

How do you pin a tab?

You can also pin a tab by dragging it to the left of already pinned tabs.

How do you un-pin a tab?

You can unpin a tab by dragging to the right of unpinned tabs.

Overall, this simple extension, once added to Firefox, will help you save space in your browser.  By shrinking down those web sites you keep open all the time, you can also add a little more organization to your daily browsing routines – which is something I am always in favor for.   Pick up Pin Tab for Firefox, on the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Update: Looks like Mozilla might have taken this plugin down, not sure for the reasons why.  If you still want to pick it up, an alternative link and a little more backstory to the situation has been posted here:  Pin Tab Thread on mozillaZine.org

For more help, check these out…

• Google Toolbar Give us Chrome’s Thumbnails
• Chrome Who? Get Chrome’s Best Features in Firefox!
• Great Tool for SEOs or Web Developers

Get more control over your tabbed browsing experience in Firefox with Tabberwocky. This add-on for the browser will give you dozens upon dozens of ways to customize the way you work with tabs. 

Some of the features of this Firefox extension include:

• Open in new tabs from Bookmarks, History, URL Bar, and/or Search Bar
• Open Selected Links in New Tabs
• Retain tab history when opening links in new tabs
• Show/Hide New Tab button and Close Tab buttons
• Highlight unread tabs
• Set minimum/maximum tab width
• Close tabs by double-clicking on them
• Tab clicking options

Plus many more.  It would take me four or five posts to go into all the control this Firefox add-on gives to your tabs. You can pick up Tabberwocky over at the Firefox Add-ons web site.  (kudos to Lifehacker)  It will give you more tabbed browsing controls than you can shake a… well, than you can shake a tab at.

For more help, check these out…

• Put the Progress Bar in your Tabs, Today!
• Hide the Tab Bar When Only One Page is Open
• Store 50 Tabs in Multiple Extra Rows

How Does It Work?

This extension adds the functionality to download, convert or embed videos posted on Facebook.  When you click the download video link, the video will open as a .mp4 file.  You can then select, “Save Page As” from the File option in your menu bar to choose where to save the file on your PC.

The convert video link will take the video to the Zamzar free file conversion web site, where you can convert the file to .flv, .wmv, .avi, or the audio formats .mp3, .flac, or .wav. 

Start Downloading Facebook Videos! – You can pick up the Facebook Video add-on from the Firefox Add-ons web site.  So there you have it, now you can grab those Facebook videos you have been wanting to save to watch later.  (Kudos goes to ZeroPaid.com for finding this tip!)

For more help, check these out…

• Shareaholic – Share the Best of the Web via Firefox
• Convert YouTube Videos to MP3
• Add a Dislike Button to Facebook

Here is a little more about the Firefox theme from the developer:

The icons and style are mostly taken directly from Firefox 0.9 Winstripe and Pinstripe for Mac, both designed by Kevin Gerich and Stephen Horlander. This is my absolute favorite Firefox theme, and I am not planning on porting others into Stratini. The code is all based on Stratini so Stratini-Stripe 0.9 includes all of the Stratini features such as tiny Teeny Mode, miniature bookmarks, rotating Reload button, highlighted text input boxes, and encryption coloring in the urlbar.

This adds one more unique member to the Stratini family of themes, have you collected them all?

• The Amazing Stratini Themes (both regular and padded)
• Stratini – Back in Black (and in Firefox!)

You can pick up the Stratini-Stripe Point Nine theme from the Firefox Add-ons web site.  Now you tell me, which Stratini theme is your favorite?

For more help, check these out…

• Stratini – Back in Black (and in Firefox)!
• Winstripe Modernized
• Classic Compact Look to Firefox

For those of you out there who love the FoxyProxy add-on for Firefox, you now have two different flavors to choose from.  If you need just a simple on and off proxy switcher, Grab the new FoxyProxy Basic.  If you would rather have all the bells and whistles, those are preserved in what is now being called FoxyProxy Standard.

First things first, what does this thing promise to do?  FoxyProxy is a Firefox add-on which switches an internet connection automatically across one or more proxy servers based on URL patterns. The extension automates the manual process of editing Firefox’s Connection Settings dialog. Proxy server switching occurs based on the loading URL and the switching rules you define.

So, now the question is – which one is best for you?

FoxyProxy Basic:

Here is a screenshot of FoxyProxy Basic:

As you can see, just the basics here, and if you don’t know much about editing and configuring your own proxy settings, this is the perfect proxy browsing companion.

FoxyProxy Standard

Here is a screenshot of FoxyProxy Standard:

Here you got the full advanced proxy management tool that completely replaces Firefox’s limited proxying capabilities. It offers more features than SwitchProxy, ProxyButton, QuickProxy, xyzproxy, ProxyTex, TorButton, and more.

Need more FoxyProxy Help or Tutorials?

• FoxyProxy’s Official Web Site
• FoxyProxy’s Message Boards

Overall, I am really happy to see they have decided to offer Firefox users more choice when it comes to how many extras they need.

For more help, check these out…

• Close Button on the Last Tab in Firefox
• Beginner’s Guide to Greasemonkey
• Trouble Removing a Firefox Add-on?

It takes a lot of work to see if add-ons still work or not, so you can do your part by installing the Add-on Compatibility Reporter.  Help the Firefox team make sure your favorite add-ons get updated for upcoming Firefox releases with this tool. 

Here is a little more about the add-on from the Mozilla team:

After installing the Add-on Compatibility Reporter, your incompatible extensions will become enabled for you to test whether they still work with the version of Firefox or Thunderbird that you’re using. If you notice that one of your add-ons doesn’t seem to be working the same way it did in previous versions of the application, just open the Add-ons Manager and click Compatibility next to that add-on to send a report to Mozilla.

Also worth mentioning is that Mozilla only recommends this add-on for alpha and beta users only. So if you like to stay on the cutting edge, this add-on is for you. You can pick up the Add-on Compatibility Reporter on the Firefox Add-ons web site.

For more help, check these out…

• FoxyProxy Goes Multi-Version
• Close Button on the Last Tab in Firefox
• Give Back to Firefox Add-on Developers

Are you a webmail addict? 

Maybe you share a browser between family members, and you both use different webmail clients?  No matter the reason you need to use it – one thing is for sure.  This plugin is one of the best to make sure you stay up to date with your latest e-mails.

You can also use multiple accounts in a same host. The Web Mail Notifier currently supports:

• mail.google.com(Gmail & Google Apps)
• mail.yahoo.com (yahoo.com, ymail.com, rocketmail.com, yahoo.co.jp)
• mail.live.com(hotmail.com, msn.com, live.com)
• www.daum.net(hanmail)
• www.naver.com
• www.nate.com(nate.com, empas.com)
• and more!

You can pick up the Web Mail Notifier add-on on the Mozilla Add-ons web site.  By far one of the best webmail tools for Firefox.

For more help, check these out…

• Add Gmail’s Unread Count to Your Tab
• Easily E-mail and Save Your Open Tabs
• Gmail Manager