Let These Firefox Add-ons Help You Get Moving

Hello Interwebs! My name is Carmen, and I’m the one of the people behind the messages you read here on the Den.

Jess and Carmen

Jess (left) and Carmen (right)

I want to tell you about a set of Firefox Add-ons (those little bits of software that add functionality to your browser) that my coworker Jess introduced me to that are changing the way I work online.

We are now a world of people who are plugged-in 24/7. We’re always looking at our computer screens and our mobile devices. It helps us stay informed, educated and entertained, so it’s a good thing!

But more and more stories are coming out in the media about how bad it is to sit at our computers/devices all the time. We need to stay active!

Guess what? Firefox gives me (and you) solutions, built right into my browser. That makes it easy to do something about it!

The easiest option is an add-on called Simple Timer. It is super customizable and allows you to select when you want to receive a notification. You can set as many as you want. I set it up to alert me every hour as my reminder to get up!

Then there’s the Take a Break add-on which flashes a little icon every 15 minutes to remind you to take a mini break – close your eyes, look away from the screen, etc. Then a pop-up box will remind you to take a bigger break each hour to stretch, get a drink of water, etc. You can adjust the timers to suit your schedule.

If you’re like me, you know you need to take a break but you don’t know what to do with yourself. That’s why StretchClock holds a special place in my routine. Not only do you get an hourly (that’s customizable) alert, but it gives you a suggested stretch or exercise to get that blood flowing!

There are so many more add-ons to keep you fit and healthy, but these are helping me in my daily routine, so I wanted to share them with you, too!

As always, if you don’t like an add-on after you install it, or you have questions, here is a support article on how to manage your add-ons.

Find Your Firefox Version

Sometimes in our blog posts, we say things like “in the latest version of Firefox, we have these awesome new features for you to enjoy.”

But how do you know if you’re on the latest version of Firefox? In a previous blog post, we explained how Firefox updates automatically, but updates happen over a period of time, and not all at once.

Here’s how you can tell what version you’re on. It’s super easy!

You can find out which version you are using in the About Mozilla Firefox window. The version number is listed below the Firefox name.

Here are instructions for opening your Mozilla Firefox window, depending on your computer.

Firefox Has an Alternative to Google Reader

Let Firefox help you fill the Google Reader void in your life!

Google recently announced that they will be shutting down their Google Reader later this year. There are lots of people who are now unhappy and worried that they might not have an easy way to read all of their RSS feeds.

You can still have your favorite articles a click away – just like Google Reader – thanks to a Firefox Add-on called Feedly.

Feedly aggregates content from RSS feeds, Youtube, Tumblr and organizes them into a beautiful magazine-like experience.

Feedly Add-on
You can continue to enjoy your favorite blogs, your news sources, your LOL cat funnies and more right from your Firefox browser.

For more on how to manage add-ons, our support team created a handy guide for that.

St. Patrick’s Day Theme for Firefox

March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a day when everyone likes to think they are a little bit Irish.

To celebrate, how about dressing up your Firefox browser with some four-leaf clovers? We could all use a little bit of the “luck o’ the Irish.” We can’t guarantee a pot of gold in your future but it couldn’t hurt, right?

Here’s our theme pick for St. Patrick’s Day. Below you can see the theme and then what it might look like in your browser.

St. Patrick's Theme

Don’t like this one? You can also search for your own favorite here. With themes, you can pick from thousands of designs to customize the look of your Firefox. This support article tells you all about how to install and manage your themes.

Give Feedback to Firefox

Does Firefox make you happy? Maybe you just love it and you want to tell someone about your favorite feature — something you can’t live without!

Did Firefox make you sad? Maybe something is broken, and you’ve looked on our Support pages (link) and you don’t see a solution. It’s easy to grumble about it and get frustrated — but maybe someone else has the same problem and you could help solve it.

Or maybe, you have an idea on how to make Firefox an even better browser. The light bulb has appeared above your head, and you know that this idea could change the Web forever.

In any of these situations, Firefox has a “Suggestion Box.”  We value your feedback! It helps us know what we’re doing right, what we could do better, and how we can take the browser to new levels!

4 Shortcuts to Find Things Fast with Firefox

Most of our Firefox fans know that you can always use the Awesome Bar for your search needs — that’s one of its main jobs.

But sometimes, you just want a shortcut — hey, every second counts in our busy days. Maybe you want to search for a specific phrase or link in a Web page. Maybe you have a specific type of search you always do.

Here are four Firefox search shortcuts to the rescue!

1.    CTRL + L (Command on the Mac) pops your cursor right into the Awesome Bar’s search field. You don’t even have to reach for your mouse or touchpad. Sweet!

2.    There are some pretty common searches that are universal like t are performed by many, so there are search command shortcuts built into the Awesome Bar. We know that a common search is finding the meaning of a word. You don’t have to navigate to a dictionary site, fill in the word, hit return, etc. Head to the address field in the Awesome Bar and type “dict” followed by the word you’d like to look up. Example: “dict nonprofit” to see what Mozilla Firefox means when it says it is proudly nonprofit.

3.    Looking for something within a Web page? Turn on one little setting in Firefox, and you can search a site for words or phrases just by starting to type. Typing? That’s all? Yes, but you do need to enable this feature.  If you don’t want to turn this feature on, you can always use Ctrl (Cmd for Mac) + F.

4. Looking for a link? You can search for phrases that occur in those links by using Quick Find. It’s a simple keyboard shortcut, just type ‘ (the single quote character) to bring up the Quick Find bar (links only). Here’s more on how to use the Quick Find feature.

There you go! We’ve shaved time off of your searching tasks to help you find what you need, fast. What will you do with that extra time? (We’re guessing cat videos. Ha!)

Firefox Tip – Watch Flash Videos on Firefox for Android

Who doesn’t like to watch videos on the Web? (We especially like the funny ones.) Did you know you can watch Flash videos on your mobile device with Firefox for Android?

First, you need to have Adobe flash downloaded on your device – this article explains the process.

Once you have Flash on your device, when you come across a Flash video, you’ll see a grey box with a plug-in icon. Tap that grey box to start playing a video. (Is it a cat video? We love those.)

Flash on Android
If you have a tip you’d like to share with other Firefox users, please post it on our Facebook page with #FirefoxTips and tag us, or post on Twitter with #FirefoxTips. You can also view more tips in our archive.

If you found this tip useful, be sure to share it with the Facebook and Twitter buttons in the share drop-down below, and help tell the world about Firefox.

Featured Firefox Add-on: Image Block

Add-ons are those helpful little pieces of code that add bells and whistles to your Firefox. Each month, our community of volunteers helps us choose the ones that we feature for our fans.

One of the chosen add-ons is called Image Block.  This add-on gives you a toggle button in your Firefox browser ‘s navigation toolbar that allows you to either block or allow images to load on Web pages.

Sometimes, Web sites have a lot of images to load, and it slows down your browsing. Blocking them might speed things up and save you time, especially on slower connections.

Other times, you may not be sure what you’re about to see when you load a page. Maybe there are questionable ads, but good content. Another perfect time to use Image Block.

The reviewers are fond of this add-on, giving it 4 stars. Over 18,000 users can’t be wrong!

Whenever you download an add-on, it helps to know how to install them and troubleshoot if you run into any problems. Our support team has put together this handy guide for just that.

Firefox for Android Testimonials

When we here at Firefox create a product we think it’s awesome and cool and fun and, well, you get the point. That’s because we love the Web, and we love making the Web a better place for you and the millions of others that use it.

But since we created it, of course we’re going to think it’s great. That’s why, when someone else — either a respected press outlet or one of our fabulous Firefox fans — says that something we created is great, it’s even more special. That’s because now you can see that the products we love are products that others love as well!

Take, for example, Firefox for Android. Why would you want to use Firefox for Android over, say, the stock browser, or another browser? We think it’s because we’ve made it faster, safer, more secure. But here’s what some others had to say.

“The company is giving the browser’s newfound speed the MVP treatment. That rapidity is as good a place as any to start a quick hands-on, especially since the native browser lag on our older Galaxy S handset often makes us want to hurl it through a pane of glass.” – Engadget

“I’ve been using Dolphin Mini up until now, but would abandon it for a slicker interface (and one that isn’t an ugly pea green). Firefox for Android, at long last, does the trick.” – TIME

“For many Android users, Mozilla’s updated Firefox app could quickly become their favorite mobile browser… I’ve found it to be the best mobile browsing experience I’ve had yet.” – VentureBeat

“In both benchmark testing and regular use, Firefox is as fast — and often faster — than both the stock Android browser as well as the beta version of Google Chrome, which surprised me.” –GigaOM

“Google’s own Chrome browser requires version 4.0 (“Ice Cream Sandwich”) or newer to run, which covers less than 30 percent of the installed base. This makes Firefox the best option for an actively maintained browser on these phones, which are likely to be older or cheaper models without much hope of manufacturer support.” — Ars Technica

Download Firefox for Android now.

Mozilla is Most Trusted Internet Company in Privacy

Mozilla — the makers of the Firefox browser that you’ve come to know and love — was recently humbled and honored to receive an award. The Ponemon Institute (considered the preeminent research center dedicated to privacy, data protection and information security policy) recently asked more than 100,000 consumers in the U.S. to name and rate organizations they believe are most committed to protecting the privacy of their personal information. When all the numbers were crunched, and the results were announced, Mozilla was honored to have been named the most trusted Internet company (ranked highest in the Internet & Social Media industry category.)

Not only that, but Mozilla made it onto the top 20 list for ALL companies, no matter the industry. Can we get a big “woot woot!”

Privacy award cake and balloons
But seriously, we don’t want to toot our own horn, we just want to thank you for your trust in us. What we do, we do for you. We know how much you value your privacy. We build our Web sites and design our products and features with your privacy in mind. Our privacy policies explain in detail what our different sites and products will and won’t do with your information. They tell you what is collected, when it is collected, and for what reason it is collected. We want to be transparent and open about our privacy practices.

For more information on the study, you can read about it on the Mozilla blog. In the meantime, just know that we will continue working for you, and thank you for the vote of confidence!