Using FireFox 3.5 Browser as Your Business Productivity Cockpit

This article talks about increasing your productivity using your browser as the center of your business productivity online.

It’s strange but my browser has become my most important piece of software on my computer (besides the operating system!).

I switched to FireFox browser after using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for about 6 years. Before IE I was using Netscape – where did they ever go?

For the last few years in business I’ve been very happily using FireFox browser. Recently they upgraded to 3.5 version and it’s phenomenal. Best browser on the market by far (I’ve used 5 different ones.)

What makes FireFox my browser of choice for my business and personally is that there is a vast library of plugins that add functionality to my browser. In essence, it turns my browser into a whole suit of programs – almost everything I need, in order to get through my business day.

Here is a little bit about some of the plugins I use in my browser. I recommend all of these for you as you start out in your new business. These plugins are all free – and there are thousands available… nearly all are free. Installation is as simple as going to the “add-ons” link and searching for more based on topic. They download and install immediately. FireFox has become my “productivity cockpit” and I hope after reading this you’ll give it a shot and see if it’s right for you too. I’ll bet you LOVE it and can’t do without it in a week of using it.

FireFox Plugins. These are free mini-programs that run inside the FireFox browser and give you added functionality.

These are some essential FireFox plugins to get up to speed with:

• ScribeFire – Helps you create your blog posts by adding functions you can’t do easily in WordPress or at Blogger.com. Very easy to use. I create all my articles in ScribeFire – offline and then publish simply.
• FoxClocks - Hover your cursor over it and see instantly the times across the globe. You choose which time zones to keep track of.
• Colorzilla - an eyedropper you hold over any color to find out what the 6 character hexadecimal code for it is in HTML. It also gives you Red Green Blue values.
• SpeedDial- When you open a new tab in FireFox you can now see a table of screenshots – each linking to a page you visit often. Highly configurable – many options.
• FireFTP - in browser FTP program. Powerful. Accurate. Fast. I couldn’t live without it.
• FireShot – takes a screenshot of the page with one click. Can save in multiple formats, and crop and edit before doing so. The cool thing is this program grabs the entire web page you’re on - not like your Windows print page. It’s as if you scrolled down and grabbed the entire page – no matter how long.