Download and install Firefox add-ons Faster web browsing in Firefox

Speed Dial 

The Speed Dial add-on for Firefox lets you easily access your most frequently used websites. When you open a new tab or window, it can contain links and screenshots (thumbnails) of a range of your favourite sites, so you simply click to choose the one you want to open.

It’s customisable, too, so you can control how many links are shown on each page. A grid of five-by-five should be a good starting point, as if you have too many, the screenshots become too small to be useful.

To add a favourite website to Speed Dial, right click on the tab containing the site you want to add, and choose Set as Speed Dial.

A powerful feature of Speed Dial is the use of keyboard shortcuts to save time and make accessing your favourite sites even easier. When the Speed Dial grid is displayed, each site has a number displayed next to it. Clicking the Ctrl key and that number instantly opens your chosen site, just like using speed dial on a phone.

AutoPager

The AutoPager add-on for Firefox performs a very simple function, but is rather more difficult to explain. Imagine you have the first page of Google search results displayed, and you want to view the following pages. Rather than having to click on the numbered links to view subsequent pages, AutoPager automatically loads the next page and displays it inline – ie under the first page of results.

So, instead of manually clicking through to each page, you can scroll infinitely downwards to find the results you’re looking for, which speeds up your web browsing.

The AutoPager add-on works by default with many sites, but you can add custom autopaging to your favourite websites, and you can even share your site rules by clicking the public button in the settings dialog box.

Findlist 

If you’ve ever had trouble finding key words or phrases on a web page, the Findlist add-on will make it easier and faster. 

The basic find function  in Firefox works when you press Ctrl+F to bring up a search bar at the bottom of the screen, where you type the words you want to search for. 

The Findlist add-on extends this function to remember the last 15 search terms, which you can access from a handy drop-down list next to the search box.

PDF Download 2.1

If you’ve ever been frustrated by trying to download or view Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) files in your browser, then the PDF Download Firefox add-on may help.

It lets you choose what happens when you try to view a PDF file online – either view it within a Firefox tab, open it with your PDF reading software, or download it for offline viewing. It even lets you convert web pages to PDF files so you can save, share or print them, retaining their original formatting.

CoolPreviews

How often do you find yourself clicking on a link, often in search results, finding it’s not what you expected or were looking for, then clicking your browser’s back button? The CoolPreviews add-on for Firefox is designed to avoid that scenario by letting you preview any web links, images and videos in a pop-up viewing window, without leaving your original page or tab.

The CoolPreviews add-on is highly customisable. It gives you control over the time delay before the CoolPreviews icon is displayed next to a link, and how long you need to hover over the icon before the pop-up viewer appears. The viewer size and position can also be changed, and it can even be ‘locked’ so that you can run your mouse over multiple links on a page and preview each of them in turn.