Browser extension
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Definition
“A browser extension is a computer program that extends the functionality of a web browser in some way. Depending on the browser, the term may be distinct from similar terms such as plug-in or add-on. Mozilla Firefox was designed with the idea of being a small and simple web browser, delegating more advanced functions to Mozilla extensions.” (Wikipedia, retrieved 10:48, 19 March 2009 (UTC)).
Browser extensions can be considered a variant of rich internet applications, since they may connect to the Internet and they ought to offer a similar security model as Java (In practise though we suggest to be careful and only download extensions that are rated by informed users and from places you trust).
We believe that there is huge potential in education for such extensions (and some already exist). It's a technology that can be compared to commercial initiatives like Adobe Air or other technologies used for desktop widgets. An other alternative to browser extensions are browser modifications, such as Flock (a social software variant that is built on top of standard Firefox code).
Firefox extensions
Below is a short list that should not grow too big. See the links sections.
For students, researchers and teachers
- Zotero, to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.
- Firedocs a word processor and remote authoring workspace. Firedocs has support for a growing number of document formats and content servers. It can Auto-discover editable content while you browse it and provides wysiwyg editing for html and xml-based content types.
- Wired-Marker is a permanent (indelible) highlighter that you use on Web pages. The highlighter, which comes in various colors and styles, is a kind of electronic bookmark that serves as a guide when you revisit a Web page
- Could be used in classes that engage learners in reading web pages (not tested).
- Wired-Marker extension
For general web use
- Googlebar. See this pages for some (outdated) pointers to other domain-specific searches. Otherwise, the home page is outdated (but not the extension itself).
- Wizz RSS News Reader Firefox 1.x - 2.x extension]
- Greasemonkey A quite spectacular extension that allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript. Hundreds of scripts, for a wide variety of popular sites, are already available at UserScripts.org. See user-side JavaScript for more information (including a link to useful mediawiki scripts).
- Colorful tabs. Adds color to tabs. If you browse with lots of tabs, makes finding the same tab a bit easier (similar extensions exist).
- Resurrect pages. Finding ghosts of dead pages. Truly useful, if you find dead links in this wiki ;)
For web page authors and web developers
- HTML VALIDATOR is a Mozilla extension that adds HTML validation inside Firefox and Mozilla. The number of errors of a HTML page is seen on the form of an icon in the status bar when browsing. The details of the errors are seen when looking the HTML source of the page.
- Web Developer. Tells you most everything about your HTML page.
- Important: To install the DOM Inspector you must reinstall the browser choosing the 'Custom' and 'Developer Tools' options (if not already done so). You won't loose any personal settings, just do it :)
- FireBug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of web development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page. There also is a light version based on JavaScript that you can use with any browser.
- XML Developer Toolbar. For XML development. Schema and DTD Generation, Various validation, XSLT on the fly.
- Screengrab is an extension that makes it easy to save a web-page as an image – it’s a screen capture tool for Firefox! I use for creating screen shots of web pages for this wiki. It possible to select just an area.
For mediawiki authors
- It's All Text! 1.3.1. Edit textareas using an external editor, because it's all text!
- I use this to edit edutechwiki pages on PCs with an external editor.
- CoLT Copy Link Text is tiny extensionto copy a hyperlink's associated text or both the URL and the text in various formats.
- Supports mediawiki format, I use it all the time - Daniel K. Schneider
- Wiked. Not an extension but a script for the Greasemonkey extension.
- Best mediawiki editor, if don't want to work with an external editor (as of 3/2009).
Other browsers
IE
Find more through the IE Tools/extensions menu...
Note: IE is not well know for extensions, but there are some other useful extensions for other purposes (e.g. videodownloads). Some are payware.
Opera
Get at least the developer console and DOM snapshot from the Opera tools page. Installing add-ons with Opera is really easy.