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Top 150 Popular Firefox Extensions and Opera

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Updated again: the extensions list, and the summary below, was last updated 2007-06-08, taking into account the new Addons site. Lots of sleazy spyware toolbars were finally removed. Added a few corrections based on comments here at 2007-06-17. Added a few more correction at 2007-07-29. Thanks!

Updated: the extensions list, and the summary below, was last updated 2006-12-09, taking into account the Firefox 2 release that made some extensions obsolete. Firefox out-of-the-box is catching up to Opera :smile:

Based on initial research :sherlock: from Dodd in the my.opera.com forums, I've compiled a list of the Top 150 most popular Firefox extensions, and classified the availability of the functionality they offer in Opera.

extensions.html

Some extensions are Firefox-specific (only relevant for managing Firefox itself), and there is considerable overlap in functionality for several extensions. That leaves the following summary:

  • 41 extensions offer out of the box functionality in Opera 9, with roughly equivalent capability,
  • 13 extensions are available by installing a UserScript or a Widget or dragging a button,
  • 17 extensions require advanced customization or are only partially available,
  • 45 extensions are not available at all in Opera.

[updated]After the December 3, 2006 update, out of 96 sets of extensions:
  • 32 (sets of) extensions offer out of the box functionality in Opera 9, with roughly equivalent capability,
  • 11 (sets of) extensions are available by installing a UserScript or a Widget or dragging a button,
  • 13 (sets of) extensions require advanced customization or are only partially available,
  • 40 (sets of) extensions are not available at all in Opera,
  • 3 extensions are are Firefox specific (like dictionaries).

[updated again]After the July 29, 2007 update, out of 113 sets of extensions:
  • 38 (sets of) extensions offer out of the box functionality in Opera 9, with roughly equivalent capability,
  • 14 (sets of) extensions are available by installing a UserScript or a Widget or dragging a button,
  • 21 (sets of) extensions require advanced customization or are only partially available,
  • 38 (sets of) extensions are not available at all in Opera,
  • 4 extensions are Firefox specific.


Corrections are welcome, but only from people who have actually studied both the extension and Opera's behavior. 'why would I need it' is a valid reaction to some extensions, but will probably not lead to changes in the table :wink:

eWeek gives Opera 9 'analyst's choice award'Mailto-to-webmail

Comments

idleskitter 4. July 2006, 01:38

missing flashblock (for Opera 9), all-in-one-search and launchy on that list

the link you gave for flashblock works on Opera 8 but not on 9 (url thingy, as you might know already ...)

nice colours btw

João Eiras 4. July 2006, 02:04

typos p:
Greasemonkey User (optionally with Emulate GM functions Userscript)
- one should read User Javascript

ScrapBook Notes (text only), or Dmitry's OBook Blugin
- Plugin, not Blugin

TreeGo 4. July 2006, 03:48

Aren't there plenty of things that Opera does that Firefox (with or without extensions) does not do or in a much more limited or cumbersome fashion ?

Tamil 4. July 2006, 04:34

Typo
Try star to avoid making dublicates, and third party tool Deadlink

Nuke Anything Enhanced
MyPage Bookmarklet

Rijk 4. July 2006, 08:30

@idleskitter:
All-in-one search and Launchy are not present in the top 150.
I don't know about problems with the flashblock userscript, but then I don't use it myself.

@xErath, Tamil: thanks, fixed.
Darn, the word javascript is just dropped from uploaded HTML files :smile: A workaround was needed.

@TreeGo: Certainly! This list is more useful in persuading potential Firefox switchers that they will not have to sacrifice all their precious extensions than in showcasing Opera's capabilities.

zbraniecki 4. July 2006, 11:55

Did you test all of those extensions?

I just can say that "Tab Mix" functionality is sooo much ahead. I'd never say that "Mostly normal Opera functions".
Greasmonkey also allows you to do things not possible in Opera I think (Platypus?)

Rijk 4. July 2006, 14:26

@zbraniecki, no, I did not test them all. I did read the full description though.

I can see your point about Tab Mix. Opera does offer a lot of these things out-of-the-box, but not with a multiple sub-options. I still keep this one on 'green', because there wouldn't be much need for this extension in Firefox if it offered all functionality of Opera out-of-the-box.

Note I am talking about "roughly equivalent". For example, Opera's User JavaScript can do several things that Greasemonkey can not, and vice-versa. Platypus is a different extension - and not in the top 150.

zbraniecki 4. July 2006, 15:01

Rijk: Well, your opinion about feature set is very personal. It can vary from person to person a lot. You can always say things like that because YOU feel that there's nothing usefull beyond what Opera has. Some people might disagree a lot.
Please, think of my post as just another point of view where you on one hand say that Opera has much more powerfull tab handling than Firefox and on the other and those functions are important to you, and on the other, those functions that are exclusive to tab mix are not important to you at all.

> Opera's User JavaScript can do several things that Greasemonkey can not

Can you name a few? It's a real question. I don't know Greasemonkey that much nor UserJS nor Widgets and I keep finding some info like this, that UserJS has some features that GM has not, or that Widgets have some features that Extensions doesn't.
I'm interested in what are the things that limit Gecko and could be expanded in the future.

Rijk 4. July 2006, 15:32

User JavaScript can interfere with scripts from the page, before, during and after loading. Greasemonkey is limited to working on a page after it has loaded, and can only add scripts, not rewrite scripts that com with the page - so it is less suitable for repairing broken sites. See the documentation.

Greasemonkey's main unique feature compared to Opera is the ability to pull in content from other websites using XMLHttpRequest. Opera's User JavaScript can also use XMLHttpRequest, but the normal restrictions against cross-site use apply, so you can only get content from the current domain. So, no Greasemonkey script 'Bookburro' in Opera.

rseiler 5. July 2006, 07:06

I'm curious whether or not you had a straight face when you typed the following:

AI Roboform Toolbar for Firefox
Wand and Personal info autocompletion

Arche Twist 5. July 2006, 17:16

Although I am an Opera fan, I think one can't say that Opera's content blocking feature is an equivalent to Firefox's Adblock, simply because Adblock offers the ability to use regular expressions while Opera doesn't.

Vladimir Georgiev 5. July 2006, 19:54

There is a confusion in the table for the item

Firefox's ShowIP ( https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/590/ )
vs.
Opera's IPAddress widget ( http://widgets.opera.com/widget/4095 )

While ShowIP shows "the IP address of the current page", IPAddress shows the "current public IP address, for users with dynamic IP addresses".

Vladimir Georgiev 5. July 2006, 20:34

I beleive there is something wrong with the classification of

FlashGot/DownThemAll
vs.
Links Panel

FlashGot allows the user to send the links with a "single click" to the application he simply chooses (the kind of Open with...). The Links panel can help you select and copy the links, but then to manually do the second step -- call the desired application and give it the links you have copies. Much more cumbersome and away from the "single click".

DownThemAll is a download manager, and when comparing with somenthing in Opera it should be a "Links panel + Transfers manager". Also, "it features an advanced accelerator that increases speed up to 400%", which Transfers in Opera cannot do.

In any case, I beleive the color for this row should not be dark green ("roughly equivalent functionality"), but may be "very limited functionality".

Being an Opera user, I admit that "roughly equivalent functionality" is an atractive category in this case.

Unfortunately, even Firefox users that are already catched by Opera, do miss FlashGot in Opera.

I don't know, may be "roughly equivalent functionality" is just not good category label and is too Opera centric.

----- Off topic below -----

What is more, in my own experience, and experience of other users, MIME-type/file extension detection in Opera still has many glitches. Eg., sometimes Opera thinks that file.rar should be opened inside Opera. I have seen this several times and I plan to bug report it; I have seen other glitches too.

Also, recently Opera tends to bypass the user's choice by burryinng the possibility too deep in Opera's preferences. A fresh example is the built-in BitTorrent support.

These and some other experiences make me think that Opera needs a more flexible handling for special handling of links (something like Open with...), since many programs do not integrate well with the current approach in Opera (modifying the standard_menu).

And menu setups have other problems, but let me stop here :wink:

:cheers:

Rijk 5. July 2006, 20:59

@archetwist: once again, note that I'm talking about roughly equivalent, not exactly the same. Without regular expressions you can also block content. The idea for Opera is that integrated features should be usable for the majority of our users. Offering every possible option and subfeature doesn't fit in, because it makes the features harder to use.

Firefox extensions often come with a separate option dialog. That doesn't always fit well with the simpleness of using Firefox itself, and adding multiple extensions can lead to cluttered menus etc :smile:

Anyway, there is hardly a feature in Opera where the corresponding Firefox extension doesn't offer some extras. The mouse gestures extension for example makes it possible to show the drag path on the screen. I don't think that means I can't say the two are roughly equivalent.

Rijk 6. July 2006, 08:44

@vladimirg:
About ShowIP: you are right, the widget does something else. I'll update the table.

About FlashGot/DownThemAll: I've no experience with them myself; if you have, I'll follow your suggestion.

Note that it is already possible to change the handler for various protocols and file types. Really not that hard, IMHO. So you can also change the handler for the application/x-bittorrent file type from the normal Preferences, no need to discover opera:config.

The biggest problem is servers sending stuff as text/plain, because we've stopped doing content sniffing for those IIANM. There were good technical and security reasons for this - but feel free to ask Yngve to explain a bit about this in the Security Forum :smile:


Thanks everyone for their feedback!

Vladimir Georgiev 6. July 2006, 09:02

Originally posted by Rijk:

Note that it is already possible to change the handler for various protocols and file types. Really not that hard, IMHO. So you can also change the handler for the application/x-bittorrent file type from the normal Preferences, no need to discover opera:config.



Yeah, it really seems an easy-to-guess-how, but I'm disturbed just by the frequency the question "how to disable BT" arises in forums, and even on ICQ :smile: And about the half of those people are average, or more than average computer skilled people.

The last case was a question from yesterday by a friend who switched to Opera 2 years ago... He had almost found the solution himself, but failed at the very last step for some small reason.

Vladimir Georgiev 6. July 2006, 09:09

Originally posted by Rijk:

The biggest problem is servers sending stuff as text/plain, because we've stopped doing content sniffing for those IIANM.



Yup, I guess content sniffing may have security implications. But does the extension (.rar) have such implications too(when served as text/plain)? May be I should ask in the forum, yup

RS 8. July 2006, 04:50

Rijk, I have allot of respect for you but no. You do not go by the popular and crap. You did not even test or use them. You should go by the Real Function of the Extension.

In my book.

1. NoScript - It does tons of stuff that Opera does not. Try it and use it for a few days. Then make a comment.
2. Adblock Plus by mcm_ham http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=266291 - Totally kills the Opera AdBlock. Test it for your self.
3. CustomizeGoogle http://www.customizegoogle.com/ - Not one person has come out with this for Opera. Try this one out.

Edit and no Opera has not even come close to of what Tab Mix Plus has. http://tmp.garyr.net/ Use it if you are going to use Firefox.

Yes I use Opera as my main browser but those four Extensions kill Opera in my view.

Mihai Sucan 8. July 2006, 18:17

Great post! Really interesting.

Also, thanks for including my ROBO Stickies UserJS :smile:.

Rijk 8. July 2006, 21:43

RS, I'm no going to actually install and intensely analyse 150 extensions. Feel free to consider this shallow research :smile:

I just installed Noscript and AdblockPlus though, and I can say that they drove me crazy in a few minutes. I really don't want toolbars and panels popping up on every site I visit, with way too much information. I guess they are really handy when you want spend a lot of time in setting up your browser for undisturbed browsing, but I rather get on with browsing right away.

AdBlockPlus looks like a powerusers dream, but I think with 'Block content' in Opera I might actually be able to get my girlfriend or parents to succesfully use it. The way this works in Opera is much more userfriendly (automatically creating patterns, visual feedback, only a few options), more suitable for non geeks. Which is a bit weird, as Opera users are probably more geeky than Firefox users on average.

I guess this sounds a bit negative, but I appreciate the fact that lots of Firefox users dearly love these extensions, they are after all on top of the list. And please also read my other comments in this thread. I'm not going to disqualify all Opera features because Firefox extensions usually have lots of detailed options - but conversely, this thinking does also not disqualify the Firefox extensions.

RS 8. July 2006, 22:54

Rijk, Yes that is all true. I may of came harsh in some of the comments that I made. I will say the four extensions I said are for the Poweruser but very easy to use. Now if we can get you and Moose to do a CustomizeGoogle like the Firefox extension does. That would be great!

firefox8 11. July 2006, 19:26

Rijk, Nice table and widely received but very hard to read, I would suggest removing all added coloring from the text areas and inserting a new column to left of the Opera column to contain the color with a width of 3%
Would only place it in front of the Opera column, since it
only applies to Opera.

Would also be helpful if the list were sorted on the Firefox Extension name (case insensitive) so it can be compared to a sorted list of extensions such as created by Liztzilla.

If the extensions are currently in some kind of ranking order of popularity, I'd place that number into a fourth column.

Rijk 12. July 2006, 16:30

@firefoxB: like this?

Smir 20. July 2006, 11:54

@rschultz2002:
CustomizeGoogle for Opera is now available as UserJavascript:
http://www.smir.de/cg

I have not tested each and every feature, but those features I need are working P:
(Google suggest, DirectImagelinks, Links to different Search engines, Ad-removal for normal search (I haven't tested it on all subdomains), result-counter, filter for search results)

I have not tested the Features for gmail, froogle, print, news, groups and privacy, because I do not use them and have blocked Cookies on all pages except those on a whitelist.

Steve Darken 21. July 2006, 22:21

Excellent post. :smile:

Martin Hansen 21. July 2006, 23:17

But I guess the important question is: who in their right mind wants to/has time to install 150 extensions? And will this not slow firefox down?

bernardtse 30. July 2006, 07:39

LucasVB 2. August 2006, 16:13

Actually, PDF Download is somewhat available in Opera. You can't chose what to do every time you click it like with the extension, but you can chose what Opera should do with PDFs using the action for the application/pdf mime type on the downloads part of the settings. All of the available settings are there except for open as html.

TaeBo 2. August 2006, 17:36

@manlord: The only extension that I have ever gave me a noticeable performance hit was Reveal, and that was only while closing tabs or windows.

@Rijk: I have to agree with some of the other guys, that Adblock and block content are hardly comparable. Adblock is highly customizable and you can share your block lists with others, as well as use regular expressions. You can block scripts, frames(iframes), or any embedded content. Can content block even block anything other than images?

Other than that I have to say this was a highly useful list, I now use Opera and Firefox. It's hard to leave my extensibility behind. Although I was happy to find the userscripts I wrote for Greasemonkey work with Opera as well. Thx for this list, and your blog. It's great.

Rijk 7. August 2006, 22:10

Just back from France, I see I'll have to update the list again. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

@TaeBo: yes, they are comparable. You can specify exactly what to block when you press the 'Details' button. No regexps, but * should get you far. And you can share your list (it is saved as a file, see opera:config#Network|URLFilterFile for the location). As noted, the biggest missing item in my eyes compared to AdBlock is the ease of sharing block lists (that is, not easy at all in Opera).

Brian Huisman 22. August 2006, 17:23

Here is code for mimicking the JSView extension (EDIT: updated):

javascript:var MTl=document.getElementsByTagName('SCRIPT');for(var MTi=0,MTr,MTa=[];MTl[MTi];MTi++){if(MTr=MTl[MTi].getAttribute('src')){MTa[MTa.length]=MTl[MTi];}}if(!MTa.length){alert('This page does not use any linked scripts');}else if(MTa.length==1){void(window.open(MTa[0].src));}else{var MTw=window.open('');MTw.document.open();MTw.document.write('<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \'-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN\'><html dir=\'ltr\' lang=\'en\'><head><title>External Scripts</title><link rel=\'stylesheet\' href=\'http://my.opera.com/GreyWyvern/homes/files/dir.css\' media=\'screen,projection,tv,handheld,print,speech\'></head><body><h1>External Scripts</h1><h2>'+document.title+'</h2><table><tr><th>Script</th></tr>');for(MTi=0;MTa[MTi];MTi++){MTw.document.write('<tr><td><strong>'+(MTa[MTi].title?MTa[MTi].title:'Untitled')+'</strong><em> &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href=\''+MTa[MTi].src+'\'>'+MTa[MTi].src+'</a></em></td></tr>');}MTw.document.write('</table></body></html>');MTw.document.close();}


And as a menu.ini item:

Item, "JS"=Go to page, "javascript:var MTl=document.getElementsByTagName('SCRIPT');for(var MTi=0,MTr,MTa=[];MTl[MTi];MTi++){if(MTr=MTl[MTi].getAttribute('src')){MTa[MTa.length]=MTl[MTi];}}if(!MTa.length){alert('This page does not use any linked scripts');}else if(MTa.length==1){void(window.open(MTa[0].src));}else{var MTw=window.open('');MTw.document.open();MTw.document.write('<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \'-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.01\/\/EN\'><html dir=\'ltr\' lang=\'en\'><head><title>External Scripts<\/title><link rel=\'stylesheet\' href=\'http:\/\/my.opera.com\/GreyWyvern\/homes\/files\/dir.css\' media=\'screen,projection,tv,handheld,print,speech\'><\/head><body><h1>External Scripts<\/h1><h2>'+document.title+'<\/h2><table><tr><th>Script<\/th><\/tr>');for(MTi=0;MTa[MTi];MTi++){MTw.document.write('<tr><td><strong>'+(MTa[MTi].title?MTa[MTi].title:'Untitled')+'<\/strong><em> &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href=\''+MTa[MTi].src+'\'>'+MTa[MTi].src+'<\/a><\/em><\/td><\/tr>');}MTw.document.write('<\/table><\/body><\/html>');MTw.document.close();}", 1, , "View"

This code is a modified version of the "View external CSS" code contained in Toby's W3-Dev menu:
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/opera

It loads the Opera dir.css stylesheet, but with the images embedded in data:uri's from my files at my.opera.com

Jan Henrik Helmers 26. August 2006, 07:36

Would be nice to have it sorted by what's supported in Opera, so it would be easier to get a glimpse what we might be missing out on.

Thanks for taking the time to compile that though, its amazing how many extensions are supported right out of the box! :D

PM 29. August 2006, 02:43

your comment on firefox pdf download is not right. Opera has all the features of pdf download built-in I think. Opera offer pdf option to download, open inside or outside opera.

Did I miss something, pardon me if I am wrong.

Maulkin 10. September 2006, 12:27

@Taebo: Well, the Opera content blocker can't block the iframes, the script, etc. BUT you can do it manually by right-clicking in the page "edit site preferences" under display there's an option for the iframes, and in "scirpting" there's all needed concerning the scripts.

@Rijk: I hope you enjoy France (My beloved country :D )and tahnk you for this list :wink:

Florian Schütz 11. September 2006, 16:31

Thanks for the nice listing, but I do think some of the reddish rows should be a lot more green:

- PDF Download: Not directly all of the possibilities are aviable out-of-the-box, but i think vanilla Opera's features shoud make this medium-green.
- GMail Space: Maybe that could be a light green; you can always store your files on GMail the way it was intended - by sending them yourself from GMail.
- SwitchProxy Tool: You can enable/disable Proxies with F12 in Opera. Since all of the SwitchProxy users I know only use it to switch from on and off, that should - imo - count as a medium or at least light green.
- Temporary Inbox: SpamGourmet.com and a real E-Mail account in Opera work just as well. And this solution sports an actually usable Mail client.

Additionally I myself find StumbleUpon/Yoono, Performancing, Gmail Skins, GooglePreview, JetEye, FoxGame, LinkedIn Companion, PayPal Send Money, Reel New Media Toolbar, JAHJAH, Diigo, bbs2chreader and Xbord toolbar not worth mentioning since they only change the appearance of a single site (or add some functionality to it).

Marcelo Javier 19. September 2006, 01:48

Gmail Skins: edit user preferences, my style sheet.

Mathias M 19. October 2006, 23:20

"Try star" is not available any more in O9...
Or back in O9.2?

tanakorn 23. October 2006, 00:13

Interesting Table.

What do I like of some FF ext. is Safe Image in Folder. It's simply make you download picture to default folder(s). I do have hoped for Opera to do something like that. What I think Opera should develop is easy-manage-most-used-stuffs as old opera have always done. Still have hope.

Rijk 28. October 2006, 19:37

Thanks Darkolord. That script was already linked from the list :smile:

douglasfp 14. November 2006, 21:15

and about Repagination Extension https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2099/ someone know any replacement?

PM 2. December 2006, 08:14

Its a great effort to list out the stuffs.

Are you updating the list regularly or it is the same as you did the first time?

Rijk 2. December 2006, 10:49

I plan to update it for new functionality in Opera releases, or when I become aware of new add-ons for Opera etc. I'm not really planning to keep track of the Firefox extensions list - but if a brand new Firefox extension gets in the top fifty, feel free to tell me about it.

A.Ruzanov 4. December 2006, 18:36

SwitchProxy Tool/FoxyProxy Not available
In Russian
menu.ini:
[Proxy Menu] 

Item, "127.0.0.1:8080"=Set preference, "Proxy|HTTP server=127.0.0.1:8080"
Item, "127.0.0.1:8081"=Set preference, "Proxy|HTTP server=127.0.0.1:8081"
Item, "127.0.0.1:8082"=Set preference, "Proxy|HTTP server=127.0.0.1:8082"
Item, "127.0.0.1:8083"=Set preference, "Proxy|HTTP server=127.0.0.1:8083"
--------------------1
item, "Enable HTTP proxy"=Set preference, "Proxy|Use HTTP=1" | Set preference, "Proxy|Use HTTP=0"
item, "Enable HTTPS proxy"=Set preference, "Proxy|Use HTTPS=1" | Set preference, "Proxy|Use HTTPS=0"
item, "Enable FTP proxy"=Set preference, "Proxy|Use FTP=1" | Set preference, "Proxy|Use FTP=0"
item, "Enable HTTP 1.1"=Set preference, "Proxy|Enable HTTP 1.1 for proxy=1" | Set preference, "Proxy|Enable HTTP 1.1 for proxy"


toolbar.ini:
Button8, "Proxy Switcher"="Show hidden popup menu, "Proxy Menu", , "Proxy Switcher", "Contact36"" 

Rijk 4. December 2006, 22:39

Here are one-click installs of Lex1's menu and button. The menu needs some editing of course, to maker the server addresses match your needs. You'll find it in your /Profile/menu/ map.

Menu: Proxy Switch Menu.
Button: Proxy Switcher.

Christian 8. December 2006, 22:10

Why are all Dictionaries Firefox specific? I use Aspell with Opera so I would think it should be at least light green.

Christian 8. December 2006, 22:28

I think there is a mistake: Color Picker Widget is IMHO not at all comparable to ColorZilla. I used ColorZilla sometimes to quickly determine colors on web pages - a function called Eyedropper (or I used TopStyle Light). I didn't even know there is a color-picking-functionality just to have a self-made color.
I consider the Eyedropper to be the main feature as it is used by click on the ColorZilla button (together with the measuring tool).

Rijk 9. December 2006, 21:22

@ResearchWizard: thanks for your comments, I've updated the list.

janniklindquist 15. December 2006, 15:17

IMO, it all boils down to this: Firefox with extensions can't be beat when it comes to features - but Opera is clearly (very clearly) the winner in terms of usability.

PM 20. December 2006, 04:09

Can you change the green color in the extension list page? Because if someone search for an extension, the highlight color is also green and can't really find it.

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