Webware

I've been working on a new Web site for the past few weeks. But instead of doing it alone, I decided to get some help from Firefox extensions. They've made my work a lot easier, and they all can be downloaded in just a few seconds.

Aardvark: Aardvark lets you select elements from a Web page and perform various actions on them. I use it to analyze the structure of a page. You can also remove and isolate elements or generate DOM code. I highly recommend it.

Find any code for the color you want.

(Credit: ColorZilla)

ColorZilla: If there's a color on a Web page that you like, ColorZilla will find the precise code for it and allow you to paste it into your coding program. You can also create custom colors with its built-in palette browser. It saves the most-used colors for easy access later on. It's powerful, it's simple, it's a must-have.

CSS Validator: CSS Validator adds a right-click option in your browser, sending the CSS to the W3C CSS Validator. It opens the results in a new tab. CSS Validator is a nice tool that will come in handy often.

CSSViewer: No Web designer should be working without CSSViewer. The add-on informs you of all the CSS information you'll need from a site. Simply click on the page you want, open it in the Tools menu, and it will display CSS information. I use it almost every day.

FireBug: Firebug is one of those extensions that you simply can't be without. It lets you edit, debug, and view CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. Once you make a change to the HTML on the site, Firebug automatically displays it in the same pane. It's extremely powerful.

FirePHP fills you in on all the issues with your PHP.

(Credit: FirePHP)

FirePHP: FireBug is a fine tool for CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, but FirePHP, which only works when you have the FireBug extension installed, creates a full-featured development experience. With the help of both add-ons, you can view the quality of your PHP and find errors. It's a great aid.

Font Finder: Font Finder allows you to highlight a font you like on any site, right-click on the selection, and after choosing "Font Finder", view the full CSS text styling of the selection. You can then paste that into your own Web page.

HTML Validator: HTML Validator is an extremely powerful tool available to Windows users only. The add-on gives you feedback about errors on the page. It also lets you know where problems need to be addressed. But unless you're an advanced Web designer, stay away from this tool. It's very complicated.

IE View: As long as you're running Windows, IE View is a helpful tool. The extension adds an "Open in IE" option in the right-click menu, allowing you to quickly open a site in Internet Explorer. It's a great way to check how a page looks in both browsers.

Google has begun work on one much-requested feature of its Chrome browser, the ability to detect when a Web page offers a subscription service through RSS or Atom technology.

Google programmer Finnur Thorarinsson formally marked the RSS support issue as "started" on Wednesday, though the feature is disabled for now.

"The first part of this has been implemented and checked in," Thorarinsson said, referring to the part that discovers when RSS feeds are available on a Web site. The feature is disabled for now, though, because the second part, which will produce a page that lets people actually subscribe to the feed, isn't yet available, he said in his comment about Chrome's RSS support.

When Chrome debuted in September, many often basic features available in rival browsers were missing. Google has been working feverishly to add them, though. A total of 250 people flagged RSS support as being an issue of interest, second only to the Chrome extensions, which 725 people flagged.

Google is working on extensions, too, which will let people customize the browser with features such as ad blocking. Extensions are a popular selling point with Firefox, the second most popular browser after Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Earlier this week, Google programmer Aaron Boodman published a how-to guide for writing Chrome extensions. "Right now extensions can only really contain content scripts, so that is all this doc covers. But we'll be expanding it over time as more features develop," Boodman said in an e-mail announcement of the how-to document.

The document caught the attention of another Googler--Matt Cutts, who oversees Google's efforts to screen Web spam out of search results but who also blogs more broadly. "I'm sure the Chrome team is thinking about ways to add more functionality to extensions, but the current developer version of Chrome already lets you do a lot of neat things," Cutts said in a blog post about using the Chrome extensions framework.

Boodman, though, followed up with a note of caution in a blog post of his own that said Cutts jumped the gun. "There's not much to see yet," he said. "We're working on more toys, and you can bet we'll start blogging when there's something to play with. But not... quite... yet."

Google has published its plan to build into Chrome what is arguably its most requested feature: the ability to accept extensions that can customize how the open-source Web browser operates.

And guess what? Google's dependence on advertising notwithstanding, one of the extension examples the company points to is the ability to block advertisements.

The Chrome extensions document, spotlighted Saturday by Google programmer Aaron Boodman, doesn't include a timeline, but it does shed light on why the project is a priority for Chromium, the open-source project behind Chrome.

"Chromium can't be everything to all people," according to the document. "User-created extensions have been proposed to solve these problems: the addition of features that have specific or limited appeal; users coming from other browsers who are used to certain extensions that they can't live without; bundling partners who would like to add features to Chromium specific to their bundle."

When Google launched Chrome three months ago, it promised a Chrome extensions framework. Extensions are a popular feature of Chrome's most likely rival, Mozilla's Firefox, and one very popular extension is AdBlock Plus.

And AdBlock makes a specific appearance on the list of extension uses that Google said it would like to support eventually:

• Bookmarking/navigation tools: Delicious Toolbar, StumbleUpon, Web-based history, new tab page clipboard accelerators.

• Content enhancements: Skype extension (clickable phone numbers), RealPlayer extension (save video), Autolink (generic microformat data--addresses, phone numbers, etc.)

• Content filtering: AdBlock, Flashblock, privacy control, parental control

• Download helpers: video helpers, download accelerators, DownThemAll, FlashGot

• Features: ForecastFox, FoxyTunes, Web Of Trust, GooglePreview, BugMeNot

Demand for extensions is real.

In an unscientific CNET News poll about why people don't use Chrome, about 19 percent pointed to the lack of an extensions feature. And on Google's issue tracking site for Chromium, a Chrome extensions feature is the top-requested item.

"Of all the Firefox plug-ins, this is the one essential one," said Firefox user Ole Eichhorn. "Chrome is faster until you factor in all the cruft that gets downloaded as ads, then it isn't faster anymore. When Chrome supports AdBlock, it will be the winner, but until it does, Firefox is the only choice."

In its document, Google described some of its goals for Chrome extensions. The extensions should silently update, just like Chrome does. They should be isolated for security reasons and only get access to resources it's entitled to use. Installation should be easy, taking only two clicks.

They should permit rich user interface options--rich enough to implement some parts of Chrome as extensions, Google said. Among the interface options should be "toolbars, sidebars, content scripts (for Greasemonkey-like functionality), and content filtering (for parental filters, malware filters, or AdBlock-like functionality)," Google said. Some interfaces will require the user to grant specific permissions, such as "access to the history database" or "access to mail.google.com," Google said.

Google will play a major role in extensions, providing a central service that can be used to issue updates and to blacklist "malicious or harmful extensions" so the browser won't use them.

"It's likely in the future we may want to provide a consumer front-end which would allow users to more easily find the most popular, highest quality and trustworthy extensions," Google also said.

Galleries of images set off against a black background have become common as software and Web sites try to help people show off their photos better. Cooliris' PicLens offers a clever way to do set up such galleries from many Web sites on the fly.

a view of PicLens in action

(Credit: Cooliris)

The PicLens browser extension can convert a bunch of images from Google and Yahoo image search, Flickr, Picasa, Facebook and RSS Media-based sites and other locations into a full-screen gallery of pictures. The photos slide by at a stately pace or advance when the user clicks the keyboard's arrow key, and a handy filmstrip across the bottom aids in jumping to the photo you'd like to see.

The first 1.0 beta version worked only on Apple's Safari browser on Mac OS X, but a new version 1.5 beta released this month now works on PicLens now works with Firefox on Windows. In addition, with the new Safari 1.5 release, PicLens for the Mac now is out of beta.

I found the software worked on Firefox, but imperfectly. The on-screen controls were missing the first time I used it, though they appeared after a reboot. I couldn't get it to work with Picasa Web albums. The interface could use a button to exit.

And alt-tabbing to switch between applications seemed to send PicLens into a zany limbo zone. Apparently the software won't yield control of the screen to other applications, but the mouse and keyboard interact with whatever software is hidden underneath. If you alt-tab back to PicLens/Firefox, though, you can resume using it or hit the escape key to exit.

One disappointment--and it's not really PicLens' fault--is that low-resolution previews such as the default Flickr photostreams look pretty coarse when scaled up to full screen, but the full-size images that can be found through Yahoo image search, for example, can take a long time to download. And because of the aforementioned screen-hogging issue, you don't have much choice but to wait or exit.

(Via John Nack)

Weezu is a downloadable chat app that runs as an extension in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Like some of the other chat apps we've covered lately, Weezu resides in a sidebar on your browser. It's a bit more graphical than some of the other extensions out there, and if you want something that's a little prettier than plain text, Weezu's for you.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

One of the things that attracted me to Weezu was its eccentric interface, which puts you in several different locals and is completely skinnable. My favorite is the sea floor--if you had kids they'll likely enjoy this. When you're not interested in chatting, Weezu can be hidden. Settings and messaging commands reside on your "command module," which also houses your user avatar and chat boxes. Other users show up as floating heads, clicking on them starts up a chat right away.

Weezu is an interesting chat service. It's really simple to use and can be turned on and off at any time, but it lacks some of the ease of entry I've seen with the no-download chat solutions. You still have to install something, which might keep the casual user from committing. There also are not a whole lot of people using the service right now, which isn't Weezu's fault, but rather the design of any of these browser chat services that spread users out across the entire Internet. Weezu has several language localizations, the English one can be found here.

See also Me.dium and Dai.sy.

On Monday, Mozilla launched an updated version of its add-ons page for its popular browser Firefox. The new page has redefined genres, language localization, and snazzy Ajax-enabled previews for screenshots. Mozilla also is adding a user community element that allows users to add their own reviews, complete with a rating system. Previously, you were only able to add comments. Mozilla also has cut hundreds of extensions to make room for the more popular ones, making the updated site more of a "best of" than a full compendium. New or noteworthy extensions can be voted up to popularity with user reviews. If users want the full list of extensions, they can go to Mozilla's developer community page.

The move caters to new Firefox users who might not be so familiar with extensions, and aims to weed out some of the older extensions that don't work with more recent builds of the browser.

The team behind the popular browser extension FoxyTunes is hard at work on a new mashup site that integrates the music controls of FoxyTunes with an aggregation tool to give you more information and media about your favorite musical artists and new discoveries.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Each FoxyTunes Planet artist page has several customizable widgets. There are Flickr photos, YouTube videos, albums for sale from Amazon, and even various Internet radio stations such as HypeMachine and Last.fm where you can listen to the band's other songs. If you're like me, you might be listening to a Shoutcast feed on iTunes and come across an artist you like but aren't familiar with. If you have FoxyTunes installed, clicking the little Planet button brings up the artist's page on FoxyTunes Planet.

If you want to find out more about a band that you're not currently listening to, the FoxyTunes Planet site uses a simple search interface that returns artist pages, in a system akin to Google's. Results are fast and even obscure artists are likely to return some information. If you want to add more widgets to the results page, there are currently 12 others to choose from. Rearranging them on the artist page is accomplished by simply dragging and dropping.

FoxyTunes Planet is a handy tool for music discovery. You could accomplish something similar using an aggregator like Netvibes, but the seamless integration with FoxyTunes makes sense. FoxyTunes Planet is in private beta; you can sign up here. You can download the original FoxyTunes for Firefox or FoxyTunes for Internet Explorer at CNET Download.com.

(Credit: Sxip Identity Corporation)

Like most webware fans, I love to play with the cool features at sites such as Splice, Jumpcut, and the like, but most of these Web 2.0 ventures require registration, which in turn requires filling out forms and tracking passwords and log-ins. It's not only Web-based applications and community sites. I often get most frustrated when buying airline tickets or holiday gifts through new online vendors. Typing out my entire address and credit card information is fine a few times, but I have lots of relatives, and the 23rd form gets to be a bit tiring.

In the past, software solutions have filled the gap admirably. One excellent product is Siber System's RoboForm, which provides a robust platform for managing your personal information, all encrypted via AES, BlowFish, or 3DES. While RoboForm is a great program, the amount of information and passwords you can manage is limited for those of us cheapskates not willing to shell out $30 for the full version. The open-source application KeePass is great for securely storing passwords, but it doesn't fill out forms automatically.

Now, a new Firefox extension called Sxipper (pronounced "skipper") aims to improve on that browser's password-management features with a free, secure system for automatically adding your personal information and passwords to Web sites. On installation, Sxipper scours your address book and Firefox preferences for passwords and information you've already saved. It then walks you through a wizard that explains the privacy policy and end-license user agreement, lets you select your personal icon, and asks you to enter basic personal information for your profile.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

After a brief, optional demo from the Sxipper site, you're off and running. If you land on a Web form that's in the Sxipper system, a prompt with your icon will ask if you want to "Sxip this." You'll then be provided with a Sxip dialog that lets you specify which of your personal information you want to add to the form. On page with a log-in form, you can choose which account you'd like to use and then automatically log in. When you visit a form that isn't in the Sxipper database, you can add it to the program's "semantic map" for other users. That map will then be credited with your username. (Register for Splice with Sxip and you should see a "Sxipped by peterb" note at the top of the prompt.)

Though it's still in beta, one obvious problem with Sxipper arises when you've got a log-in page such as Digg's that forces you to complete a randomized CAPTCHA form. Unlike RoboForm, Sxipper currently has no option of adding your log-in and password to the form without automatically entering it, resulting in a CAPTCHA error. Another downside is you can't manually add maps to the system. The only way to add them is to set your Preferences to "Auto Prompt Map Creation," which will prompt you on every form that Sxipper doesn't recognize. The problem there is you might have HTML-based forms you use regularly for various purposes. You don't want to have to cancel the Sxipper prompt each time you visit those forms.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Those are both easy issues to fix. Sxipper should add a option to its taskbar icon that lets you manually add a map and a selection to its autoprompt mapping feature that says "No, and don't ask me about this form again." Aside from small bugs and necessary improvements, most of the Sxipper preferences such as changing your map attribution and saving your personal data to a backup file are nonfunctional. In fact, some of the options don't even fit within the preferences pop-up window. You can see what the Sxipper team is up to next with its release notes for the latest version.

(Credit: Facebook)

Although the once-exclusive social networking site Facebook has since opened up to the general public, its user base still largely consists of high school and college students who are prone to procrastination. In fact, Facebook's facilitation of voyeuristic procrastination is one reason that it probably caught on so virally in the first place. And now, Facebook users can integrate procrastination right into their Firefox 2.0 browsers, with the just-announced Facebook Toolbar. It really gives the service an always-there presence on your Web surfing experience. Paranoiacs might find it a little Big Brother-ish, kind of like they did when the news feed feature was launched a few months ago. But aren't online social networking sites inherently a tad invasive? By now, I'm guessing most people wouldn't have a problem with this kind of thing.

As far as Firefox toolbars go, this one's pretty functional. You can hit a button that launches a sidebar to display your friends' recent updates, use a search box for quick access to your friends' profiles, and see a tally of how many new messages and friend requests you have. There's also a button so you can "share" links and media on your profile. Plus, aside from the toolbar itself, the extension has little pop-up windows that appear whenever you have a new alert from Facebook: a friend request, message, or "poke," among other things. The pop-up function could either be really cool or really annoying, depending on your preferences. If they get on your nerves, you can turn them off.

If you're a Facebook user running Firefox 2.0, you can download the toolbar here. And if you're into developer tweakery, you might be interested to know that the code's open source.