Asa Dotzler: Firefox and more

Zoomy toolbar zoom buttons - 30%
Duplicate tab - 30%
Adblock plus - 40%
firefox backup - 10%
quick preference button - 20%
alt-text for links - 80%
paste and go - 70%
dom inspector - 5%
ctrl tab preview - 10%
submit to tab - 10%
double click on tab to close - 10%

Asa, about SpeelBound estimation, do you mean your guess is that only 50% of people who use a browser ever use webmail? or do you mean 50% use webmail regularly?
Cause I imagine you can still count SpellBound as useful even if you use webmail once in a month.

So just a few important ones under this consideration:

Some nice extension, that shouldn't be integrated, just optional by extension:

Adblock: 80%
BBCode 20%
Context Search 20%
Greasemonkey 20%
Mouse Gestures 20%
Remove It Permanently 30%
ScrapBook 30%
Stylish 20%

Some extensions I would integrate:

NoScript 80% (for security)
Organize Status Bar 5% (UI tweak)
Super DragAndGo 50% (nice usability)

My other WebDev and browser-tweaking extensions are too specialized for my personal needs.

Thanks again to the mozilla folks and developers for making this flexibility possible!

Delicious: 5%

Forcastfox: 75%

PDF Download: 100% (It’s a duh feature. Ever seen a “warning, PDF” when surfing blogs? This extension is just so functional I don’t know why it’s not part of the browser)

IE View Light: X (where X=% of FF users who use Winboxes. I hate that its necessary, and it almost isn’t, but I occasionally use sites designed my Microsoft itself...)

Triple select: 15%

CuteMenues: 100% (this one just adds major polish to the browser)

Fitt’s back Button: 100% (look up Fitt’s law...)

Adblock: 20%

Adblock filterset.G Updater Y (Where Y=100% of users of adblock)

Disable targets for downloads: 100%

SearchPluginHacks: 100% (I don’t know why I need a plugin to delete a search option!)

As a bonus, I’d like to mention a Thunderbird Extension:
Minimize to tray: 50%. Every Email program ought to be able to minimize to the system tray. Perhaps not everyone would want it turned on, but the option should _exist_ by default. Email is like IM, it’s always on, but only when I am actively engaged with it do I want it somewhere prominent like the taskbar...

I'll just list the ones I think are highly interesting for the general public:

SessionSaver/SessionManager -- saving the tabs between sessions is a no-brainer
SmoothWheel -- I can't believe more people use this, makes scrolling with the wheel MUCH better

IMHO there are relatively few (a few dozen out of hundreds) extensions implemented well enough that they can/should be recommended to a wide audience. However, there are quite a few that work well enough and that implement interesting ideas. Picking up some of those ideas and integrating them into firefox would be nice.

The thing is that many users don't install extensions either because they have no time or because they are not the type that installs new stuff all the time and are really uncomfortable with the idea of going to some web site and allowing stuff to install itself into their browser. For those people, endorsing a core set of extensions officially would bring enormous improvement to the overall user experience. By endorsing I mean ensuring it works; it doesn't do bad things; supporting it and making it available in the extension manager without having to go to some web site. After all communicating the whole notion of an extension manager is much easier if by default there are already some useful extensions installed there.

Just go out and identify 20 or so extensions and invite the developers to help integrate it into firefox 2.0.

Mine:
Disable targets for downloads 60% (this is really just a workaround for bug 241972)
Chatzilla 5%
Livehttpheaders 5%
Linkchecker 5%

I should give an honourable mention to "duplicate tab", although I don't use it. Someone I know who wasn't even aware that extensions for Firefox existed asked how they could make Firefox open new tabs which were a copy of the existing page, like IE does, and I recommended the extension after trying it out myself. That's maybe a 30%.

For me, Id recommend for the masses CuteMenus, Alt-Text for links (I know it wont be done...), Search Engine Ordering, SessionSaver & Colorful tabs.

My Enabled Extensions: (47)
Aardvark 1.1 ==>> 10%
Add N Edit Cookies 0.2.1.0 ==>> 10%
Adsense Notifier 0.8 ==>> 0.1%
All-in-One Gestures 0.17.4 ==>> 10%
All-In-One Sidebar 0.6.4 ==>> 10%
Alt-Text for Links 0.3 ==>> 99%
Barra Shoshan Toolbar 1.0.1.0 ==>> 0.1%
Blogger Web Comments 1.3 ==>> 1%
BugMeNot 1.3 ==>> 80%
Colorful Tabs 1.1 ==>> 99%
CookieCuller 1.3.0 ==>>10%
CuteMenus 2 0.6.3 ==>> 99%
Download Statusbar 0.9.4 ==>> 50%
Enhanced History Manager 0.5.8.05 ==>> 50%
FireBug 0.3.1 ==>> 1%
FireFTP 0.90.1.1 ==>> 1%
Forecastfox 0.8.5.3 ==>> 50%
Google Adsense Preview Tool 1.0 ==>> 0.1%
Google Suggest 1.0.0.2005110710 ==>> 80%
Header Monitor 0.3.4 ==>> 0.2%
IE Tab 1.0.8 ==>> 80%
IE View 1.2.7 ==>> 80%
ListZilla 0.7 ==>> 0.01%
Live PageRank 0.9b ==>> 1%
Locate in Bookmark Folders 0.2.4 ==>> 60%
MeasureIt 0.3.5 ==>> 1%
MediaPlayerConnectivity 0.5.5 ==>> 1%
miniFox 0.7.3 ==>> 10%
mozImage 1.4.5 ==>> 5%
Nightly Tester Tools 0.7.9.11 ==>> 0.1%
phplangeditor 2.0 ==>> 0.1%
ReloadEvery 1.5.1 ==>> 0.1%
Sage 1.3.6 ==>> 30%
ScrapBook 1.0pre ==>> 30%
Screen grab! 0.7 ==>> 1%
Search Engine Ordering 0.9.5 ==>> 90%
SEOpen 0.6 ==>> 2%
SessionSaver .2 0.2.1.030.4 ==>> 92%
Slashdotter 1.2.2 ==>> 0.1%
StumbleUpon 2.6 ==>> 30%
Tab Preview 0.3 ==>> 10%
Tab Sidebar 1.0.3 ==>> 80%
Talkback 1.5.0.1 ==>>
User Agent Switcher 0.6.8 ==>> 0.1%
View formatted source 0.9.4.6 ==>> 0.2%
View Rendered Source Chart 1.5.02 ==>> 0.2%
Web Developer 1.0.2 ==>> 0.2%

For differents reasons i install Firefox a couple of times each month on different computers.
Here is the ones i can't go without:
adblock + filterset.g(which i suggest to leave it as an extension because of legal issues)
fasterfox
googlebar
paste and go
sessionsaver
textsize toolbar
undoclosetab

Here is the ones i like a lot :
colorfull tabs
wellrounded
mostly crystal and qute themes

From my previous list; new comments in brackets:

Sessionsaver; all users would benefit if Firefox could restore itself after a crash. It is basically invisible unless there is a crash, but then does its magic :) 126 K, but well worth it IMHO. [~100% of browser users have had their sessions interrupted in one way or another at some point, thus ~100% of users would benefit :]

Restart Firefox; it should be a greyed out button on the bottom of the Extensions window until changes have been made, when it should become available. Then you push it and it takes care of things (this should be harmonized with the functionality of Sessionsaver to restore your browser perfectly) 19K [this would benefit any Firefox user who installs/uninstalls extensions, themes, etc.; 50% or more?]

Colorful Tabs; grey is dull and a single color makes finding an individual tab more difficult. The small amount of color added dramatically improves the functionality of tabs. And its pretty ;) Seriously though, it would make Firefox stand out from the competition as well… 9K [benefits those with normal vision, and may help those with limited vision, except perhaps those with colorblindness, so at least 90%?]

Slim Extension List; slims down extension entries and arranges them alphabetically; if the latter isn’t done by default still, it should be; the former is just tidy (maybe have it so that it switches to this when there are enough entries?). 9K [benefits begin around a dozen extensions, so this would likely only help a 'power user' so 10% or less? This, like solutions to the problem of too many tabs, should be included as something that most users don't see but those that need it do...]

Show Image; allows you to right click a broken image and try again; this was in Netscape (e.g. version 3), wasn’t it? I think it should be in Firefox; even with broadband I still hit flaky servers and it comes in handy :) Invisible unless you have a broken image. 7K [primarily benefits those with slower internet connections, so quite a few people still; possibly 50%?]

Stop-or-Reload Button; I’ve pushed for this ever since I found out about it ;) Yes, its different from what most people know and no, that’s not a bad thing in this case ;) It also looks nice. 6K [the benefit is that you end up with more room (admittedly only a minor benefit) and one less button to control (e.g. do you need two buttons to switch between AM and FM on a radio?) As far as UI goes, one really should strive for simplicity. I thus think that the benefit, while small, would be for almost all users, so nearly 100%]
---

I'll only list extensions that I use and think should be integrated into Firefox:

1. Download statusbar: 80%
2. Feedview: 100% of people that use RSS, probably 15% of the general population, or 40% of Firefox users. But how many people really use Live Bookmarks? I don't.
3. Spellbound: 90%. Moreover, I'd like it to be able to auto-check forms prior to submission.
4. DragDropUpload: 70%.
5. ProxyButton: probably everyone with a laptop.

Noam.

To save from having a massive list, I'll just quickly categorise:

Benefits many (these are chiefly UI tweaks):
Download Statusbar
Super Drag&Go
Text Link
Resizeable Textarea
undoclosetab
Session Saver (I only use it on crash myself)
FlashBlock (It's a nice implementation and ties in really well with Firefox's mission to "make the web usable again")
Something like Scribe that auto-saves when you write things in text areas. (I don't think I know a single person that hasn't been burnt by this, geeks, regular users, we are all one victim before the tyranny of dataloss.)

Doesn't:
Basically 2.5 of Asa's 3 groups: web developer stuff, non-core stuff (weather, etc), and content-altering stuff. My list above is certainly debatable, but essentially I feel that only UI tweaks that bring lots of awesome and very little bloat should be included.

The idea of having one 'essentials' product and one 'pimped' version doesn't seem convincing to me. I would absolutely hate to have some of other people's favourite extensions included by default, and conversely I can guarantee they would miss some of my must-haves. And then there's the question of which, as many have heaps of alternatives. I think a solution in this realm is probably along the lines of better discoverability and organisation of extensions, in line with the current improvements at addons.mozilla.org.

Also it would be nice to have some kind of mass install... maybe you can tag a whole lot in addons.mozilla.org 'add to cart' style then say 'install all now'. In fact, I like that idea a lot.

Anyway - thanks for asking, Asa!

I’d say about 15-25% for [SmartSearch]. This is the one extension, as already mentioned, that I would advocate integrating, because it doesn’t really require any prefs UI at all, and it has *excellent* discoverability.

The only other extension I use which I consider to have wide appeal is [FlashBlock]. Here, the fraction might be as many as 80%. However, it adds quite a bit of complexity to the UI, all of which is not necessarily self-explanatory for non-technical users.

Maybe 5-8% each for Digger and/or GoTo? They have zero prefs UI and could benefit less technically inclined users by promoting exploratory browsing to people to whom it might not otherwise occur to edit the address in order to discover other areas of a site.

[Card Games] and [BlockFall] might have 20-40% appeal, but that isn’t much to the point. :-)

For any other extensions in my list, I wouldn’t dare to guess. The audience is probably minimal. Several of the extensions are patches for things that I hope will work sanely in future version of Firefox out of the box. [Manage Bookmarks] and [Locate in Bookmark Folders] come to mind – these will probably be obsoleted by the Places stuff in 2.0.

Adblock & filterset: 80%
all-in-one sidebar: 10%
compact menu:10%
cookie culler: 10%
download manager tweak: 40%
forecast fox: 60%
greasemonkey: 10%
ie view: 90%
mapit: 90%
menu editor: 10%
minimize to tray: 90%
mr tech link rewrapper: 30%
nightly tester tools: 10%
resizeable textarea: 10%
sage: 30%
spellbound: 60%
statusbar clock: 10%
stop or reload button: 100%
tab mix plus: 100% (parts, anyway)
tabclearsearch: 100%
time tracker: 10%
update notifier: 10%
url link: 100%

wow. I didn't realize how many 10% extensions I used. heh.

DOM Inspector: 5%
ChatZilla: 15%
View Cookies: 10%
Live HTTP Headers: 5%
Mozilla XForms: right now 1% (I'm not even sure why I have it installed myself)
Xpoint Sidebar: every registered xpoint.ru user - all 6000 of them :)
Adblock Plus: 15% without automatic filter updates, 80% if you don't need to care about filters
Stylish: 5%

Adblock Plus - 90%
Forecastfox - 30%
Stop or Reload Button - 60%
Nightly Tester Tools - 5%
Adblock Updater - 50%
Deepest Sender - 10%
Download Statusbar - 99%
Sage - 30%
Remove it Permanently - 10%
YMail Notifier - 30%
Tab X - 30%
Gmail Manager - 20%
del.icio.us - 10%
Extended Statusbar - 10%
Talkback - 100%
AJAX Yahoo Mail++ - 30%

For years now, Download Statusbar has been the most important extension I have, in that when I don't have it, I feel genuine suffering; it's the first extension I install, whether for myself or in setting Firefox up for others, and when people see it, the first thing they always say is "Wow, that's so much better than popping up a window!"

I wouldn;t mind a seperate firefox release for webdevelopers, about 10-30% of all firefox users I guess, which would include:
- Webdeveloper Toolbar
- FireBug
- Console2
- Live HTTP headers
- User agent changer

Furthermore the following extensions would be usefull to a part of the mass:
- Sage (35%)
- Session Saver (40%)
- Tab Preview (40%)
- Searchbar Autosizer (20%)

That's about it, extension are not really that much used by the average joe in my experience. So best is to keep things as light weighted as posible. Although I like the idea of seperate releases, but that might confuse people as well.

Scrapbook - 40% (but one stripped down and Places integrated version could benefit 90%)
Smart middle click - 70% (to be more precize, every single user that uses tabs would benefit if somehow he would know what will happen after his click on a link. I don`t want to leave that benefit to smart web developers - I am (and I think every single user is) smart enough to know whether I want content in the same tab (left click) or new tab (middle click). Unfortunatly, Firefox defaults and some bugs (including one that is partly fixed by this extension) act like all people are stupid and web developers are the smart ones, and it usually turns to be wrong approach. Firefox 2 defaults make things even worse, I hope that at least in Firefox 3 something will be fixed.) Just to note that Opera is not much better in this terms, but it is not known for usability, right?

The ones I've currently got installed, in order from most important to least -

NoScript - I wouldn't be using Firefox without this.
Download Statusbar - The download popup is one of the reasons I switched to Firebird in the first place.
DOM Inspector - Just as important as view-source.
LiveHTTPHeaders - Useful for doing server debugging.

If I was a new user to firefox, and computers in general I would not give a rats ass about blocking ads, or trivial extensions that enhance Firefox, I'd want something appealing, I think the most catching would be Stumble upon simple as that. "Lets (Litterally) surf the web" that's pretty f***ing catchy!

Since I've became an "semi-advance" user I use extensions that certainly do enhance firefox to the core, and of course I also use extensions are that trivial at best. So I use alot of the extensions already listed, I'm going to be moddest and leave it at that.

:D

Enabled Extensions: [29]
- Adblock Filterset.G Updater: 100% of users who also use Adblock+
- Adblock Plus: at least 50% of users. Once a user has discovered an extension with this functionality, I can't imagine them going back to ads. But probably should not be built into Firefox.
- Autofill: 50% of users would find an improved version of this useful, I think, but I'm not sure that it would be something you would want to integrate into Firefox.
- Crash Recovery: 100% This is what I use for crash recovery and (via a hidden pref) as a session saver. A similar functionality would be beneficial to all users. Should be feature.
- CustomizeGoogle: 50% but this should remain an extension.
- Deepest Sender: 10% should remain an extension.
- Disable Targets For Downloads: 100% Fixes a really irritating problem, should be a feature.
- Ez Sidebar: ? I use this so that I can easily switch between sidebars right from the sidebar panel. Not sure how useful it would be with the new Places Functionality. Should probably remain as an extension.
- FirefoxButtonPack: ? I use this to add FontUp, FontDown, and Fullscreen buttons to the nav bar. While I'm sure that most users have at least one button they would like to add to the nav bar, I couldn't say what they were. Perhaps a poll to see which new buttons users would like?
- Gmail Manager: 20% Wonderful feature for those who need it, but should remain as an extension.
- Google Safe Browsing: 100% A similar anti-phishing feature would be a wonderful built-in feature, and I understand that it will be part of FF2.0.
- LCD Clock: 1% Should remain as an extension.
- Menu Editor: 20% While I really love this and use it often, I doubt that most users would bother. Should remain as extension.
- MR Tech Link Wrapper: 100% I can't think of a reason why someone wouldn't want this functionality. Should be a feature.
- MR Tech Local Install: 35% The only two features of this extension that I think should be Firefox Features are the Install button for Extensions and Themes, and the Restart Firefox option, which should became available when you install or uninstall extensions or themes.
- NoScript: 40% I love this, but I don't think it would make a good feature. Should remain as an extension.
- Nuke Anything Enhanced: 20% Again, love this, but don't think it would make a good Firefox Feature.
- Optimoz Tweaks: ? I use this for it's auto show/hide sidebar feature. not sure how that would work with the new Places.
- PDF Download: 100% pdf files suck! This should be feature.
- Colorful Tabs: 45% I love this and would never be without it, I think it makes tabbed browsing better and easier to understand, but it should probably not be a feature.
- Sage: 75% A similar functionality should be part of FF. Not only will it greatly improve LiveMarks, but it could successfully introduce many users to the wonders of RSS. It certainly did for me.
- Search Engine Ordering: 100% This or SearchPluginHacks should be a FF feature. It should be easy to add and remove search plugins, not rocket science.
- SpellBound Development: 75% would find a built in spell-checker useful. It's not just for webmail, you know. Blogs, forms, etc. all need spellchecking too.
- Story Monitor: 1% Should remain an extension. Only useful for a small group of people.
- undoclosetab: 100% This should absolutely be a FF Feature. It makes perfect sense.
- Update Bookmark: 25% Should remain an extension.
- Update Notifier: 100% Firefox should definitely improve its Update system for both browser updates and extension & theme updates.
- Xultris: 5% This is just a really fun and addicting game. Should NOT be a FF Feature! :)

I also use several userChrome hacks, but one that I think should be a feature would be the "combine Stop and Reload Buttons". Just makes sense.

I've got over 40 extensions installed, and the only one I would recommend to be built in by default is "smart middle click". However, not in its current state. It makes some js links middleclickable, but not all. This is more like a workaround for a bug that has been open for years though, rather than a "real" extension. Quite a pity that this bug has been nominated a blocker over and over again and neveractually made it. I guess fixing this bug would only benefit very few people, who actually _know_ why it isn't working, all the others would only benefit in the way, that they do not notice the bug.

Hey. Maybe you'd like to put together some articles on selecting extensions (bug 270335). While AMO already has category breakdowns, it doesn't help the new guy.

Highest percentage to lowest:
Session Manager: 90%
Adblock Plus: 80%
Download Statusbar: 30%
CustomizeGoogle: 40%
superT (developer = me): 20%
Scrapbook: 10%
keyconfig, Menu Editor: 5%
Greasemonkey, Stylish: 5%
MR Tech Local Install: 2%
DOM Inspector: just web developers

I'd say Adblock would be useful for 100% of web surfers. I can't think of anyone who appreciates in-your-face flash ads and the like.

However, I don't think it's ready for 100% of web surfers. It's a great extension, but I think it could be made easier to use to enable it to fit in with the Firefox experience more.

I'm thinking Regular People(TM) here.

Adblock Plus - 100%
Adblock Filterset.G Updater - 100% (all Adblock Plus users)
BugMeNot - 100%
Download Embedded - 50%
Download Manager Tweaker - 0% (no one needs it, its just nice)
eWebMail Colour and Graphics - x% (where x is all hotmail/yahoo users not on IE)
Extended Cookie Manager - 25% (privacy people)
Flashblock - 50% (blocking more ads really)
IE View Lite - 95% (all microsoft users) (to access Windows Update)
ReloadEvery - 75% (those who look at frequently changing pages e.g. Hotmail)
Search Engine Ordering - 100% (ability to make your own search box searches!!!)
Show Image - x% (where x is those on slow connections who sometimes get images not showing due to the slowness of their connection)
Tab Mix Plus - 25%
Update Notifer - x% (where is x is people who use extensions)

Ones that should be integrated
ReloadEvery, Show Image, and Update Notifer
->all are small
->Show Image is in IE and I missed it when I switched
->Update Notifer was in Firefox pre-1.5
->ReloadEvery is a really good feature
I also think Adblock Plus should be either integrated or made really obvious to first time users.

forgot LiveLines (which I just installed) - x% (where x is the number of users using a web-based feed reader)

I am a second category user of your definition, an international (non-English native) user, and a scholar who needs to save lots of documents with original URLs identified.

Here is my list:

* Adblock Plus 0.5.11.3 ---> 50%
* ColorZilla 0.8.3.1 ---> 10%
* ConQuery 1.6.4 ---> 50%
* CookieCuller 1.3.0 ---> 90%
* Copy URL + 1.3.2 ---> 50%
* CuteMenus 2 0.6.3 ---> 10%
* DictionarySearch 1.5 ---> 90%
* DownThemAll! 0.9.8.7 ---> 50%
* FirefoxView 0.31.3 ---> 90%
* IE View 1.2.7 ---> 90%
* Image Zoom 0.2.4 ---> 50%
* InfoLister 0.9c ---> 10%
* Linky 2.7.1 ---> 90%
* Menu Editor 1.2 ---> 10%
* MetaProducts Integration 1.0.4 ---> 10%
* Mozilla Archive Format 0.6.3 ---> 90%
* Mozilla Calendar 0.3a1+ ---> 90%
* Nightly Tester Tools 1.0 ---> 10%
* QuickNote 0.6.0.2 ---> 50%
* ScrapBook 1.0pre ---> 50%
* Sort Extensions and Themes 3.0.3 ---> 90%
* Super DragAndGo 0.2.4d1 ---> 90%
* Tab Mix Plus 0.3.0.5 ---> 50% [Disabled, because I prefer Tabbrowser Preferences to Tab Mix Plus, which has too many options to select.]
* Tab Sidebar 1.0.3 ---> 50%
* Tabbrowser Preferences 1.2.8.8 ---> 90%
* Text size toolbar 0.4.1 ---> 50%
* Translate 0.6.0.9 ---> 50%
* ViewSourceWith 0.0.7.91 ---> 10%
* deskCut 0.5.0.4 ---> 100% [not popular but must-have-extension!]

I also recommend "FireTune", though it is not listed in extensions window. FireTune is a kind of freeware which enables you to make Firefox run faster.

* Firetune ---> 90%

FireTune can be found at

http://www.totalidea.com/freestuff4.htm

Web Developer - 99% of web developers, 0% of everyone else.

Forecastfox Enhanced - Useful to 100%, essential to 0%.

Adblock - useful to 100%, maybe 40% care.

Adblock Filterset.G Updater - useful to 98% of Adblock users, but no one else.

Nightly Tester tools - probably useful to

Tails -

Web Developer 10%
Auto Copy 60% - unfortunately conflicts with default use for middle click (how many people use the free scroll mode anyway?)
BugMeNot 80% - but Mozilla might not want to condone its use
IE View 20%
Adblock 60% - but difficult to configure to block only certain ads
FxIF 20% - more and more people have digicam pics and it's useful to find
Classic Menus - 10% - but really useful as an option for people who use the Classi c Windows Theme
Disable Targets for Downloads - 90%

Default behaviors that should be changed/fixed (IMHO):
Disable Targets for Downloads: 100% (bug 241972, ASSIGNED)
Stop or Reload Button: 100% (bug 243244, WONTFIX)
Openbook: 100% (bug 253633, WONTFIX)

Traditional extensions:
Download Statusbar: 20%
Web Developer Toolbar: 5%
Chatzilla: 5%
IE Tab: 20% (should not be integrated)
Adblock Plus: 90% (should not be integrated)
Filterset G Updater: 85% (should not be integrated)

5 Point Scale

Gen   = General Friends & Family

WbDev = Web Developers

Power = Power Users

Gen   WbDev Power Extension	

----- ----- ----- --------------------

X.... ..... XXXX. Adblock

..... ..... XXX.. All-In-One Sidebar

..... ..... x.... ChatZilla

..... ..... XXX.. ChromEdit

..... x.... ..... ColorZilla  [DISABLED]

..... ..... ..... Copy Link Name

XXX.. ..... ..... Dictionary Tooltip

..... XXx.. ..... DOM Inspector

..... XXXXX ..... FireBug

..... X.... ..... FireFTP

XX... ..... ..... Forecastfox

..... ..... ..... Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer

..... XXX.. ..... IE Tab

XXX.. ..... ..... Image Zoom

..... Xx... ..... JavaScript Debugger [Venkman]

..... ..... XX... JavaScript Options

..... XX... ..... Mozilla Accessibility [DISABLED]

..... ..... XXX.. Nightly Tester Tools

XXXX. ..... ..... Search Button

XXX.. ..... ..... SpellBound Development

..... ..... ..... Stop-or-Reload Button

XXX.. XX... ..... Text Size Toolbar

XXXXX ..... ..... Undo Close Tab

..... ..... X.... Update Channel Selector

XXXX. ..... ..... Update Notifier [for Extension] 

..... XXXXX ..... Web Developer

XX... ..... ..... Web Mail Compose

- Crash Recovery: 100% - when Firefox crashes, it should do so with minimal impact.
- Download Statusbar: 100% - at least you know what's happening with your downloads
- undoclosetab: 30% - but is there a memory issue with this one. Are tabs ever really closed?
- Console2: there is a javascript console, why not make it usefull to all the users who will use it.

JiBe

Console2 - 2%
Firebug - 2%
Web Developer - 2%

BugMeNot - 5%
Resizable Textarea - 10%
Sage - 10%
All-in-one sidebar - 20%
Adblock Plus + filterset.G updater - 30%
Autohide - 40%

Image Zoom - 80%
(if there was a "page zoom" in firefox like ie7 or opera this would be redundant)

Launchy - 80%
(extremely useful tool to launch a different program to do something with a link or page)

JavaScript Options - 5%
Google Toolbar - 40%
View Rendered Source Chart - 5%
LinkChecker - 10%
View Cookies - 5%
Extended Statusbar - 10%
Console2 - 5%
QuickSum - 1%
Web Developer - 10%
Fasterfox - 60%
(But, options should be more limited to be nicer to servers)
IEView - 5%
DownThemAll! - 25%
Slashdotter - 10%
Aardvark - 10% (More if it were easier to use)
Live HTTP Headers - 5%
Google Send to Phone - 50%
Auto Copy - 5%
Wiki-Quick-Find - No idea, I have this installed?

Adblock Plus - 10%
Adblock Filterset.G Updater - 90% of Adblock users
Launchy - 80% with some polish and UI redesign
Minimize to Tray - 100% in the sense that it speeds up browser loading.
Linkification - 100%
Menu Editor - 20% (Just for people who care to get rid of stuff they don't use.)
Duplicate Tab - 0-10% (I only use it because it rarely occurs to me to middle click the back button.)
Tab Clicking Options - ? (I like doubleclicking on a tab or the tab bar to both open a new tab, and I use middle click on the tab bar to reopen a closed tab.)
IE Tab - 5% (handy occasionally, though IE View and Launchy provide simpler, easier to understand, functionality)
Stop-or-Reload Button - 100% (This just removes one piece of unnecessary UI clutter.)
BlankLast - ? (I close tabs with a mouse button set to the ctrl+w keystroke. Without this, I keep accidently closing Firefox when I just want to get rid of the current page)
Undo Close Tab - 100%
Tiny Menu - 90% (I like how this extension removes the entire menu bar, without losing any functionality. Major reduction in interface)
ConQuery - 100% (This is by far the best way to look up information on something you read in a webpage)
Image Zoom - 20% (Frankly, this is a poor replacement for a true full page zoom)
All-in-One Gestures - 50% (On my laptop, this is used constantly. On my desktop, I only use it to increase text size with my mouse [right-click+scrollwheel]
Sage - 100% (This is by far the simplest way to utilize RSS feeds, which eventually everyone will probably use.)
Open Source in Tab - 100% of people who use "View Source"
SearchPluginHacks - ? (The inability to easily get rid of search engines is probably the stupidest lack of implementation in firefox.)
Fasterfox - 2% (I'm not even sure why I still have it.)
Nuke Anything Enhanced 50% (Should probably be in by default.)
Blogger Web Comments - 3% but growing
Performancing - 90% of bloggers, LJ users, ect.
Spellbound - 100% (Should simply be there if anyone needs it. Frankly, should be part of the Operating System)
Highlighter - ? (Students, or anyone who reads long documents. Needs tweaking, though, so that highlights are somewhat permanent.)
FireFTP - ?
View Source Chart - 100% of web developers. (It wraps elements of the source code in colored boxes, visually showing the code's nesting. Should be an option in a source window/tab)

Many of these are just part of Tab Mix/Tab Mix Plus, but those extentions have always had a wealth of functionality that I don't need. But if I had to choose one extention to be built in to Firefox by default, it would be Sage. Once installed, it really feels like a part of firefox.

Here is my percentage list, comments are on the bottom:

::::
Extensions being added to Firefox 2 in some form:

The following extensions above are in some way or some form either form being added to Firefox 2 or Firefox 2 is changing the way the browser will function thus nullifying these extensions.

Sage 1.3.6 ----------------------------------------------------65% (Could be over 90% if blogging and RSS get really popular with moderate level users and not just the expert level and Web 2.0 crowd. Of course, improving RSS in Firefox 2 [and also in IE 7] will make this more accessible, thus possibly raising the percent of people using RSS and blogs. In my comment on the last post I put Sage in as an absolutely necessary extension. While I no longer believe it to be “absolutely necessary”, I now think the feature is “necessary-to-sell” Firefox.)

Tab Mix Plus 0.3.0.5 (or undoclosetab and SessionSaver) ------95% (Firefox 2 is adding some form of session saver, adding some form of undo closed tab, and improving tabbed browsing overall.)

Add Bookmark Here 0.5.5 --------------------------------------95% (New Places system will most likely nullify this.)

SpoofStick 1.06 ----------------------------------------------90% (Anti-phishing component is being added to Firefox 2 making the ability to check website name a little redundant.)

::::
Extensions that should be features:

These extensions should be made features or basic features. If the Firefox team doesn’t have the time to that, then hooks should be added in and extension writers encouraged to build uber-extensions that work as tightly as possible with Firefox.

PDF Download 0.6------------------------------------------------99% (PDF files suck to load in real time. Asking the user if they want to download first can be a real lifesaver. If it was made a feature, I would add a check box so that it would never appear again if a user just wanted to always open PDF’s in a preferred manner.)

Download Manager Tweak 0.7.1----------------------------------- 99% (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Firefox’s download manager’s “UI is really hideous and disorganized.”)

Update Notifier 0.1.2-------------------------------------------99% (Extensions and Themes should autoupdate like the browser itself, but until that day we have this ‘Firefox 1.0 solution’ for Firefox 1.5.)

Flashblock 1.5.1-------------------------------------------------98% (Some form of Flash blocking is necessary to stop bandwidth eating Flash ads from even hitting the user’s screen)

Adblock Plus 0.6.1.2---------------------------------------------98% (Some form of improved ad blocking is necessary to protect computers from annoying ads that most people don’t click on to hostile attacks from 3rd party servers. Personally, I wish advertisers could just follow the Google Adsense model with nice unobtrusive ads targeted to a site’s user base, but then I’m just a hopeless dreamer.)

An improved pop-up blocker (a.k.a. Fasterfox 1.0.3)------------ 98% (Pop-ups and pop-unders are the scourge of the Internet. Firefox at one time had a wonderful pop-up blocker that got everything, but it seems to have fallen by the wayside, which is why I use Fasterfox. If the native Firefox pop-up blocker were brought up to spec again, I would drop Fasterfox.)

keyconfig 20050908.2---------------------------------------------90% (Being able to easily adjust hotkeys can come in handy no matter how often you do or don’t do it. Though if you don’t have the space for this 12k extension, I would understand as it is primarily a utility extension.)

::::
Extensions that should stay Extensions:

These extensions are useful extension to me and to a minority of users, but I don’t think the majority of Firefox users would ever benefit from these if they were made features.

Adblock Filterset.G Updater 0.3.0.2-----------------------------98% (Filters, no matter how useful, for Adblock extensions or any other extension should be kept separate and maintained separate of the core Firefox project.)

ViewSourceWith 0.0.7.91---------------------------------------- 40% (While this extension is absolutely necessary for me, I don’t think a lot of people look at the source code for websites.)

FirefoxView 0.31.2 & IE View 1.2.7----------------------------- 60% of the 90% Microsoft Windows market (These extensions were more useful two years ago when no one heard of Firefox/Firebird. But with more and more website following W3C standards, the need for these extensions is fading. Also, I found the need for these extensions fade as I got more use to Firefox.)

DownThemAll 0.9.8.7--------------------------------------------- 40% (I don’t think too many users go to massive gallery sites.)

BugMeNot 1.3---------------------------------------------------- 50% (I have yet to here the out cry of the masses yearning to free information from newspaper sites.)

FlashGot 0.5.9.993---------------------------------------------- 30% (I don’t think too many people do large file downloading on a regular basis.)

Amazing Media Browser 0.16-------------------------------------- 35% (I don’t think enough people would care to capture and play Flash and media items offline to want to circumvent the “infantile yet annoying tricks” of webmasters.)

Performacing 1.1.1---------------------------------------------- 10% (I don’t think enough of the population blogs yet.)

Anonymouser 0.3.1------------------------------------------------ 2% (Not enough people go to foreign websites to watch stuff.)

StumbleUpon 2.6-------------------------------------------------- 55% (This is a cool extension but most people seem to use a web browser for day-to-day stuff and not to go exploring.)

FireFTP 0.90.1.1------------------------------------------------- 30% (How many new and intermediate users have their own websites and don’t have a separate FTP client? In my mind, not enough to justify this as a feature.)

Blockfall 1.0---------------------------------------------------- xx% (This number depends on how many A) like Tetris and B) how many would use this game in their browser. Whatever that percent, it’s not enough to make this a feature. Even if the percentage was up there, it would still look like feature bloat as it adds nothing to the browsing experience.)

::::

Asa, you’ve given me a lot to think about and in doing some of that thinking, I’ve come to the following ideas about extensions. Any extension that reaches 90% usage should be considered for addition into Firefox as a feature. If it isn’t the robust version like in the extension, then it should be a basic version that gives first time users a function they will find most useful and if they want more robust, they can get an extension with more robust features to replace the basic feature native to Firefox later. Any extension that is at 70% or below should just stay an extension. Even if that extension is used by a majority, it isn’t used by enough of a majority to justify it as a feature. The problem lies with all extensions between 70% and 90% and what to do with them. These extensions are clearly valuable and important, but there is still a large enough minority that would be inconvenienced by them as feature that these extensions simply cannot be added into Firefox. If these extensions were added to Firefox, what we would most likely see is “feature bloat”.

Part of this could be solved by leading first time users directly to https://addons.mozilla.org. It would be nice if https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/recommended/ looked more like the Top 10 list on the extensions page and less like a Web 2.0 love in that regular users will never take advantage of.

Also there has been talk from time-to-time on various message boards and comment sites about creating tier 1 list or “Mozilla Approved Extensions” list where the Mozilla Foundation tests the most used extensions and gives approval if said extensions are safe and good. This could also allow extensions to remain extensions but give them a sort of gold status similar to a feature. Then extension writers would not only have the reward of their extension becoming part of the Firefox trunk but also of becoming listed as being a pedigree extension for use in Firefox.

The one thing I am AGAINST is multiple developments. Maybe it is just my experience with the whole Windows ME/Windows 2000 situation, Windows XP Home/Pro situation, and the 5 primary distros plus 1,000’s of less distros of Linux, but I just don’t think it is a good idea for one shop to put out multiple versions of the same product. It would divide resources too much and any user with any common sense would always go for the more complicated, high end version. Mozilla should just focus on making the best plain version of Firefox that suits most if not everyone and use the extension system to provide function for those who want it. If Mozilla ever wanted to do a newbie friendly version of Firefox, backing Firemonger or a similar packaged deal might be best. This ships the core product, Firefox, with the most used and useful extensions possible and not having to make said extensions “features”. Besides, if someone wants another Flock disaster, let them do it on their own dime and not the Mozilla Foundation’s dime.

Extensions to improve basic use
-------------------------------
Image Zoom 50% (view little pics)
miniT (tabscroll) 99% (scroll change tabs)
undoclosetab 75% (errantly closed tabs)
SmoothWheel 50% (readability text)

Extensions for advanced use
---------------------------
Nightly Tester Tools 10% (version strings)
FasterFox 10% (tweaking)

I'm not mentioning Sort Bookmarks because not maintained and bookmarks are being overhauled Fx 2.

Any extension added to Fx must be lightweight.

Fx 2 tabs blow beyond belief.

SessionSaver 85%+ (in time, at least; it's not a feature everyone will need from the get-go, but it really grows on you.)

Super DragAndGo - 50%

I don't think this has been kept up :-(, but I also think just changing the max version works.

I only saw one other reference to Feedview so far in the comments. This is one thing that IE7 does right. Providing RSS/Atom preview built-in to the browser is really important for jumping to the next level as far as getting more users familiar and comfortable with the technology. I'm not sure I agree that Sage should be built-in, although I am an avid user. However, live bookmarks are clumsy so the idea has potential. The last I heard, Feedview was being rolled into Firefox 2.0.

As far as other mandatory extensions, I for sure fall into the developer camp so I have a pile of other extensions as one might expect.

http://loadaveragezero.com/drx/installed

I listed my extensions above. I wanted to add a way to improve searching for extensions. It should be something ala Flickr, where extensions could be tagged and discussed, with comments, rankings, etc. This would add a lot to the current method on addons where you really have to know the keywords to use for the search.

My list of extensions:

DOM Inspector
Talkback
Adblock
Mozilla XForms
FlashGot
Forecastfox
PDF Download
Web Developer
ScrapBook
Moji
Moji-En
Moji-Kanji-En
Moji-J_Places
Moji-JpNam
Moji-CnEn
XHTML Ruby Support
Popup ALT Attribute
Hypertext DOM Browser
Tamper Data
Live HTTP Headers
Html Validator
SessionSaver

Conquery 90%

A couple have already mentioned Conquery. It provides the power of the search box in your context menu.

First of all I think its important to not that although a large factor, the % of users estimated to benefit from feature additions is not the only factor to determine whether to put it in. If a very small feature small in size too benefits 50% and does no harm nor do the other 50% even notice it at all its so minor, then it could be worth adding. Not every user has to benefit, not even most sometimes, if it really is harmless and seriously only positive and helpful not unhelpful and negative. Colour tabs and alike are definite no no's because it changes the default standard Operating System and program look and feel, plus isnt what the user expects, is comfortable with.

So being very picky I shall only note the ones I really feel are small, only really beneficial, and do little to no harm, only positive.

CuteMenus 2 - 100% - said earlier; simply makes Firefox and all its options so much easier to define using default Firefox icons for all menus, that are used elsewhere online/in the browser anyhow. Just as with many programs like Word and more, seeing icons like for print makes understanding and finding buttons/menu items so much more intuitive and easier. The entire browser is much better looking and intuitive as a result.

Stop-or-Reload button - 100% - It doesnt harm anyone because like someone said, you dont need 2 buttons for FM/AM switching. Its reduces clutter to the user, one less button to worry about, creates space, and is clear to users when a page is loading, when its done, and that that button is for the loading of pages, which many dont worry about at all anyway, but you cant totally remove both or one of course that would be silly. Having the button as one like Opera has, and like IE7 has done but with Go/Reload as one and intechangeable makes sense, less clutter, and intuitive.

All-in-one Sidebar - 90% - gets rid of endless of windows thus clutter to the user and more RAM usage. Organises downloads, extensions manager and more, and keeps everything in a nice neater area that if configured more minimalistically would be very neat, simple, intuitive, and better all round. A large advantage aside of not needing windows left right and centre and confusing users with tabs and windows, is being able to see better data in downloads, extensions, javascript, bookmarks, history whilst on a website, and within focus. This is particularly helpful and standard with bookmarks being able to browse them in whilst in sidebar and more much like in IE but better. The download manager and more popping up in a window distracts not much differently to a standard website popup, its still disruptive clutter, ram using, un-necessary and annoying.

Searchbar autosizer - 90% - Firefox's search bar is very small meaning often a standard search takes the text out of focus and its much harder to enter text, see it, and generally use it. This is very sensible, simple and small size solution and vast improvement to usability. Simply keeps its width relative to whats required so the user can easily see what theyre typing/editing.

SearchPluginHacks - 70% - again doesnt harm, is a simple thing a user expects and should be able to do, delete engines they dont want within the program. Rather than the very un user friendly way of having to go all the way to a specific folder and delete the right files - which most users do not and should not have to do anyway.

Answers - 70% for builds that ship with this engine for example, right clicking a word on a web site and seeing and option to get info/explanation is priceless, not harmful, only a good thing for users upon finding it. It could be done so that right clicking any word on a website gives the user an option to get an explanation for it for the default dictionary/info site for that build. This is rather than the user having to select the engine, copy the word, paste into search box, enter - much harder and most wont bother, or if theyre clever drag to search bar - which many dont realise.

this a pretty good list for extension choosing..

NONE!

Keep FF light-weight, if they can't install an extention then they don't need it!

As an end-user with needs that probably seem pedestrian, I would love a few things to be built into an alternative, enhanced version of Firefox, for people like me (teacher, writer)who don't generally follow the developer community closely enough to benefit from mozilla extensions, for example (though, as am learning, there are great benefits to doing so.)

Browser:
ticker for new email (with drop-down menu listing 5-10 most recent)
ticker for headlines with EASY add-feed button
ticker for newly-downloaded podcasts

Website Maker:
Something much easier than Dreamweaver, more natively usable than FrontPage, more varied than YahooSitebuilder. I love Composer -- would be neat if an alternative enhanced version with "Add Blog," "Add Email," buttons, etc were available.

You guys are GREAT. I wish the education community were "structured" like the Mozillazine community.

By the way, so much crap gets successfully marketed to big school, systems -- how about a Firefox tailored for schools, developed in conjunction with teachers. Flexible enough to be tooled for differing school populations, plus easy for teachers to modify if motivated. I think it would sell BIG.

I use a lot of extensions, but the only ones I can think of that I use that would benefit most people are:

Adblock Plus (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/), possibly with Adblock Filterset.G Updater (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1136/), or you could just subscribe to some of the other good filtersets.

Crash Recovery (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1955/) - Session Manager (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2324/) might be good, too, but I think just about everybody would benefit from Crash Recovery, and many Average Joes wouldn't really care about Session Manager's extra features. (And this one is being built in to Firefox. ;) )

Flashblock (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/433/) - I'm not completely sure, but I think a lot of people would like Flashblock.

Search Engine Ordering (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2164/) - I think it's pretty necessary for people who use the search box much, if they don't want to screw around with preferences and files, which Average Joe shouldn't have to.

I think a more basic ScrapBook (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/427/) that's integrated with Places would be cool, too. It would have to be compatible with ScrapBook if the user decides to install that eventually.

I think a lot of popular extensions should be listed in the advanced section of the installer, with fairly basic descriptions, and the user can check which ones they want, and the latest versions of those extensions on AMO will be download
and installed. :)

(No, I'm not giving percentages. Bwahahahaha.)

(These have pretty much all been mentioned, but it won't do much harm for me to repeat them.) (I read about two thirds of the comments and skimmed a few more. So, I've probably missed other stuff.)

You can't be 24585 serious?!?

googlebarlite, especially now that google results page has replaced the groups link with video link (!?)
customizegoogle, which also helps cleanup google.
tabmixplus is good, though large (has many features such as sessionsaver)
[pun standard=1]spellcheeker ees guud tu. [/pun]
pederick's webdev (which i assume works better with the tools ff installs as option?) is nice for analyzing, writing & rewriting webpages.

No need for adblock and similar if you run proxo and use a hosts manager to update your HOSTS file.
to duplicate a tab, hold Ctrl key while dragging tab to new area of the tabbar.
-----------
for everyday use, spellcheck and googlebarlite are the only "necessary" xpis. If you're keyboard-centric, then you don't need any extensions.