The Nappy Cat Chronicles

If you’ve never used last.fm, it’s a way of tracking the music that you play on your computer and/or iPod or other mp3 player. Out of boredom and/or curiosity, I ponied up $3 and became a subscriber. This allows me to access last.fm’s test areas. And it just so happens that they are in the midst of a major redesign.

You can access my normal account here. My beta account, which can be looked at via the thumbnails below, looks cleaner and seems to be more space efficient. Instead of a box containing cover art and band images that appear to be competing for space, the beta layout is less chaotic and the data is presented in squarer sections. Overall, last.fm appears to be headed in the right direction. But I do miss the gray background. White on white can be so boring

I hate lists like this one. 30+! Must-have! Updated! Missing are the arguments as to why you should be using any of those Firefox 3 plugins. It’s a perfect example of Digg-bait.

There are many plugins to be had but a plugin is useless if you don’t need it. The following are the Firefox plugins that I use and why I use them:

• Adblock (The Original): For an unknown reason, this Firefox 3 incompatible began working with my installation. Though Adblock Plus is just fine if the original does not work with your Firefox 3, I find the original to be more user-friendly and less bulky than Adblock Plus. Now, why should you use either of these? If you like avoid seeing 99% of internet advertisements, these plugins are for you.
• ColorZilla: For the web designer, this enables you to know the html color of any element on a webpage. This is super-neat because it presents you with multiple formats from which to copy the color code. So, for “white”, you can choose between the rgb, white, #FFFFFF, and FFFFFF.
• Download Statusbar: When you’ve downloaded a file through Firefox 3, have you thought, “Damn, that popup window is obtrusive.”? Download Statusbar relegates the downloader to its own bar just above the Firefox status bar. Or, if you prefer, it can add a small icon to the status bar instead.
• Forecastfox: While surfing the internet, have you regularly thought, “Damn, I need to check the weather.”? Arguably the best Firefox plugin, Forecastfox adds weather information to the Firefox status bar. You can go as crazy as you want with current conditions, daily forecasts, extended forecats, weather alerts, and radars.
• IE View: Not all websites play nice with Firefox. Some videos refuse to work in Firefox. IE View adds “View This Page in IE” to your right-click menu. This enables you to open the current webpage in your Windows Internet Explorer.
• Image Zoom: Have you ever thought, “Damn, I wish I could zoom in on that section of this image.”? Image Zoom enables you to do that.
• OpenBook: OpenBook solved a Firefox 2 bookmarking annoyance. It works with Firefox 3 but I have no idea what it does now.
• Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic: Have you ever needed to take and save a screenshot of an entire webpage? Though it can get hungup on very long pages (such as Mypace profiles), Page Saver Basic enables you to create a screenshot that has adequate image quality.
• QuickDrag: QuickDrag enables you to, first, drag a highlighted word on a webpage and have the word be searched for by whatever search engine you have chosen for the search bar located in the top right corner of your Firefox browser. Second, it enables you to “[s]elect something on a webpage that looks like a URL and then drag-and-drop it anywhere to open the URL in a new tab.” Finally, when you click on an image, drag it, and let go of the mouse button, QuickDrag saves the image to your chosen download folder.
• Sxipper: Sxipper is an incredibly useful plugin that puts your personal profile information and your plethora of username and password combinations at the tip of your fingertips. If you have ever thought, “Damn, this Firefox login manager is the most useless piece of shit in the history of the universe.”, give Sxipper a try.
• Tab Mix Plus: Have you ever looked at the Firefox tab bar and thought, “Damn, I wish I could do this or that with with these tabs.”? Tab Mix Plus might just enable you to do this or that.

Just a warning to all of us who surf Digg at work.