My Add-ons, Pt 1 (Mac Only)

    I didn't contribute to any of Lifehacker's "Show Us Your Firefox" posts awhile back (you can find them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).  Before I read those articles, I thought I had already determined what I wanted.  I still remember browsing through pages of extensions, trying to determine what I wanted when I took that leap into extending my browser experience, and the only one not listed was Freenigma's - which I now use alongside FireGPG (which I'll get into the "why" in another post).

    I use various operating systems for running my business: Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows, and I have found at least 1 Firefox add-on that's specific to each OS.  The one that I found that I like for Firefox on a Mac is the 1Password add-on by Agile Web Solutions.  The only downside is you have to pay for 1Password, but you can download a trial, and there are deals online that can be found (like this one).  It stores passwords, serial numbers, credit card numbers, etc, and it integrates well with Firefox so a user can recall data, create passwords, etc. with a couple key taps or mouse clicks.

    There are 2 things that I really like about the add-on, in addition to the capability it provides (I'm not trying to sound like a commercial ... really):  1. a password generator, 2.  button and/or toolbar options.  The password generator is pretty simple to use; you can create a good password by working 3 sliders that determine length, character/number ratio, and how many symbols.  From there you can either copy it to the clipboard or have it automatically fill a password block.

    The add-on comes in 2 flavors: 1. button, 2. toolbar.  If you want, you can use both.  However, I'm anal about screen real estate, so my preference is with the button.  Clicking the button gives you a drop-down menu that has all the options available via the toolbar.  However, the toolbar gives you direct access to each function that you want to use.

     Lastly, there is 1 more option that I like, but seldom use - which is why I didn't say 3 things I like.  It's the Identity feature.  When there's a new site that I want to try for a while, but I'm not comfortable about putting too much info out there, I have an alias stored in 1Password that I use.  When I get to a registration page, I press Command-Option-(corresponding number) and it automatically fills all the information in (name, e-mail, location, etc), and it will store up to 3 different identities.

    Anyways, that's my "Mac only" Firefox add-on.