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My Browser Plugin Diet

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FireFox plugins are great. Indeed, with decently rendered pages in IE7 and access to Safari on both Windows and Mac, the plugins are probably the biggest single reason I still use FireFox as my default browser. Virtually identical browsing experience on OS X or Windows is another plus.

But lately, the plugins are slowing me down. They are bloated, buggy and beginning to annoy me. I appreciate software updates, but some of them seem to update virtually everyday. Annoying. 

Besides that, I am finding the plugins to be a bit of a crutch. When using other computers without my favorite plugins, I feel emasculated without them. I realize now that I may have been a junkie.

Alas, I am giving them up. Like all diets, there should be exceptions. For me, that is Firebug. I really need that one.  Here is what I am giving up:

  • Gmail Notifier:Probably a time waster and there are other utilities to serve this purpose which are not tied to a browser.
  • TwitterFox: This is great, when it works. Probably a time waster and there are myriad alternatives.
  • DOM Inspector: Firebug pretty much makes this redundant.
  • Better Gmail: I think I’ll survive.
Without the plugins, I’ll be using Safari more on our Macs at home. It has a lot of nice features I haven’t taken the time to explore. It feels really fast with virtually identical browsing experience on OS X or Windows. At work, I’ll switch to IE7 as my default browser, using FireFox, Safari etc. for testing.

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