online diary for the masses

As I was doing my daily Internet routine today I knew that a blog update was in order, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to write about. Then it hit me. Right there at the top of my web browser. I looked up there and saw so many things that I love about web browsing that I just had to share it with the masses.

I’ll hit the main points of things pictured above from top to bottom, left to right, in bulleted format. Take these bullets as recommendations for your own personal time on the World Wide Web.

Before I get to the bullets though, you need to know that this particular browser is called Firefox. It is, in my opinion, the best broswer available, and it’s free. If you are still using Internet Explorer, please, please, please, do yourself a favor and download Firefox. (I happen to know that over 40% of you guys are using IE… even worse, half of those are using IE6… unacceptable). Other worthy browsers are Opera and Safari, but like I said, Firefox takes the cake. Make it your default web browser. You won’t be disappointed. Ok, may the dorkiest post odfm’s ever seen continue here with the bulleted list! You might even want to embrace the dorkiness by clicking the screen shot above for a better view.

• The first thing you’ll see that you may not recognize is the red stop sign with the letters “ABP” inside. This is AdBlock Plus, one of hundreds of extensions that you can add to your firefox to make it faster, nicer looking, or just cutomized to your taste. This particular extension literally blocks every ad on the web. If you’ve got pop up ad problems or are just tired of flashy ads embedded in various pages (of which myspace is the worst), get Firefox, and get the AdBlock Plus extension.
• In the bar directly below the ABP stop sign you’ll see a series of favicons. These are my favorites, my most visited sites. These, once set, make Internet life much, much easier and more efficient.
• To the right of the favicons is a light-weight delight called Forecast Fox. It’s weather, configured however you please, complete with a radar, if you like.
• The entire bar below the favicons and Forecast Fox is an extension Thomas introduced me to called the Web Developer Toolbar. If you aren’t into web design, you really don’t need this. If you are (or want to be), get this. Its excellent.

And now for the goodies you can enjoy with or without firefox (but seriously, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t be using firefox).

• Tabbed browsing! I seriously cannot imagine life without tabbed browsing. Actually, I can… its terrible. The computers at work are essentially still in Web 1.0, and I have to open a new window instead of opening new tabs. The benefits to tabbed browsing are countless, but I trust that most of you are already using them, so I won’t go into any detail. I’ll just let you know that (in firefox) you can press Ctrl+T and start typing what you’re looking for, press Enter, and bam. You’re there. It’s nothing short of wonderful.

Of the tabs I have open, we have…

• Gmail. An excellent place to handle all your emailing needs. You can label, archive, and delete emails with great ease. I know everyone thinks that their email set up is the best, but the fact is, if you’re not using Gmail, you’re wrong.
• Google Calendar. Consider this the 21st century version of the Day Runner. An advantage to having Google Calendar versus keeping only a calendar on iCal or Outlook is that you can access it from any computer with Internet access. Also, you can sync your existing iCal or Outlook Calendars with Google Calendar.
• Google Reader. I’ve talked about this a couple times before. If you aren’t already saving time on the web using this rss reader, please, please do. This is even more important than you switching to firefox (though only by a hair).
• Google Docs. This is nice for having documents (again) at your finger tips as long as the computer you are at has Internet access. It’s also super helpful if you are working with other people on a paper or a spreadsheet. It will update documents on your screen as your co-worker updates it on theirs. A lot of people won’t have a ton of need for this feature, but it’s nice nonetheless.

And finally, an honorable mention and a conclusion…

• Google Maps. I cannot believe that other map sites even exist any more. With features like Streetview and Traffic… there is simply no need for any other mapping website. You can even modify the directions it gives you by simply dragging the path.

So there you have it. I hope that you learned something and I honestly don’t expect anyone to have read this whole thing. It got a bit long. If you did make it, please share some of the hidden (or not hidden) treasures that you enjoy about your Internet time.