Smarterware

Better Gmail 2 and Better Flickr Updated

Released a few fix-it updates to the Better Gmail 2 and Better Flickr Firefox extensions this week, which you can get by pressing the "Find Updates" button in your extensions dialog box.

Better Gmail 2 version 1.2 plays catch-up with Google's latest changes to Gmail: Hide Spam Count now works, and I swapped out Folders4Gmail (which no longer works) with Label Links, a script that does something similar to the Labs version of Nested Labels. Also replaced the CPU-hogging Highlight Rows with Keyboard script with something that does the same thing without the performance hit. Better Flickr also got a much needed once-over, and now doesn't break editing photo descriptions when Rich Edit Controls are turned on. Enjoy the updates! As always, questions about the extensions should go to the Better Firefox Extensions mailing list.

Firefox Blocking Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo Extensions

Got a surprising alert yesterday telling me two of the extensions I had installed on my PC's copy of Firefox have been blocked because they cause stability or security problems. (Click to enlarge the dialog on the right.) Specifically, the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant and Windows Presentation Foundation extensions were the problem children that got kicked off the island. (In my defense, I didn't install these extensions myself--Windows Update did). My first reaction was, "Ugh, of course Microsoft's extensions have vulnerabilities!"

Turns out that Firefox is blocking extensions with serious bugs from major companies beyond Microsoft, including Apple, Yahoo, and AVG. Here's the full list of blocked extensions and the bugs that are causing the blockage. (Ironically, the AVG extension is called "SafeSearch.") In a blog post, Mozilla security chief Mike Shaver says the .NET Framework Assistant has been unblocked, but as of writing it still shows up on the published list. Kudos to Firefox for taking a proactive stance and protecting its users against buggy extensions that could degrade the browsing experience. Did you have a buggy extension installed?

Get Favicon Alerts on Your Google Voice Tab

In the hallowed tradition of unread item counts on your Gmail and Google Reader favicons in Firefox, user script developer Peter Wooley offers the same for Google Voice users. If you've got the Greasemonkey add-on installed, grab the GVoice Favicon Alerts script to hook this up. You can also faviconize and permatab your Voice tab with this script enabled as detailed here. (Yes, faviconize and permatab are now verbs.) I haven't put together a Better Google Voice add-on (yet?), but if I ever do, this will be the first script in it. Do you use any other Greasemonkey scripts to make Google Voice's web interface better? Post 'em up in the comments. If there are enough quality scripts, I'll start asking the authors for permission to include them in a compiled Better GVoice add-on.

TWiG Tip: Icon-only, Perma-Tabs for Gmail and Google Reader

On each new episode of This Week in Google (details) I’ll highlight a tip for using cloud/Google apps smarter, faster, and better. I’ll document those tips here.

You use Firefox, you keep Gmail and Google Reader open at all times, and you wish they didn't take up so much space in the tab bar. (Maybe you're on a netbook, or maybe you've always got a dozen tabs open at once, so real estate is scarce.) You can permanently affix the Gmail and Reader tabs in your tab bar, reduce them to show the tab favicon only, and display the number of unread items in each using a collection of Firefox add-ons. See what it looks like in the image above: the Gmail and Reader tabs are on the far left, icon-only, with unread item counts--19 unread messages and 1k+ unread items (yikes!)--on the icons themselves.

To reproduce this setup in your own copy of Firefox, you'll need four Firefox add-ons which I've put all together in a single collection. Install all the add-ons in the Icon-Only Perma-Tabs for Gmail and Google Reader collection. Restart Firefox.

Then, in Better Gmail 2, make sure "Unread Message Count in Favicon" is checked. In Better GReader, make sure "Show Unread Count in Favicon" is checked. Open Gmail and Google Reader in new tabs. Right-click on those tabs, and choose "Faviconize tab." Then, to make them permanent (i.e., open automatically every time you launch Firefox), right-click again and choose "Permatabs->Permanent Tab." Once you're done, whenever you launch Firefox or even hit "Close All Tabs," your icon-only perma-tabs containing Gmail and GReader will persist. (Hat tip to the Lifehacker reader who reminded me of this cool trick!)

Better GReader 0.7.2 Catches Up to Reader Updates

Just released an update to my Firefox add-on, Better GReader 0.7.2, which contains a few fixes plus a new integrated print button. Huge thanks to the folks at Mozilla for making Better GReader one of their official "Recommended" add-ons; it's now got over 33,000 active daily users (relatively small compared to Better Gmail 2's 304,000 daily users).

As always, a lively conversation about all the Better Webapps add-ons is going on on the mailing list. Hit us up with questions, problems, or requests there.

Download Better GReader and let us know what you think. My favorite feature: "Preview Item," which loads the originating web page right inside Google Reader.

Better Gmail 2 Updated for Gmail’s Label Enhancements

Google's recent improvements to Gmail's labels broke one of Better Gmail 2's most-loved features: Folders4Gmail. Folders4Gmail displays labels with slashes in them as subfolders of a parent label, and I must say, I've missed it a whole lot this week.

Luckily, rockstar userscripter Arend v. Reinersdorff updated Folders4Gmail to work with Gmail's new drag-and-drop, hide-and-show label mechanism, and I just posted his new version in the extension. Grab the newest version 0.8.3 of Better Gmail 2 to get back Folders4Gmail functionality as well as Hide Spam Count. Check out what Folders4Gmail looks like in action in the screenshot. Arend recommends showing all your labels to get full-on subfolder action with Folders4Gmail enabled.

Also, thanks to the product manager at Google Apps who contacted me and Arend personally, apologized for making the label changes without sooner notice, and offered support and encouragement for updating the script and add-on. That was a nice big pat on the back for something a lot of developers have put time into. (Thanks also to the users who contacted Google asking them for their subfolders back!)

Until Mozilla Add-ons approves the newest version of Better Gmail 2, check off "Let me install this experimental add-on" next to version 0.8.3 here: Better Gmail 2.

Firefox 3.5 Now Available–Google Gears, Tab Mix Plus Not Yet Compatible

The official release of Firefox's latest version 3.5 is available for download by the non-beta-testing public today.

The folks at Mozilla Add-ons do a great job of nudging their extension authors to make their work compatible with new versions. Still, a few add-ons aren't there yet, notably Google Gears (not hosted at Mozilla Add-ons) and Tab Mix Plus. Update: Testers tell me a developer build of Tab Mix Plus is Firefox 3.5 compatible. Thanks all!

Luckily when you install Firefox 3.5 you get a warning upfront of which of your installed add-ons aren't yet compatible, like the one I got today, pictured here. (Come on, Auto Copy and Evernote, get with the three-point-five!)

Here are a few others my Twitter followers are missing.

Read the rest »

Better GReader’s Inline Preview Back in Action

Uploaded a new version of the Better GReader Firefox extension late last week, with a long overdue bug fix on one of its most useful features: inline article preview.

While you're using Google Reader to peruse your feeds, with Inline Preview (click) enabled, you can click the article headline to load it within the Google Reader frame, no new tab required. This is especially useful for news articles that don't include the full text inside their feed items. Thanks to scripter Bryan Tsai, this new version also lets you Ctrl+Click a headline if you do want to open it in a new tab. See it and a few other Better GReader features in action in the video below. Or just download Better GReader here, or ask questions on the mailing list here.

Read the rest »

Better Webapps Collection of Firefox Extensions Now Available

Now that Mozilla's launched Add-on Collections, an easy way to subscribe to lists of good extensions for Firefox and friends, it only made sense to compile my series of Better extensions into a single collection.

Subscribe to the Better Webapps Firefox extension collection to get all the add-ons I'm still maintaining: Better Gmail 2, Better GReader, Better Amazon, Better YouTube, Better Flickr, Better GReader, and Better GCal. (Yes, some of these I maintain a bit more actively than others.)

You'll need Mozilla's official Add-on Collector to subscribe to the collection and others; if you do, you'll automatically get updates to it as we go along. If you have questions regarding any of the Better Webapps add-ons, hit up the mailing list.

Also, speaking of Better add-ons and collections, thanks to both Lifehacker and Download Squad for including Better Gmail 2 in their collections: Lifehacker's Must-Have Extensions and Downloadsquad Pack.