Recommended Firefox Extensions and Optimization Tips
1. Essential Extensions for Daily Browsing
Vimium-FF
A Vim-style keyboard navigation extension for Firefox. (Vimperator is no longer maintained; Vimium-FF is recommended instead)
uBlock Origin
A highly efficient and lightweight ad blocker with better performance than Adblock Plus.
Element Hiding Helper for uBlock Origin
Helps select and hide elements on webpages. Works with uBlock Origin.
AutoPagerize / AutoPager
Automatically loads the next page as you scroll. Supports custom XPath rules.
Reader View (Built-in)
Firefox’s built-in reader mode. Provides a clean and focused reading experience without additional extensions.
Tree Style Tab
Displays tabs in a tree structure for better tab management.
Stylus
Custom CSS manager for styling websites. A modern replacement for Stylish.
2. Developer Tools
Firefox Developer Tools
Built-in tools with powerful features for network inspection, debugging, performance analysis, and more.
ColorZilla
Color picker tool for webpages.
MeasureIt
Tool to measure element sizes directly on the page.
Wappalyzer
Detects the technologies used by websites (servers, frameworks, JS libraries, etc.).
LiveReload / BrowserSync
Automatically refreshes the browser after code changes. Requires local tool support.
Tampermonkey
User script manager for running custom JavaScript (Greasemonkey alternative).
3. Security & Privacy
uMatrix (no longer maintained — consider using Nano Adblocker + Nano Defender)
Provides fine-grained control over website requests and permissions.
Privacy Badger
Smart tracker blocker that enhances privacy automatically.
User-Agent Switcher and Manager
Customize or switch browser User-Agent strings.
Extension List Dumper
Export and back up your list of installed extensions.
Firefox Performance Optimization Tips
- Firefox is now well-optimized out of the box; no need for heavy
about:configtweaks like before. - You may improve speed by moving the browser cache to a RAM disk (use
tmpfson Linux or RAM Disk software on Windows). - The drawback is that cache is cleared upon browser restart, but this usually has minimal impact on common usage.
- See detailed info on the Arch Linux Wiki: Firefox Ramdisk
4. Search Engine Extensions
Recommended: Use Mycroft Project to add search engines online without installing extra extensions. Fast and easy.
Summary
Modern Firefox comes with many powerful features built-in. When selecting extensions, prioritize lightweight and well-maintained ones.
Use uBlock Origin instead of outdated ad blockers, and Vimium-FF as a Vimperator replacement.
Leverage built-in Reader View and Developer Tools to reduce reliance on too many extensions.