A while ago, Paul suggested I started using an alternative browser to Internet Explorer – mainly because I was experiencing a few issues viewing some websites.

Like a lot of people, I tend to be a little hesitant when it comes to changing long term habits but decided enough was enough & agreed to explore using Mozilla Firefox.

It wasn’t long before the ‘switch over’ was complete & now, Firefox is my main browser of choice.

Why?

Firstly, I like to have several websites open at the same time, some of which I look at and keep open all day, every day. Firefox has the ability to save & store my ‘session’ so that when I open the browser after starting my PC in the morning, all of my sites automatically open up – an excellent time saving function.

Secondly, here are just a few examples amongst 1000’s of incredibly useful browser addons or plug-in’s available which enhance its functionality, particularly if like me, you are involved in affiliate marketing or website design:

1) Colorzilla (click here)

Have you ever landed on a website or blog, really liked the look or feel of it in terms of its colour scheme and then gone through hoops to find our the colour codes or RGB combinations?

This brilliant add-on provides you with that information at the click of a button

2) Redfly SEO Global For Google Search (click here)

As an affiliate marketer you may want to review and offer solutions / products to customers all over the world, so how do you get to look at search engine results for other countries instead of just your own?

The Global Firefox extension provides you with this functionality. You can switch view by simply right clicking & selecting the required country. A new browser window will then open up with the results.

3) Search Status (click here)

Researching your competition is vital if you are too succeed with online marketing these days. This addon provides you with at a glance (mouse hover) Google, Alexa & Compete rankings, along with right click access to other valuable information such as meta tags, whois, sitemap, keyword density, index pages & backlinks.

4) Measure IT (click here)

Simply click the ruler symbol & then draw a ruler across any webpage to check the width, height, or alignment of page elements in pixels.

5) Archive (click here)

Want to know what a site used to look like? There is also a cool option to show the site you are viewing using Archive.org which brings up previous versions.

Last time I checked my visitor stats on some of my other websites & blogs, the percentage of users now using firebox was 35% verses 40% for internet explorer. For some sites, I still find IE works better, so I admit I do use both. It is certainly worth trying it out and exploring the addon functionality – afterall, you can still switch between browsers !

Happy surfing.