tbradshaw.net

Generally speaking, the line of thought with Mozilla Firefox extensions is simple. The “core” browsing experience is provided as the base Firefox installation. It’s lean, it’s mean, it doesn’t take all day for someone on dial up to download. It might be missing some features that would be desirable, but that doesn’t matter because that’s where extensions come in. With extensions, the user can “extend” their Firefox experience with enhanced functionality both general and very specific until they have built their almost custom perfect browsing experience.

For the longest time I’ve completely bought into that line of thought. In fact, I still do… but now to a lesser extent. There is something that is lost with this kind of tinker-toy style construction of an individual’s perfect browser, and that something is consistency. Of course there’s the obvious consistency lost when moving between individuals “perfectly” tweaked Firefox installations, but that’s not really what I’m talking about here. I’m specifically talking about two things.

First, what happens when the “core” Firefox moves on to a new version number, and the extensions fall behind. It’s a disconcerting feeling when an individual (that’s me) has Frankenstein’ed the perfect browser, only to have the promise of new and great things from the core platform turn into love lost with one’s favorite extensions.

Second, I compute in multiple locations. At a bare minimum I have my personal workstation at home, my personal laptop, and my workstation at the office. Keeping everything in synch is a constant struggle. Of course, sometimes things don’t need to be in synch. I don’t do much web development on my laptop, so things like Color Picker become less important… but then again, sometimes I will find myself designing on-the-go and the lack of the Color Picker will feel like a crippling blow. Not even beginning to consider bookmark synchronization.

I still like the way that Firefox is doing things… but I’m less “sold” than I was before.

I was reading blogs this morning and noticed that Katie Hillen had taken a “Beer Quiz” from over at Quizilla. Usually I find those quizes a little dumb, but this one looked a little too fun to turn down, so I dove in. Low and behold, Katie and I are the same beer:

BUD LIGHT: You’re laid back and low maintenance - a people-person, who wants everyone else to be having as much fun as you are. You make friends and jokes easily, and though you’re definitely a smart ass, you’re good-natured. Every man’s beer for everyone’s friend.

The Greatest Beer Quiz, ever! brought to you by Quizilla