Not long ago we talked to you about Test Pilot, a new development program within Mozilla for Mozilla Firefox. This new program is having a lot of success and is bringing many new features to the freest web browser out there.
The success of these Test Pilot plugins and the development program itself is such that some of those add-ons or new features have already moved to the main and stable branch of Firefox. With this, the possibility of using or installing it in our version of Firefox.
Next we are going to show you some of these add-ons that are active for testing or some recently closed that we can already find for stable Mozilla Firefox. In total there are 10 new functions that will help us have a more productive and useful web browsing.
Side View
I think the star plugin of Test Pilot is Side View, a new feature that allows us to open various web pages within the web browser. And many of you will tell me But that's what the new tabs and windows are for, right? Yes, but Side View splits the tab or window and into a small side, as if it were a sidebar, the link or url that we have indicated is displayed. Thus, the user does not have to change tabs or split the desktop into two parts, but instead has the option of working with this method.
Also, Side View is a great plugin for web developers as it the view that Side View emits is a responsive or mobile version of that link, so we can develop in real time without using other add-ons in Mozilla Firefox.
Side View operation is very simple. Once we have installed it, a button will appear on the top bar in the shape of a split rectangle. When clicking on it, the side window of Side View will appear. Now that it is active, we only have to navigate with the main window and if we want to see a link in Side View, we right click on the mouse and go to the option "Open link in sidebar" so that the link is displayed in the side window.
The operation is very simple and when you install it you will see how simple it works and its strong relationship with the web browser. Many users have started using it and that is good as testing will help debug and make Side View work even better.
Notes
Notes is an older add-on than Side View but in recent days it has been greatly improved. Notes is a notes application that allows us to add notes and notes on the webs we browse or independently. Not long ago, Firefox released an application that works the same way, but it works with Microsoft Focus, Mozilla's web browser for Android. The notes in this application are synchronized with Notes and between browsers, which makes us have a very powerful notes application.
But, unlike other apps like Evernote or Google Keep, Firefox Notes uses markdown to create notes and information, something that makes it easier to write notes on mobile devices and even easier to be able to synchronize information between devices.
For its funtionability We will only need a Firefox Sync account and install both the notes plugin in the web browser and in the app for smartphone or tablet. This will make all the notes synchronized and available on any device.
Color
Color was one of the first plugins to be released for the Test Pilot program. Color is not a complement that helps us to catch the colors that appear on web pages but rather it is a complement or function that will help us to change the color palette of Mozilla Firefox. Personalization is something that many users value and until now that meant spending a lot of resources that neither the computer nor the web browser had.
Color allows us to give a different touch to the web browser without causing it to consume large amounts of resources from the web browser or computer. We can install Color like the rest of the accessories, through the official Test Pilot website.
Send
Send is a complement to send large files to users who are not in our private network, that is, through the Internet and our Mozilla Firefox browser. Send It is a service that Mozilla launched a few months ago, the result of its change of course after the abandonment of Firefox OS. The Test Pilot Send plugin allows us to use the Send service from the web browser itself.
It is quite useful if we need to send large amounts of files or large files over the Internet and we don't want to use other networks like P2P or torrent. Send will give us a direct link to the files we upload but this link will not last forever but We will have an hour to download that file or else the link will be deleted and we will not be able to do it. An interesting tool to add to our web browser.
Firefox Lockbox
Security and privacy are two elements that many users worry about and two elements that Mozilla has never forgotten, hence why it was launched Firefox Lockbox, a password manager that we can use on our smartphone and for web browsing from our smartphone. Firefox Lockbox is an add-on that only works for the iPhone at the moment.
Firefox Lockbox uses 256-bit encryption to encrypt the passwords we use. In addition, the data will be in the Firefox Sync account, so in addition to having more secure passwords, we will have the possibility of having these passwords on any iOS device that we have. It goes without saying that to use Firefox Lockbox we need a Firefox Sync account, the Mozilla Firefox web browser on our iPhone or iPad and install Test Pilot.
Shot Page
Page Shot is a complement that allows us take screenshots of the web pages we visit and store them as if they were web links. These screenshots will be stored as Pocket stores the links, that is, they will be saved within the web browser and will be available until we want or whenever we want.
It will also allow us share those screenshots via social media. A very useful complement if we usually work with screenshots. The Page Shot installation is similar to the rest of the Test Pilot plugins.
Tracking Protection
Tracking Protection is a plug-in created so that web applications cannot collect the personal data that resides in the web browser. It was created after the controversy of Facebook and the sale of data to companies and that made the complement to take on a relative, although not ephemeral, fame.
The idea of this plugin is offer the best of private browsing without having to abandon certain elements of traditional browsing. Hence the use of this plugin. In addition, Track Protection shows us the level of security of the web pages that we are visiting as well as information related to our privacy.
Containers
Containers is another security plugin that I believe is already available as a standalone plugin. The idea of Containers is to create different profiles or types of users that will allow us to have a more secure or anonymous navigation due to the partition of navigation between these profiles.
The operation of Containers is more similar to the Google Chrome Profiles system than to the profile system of the TOR network, which personally makes me use it as a Productivity complement rather than as a security complement, in any case it is interesting and very useful if we miss the aforementioned Google Chrome function.
min vid
Many of us use Mozilla Firefox to watch videos, either from YouTube or from Vimeo. Min Vid is a complement that will allow us to view YouTube or Vimeo videos in a minimized way. This will allow us to surf the Internet, listening to the sound of YouTube without having to load the entire YouTube website and its extra functions. It is useful if we are used to using YouTube as a free Spotify.
Tab Center
Tab Center is a plugin for customizing Firefox. The idea of Tab Center is move Firefox tabs from top to side, just like other web browsers like Opera do. Tab Center is a plugin that allows us to be more productive and customize the web browser although if we use more than one computer, possibly the use of this complement is counterproductive. In any case, it is a good option to customize Firefox without annoying the web browser or loading it with unnecessary code that slows down web browsing.
Am I left with only one add-on?
We've made an exhaustive list of Test Pilot plugins, but they're not the only ones out there. As we said at the beginning of the article, the success of Test Pilot It is surprising and that has made there are many new add-ons and functions and others that quickly go to stable state. In any case, I recommend that you periodically review the add-ons as new ones may appear to help us with certain common tasks.