Ten Free Browser Add-Ons to Help Nonprofits Work Faster

Nonprofits that have made the jump from Internet Explorer to Firefox — a free, open-source browser developed by the Mozilla community — often cite better security and tabbed browsing as major reasons for switching. And while Firefox alone is often touted by its users as a convenient, safe, and feature-rich Web-surfing tool, it can be further enhanced via the addition of extensions, very small programs that tightly integrate with your browser to provide additional functionality.

Mozilla's Firefox Add-ons page lists more than 1,500 extensions, grouped in categories ranging from Entertainment to Privacy and Security. To help get you started on customizing Firefox, we've hand-picked 10 extensions that we think nonprofits will find particularly beneficial: five that any organization can put to good use, and five that will appeal to nonprofits that regularly work with Web 2.0 technologies.

Since these add-ons are all free, easy to install, and consume minimal hard drive space, there's no reason not to give them a try.

Firefox Extensions For Any Nonprofit

1. Fox Lingo

   You've just tracked down an international nonprofit with a mission very similar to your own, but its Web site is written in a language you don't understand. Fox Lingo helps you break down the language barrier by translating Web sites among 40 different languages, including English, Spanish, Japanese, and French.

   After installing Fox Lingo, simply right-click anywhere in a page, choose the target language, and the add-on will translate the entire page while preserving its structure and design. Besides its diverse array of languages, Fox Lingo also lets you choose from among 17 different online translation engines, including Google's and AltaVista's.

2. mozCC

   Most nonprofits lack the funds to hire editors and writers to create articles for their Web sites. Fortunately, many organizations — including TechSoup — allow others to repurpose their content for free via a Creative Commons license, a legal method that copyright holders can use to grant a set of permissions to reprint their published material.

   With mozCC, each time you visit a page with Creative Commons-licensed content, you'll see a set of icons in the browser's lower-right-hand corner detailing the conditions of the license (such as whether commercial use is prohibited).

3. McAfee Site Advisor

   Even if your organization's staffers know about the dangers of spyware, they might still inadvertently run across the privacy-compromising software. To help avoid online nuisances, the folks at security software company McAfee test the safety of different Web sites, then rank them as safe, questionable, or potentially dangerous.

   Once you install the McAfee Site Advisor plug-in, you'll have access to the security company's safety ratings via a small icon at the bottom of your browser; if you happen to visit a potentially hazardous site, the button will turn red. Site Advisor also displays its ratings next to Google and Yahoo search results, so your staff can avoid unsafe Web destinations entirely, which will in turn save your IT department the trouble of fixing a spyware-riddled computer.

4. Stumble Upon

   Although conducting Web searches using Google or Yahoo can certainly help your organization locate like-minded nonprofits or resources to help it further its goals, scanning multiple pages of search results can be tedious and time-consuming. As an alternative, try Stumble Upon, a Firefox add-on that notes your areas of interest and returns one relevant — yet different — Web site, photo, video, or Wikipedia entry every time you press a button in its browser toolbar.

   The first time you launch Stumble Upon, you'll choose topics of interest, allowing the program to focus its search criteria and return relevant results. For instance, a human-rights advocacy group based in Rwanda might be able to locate a similar organization in its area by choosing the Activism and Africa categories, while a nonprofit technology officer could find useful information by selecting topics such as Open Source, Linux, and Computer Hardware. You can also give each site or photo you see a positive or negative rating; Stumble Upon will take your feedback into consideration and further fine-tune its search parameters according to your preferences.

5. Web Developer Toolbar

   If your nonprofit lacks a full-time Web developer, the task of performing site updates likely befalls a staff member or volunteer. Accidental Webmasters will therefore appreciate the aptly named Web Developer Toolbar add-on, which provides a number of helpful Web-building tools directly from the Firefox browser window.

   Using this add-on, Webmasters can test their organization's Web sites by turning off JavaScript or replacing images with alternate text (a handy feature to help create a more accessible Web site), or view a complete list of colors and image paths on any given page. The Web Developer Toolbar also allows you to edit pages directly from a Firefox sidebar, convenient for making quick site tweaks that don't require the use of a standalone Web-authoring application.

Extensions for Web 2.0-Savvy Nonprofits

1. Del.icio.us

   Social bookmarking not only helps your organization's staffers track down their favorite sites more quickly, but it can also connect you to potential supporters or volunteers who may be unaware that your nonprofit exists. If your organization is interested in experimenting with social bookmarking, create an account at del.icio.us, an Internet community that allows you to tag Web sites and browse other users' lists of tags and favorite sites.

   If you eventually find that you're addicted to the site and are logging in multiple times a day, you'll probably appreciate the Firefox del.icio.us extension. To use this add-on, simply click the Remember This icon in Firefox's toolbar or; a window will appear, allowing you to add tags and notes about a Web site or page, which will then immediately appear on your del.icio.us homepage. You might find that having this extension at your fingertips increases the amount of pages your nonprofit tags, thereby increasing the number of similarly minded people you encounter.

2. Flickr Sidebar

   A number of nonprofits are increasing their visibility by using Flickr, an online photo-sharing site that lets users upload images and tag them with relevant keywords. As you might guess from its name, Flickr Sidebar lets you search and view Flickr photos via a sidebar in Firefox. While this add-on may be simple, nonprofits who routinely use Flickr to spread the word about their organization's projects and programs should find it to be a handy addition to Firefox.

3. Performancing

   More and more nonprofits are communicating to the world at large via blogs, a technology that allows any organization or individual to instantly publish thoughts and opinions on the Internet. Though blogging by nature is quick, installing a plug-in call Performancing speeds up the publishing process even further.

   No matter what Web site you happen to be visiting at the time, one click of the Firefox Performancing icon brings up a blog-publishing tool. After you've composed a blog entry, you can use Performancing to publish it to blogging platforms such as Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, or to your own custom platform — all without ever having to open your blogging site or software of choice. Nonprofits that decide to register at the Performancing Web site will also be able to collect statistics about their blogs, such as the number of new and returning visitors over a certain time period.

4. RSS Ticker

   Firefox's built-in Live Bookmarks feature lets you subscribe to Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, a technology that delivers real-time updates from blogs or news sites directly to your browser. However, in the course of your hectic workday, you might not have time to dig through Live Bookmarks' drop-down menu to find the most recent post from your favorite nonprofit blogger. RSS Ticker displays the latest RSS headlines from your preferred sites in ticker style across the bottom of the Firefox browser window.

   You can adjust the speed at which the headlines move and the frequency at which the feeds are updated, and you can also reposition RSS Ticker to run at the top of your Firefox window. Mousing over a headline pulls up a window containing the first few lines of a story, which will save you the trouble of opening an article that doesn't interest you.

5. Weekedit

   Wikis can be a great tool for nonprofits seeking a cheap or inexpensive way to construct a shared workspace. However, since many wikis use a specialized set of tools that allow users to format and structure pages, they can often be confusing to those without a technology background.

   If your organization would like to use a wiki but lacks experience in the platform, consider installing Weekedit, an add-on that offers a user-friendly set of editing tools. Weekedit offers help generating HTML code and provides time-saving features that allow you to replace all instances of a phrase with another one or quickly fill in a string of text with a right-click.

If you haven't yet customized Firefox by installing any of the many available extensions, you haven't truly harnessed the browser's full potential. These little programs not only help you do your work, they save you time. (And what nonprofit doesn't need a bit more time for mission-critical work?) The Firefox extensions mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg — there are plenty more. With a little research and willingness to experiment, you can surely find dozens of others on the Firefox site that will become indispensable to your organization's day-to-day work.