I’m looking for:
-One for link shortcuts (like Quick Links)
-One that helps with PDFs and maybe converts stuff into PDFs.
-A highlighter addon/extension
-Best “read-aloud” extension
-Some note-taking addon/extension
-Best video downloader
-Anything that helps with language learning.
-A sound recording thing.
-Anything that helps keep track of times and tasks.
-Dictionary or word-listing addon.
-Anything that helps with bookmarking and saving articles.
-And anything that helps with reading.
One last thing:
Can you toggle off the extensions/addons so that they won’t take up any RAM or memory? Like, shut them off and they won’t factor into the output of the computer or browser?
Thanks!
Also, which ones do you think are the most useful in terms of addons/extensions?
I don’t use any that do the things you mentioned, but I have some other addons that could be useful.
This one is extremely entertaining: Billionaire-to-oligarch replacer
Other than that, I have:
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Dark Reader: This automatically generates CSS to make a dark mode for any website. It breaks sometimes, but not often, and it can be turned off for sites that it breaks.
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Violentmonkey: This is a userscript addon. It allows you to run scripts when certain websites load. I use it for fixing websites that are broken or do something stupid like changing my volume automatically without a setting to stop it (YouTube).
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uBlock Origin: I use this rather than other content blockers because it is faster, uses less RAM, and is open source
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LocalCDN: This downloads commonly-used frameworks when you visit a site using them, and on subsequent visits to sites that use that framework, it’ll just get the downloaded version instead. This allows you to use less bandwidth, have websites load faster, and increases your privacy. It does take some drive space though.
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ClearURLs: This removes tracking from URLs.
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CanvasBlocker: This disables and modifies certain javascript APIs to prevent sites from using them to violate your privacy. It can break sites, but it can be turned off for sites it breaks if needed.
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KeePassXC-Browser: This connects to the open-source password manager called KeePassXC to provide autofill passwords and a secure password generator.
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Multi-Account Containers: This uses Firefox’s container feature to force certain sites to open in specific containers. For example, I have my school-related sites open in a school container. This means anything I do there won’t affect anything else I do outside of that container.
Multi Account Containers are great, maybe my new favorite extension KeePassXC as a standalone program is great. Ublock origin is a classic, and I’d add NoScipt to this list.
Sort of related but I love Reader Mode in Firefox
Checking these out.
Also, if anyone could actually give me what I asked for, that would be nice as well. 😅
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Not an answer, but something to note if you’re worried about privacy: unless Firefox/etc. has improved this recently, browser add-ons can be used for fingerprinting, especially less popular ones
alright
I tend to just use separate tools. Is this for a PC or a mobile system?
Just for my laptop.
Then you could definitely just use standalone software. Some personal recommendations:
- for a video downloader,
youtube-dl(oryt-dlp, etc.) is the absolute best (AFAIK). I haven’t personally used a GUI version, but they exist - for document conversion,
pangois very versatile, but I don’t know if there’s a GUI - for note-taking, use
Vimany text editor
You might as well use a Firefox/Chromium-based browser (including Edge, I think, if you want to use the default browser and don’t mind it being closed-source) since they have massive libraries of plugins. The one addon I recommend for any user is uBlock Origin (much faster than other ad blockers like ABP)
When you say text editor, you mean stuff like Notepad, right?
Also, I’m using Edge.
Notepad works, although you might as well install Notepad2 so you can undo changes properly
thnx!
Recommending vim as a note taking solution to someone who didn’t really know what a text editor is might be a little sadistic. It’s so fucking funny.
it’s easy, just use normal mode for commands and visual mode to select things and insert mode to write and macros to record command chains and don’t forget text motions and
- for a video downloader,
It’s not among the things you mentioned, but I’ve been a fan of addons that add vim-like keyboard shortcuts for your browser, like Vim Vixen. I barely ever need to use a mouse or trackpad to browse around and I love it.
getting stuck in vim is enough for me
You might also like keynav. It enables you to use the familiar h, j, k and l keys from vim to click on any part of the screen without having to use a mouse, and as it’s not a browser extension, you can use it anywhere.
This looks neat, thanks for sharing.
Oh nice
Can I add to this thread; does anyone use a VPN? If so, which one?
I’ve been using Mullvad on all my devices for the past couple of years.
Only comparable alternative in my mind would be Proton VPN. Truly I’m comfortable with either option.
I use Avast, but I didn’t really care too much about the VPN I was using at the time.
I use Airvpn and paid with monero (there’s card payment too). Mullvad is also a good option, I’ve seen it recommended by others. You can self-host your own VPN if you’re into that.
Self-hosting a VPN depends on your needs and abilities. If you self-host it on a cloud VPS, the provider will be able to collect the information and the VPN becomes essentially useless for privacy. It does, however, still protect from hackers and allows for bypassing some networks’ restrictions. Another option would be what I do, hosting the VPN at your house. Again, it doesn’t really anonymize you or help with privacy, but it is great for hackers and restrictions, and is usually much faster than a VPS because it’s closer. It also gives you full, physical control over the server.
If your goal is security and bypassing restrictions, self-hosting is a good option. If you want privacy, you’ll want to use something like Mullvad VPN and pay in cash or crypto.
My threat model is bypassing the blocks of ISPs in my country but not necessarily privacy from the VPN or VPS provider. What you say is useful for other threat models ofc.
I use Firefox, so:
Text-to Speech: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/read-aloud/
Best video downloader: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
Improved readability: Mobile Dyslexic, Midnight Lizard, Pocket and the Firefox reading mode (it has a TTS feature as well).
Pocket saves articles for later. You can add tags and make highlights. With the phone app you can even read them offline.
This creates markdown files, for PDF I just use the print function: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/markdownload/
When it comes to note taking, there’s Evernote and it has an add-on for web-clipping. But I don’t use it because a text editor is enough for me.
I have a Pocket account, but I didn’t know about the highlighting. Thanks! I also have Evernote.
do you have any privacy concerns for Pocket?
Sure. That’s the main reason I’ve started downloading articles as markdown files and using a text editor. It works for me but it’s not the same workflow as Pocket.
I also use the Wayback Machine add-on and archive the articles I download to keep the source.
“save page as pdf” addon is great for stuff like marxists.org. Zhongwen Chinese popup dictionary is good for learning chinese. and please get umatrix, it is the best and most important addon i’ve ever used, seriously
Is there a particular reason to use this over print to PDF functionality that all major browsers have?
(For those who don’t know in both Chrome and Firefox as well as Edge you can select to print then change the printer to “Print to PDF” or similar and it will create a PDF of the page for you that you can save)
maybe but probably not lol
umatrix?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/
script blocker, but also image, frame and cookie blocker. makes browsing much, much safer
thnx
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At this point isn’t opera just a clone of chrome?
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ungoogled chromium is a thing.
Vivaldi too, if you liked the old opera
Really?! Would you recommend Opera over Microsoft Edge? Does Opera use too much memory/RAM?
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Gotcha. So if you toggle it off, then it won’t use memory for the extensions. You can correct me if I’m wrong.
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Got it.
You might be able to help me with this.
I don’t use too many add-ons besides ublock origin, but besides that if on desktop, I use librewolf, which is an already hardened firefox, and on android, I use mull, which is the same but for FF for android.
Librewolf? Never heard of it.
It’s a fork of Firefox with settings and additions that protect your privacy.
It’s very funny to see heavy users recommending add-ons and solutions you didn’t ask for. Some of them quite complicated to understand if it’s the first time you hear about them.
I’m not judging, I’m obsessed.
I would’ve preferred what I had asked for, but all the same, I do like the recommendations.
But, of course, I still want what I asked for haha 🤣
