Easy way to find plugins, user scripts to tweak any webpage

There are a ton of Firefox add-ons or Greasemonkey user scripts that can change the look, feel, and behavior of web sites. For example, did you know that there are at least 292 Greasemonkey scripts for Gmail alone? They let you do everything from login to multiple Gmail accounts simultaneously to setting a 2 minute time limit for any new message or thread to keep you from wasting all day writing an email.

But when you visit a web site, how do you know if there are better ways to view it? Greasefire is a Firefox add-on that will tell you if there are any user scripts for the page you're visiting. When you have Greasefire and Greasemonkey installed a little monkey will show up in the bottom right corner of your Firefox status bar. If there are scripts available for the site you're viewing, the monkey's background color will change to red. And when you right click on the icon you'll see the number of available scripts. Click on that number and a window will open telling you more about those scripts.

Last week another plugin was released with a similar purpose. App Discover will theoretically tell you if there are any user scripts, Firefox add-ons, or even Adobe AIR clients that will enhance your web experience for a specific page. But unlike Greasefire, App Discover will only work on web pages where the publisher has added a bit of code to the page to let the plugin know about recommended user scripts or add-ons. And since the plugin is so new, right now the number of sites optimized for use with App Discover is hovering around zero. But that could change at any time, making this one plugin worth keeping an eye on.

[via Firefox Facts and ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: add-ons, firefox, greasefire, greasemonkey, plugins, user-scripts