Anyone who participated (ok, and wannabe’s too) can get an official personalized Firefox 3 download day certificate! As you can see, I’ve already downloaded mine and am proudly displaying it here on automaticable. Get yours now!

• Firefox 3 Download Day!
• Firefox 3 Download Leaked Early in Ubuntu Hardy

• Did You Download Firefox 3? Show it Off!
• Firefox 3 Download Leaked Early in Ubuntu Hardy

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And you can see the version string through Synapic Package Manager:

The latest in hardy-updates is “3.0~rc1+nobinonly-0ubuntu1″, but this version string is “3.0+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.1″, clearly lacking any “release candidate” tag.  Could this be the real deal?  It was probably uploaded in an effort to make sure that Ubuntu users are able to access it in hardy-updates on release day, so they have a better chance at their world record.

If you want to download this pre-release for yourself, all you need to do is enable the hardy-proposed repository:

• Go to System > Administration > Sofware Sources
• Click on the “Updates” tab, and make sure the box for “Unsupported Updates” is checked
• Press “Close”, and let the package manager refresh.

Afterwards, you should see the update icon in your taskbar, with the latest Firefox 3 ready to go! Note, however, that the hardy-proposed repository does contain *unsupported* updates.  To be on the safe side, you should disable it after you install Firefox.

Has anyone else been running Firefox 3 yet?  Have you noticed any differences?  Mine feels a little faster, although that may be due to the fact that a few extensions are still incompatible.

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Above is a screen shot of Flock’s initial home screen. The only modifications I have made are to log in to a few of the social sites Flock supports, Twitter and Facebook. Flock also supports social sites such as Flickr, YouTube, and almost every blog platform you can imagine. Below I’ve outlined a few of the major functions of Flock, but with so many innate features it will be worth your while to check out the Getting Started page on Flock.com for additional information.

1. The Social Sidebar – After logging in to all of the sites Flock supports, tabs will be added to the People Sidebar for quick access. Here I have the “All” tab selected, which currently has a chronological time line of when all of my Facebook friends and Twitter contacts have updated. On top of simply knowing what their most recent update is, the Media button will be highlighted whenever new pictures have been added to one of your friend’s profiles. Also, if you have any private messages, pokes, or other notifications, each tab will highlight individually notifying you of the update. What provides the most convenience, though, is the ability to update your own status across all of your networks simply within the sidebar instead of visiting all of the different sites individually. As someone who recently joined Twitter and is getting back into the Facebook game, this saves me a ton of time throughout the day.
2. Media Streams – Flock makes it easy to find, access, and browse all different types of media in the integrated media bar. You can load up your own streams from any site that supports picture and video updates, as well as access automatic streams that come from the social networks you are a part of. An example of this is the stream I currently have running. Because I am logged in to Facebook, I can access pictures posted by my friends, any recent photos that are public, or just pictures of myself. In order to keep Facebook’s embarrassing photos from marring the reputations of any of my friends, I only have my photos across the top. If there is anything incriminating up there, ignore it. Thanks.
3. My World – My World is a unique homepage powered by Flock that integrates many of its best features in one place. As you can see, there are columns that show the most recent updates to your Favorite blog Feeds, your Friend Activity from any social networks you subscribe to, and your Favorite Media as defined through Flickr, YouTube, Picassa and more. There is also a Favorite Sites widget you can include to show a set of bookmarks you access frequently. All of this can be customized easily and works great as a snapshot of everything you define as important across all sections of the web.
4. Other Sidebars – Even though the only sidebar you can see is my People Sidebar, there are many more options available. Flock includes an integrated RSS feed reader, accessible through the Feeds Sidebar. Although I am a big fan of Google Reader for RSS, Flock’s integrated Feed Sidebar reminds me a lot of the Firefox extension Sage, which is super convenient as well. Another sidebar available is the Webmail bar, which allows you to get up to the minute updates from all of your webmail services at once. This is a great feature for someone like me who is forced to subscribe to Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Gmail for separate work groups. Other sidebars available are a Favorites (or bookmarks) Sidebar, a Web Clipboard manager, an integrated blog editor, and an amazingly convenient and efficient photo uploader.
5. Firefox Extension Compatible – Because Flock is built upon the open-source Firefox browser, almost all of your current Firefox extensions will work with Flock, though currently Flock doesn’t support additional themes. This is a saving grace for any diehard Firefox fans, as you get to keep all of the customization and work you have put in to Firefox while reaping the benefits of Flock at the same time. Pro-tip: Instead of reinstalling all of your Firefox extensions, you can copy and paste your current Firefox profile folder into the Flock profile folder. Make sure to name your new profile exactly like the original one. It should look something like: p61rvkbt.default.

These are just a few examples of the many benefits of Flock. If you are a frequent social networker, media-guru, or just want to add some power to your Firefox browsing, Flock is for you. Although I am currently testing Firefox 3 at work and at home, I spend the bulk of my time browsing, Twittering, and Facebook stalking through Flock. As I mentioned earlier, there are a huge amount of features available in Flock, so check out the Flock homepage for more information.

As an added bonus, Flock is not only Windows compatible, but runs seamlessly on Mac and Linux machines as well.

I know there are many other browsers than the few mentioned above, so if you have had success with any other lesser known browsers, leave some words on your experience in the comments.

[ get flock ]

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Firebug

Firebug is a powerhouse Firefox extension for SEO, but it is also a must-have extension for web development. This tool allows you to view the html and CSS of any page element at the click of a button. Not only can you view the code behind a page simply by rolling your mouse over the element, but you can also manipulate the code and see a real time update of what your changes would look like. I find this SEO extension amazingly useful for client presentations where I want to show a “before and after” screen shot, even if the “after” hasn’t been implemented yet. [ get firebug ]

IE Tab

Between checking how pages render and the number of sites that are still not Firefox compatible, I find myself forced to use Internet Explorer all the time. One of the main reasons I have grown to hate IE is because I lose all of my customization and functionality from my SEO Firefox extensions. IE Tab fixes this problem. At the click of a button you can render any page in IE while still using Firefox. You lose any on-page extensions, but all of your toolbars and browser functions will still be available. This has saved me a ton of time and effort while doing SEO work through Internet Explorer. [ get IE Tab ]

Rank Checker

Released through SEObook Tools, Rank Checker does for free what many companies pay thousands of dollars for. Check your keyword ranking in Google, Yahoo, and MSN for any number of sites. Not only does this tool allow you to save your keyword lists, but it also generates historical rankings data every time you run it. This tool is still in its infancy, but it has a ton of potential and has already made my life a whole lot easier. [ get RankChecker ]

RankQuest SEO Toolbar

One of many toolbars available for SEO, RankQuest has a ton of useful options. There are validation tools to check links and html for errors, content tools to evaluate keyword density and text ratios, and meta tools to find keywords and analyze meta tags. There are also popularity, search engine, and SEM tools, but in the interest of keeping this as short as possible, you might as well take a look at all of the options yourself. This is a very powerful toolbar to have at your disposal for your SEO research. [ get RankQuest SEO Toolbar ]

SearchStatus

This is one tool I like to keep active no matter which Firefox profile I am using. SearchStatus is unobtrusive and does not slow down my browsing at all. At the click of a button I can show information such as indexed pages and backlinks on the 3 major search engines, highlight nofollowed links on the page, show a link report and more. Although some of the options here overlap with other extensions, it is still very useful because it is something I can call up on demand. [ get SearchStatus ]

SEO For Firefox

The first of two search engine extensions that I will outline, SEO For Firefox gives your search results more power. When searching on Google or Yahoo!, each result will load a wealth of information underneath the description, giving you competitive data in an instant. Information for each search result includes page rank, links (broken down into .edu and .gov as well), Technorati, Alexa info and more. Another feature of SEO for Firefox that I use frequently is the ability to highlight ‘nofollow’ links automatically in any color you choose, which is information I like to know about most pages I visit. [get SEO For Firefox ]

SeoQuake

This is the extension most similar to SEO For Firefox, but with a few important differences. Like SEO For Firefox, SeoQuake will show page rank, inbound links, site age, and social results inline with search results on Google and Yahoo!, as well as MSN. What makes SeoQuake more powerful to me is that it also includes a floating toolbar at the top of any pages you visit that includes all of that same information. The SeoQuake toolbar is nice because it loads dynamically on the page itself, and can be minimized or closed if you want more viewing space. Another extremely powerful option on SeoQuake is the ability to order your search results not only on relevancy as Google forces you, but you can sort by page rank, inbound links, indexed pages, or any other data point SeoQuake provides you. This makes competitive research a breeze, and is something I don’t know how I ever lived without. [ get SeoQuake ]

Server Spy

This simple, lightweight extension does only one thing, but does it well. In your bottom toolbar Server Spy will indicate to you what brand of HTTP server the page you are visiting runs on. This is just one more piece of information at your fingertips that wasn’t available before. [ get Server Spy ]

Split Browser

Although this is not an SEO extension by any means, Split Browser does help with SEO work immensely. If you want to compare two sites side by side without having multiple windows open, Split Browser is your new best friend. Open new “tabs” on the top, bottom, left, or right of your current viewing area. These new split tabs can be resized in any number of ways. I especially like using this to compare an original site to one I have manipulated using Firebug. [ get Split Browser ]

Tamper Data

Tamper Data lets you view and modify HTTP/HTTPS headers and most parameters, as well as view load times and priorities. This is great for doing a site analysis since you can pinpoint exactly what is holding up load times on specific pages. [ get Tamper Data ]

Web Developer

As the name states, this is not only an SEO Firefox extension, but a web development extension as well. This extension adds another toolbar to your window and will allow you to manipulate pages and pull information quickly. Functionality includes that ability to disable page features such as Java, CSS, page colors, and almost any other universal page element, as well as displaying information such as alt tags, link details, div orders, and comments all directly on the page being viewed. I could write an entire post about all of the features of the Web Developer Firefox extension, so for more information you should probably check out the link to the extension itself. [ get Web Developer ]

ProfileSwitcher

I put this last on the list not because it is the least useful tool for SEO, but because it has made my life so much easier when I am not working on SEO. The extensions outlined above may slow down your browsing speed considerably, especially in search engines, since they pull so much extra information from the web. Because of this, I need an easy way to set up and switch Firefox profiles so when I am casually browsing the Internet I am not slowed by all of my SEO extensions. ProfileSwitcher has made this job easy. [ get ProfileSwitcher ]


These extensions are the ones I use on a daily basis doing SEO work, though the list is definitely not exhaustive. I know there are a ton of options out there for SEO Firefox extensions, so if you find that I have left a must-have extension off the list please let me know. I will be adding any additional extensions to the list as they are referred to me.

For more info on SEO and other topics, check out the rest of the posts by Kyle Wegner and the automaticable crew.

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