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Have you ever wanted to get a little more functionality out of the websites you visit? Have you ever had an idea on how to make them better? Well, Greasemonkey allows you to take your wants and ideas and make them a reality.
Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that uses HTML scripts to customize webpages. These scripts make the changes to the HTML website while you are loading it, so the only difference you see is the new functionality.
Installing Scripts
Installing Greasemonkey is only the first step to getting the customization you want. You must install scripts from Userscripts to start getting the results you want. Let’s look at an example.
Say you are a big Digg and del.icio.us user. If you search in the right place, you’ll come across digg.licio.us, a script that integrates del.icio.us into Digg. To install the script, just click the Install this script button on the top right of the webpage.
Clicking this button will cause a window to pop up asking you if you approve the install. It is basically the same window that appears when you are installing an extension for Firefox. Once the script is installed, go check out Digg and see the new “save it” button right below the “digg it” button on the Digg website. Cool huh?
Creating Your Own Scripts
If you are technically inclined, you don’t have to wait for someone to create the script you want. You can create it yourself. Even if you aren’t the most technical, but are willing to learn. You can download Dive Into Greasemonkey which is a free ebook that provides you with information on how to write your own scripts.
Once you start installing scripts, come back and let me know which ones you used. I am always looking for great new scripts to add to my collection.
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Kyle, just Greasemonkey is one reason enough to use Firefox for me. I love the scripts available for Gmail and Google Reader alone and have linked my compilation to my name here, if you are curious. Nice intro on a very cool extension for Firefox!