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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

FireFox Add-ons I Can't Live Without

There are many web tools out there that utilize Etsy's API (application programming interface) such as EtsyHacks, CraftCult, Craftopolis, Cr8tivity, and more that assist Etsy sellers to do business, interact and shop on Etsy more efficiently.  These aforementioned tools are fabulous and really do enhance the Etsy experience.  But I'm not going to describe these tools here.  I want to share with you some other less-known tools out there that were not specifically made for Etsy sellers, but also help to make working on Etsy more workable.

FireFox is an open-source browser which means that they have exposed their API source code to the world, so that anyone can develop products, fixes and helpful tools that you can attach or add-on to your browser.  Many people use FireFox but have no idea that you can easily add on additional tools or scripts to customize their browser.  Thousands of FireFox add-ons are available, but I will describe some of my favorites that I use on a daily basis.  I know you will find these useful too!

ScreenGrab!
ScreenGrab is the easiest way to take a screenshot of any website and works much better than your computer's built-in PrintScreen function.  Once you download ScreenGrab, you will see a small icon in the very bottom right hand corner of your screen. When you click on the icon, you get the option to either Save the image to your harddrive or copy the image to paste later.



What makes ScreenGrab so great is that you can copy or save as an image your visible screen shot, your entire web page no matter how long, or a selection of a page.  This is a wonderful tool to take full screen shots of Etsy front pages and treasuries. Once you take a screen shot of the entire page, you can crop out unnecessary portions using your photo editor.

Sticky Notes
Have you ever wished you could add a sticky note on your Etsy page?  Now you can with XSticky - Sticky Notes.   I love how the EtsyHack called Sold Orders Plus adds the notes to seller, and other vital buyer information all on the Etsy Sold Orders page for easy referencing.  There are many times when a customer places an order and does leave specific information in the Notes to Seller section during checkout that I need to process the order. Sometimes I will receive a convo with the information later, other times, I receive an email.  I like keeping this important info along with the order to make processing the order simpler without having to later go back and search thru convos and emails for the information.  Enter the Sticky Note!
With a simple right click, I can add and position a sticky note next to the order and add the information I'll need later.  If I close the window, close Etsy, or even log out and then return later, my sticky note will be there.  The sticky note is easily removed with a simple click when you're done with it.   See the example below (click to enlarge).

Clippings
How many times a day/week in your business do you write the same convo, email, feedback, thank you note, or info on how to check-out to your non-paying buyer?  How about listing descriptions, washing instructions, shipping info?  I used to save these snippets in WORD, but then I'd have to go sort thru my hundreds of files, find the file, open the file, copy the file, paste the file, close the file....OK that's not so bad, but there is an easier way.  The FireFox Clippings add-on saves and manages your frequently used text to paste on any website or email.  Once you have the add-on, all you have to do is highlight the text you wish to copy, right click over the text, click Clippings then New from Selection.

A new box will come up and you can title your text anything you like.

Later, when you have to type or send the same message, all you have to do is right click, select Clippings, and choose the clip of text you'd like to paste in.  This is such a time saver and one of my favorite add-ons that I use daily!!!

Linkification
Linkification turns any text that looks like a link or a URL into a live clickable link.  On Etsy, you may add URLs to your blog, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or other website in your shop announcement, profile or item descriptions. However, your URL will NOT be live and clickable because it redirects outside of Etsy as only internal Etsy URLs are live links.  Viewers will have to copy and paste the URL into their address bar to check out your sites. That in itself is not a huge problem, but with the Linkification add-on, it is awesome to not have to do that as the URLS become live and workable. Just click away!  Here's what my shop announcement looks like with the URLs added (click to enlarge).

I hope that some of you will find these FireFox add-ons useful.  If you use any other add-ons to help manage your Etsy shop that I didn't describe here, please post about them in the comments section.  I'd love to hear about them.   Cheers!

11 comments:

Katie Jeanne Wood said...

I saw your link in the etsy forums. Thanks!! I can definitely use a couple of these.

UniqueDichroic said...

Wow thank you so much for showing me these!
I already use the linkification add-on...and have Lazarus which is also absolutely brilliant.
Thanks:)

OddgirlCreates said...

great info - thanks for sharing x

Monkey Mind Design said...

I say your post in forum as well. Great add-ons! Thanks for sharing!

BacigirlZ Artful Studio said...

Thanks so much for sharing!

Tracy-lime green modern said...

These are just awesome...thanks so much for the info! Now I'm off to try them out. :-)

Ninon said...

Thank you so much for posting this!
Those apps will make life so much easier for me :-)

Battys Bath said...

Awesome and SUPER helpful post! Thank you so much for this!

Anonymous said...

thanks so much for the info...anything that will make things a little easier is wonderful.

Christian Marie said...

This is the most useful thing I've found through Etsy's forums in a long time. You have a new follower.

Chris Fegles said...

Hi, I just found you through Operation Nice and your post about firefox is so timely. I just downloaded it last week. I love computer stuff and haven't tried it out yet since returning to work. Love your screen shots and can't wait to spend more time reading your blog!

Sending a smile, Chris a.k.a ArtPlay
http://alseaartfarm.blogspot.com

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