If it weren’t for the utterly amazing number of add-ons associated with FireFox, I’d use Safari as my default browser: It has a hugely superior amount of screen area. I do use it for watching video only; but unfortunately it’s crashed more than once in Windows 7 RC; yet seems fairly stable in XP.

Due to the add-ons; FireFox has the place of default browser on both my machines. One of the most invaluable add-ons I’ve discovered to date is MeasureIt.

This add-on allows the user to draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage, or pretty much any html-page that FireFox is capable of displaying, even your own home-made html pages situated on your local computer prior to posting on a website.

No doubt web-designers reading this are already licking their lips. Bloggers/photo-bloggers too. I’ve been testing this plugin for quite a while now: I forget exactly how long, but it’s in the order of several months: Somewhere around six or more. I’m still looking for bugs, but haven’t found any yet, so I think it’s a pretty safe bet to recommend this add-on to you. – Something I can do with a considerable amount of confidence.

Following installation; the MeasureIt symbol sits in the bar at the bottom of the FireFox window waiting for activation.     A single click activates the add-on, and you just line your mouse-pointer up with the point where you want to start measuring from and left-click.

You can drag the ruler anywhere; measuring height,

breadth (Width),

or even area.

As soon as you’re finished measuring, another left-click of the mouse vanishes the ruler(s), and if that’s everything you just click on the MeasureIt icon to deactivate the add-on: The FireFox window returns to its normal function again.

For a lot of people, this is a must-have add-on. – Especially since it’s free and very handy to have on standby.