webrampage

I try to keep the number of plugins I use on Firefox down. Right now I’m using about 6 or 7. Today I’ll be making a list of the 5 really important ones. These are really handy if you’re a web developer or a blogger.

Okay here’s the list in no particular order:

1. ColorZilla

This is probably the most valuable plugin to me. Its a color picker. So, I can just use it to figure out what the HEX code of a colour on a site is. I use it when I’m making sites and I need to take different colours from different places. Get this if you’re a web developer!

2. FireShot

This one’s for the bloggers. I use this plugin to make all my amazing screenshots. It lets you edit the screenshots by adding text, adding shapes, pointing, blurring out, cropping, etc. It’s really easy to use, trust me. It (kinda) does everything Photoshop would let you do.

3. Web Developer

The name says it all. Its an excellent plugin for web developers. It lets you do a lot of things. Like editing the source, disabling CSS, editing cookies, disabling cache, hiding images, etc, etc. There’s just tons you can do with this.

4. Greasemonkey

Probably the most popular Firefox plugin out there. I don’t think I have to tell you a lot about this because you may have already heard about it. Well its a nice plugin. Lets you play with JavaScript on sites. And there are tons of scripts for Greasemonkey over at Userscripts.org. So check them out.

5. MeasureIt

Yes its a ruler. It lets you measure the height and width of whatever you want on a site. Really handy for a web developer. I don’t have to say more about this. You get it. You know what it does.

Yeah that’s it. Go install them and let me know if you like them. I’m sure you will. And don’t forget to share any of your favourite Firefox plugins with us.

Hmm so I thought why not post a little guide about what people should submit to Digg. This should give you an idea of what kind of topics work best on Digg. And you might wanna check out my beginner’s guide to Digg.

Well you need to keep in mind that not everyone on Digg is going to like your submission. That’s how you get buried. Duh! Okay lets move on. No more noobish stuff.

1. Something hilarious

Everyone likes to laugh. If you can make them laugh, you’ve got their digg. Most of us have a short attention span (or we’re just busy). So, a funny picture would be perfect. Takes a few seconds to look at and figure out what’s going on (unless you’re a blonde, of course).

And what about videos? I’m not too sure about that. You would need to have something unique then. Like the website is down, for example. Here’s another great tip. Try making fun of someone (or a group). Everyone loves a racist joke (but most people have a hard time admitting it). Just don’t go all Nazi.

2. Breaking news (or just news)

Digg is the best social bookmarking site for news. Got something great to share? Do it ASAP. A submission with a headline like “McCain becomes President. WTF?! How?” would be perfect.

Now only submit news that will help people. Or at least the ones we’re interested in and try to stick to subjects like the web, tech, gaming and Digg itself. Oh and try to submit “bad” news because it travels faster and further.

3. Controversial

Make people argue. You need to make them shout. Make them go angry. Make them say “you’re wrong! I’m right! Digg is better than Reddit!”. Getting any ideas? Things like “McDonalds vs Burger King” will work well. Like comparing things and being neutral (no buries that way).

But, keep in mind that this doesn’t always work. So good luck! And let me know how this went.

4. Guides, tips, helpful things, etc

The subheading says it all. Help them and they’ll help you. Teach them something interesting. For example a guide on how to install Linux. Well maybe that won’t be extremely helpful, but you get the idea. A guide on how to make Vista use less RAM would be great. Just keep it unique and new.

Update: Another reason you shouldn’t blog when you’re really, really tired. Actually you can only submit those 4 topics to digg. But, everything wasn’t a complete BS. #1 & #2 works great. Try those two.

Yep that’s it. I hope this was helpful to you. A mixture of the right topic, loyal digg buddies and luck will take you to the front page. And let me know which one works the best for you.

Guess what? I was doing some research and I found some pretty interesting stuff. Your chance to get on Digg’s front page. I’m going to pin-point the the best days of the week to make a submission on Digg.

The Lucky 3 Days

Lets call it the “lucky 3 days”. It’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday. These are the days where you could get on Digg’s front page a bit easily and stay there longer than usual.

• Friday – People are tired. They want some rest. Some have plans for the night. And therefore, there’s a bit less activity on Digg. There are still a bunch of users, but not as much as on weekdays.
• Saturday – Digg is completely dead. I’m not joking. Submissions with only 150 diggs get on the front page and they stay there for a few extra hours since there’s not a lot of users digging and submitting stuff.
• Sunday – Not as dead as Saturdays, but still. You’re not gonna stay on the front page as long as you would on Saturday though.

There is a catch!

Sorry I didn’t mean to ruin it for you, but you need to know something else too. I did mention that Digg goes pretty much dead on the lucky 3 days, right? That means most users will be offline. So, who’s going to digg your stuff then? Yeah that’s the horrible little catch.

Okay here’s the deal. You need to have a bunch of loyal friends on Digg. Plan to stay on the computer and digg each other’s stuff. You need to get around 150-200 diggs on average. These are just estimates, of course. But, you get the idea.

Do you think you can manage to do that? If you can then maybe you’ll get to the holy front page. And if you’re wondering about the traffic then don’t worry about it. You’ll get pretty much the same amount of traffic. Maybe not the same digg effect that fries your server, but still, it’s pretty good.

Go ahead and give it a shot this week. Let us know if it worked for you or not. And good luck!