I have heard of this plugin before. But I never gave it a try because I had FileZilla installed (which is a fairly decent FTP program, by the way). However, as I was making several updates to this site today, I decided to try out FireFTP because it provides easier access to FTP by placing it in a tab within Firefox. How did it stand up to FileZilla?
After using it for about two hours, it has become my FTP program of choice! Here are several of its advantages over FileZilla, based on first impressions:
- Less cluttered interface
- Identical views for local and remote host
- Visible transfer buttons
- Customizable “Open With…” programs for any file type
- Easy accessibility (directly from Firefox…I added it to a toolbar by selecting View->Toolbars->Customize)
- Current folder synchronization for when your remote site is mirrored locally. For instance, when you switch folders on your local view, remote view automatically follows. Brilliant!
- Keepalive feature (FileZilla always disconnects after approximately 10 minutes)
It may be true that several of these features can be found in FileZilla. But if they exist, they are not obvious options. Granted, when I want to use FTP, I just want to get it done, so I usually don’t take the time to dig deep into customization options. But FireFTP comes with these features by default (exception: I believe you have to select a check box for folder synchronization when you setup an account. Big deal!).
Screenshot:
