Mozilla Contacts

One of the many problems of using different communication programs and services is the syncing of contacts. Computer users have contacts in online services like Facebook, MySpace and Gmail but also desktop software like Microsoft Outlook, Skype or Mozilla Thunderbird. Keeping all those contacts in sync can be a time consuming task.

Enter Mozilla Contacts, a prototype add-on that aims to achieve just that for the web browser. The add-on basically provides Firefox users with an option to manage and access their contacts in the web browser.

Contacts uses a browser based database that “stays in sync with your address books”. It currently supports Gmail, Twitter and the Mac OS address bar with additional address books to be included in the future. A generic importer for computer address books is also provided.

All contacts can be viewed directly in the web browser. More interesting than this feature are the two following ones that have been implemented into the add-on.

The add-on offers an email auto-completion option whenever an email address needs to be entered into a web form. Suggestions will be displays on screen that the user can use to speed up the process.

Security conscious users will like the ability to restrict website access to contacts. Think of the “invite your contacts to our service” options on sites like Facebook. Instead of letting the service retrieve all contacts it is now possible to select the contacts from a list that the service should have access to.

Check out the announcement post over at the Mozilla Labs website for additional information about the add-on and a download link to install it in your Firefox web browser.

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Friday March 19, 2010 -
Tags:contacts, Firefox, firefox add-ons, gmail, mozilla contacts, mozilla labs, twitter