More and more professionals are working from home, on the go, or in whatever location they choose. With internet applications rapidly developing, online storage mechanisms becoming dirt cheap and often free, and netbook computers becoming more and more common, a huge wave of ultra-portable office applications, extensions, and utilities are popping up.

At the heart of every designer or developer’s office is their browser. This guide is dedicated to making sure that your browser becomes the ultimate productivity suite, complete with word processing and office tools, calculation and finance tools, and a wide range of development and design extensions. Sit back, get your download finger ready, and take a look through my “Firefox” Home Office Guide.

Office Applications

At the heart of every office is the productivity suite. MS Office has sat installed on nearly every office computer for the last decade, but it’s quickly becoming less relevant. For our mobile browser office, we’re going to focus on online applications for two reasons. Firstly, they’re accessible from anywhere, making them perfect for any online businessperson that’s often on the move. Secondly, they offer optimum file security and safety. With everything stored online, you’re less at risk of losing files through error or hardware malfunction.

Word Processing: Google Docs

I use Google Docs for word processing. Sure, it doesn’t offer every feature that MS Word does, but it contains almost every necessary feature, function and utility to make it the best online word processor. You can export files in all the necessary formats — .doc, .txt, .rtf, .pdf and more! — and the online storage is easy to organize, safe and secure, and conveniently tied to your Gmail account.

Presentations: Prezi

Forget Powerpoint and Keynote, Prezi is by far the best presentation software around. Better still, it’s 100% browser-based. Instead of putting every mindless detail on a separate slide, Prezi allows users to lay out their presentations on a single plane and move through them at their speed, in their own order, and if required, change the presentation on the fly.

The free membership includes 100mb storage and online usage of the software, however heavy users and serious online companies will want to look into one of the paid plans, which offer greater online storage, unbranded presentations, and offline editing tools.

Online Storage: Dropbox

For small files it’s easiest to just .zip them and email them to yourself. For big stuff, you’ve either got to go with one of the many free upload websites (pop-up ads, anyone?) or get your own upload space on Dropbox. With a free 2gb upload box available, even the most frugal of online workers can find ample space to store work-in-progress designs, documents and other important files.

Payments

Online Transactions: Paypal

Yes, it’s big and evil and expensive, but Paypal is by far the most popular online payment processor. By not using it you’ll alienate potential customers, reduce trust, and have trouble accepting payments from online retailers, customers and clients. If you need a backup payment processor, Google Checkout is worth a shot.

Bonus: Want to simplify your Paypal transactions? Check out this Paypal Fee Calculator. Just be careful, this thing has good sides and bad. The good side — you’ll know how much to bill to minimize fee interference. The bad — you’ll know exactly how much Paypal takes on every transaction.

Scheduling and Organization

To-do Lists: NowDoThis

I have no doubt that this is the world’s most simple, and most effective, online to-do list software. In conjunction with Google Calendar or iCal, this tool will help you schedule events throughout your day, get through bulk work assignments and bug testing, and make your productivity periods less stressful and taxing.

Want the ultimate productivity helper? Run NowDoThis in your Firefox sidebar, and have access to your to-do list and your work on the same screen. Simply bookmark the page, right click it, and check ‘Load this bookmark in the sidebar’. Then, simply tick off everything you complete as you do it.

Calendar and Scheduling: Google Calendar

This one’s nice and simple, with features that will keep you remembering dates and appointments. Much better than the offline Windows calendars, Google Calendar offers all the features in offline software along with the convenience of online applications.

Want to batch your tasks together for maximum productivity? Set hour blocks in Google Calendar and micro-manage your tasks on NowDoThis.

Extensions and Add-Ons

The reason that millions of internet users pick Firefox is because of the immense customization options that it offers. From advanced Greasemonkey scripts to simple Ad-blocking software, there’s something to fit every Firefox user’s requirements. Here are some of my favorites for boosting online productivity, output and results.

Live PageRank

This extension is essential for webmaster and online marketers that don’t want to bloat their Firefox install with the Google Toolbar. It’s tiny, easy to read, and possibly the most simple PageRank extension around. Just check out that small green bar in your bottom right corner and you’ll learn all you need to know about any website’s authority and search engine power.

AutoCopy

Possibly the most useful Firefox extension out there, AutoCopy saves you from having to hit Ctrl+C every time you want to copy and paste text. Just highlight it and it goes straight to your clipboard — perfect for copying URLs, citing sources, and documenting information.

Web Developer Toolbar

This one is so obvious that it shouldn’t even need to be explained. Simply put, you’ve got almost every conceivable web development option right at the top of your screen with this toolbar. No serious designed would ever be without it, and although it costs you a small amount of screen real estate, it’s easily made up for with a minimal Firefox theme.