Further to my previous post on “Why Google Chrome Should Be Your Default Browser“, i thought i’d post a boring-yet-useful list of 15 Chrome extensions that make an already awesome browser even more awesome… er.
Adblockers
Two ad-blockers are available as extensions for Google Chrome/ium.
Adsweep blocks and hides adverts with a minimum of fuss.
http://www.adsweep.org/AdSweep.crx
Adblock+ is the official Chrome version of the popular Firefox add-on. Actively in development and far more user-advanced than AdSweep – you can actively choose any advert or element that slips through to be crushed by the block-hammer!
Preferences and options are accessed by clicking on what the developers call a “snazzy”staus bar entry. I call it an eyesore, but it does it’s job!
All the familiar features of the Firefox version are here – subscriptions lists, global filters, etc.
http://ruzanow.ru/extensions/adblock.crx
Flashblocker
This extensions automatically stops any flash elements from loading and replaces them with a “play” button so you can choose what you want to view.
http://www.chromeextensions.org/appearance-functioning/flashblock/
Gmail
Displays current unread e-mail count in the status bar.
https://dl-ssl.google.com/chrome/extensions/gmail.crx
Hotmail
Use Hotmail? Want a notifier like the Gmail extension above? Check out Hotmail Notifier.
http://www.chromeplugins.org/google/chrome-plugins/hotmail-notifier-extension-8092.html
(Sadly this does seem to be broke in current dev builds, but worth a mention anyway!)
Google Reader & RSS
Clean & Compact extension takes care of Google Reader’s chrome cruft and presents your feeds with maximum room.
Original
Clean & Compact
http://www.chromeextensions.org/social-communications/google-reader-compact-clean/
Google Reader Notifier works on the same principle as the GMail Notifier above.
http://www.vasanth.in/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=6
Easy RSS Subscription button pops a RSS icon in the URL bar when an available feed is detected. Clicking this allows you to add the feed to Google Reader.
Bookmarks
Several popular online bookmarking services are avilable already.
Delicious
You can add and browse your delicious bookmarks from Chrome with this addon.
Simply click on the bookmark icon to bookmark a site. This will open a popup window to allow you to tag, edit, etc the bookmark you’re bookmarking!
http://www.chromeextensions.org/social-communications/delicious-bookmarks/
Xmarks
Xmarks is a popular “cloud storage” service for your bookmarks allowing you to sync bookmarks between browsers – and computers. Once installed it inserts an icon entry into the status bar.
Clicking on this then open up the sync window.
Google Calendar
Be alerted to forthcoming events in your Google Calendar with this nifty extension.
You can use the arrows to skip between entries.
http://www.chromeextensions.org/alerts-updates/gocalendar/
Translation Tools
Bubble Translate easily translates highlighted text to and from a specified language via it’s preference bar.
http://code.google.com/p/bubble-translate/
Smooth scroll
Does what it says in the tin: enables smooth scrolling in Google Chrome.
http://www.chromeextensions.org/appearance-functioning/smoothscroll/
Session Savers
Want to preserve a set of open tabs for easy access at a later date? Meet session saver! You can save multiple sets of tabs and open them with a click at a later date.
http://www.chromeextensions.org/tabs/session-saver/
Password Manager
Lastpass – a secure and popular password “manager” and form filler have released an Alpha version of their popular ‘one click’ password filler-out-er for Chrome.
I don’t use Lastpass so i haven’t tried this personally, but reactions on the chromeplugins.org forum have been very good!
https://lastpass.com/lpchrome.crx
Chrome based ‘grr’:
You can hide the extension toolbar at the bottom of Chrome/ium using Ctrl + Alt + B… but not in Linux! >_<
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