Gmail or Wave alerts, Internet Explorer tab, uncommercial filter, synchronize favorites, automated search on the page, image editing… Google Chrome begins to develop extensions. Here is a selection of 8 Google Chrome extensions to discover.
One Number
A year after the release of the Google Web browser, extensions are finally available and configurable in Chrome 4.0. For now, their number is limited and applications are almost exclusively adaptations of already existing extensions on Firefox. An evolution then, but certainly not a revolution.
These extensions are still a bonus for Chrome by supplementing native features (restricted) of the Google browser (especially since the installation is fast and does not need to restart the application). One Number allows for the interface of Chrome to be informed of new posts at once in Gmail, Google Reader, Google Voice and Google Wave.
Customers who do not want that getting notifications for Gmail will favor the extension “Gmail Checker” or “Send from my Gmail” for sending messages. An equivalent for Yahoo mail also exists.
IE Tab
Firefox users are familiar with this extension for some time already. Its equivalent is now available for Chrome. This application opens a tab in Chrome pages compatible only with Internet Explorer. The user can define the addresses to automatically open in IE Tab, like Windows Update, still forbidden to address other softwares than IE.
Adblock
It’s better than nothing… Adblock on Chrome is indeed very far yet to be at the popular Adblock Plus extension for Firefox. It can still make some pages more readable by filtering the ads.
We still regret the lack of interface customization and configuration of filtering rules. Minimum service then. Disappointed, users may occasionally turn to the extensions AdThwart or FlashBlock.
Xmarks Bookmark Sync
Xmarks is another popular Firefox extension adapted for Chrome. Even if the browser in version 4 integrates natively synchronized bookmarks, the user may prefer Xmarks, which is richer (although less complete and slower than Firefox).
As mentioned, this extension allows to synchronize your favorites, so to access them from any computer. The setting of Xmarks requires creating an account on the service. In Chrome, the extension unfortunately suffers from delays.
Aviary Screen Capture
Aviary is an equivalent of FireShot for Chrome. It is a very simple software of screen capture and image editing integrated in the browser. Aviary can also save the images online to share with others.
WOT
Web Of Trust is a security extension known in the field of Web browsers. Its principle is to display assessments for sites and thus, if necessary, alert the user of a security risk. WOT aggregates multiple sources to establish a confidence level in four distinct categories.
Session Manager
This is an extension that should satisfy users of Chrome (those of Opera and Firefox already know). As its name suggests, Session Manager is a utility for managing browsing session.
Its use is simple: open for example in different tabs the pages that interest you and then save the session (under the name of your choice). You can then reopen all of these pages very easily then.
Google Quick Scroll
The principle of this extension developed by Google is interesting, at least on paper, since its effectiveness is uncertain. The first step in using Quick Scroll begins on the search engine. The user then enters keywords, and the search engine displays results in return.
By displaying one of the sites of the results page, this extension automatically analyzes the content of the page and a notification appears on the screen. The user can thus, in principle, easily retrieve the page elements related to the search. The idea is seductive, but the achievement must still be improved. An extension to follow nonetheless.
Tags: Google, Google Chrome, Google Chrome Extensions, Softwares, Web Browsers
My company has been waiting on Google’s web browser’s widgets for quite a while. Up to now I have installed and used 7 plugins and am awed with it. FF has recently lagged & the plugins are a time saver.