I just recently started using Google Chrome for Mac OS and it seems to be working great so far. Firefox of course is still my browser of choice at the moment. Chrome still has some tweaks to work out and one of the things that irks me is when you add extensions, there is no way to change the layout in the toolbar (in Firefox, you can customize what you want in the toolbar). All the extensions are placed in your toolbar, not the status bar which I don’t like. The only time I see a status bar is when a new page is being loaded; however, one of the things that I like about Google Chrome is that when you install an extension, there is no need to restart. The installed extension is active immediately. They have a growing list of available extensions which is good. I would like to see a better separation of the list though. It would be nice to know where the themes are installed as well. I would definitely like to see Google display their extensions in a format similar to Firefox Addons (which is easier to navigate). The following is a list of top rated extensions for Google Chrome that I have installed.
ON MY TOOLBAR (in order from left to right):
Handy Google Shortcuts
This is a very simple chrome extension for all useful Google Products. Currently this extension has total 40 Google shortcuts.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ajdcjichkpcfidaebcomohkhipfokoga?hl=en-us
Firebug Lite 1.3.0 beta for Google Chrome
Firebug Lite is not a substitute for Firebug, or Chrome Developer Tools. It is a tool to be used in conjunction with these tools. Firebug Lite provides the rich visual representation we are used to see in Firebug when it comes to HTML elements, DOM elements, and Box Model shading. It provides also some cool features like inspecting HTML elements with your mouse, and live editing CSS properties. (View more info. from link.)
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/bmagokdooijbeehmkpknfglimnifench
One Number
One Number offers previews of unread items, a UI that fits with Chrome, the ability to selectively choose which services you want to check with One Number, and two-click access to open all services with unread items at once. The following items included preinstalled are Google Voice, Google Reader, Google Mail, and Google Wave.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/cfkohgkpafhkpdcnfadadcibfboapggi
SEO Site Tools
This extension pulls PageRank, domain links and rank metrics, aggregates social media reactions from Twitter, Facebook, Digg and SEO releated tags. It validates CSS and HTML, displays server software, checks for gzip compression, page headers and shares even more on-page suggestions based on accepted SEO knowledge… oh and it can defeat those stupid no right click scripts and does window resizing to see where fold would be on different size monitors. (View more info from link.)
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/diahigjngdnkdgajdbpjdeomopbpkjjc
Chrowety
This extension is a twitter client for Google Chrome. Some of the features include desktop alerts**, follow your Twitter lists, translate your tweets, change your Twitter API, alerts that display the most recent tweet and more. (View more info. from link.)
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ffcbeckjmgmgigkmnhmgjplmomcpfall
Google bookmarks
This extension is for convenient syncing of bookmarks by using Google Bookmarks. It is very simple and easy to use.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/fhaicgmeeafgboeobjagfmlcdhbkijhf
Friends Mural for Facebook
This extension allows you to create a personal “Friend Mural” to keep updated with your favorite friends and family profiles. Some of the features include a one click to see your news feeds directly in the extension, notifies you of updates from the Chrome toolbar, and customize the wallpaper for extra style points. Some of the upcoming features will include the ability to update your status from the Friends Mural and comment on friends’ posts directly in the Friends Mural.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/fmhkjheddgkdhejgollcmdnhmpfagaed
Bit.ly (shorten, share, and track your links)
This extension allows you to launch the Bit.ly Sidebar with the click of a button. Preview long urls beneath short urls before you click them. A note to users experiencing problems directly after install: Chrome doesn’t allow execution of content scripts on already open pages. If you try this immediately after install on existing tabs, it won’t work, so we recommend to restarting Chrome after installing the extension.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/iabeihobmhlgpkcgjiloemdbofjbdcic
VerticalTabs
This extension allows you to search (filter) tabs and drag and drop to rearrange tabs. It displays a tabs counter and has a keyboard control. It also gives you the ability to view your tabs in a vertically by clicking on the icon in the toolbar.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/imimolldggofidcmfdkcffpjcgaggoaf
Chromelicious
This extension is pretty straight forward and there are really no fancy features. It will let you browse your bookmarks by tags with an integrated browser feel, do a quick search of your bookmarks and tags, view your recently added bookmarks, save a new bookmark with code from the bookmarklet (made available by the Delicious team), automatically sync your bookmarks when an update is detected or manually sync your bookmarks. (View more info. from link.)
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/jhjeaonknehkebginocakiakmiogeblg
Shareaholic for Google Chrome
This extension allows you to share any web page with your friends right from the page you are on! It adds a button to your browser toolbar. Click the shareaholic icon or use a custom keyboard shortcut whenever you want to share, save, or e-mail the page you’re visiting. They currently support over 100 services with weekly updates and additions.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/kbmipnjdeifmobkhgogdnomkihhgojep
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon helps you discover great websites that match your interests. Simply click the Stumble button and see the best websites. There are over 500 topics to choose from, and, the more you use it, the better your recommendations become! The current features include stumbling, rating, sharing, and reviewing. PLEASE NOTE: Some of the features you might be familiar with on StumbleUpon aren’t available in this extension. (For more info. click the link.)
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/kcahibnffhnnjcedflmchmokndkjnhpg
Facebook for Google Chrome
This is an unofficial extension lets you check your Facebook news feed, wall and notifications. Additionally, you can now refresh the news feed and your wall, by clicking the currently selected tab.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/lkdedmbpkaiahjjibfdmpoefffnbdkli
dA Message Notifier
This is a simple extension that watches for deviantART messages. When you have messages, the number of messages will be displayed in the icon on the toolbar. For security reasons, this extension doesn’t save login credentials – it prompts user to login manually if deviantART is logged out.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ocinjngecpdhlnhggcnhjdpengmifjdl
Google Similar Pages beta (by Google)
This extension helps you discover web pages similar to the page you’re currently browsing. When you click the Similar Pages button, your browser will send a search query to Google to see if there are any similar pages for the page you are viewing. Please be aware that this extension is still an early beta release so many aspects of the extension may change in the coming months.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/pjnfggphgdjblhfjaphkjhfpiiekbbej
THESE EXTENSIONS RUN IN THE BACKGROUND:
AdBlock
This replacement for Firefox’s AdBlock Plus does everything possible to make your browsing experience awesome, including speed optimizations to save every millisecond of your time that it can, an intuitive blacklisting wizard (press Ctrl-Shift-K on any page with an ad), and a button beside the Wrench that is there if you want it and gone if you don’t.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom
Better Gmail (Unofficial)
This extension is a compilation of userscripts and userstyles for Gmail. It makes e-mail better. It gives you options to remove ads, fix page width, reposition the print button, hide Chat, hide the Footer, hide the Invite Friends field, hide sponsored messages, show unread message counts in the tab Favicon, show attachment icons of the attachment file type, adds row highlight on mouse over, and handles e-mail (mailto) links with Gmail by opening the gmail compose screen. To change the Better Gmail options, click Window>Extensions then scroll down to Better Gmail (Unofficial) and the options will be on the right hand side. Then change whatever you want to change.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gmfocnipihcoejdieiimhiecclokidea
Super iGoogle
Super iGoogle allows you to toggle the header, footer and sidebar; (your toggle settings are automatically saved). All useful links will be gathered into a neat menu in the top-right corner (with keyboard short-cuts). A mini search-field will (optionally) be added to the top of the page. Finally, your email address will be compacted and will link to compose a gmail.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ncindhlccodninkgiofmmjdidmcmllhd
Faviconize Google
This extension adds favicons to each link offered in Google search results. It also works well with AutoPager with continuing throughout the screens.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/fijobgpmmkilncagclaejpjlccfhopdo
Google reader RSS Subscriber
This extension adds a button to omnibox, allowing you to click on it when you want to subscribe to a feed in google reader.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/kghdjdlccddmkepckhfgjdeohkcabahl
GoGoogleImage!
This extension relinks the Google Image results thumbnails to the actual images. It works on all current Google TLDs. (google.com, google.de, etc.)
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ndgeneoiaiiepfiipihplflacbljfmcb
Google Reader Plus
This extension enhances Google Reader by adding missing favicons, fixing missing images in enclosures, better unread counter, better viewing on wider screens, fullscreen, preview, colored list view, filtering, multi columns display, jump top bottom, close entry, fit height, open in background tab, read by mouse, share news on Facebook, Twitter, Instapaper, mark as read, and simple advertising remover. You can choose your favorite theme in different available skins, shortcuts can be easily customizable and this extension supports translations (english, french).
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hhcknjkmaaeinhdjgimjnophgpbdgfmg
Autopen – Email Signatures
Autopen is a google-chrome extension that allows you to create html email signatures for gmail/google apps. It has a full rich text editor that makes creating html signatures easy and still allows you to drop into the html source for more power. You can create as many signatures as you want and associate them with your ‘from’ addresses to set up multiple defaults. (For more info. click the link.)
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/cmjcoiohflenpehfaalahocpmacjloof
Beautify Facebook
This extension makes Facebook a little bit nicer to look at by displaying a nice gradient background, shadows, rounds corners, the navigation bar is fixed in position, the title of the page is changed, adds an emotion bar for chat, displays favicon alerts, and the ability to use keyboard shortcuts (Shift+H for Home, Shift+P for Profile, Shift+F for Friends, Shift+I for Inbox, and Shift+S for Settings).
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ipnenhkngeiigfbhacdhadcnjjklhblm
Better Facebook Fixer
The official extension was loading the core code from an external site, making it slower to load (and less secure), so this one is faster than the original Facebook Fixer. When saving the photos from the “Show Big Pictures” option, each image was always named photo.jpg, overwriting the previous. Now each image has the correct file name. It fully supports the latest Facebook layout. To configure this extension, go to Account (in Facebook menu) and scroll down to Configure Facebook Fixer.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/pfminakhmgplohaiaclohnofbanpdgam
Facebook Chat Emoticons
This extension adds emoticons to Facebook chat. It is based on a script first made by Mike S., then edited by DMaster and finally converted in a Chrome extension by me.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/fadhfaodlifdejmlhpokpajfndpcoaeh
SocialPlus!
This extension adds many news features in Facebook. It adds a color status, smileys, ‘I don’t like’ next to ‘Comment’ and ‘Like.’ and allows you to skin your profile (which didn’t work for me), allows you to use a star rating, and more.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/eidogommnbbcgnhfjkcgjnlonijjhmjl
Fittr Flickr
This extension is for enhancing Flickr. It adds keyboard shortcuts, tag autocomplete, a lightbox for large previews, quick access to EXIF data, easily copy Flic.kr short URL to the clipboard, and a page action that allows you to easily get from a Flickr image URL back to it’s photo page.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/fhaledancjhefginmkkondfjpnkhdglh
Image Preview
This extension links to image files (JPEGs, PNGs, GIFs etc) as a default open up in a new tab or the current tab. Many websites have begun to use lightboxes to display images instead of just linking to them, but not all. This extension creates the lightbox functionality for all web pages. Image Preview is unobtrusive and you’ll barely notice that it is even there. If you want to save an image or view it in a new tab, you can still right-click on it or do it from the menu. This extension currently does not work with links to images that were rendered with AJAX requests.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/onjnjkdpcenccelaggaiakhmkjlcedab
Stop Autoplay for YouTube
YouTube autoplay is annoying when you open a lot of pages at a time, but many extensions that turn it off also stop the pre-buffering of the video, which is crucial for slow networks. This extension stops YouTubes autoplay but continues buffering.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/lgdfnbpkmkkdhgidgcpdkgpdlfjcgnnh
Overall, Google Chrome is fast and easy to use. If you use Google Chrome and have tips and tricks you want to share or any extensions that you want to add to the list, please leave a comment. If you liked this article, share it with people you know and leave a comment.
