7 Spicy Google Chrome Extensions and why they are hot!
Lastpass
We’re big fans of the excellent Keepass Password manager, and in terms of cataloguing and organising logins, this is still the best solution in my opinion. However, browser integration with Keepass for form filling and autologin requires extra plug-ins and isn’t entirely intuitive, so I find I’m still using my offline databases for Keepass.
Enter the Lastpass password manager. Not only does it store and transmit your passwords using unbreakable encryption from ‘the cloud’, but it also allows the generation of strong passwords (like Keepass) and auto-login with your passwords based on page detected (a massive time/stress saver!) .
LastPass has been widely lauded in the technical and non-technical press. I think The Economist’s quote ”how to stay sane as well as safe while surfing the web” sums up LastPass very well. It just takes the headaches out of staying secure online.
Why it’s hot
- Auto-login (set all your core sites to auto-login for a stress free day)
- All passwords in the cloud and can be taken wherever to any computer on every platform
- 1 (secure!) password to access all your passwords
- iPhone and Android applications (paid version only) for remote password reference when you need a password to use on someone else’s computer
Extra Tip:
Turn off Chrome’s default password manager by going to Options > Personal Stuff > Passwords > Never save passwords and use Lastpass for all passwords with auto-login for the ultimate secure browsing experience, without the stress of copying and pasting passwords from Keepass.
Pendule
If you’ve ever used the Web Developer Toolbar in Firefox you’ll know it provides a very useful toolset for front end developers to perfect their work directly in the browser. Pendule is similar to the web developer toolbar ‘Chrome style’ but brings some very useful things I haven’t seen in Web Developer in Chrome.
Why it’s hot
- Rulers! Miscellaneous > Display Rulers . Very handy for measuring specific areas of a web page
- Stylesheets > Show used colours, great for checking the colours used in a page
- Options to view and read css and on page javascript. The beautify option is amazing in my opinion (view some CSS to see the option for it)
- Color Picker – Miscellaneous > Display color picker. A built in colour picker letting you sample any colour on the page
AdBlock
I’m trying this new thing out, where I only buy things when I feel I need them, rather than buying things I’m told I need. With AdBlock I’ve found the perfect companion to this new online way of life. AdBlock references a highly comprehensive list of advert sources on the web and stops them from downloading when you browse, it also allows for custom rules and configuration to be implemented although I’ve never needed to use this. To see how effective it is visit some of your ‘favourite’ ad-heavy websites with it turned on, and then pause the extension and refresh!
Why it’s hot
- Appears to be very effective – I can’t recall an ad that has slipped past it
- Sites load quicker and without distractions – viewing a lot of sites is like a new refreshing experience with AdBlock
- Cut irritating advertisements from your daily web surfing experience
Web Developer
You may well have used the excellent web developer toolbar for FireFox. Well, this is the Chrome version and is largely the same as the Firefox version. It has a couple of slightly different functionalities, for example it shows a status number on its icon to show how many web developer features are enabled. Combined with Pendule, the 2 extensions give a quite comprehensive front end developer toolset for the Chrome browser.
Why it’s hot
- A Chrome version of the popular web developer toolbar for FireFox with all the key features present
- Status indication to see how many ‘web developer’ extension filters are used on the page
- Neatly presented in the Chrome extension bar compared to Firefox
- Fast and responsive
Y Slow
Page loading speed can be detrimental to both user experience and site loading speed. This is compounded by the rise of javascript embeds and files which many sites need for specific functionality. Y Slow acts a page speed tutor which presents a report card to you about your web page with recommendations for improvements you can make. Suggestions can include things like amalgamating javascript files into one file and minificiation of javascript, all good things to be doing! So in conclusion if you use this extension and make the modifications it suggests you will speed up your site and reap the benefits that can bring.
Why it’s hot
- Nicely broken down report card style reports
- Ridiculously easy to use, just click the ‘Run Test’ button
- Comprehensive breakdown of page components with their size contribution
Screen Capture
At NuBlue there is often occasion where a screen shot of a web page is useful. Obviously there are the usual options in windows 7 (snip tool, print screen + paste) and osx (screenshot tools). However, sometimes it’s nice to be able to just snap a web page quickly and without fuss. Screen Capture gives options for the following: Capture Visible Content, Capture page Region (within the browser), Capture Whole Page (even the bits you have to scroll to see) and Capture Screen Region. It also has basic functionality for highlighting and putting text on the outputted screenshot. All in all great for showing modifications on a web page or illustrating pretty much anything else visually on a site.
Why it’s hot
- Fast screenshotting of sites without fuss
- Outputs nice high quality PNG’s as standard
- Highlighting and text options which can be saved onto screenshots
PageRank
Want to keep an eye on your Google Page Rank, your Alexa Rank, or for that matter check out how your competition are doing? Then this is a very useful and importantly (in my opinion) light and fast extension for Chrome. Simply visit your site or any other you want to investigate, and click the Page Rank icon in the extension toolbar to get a instant report.
Why it’s hot
- Fast and Light
- Instantly displays Page Rank and Alexa Rank without unnecessary additional bloat
What else is out there?
Obviously the Google Chrome Extension situation is much less mature than the vast choice of FireFox addon’s available due to Chromes comparatively short existence. Under some circumstances FireFox has significantly better add-ons for specific tasks (Chrome Firebug Lite vs the much superior Firebug for Firefox springs to mind), although as the above shows Chrome is catching up quite well with a wide variety of good quality extensions (some of which bring a new things previously not seen in Firefox equivalent add-ons). The above is just a handful of Extensions I personally use. If you use any other extensions please comment it would be great to hear from you. What else is out there?
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