Some Useful Chrome Extensions

I have started loving Chrome pretty much and it has been my preferred browser for a few months. The most important thing which made me switch to Chrome was the space it provided, though you can disable toolbars in Firefox, Chrome seemed to be more spacious due to the Google mantra of keep it simple. I rarely have my bookmarks toolbar turned since the most frequent sites I visit are there on the Open Tab itself. Though Chrome still crashes then and there, it has become a lot less frequent these days. With the add ons , sorry extensions, slowly making their way, life has become quite easy with Chrome.

1. Application - It took a while for me to realize that you can have a page as an application shortcut which has the page sans the address bar, thereby giving you more space. Though it's just like a bookmark having a shortcut on the desktop, it gives a feel that it's an app of it's own.

Check out this video to know how to create one.

GMAIL, igoogle, Google reader and, from last week, Feedly sit as an application on my desktop. And placing the icon in system32 folder makes life easier for people like me who prefer to use the Win+R.

2. Feedly - Feedly is a front end for your Google reader. Though I started using Google reader more than 2 years ago I was never consistent. One of the primary reason is the reading interface which though simple is not a pleasant experience. Seems these folks also felt the same and instead of sitting like a lazy brat like me, they came out with this beautiful front end. Just install the add on for Chrome here and login using your Google account and see the difference.

You can link your twitter account also and view tweets, but I don't prefer this.

3.Chromed Bird - Though I have always felt the power and usefulness of twitter I never twitted or followed others twitters regularly. I found it a pain to go to twitter and see the tweets or tweet on my on. However after I installed Chromed Bird tweeting has become quite simple and easier.

You can tweet from any page you want without moving out and moreover it has an URL shortener which is even cool(I use http://bit.ly/). Also you can check the tweets of other people from any page. Check it out if you are a twitter or want to use twitter.

4. GMAIL Checker - This is places a gmail icon on the right of the address bar and lets you know the number of unread mails in the inbox. Clicking on it will open Gmail in a new tab. No more typing gmail.com to see any new mails have come. The add on is here. There is another extension called One Number, which does the same for Gmail, Reader, Voice and Wave. Since I am not using the Voice and Wave, I prefer this.

5. Send From Gmail - In case you want to forward any page to anyone this one is good. It opens a Gmail Compose in a new window(not a tab) with the Subject as the Page's title and the link of the subject in the body. Pretty neat and simple. Can be found here.

6. Delicious - I have been using Delicious quite extensively these days. (Please don't ask when I will be reusing the bookmarks, will help for sure one day. For example took all these links from Delicious only.) Earlier I used a tweak which had a link in the bookmark bar, but at last they have come out with an add-on which is neat and simple and works cool. It's over here.

In case you use Facebook you can try Beautify Facebook which adds some Gloss for facebook. Discovered this a couple of days back and not sure how it works, but worth trying.

Trying Tweet deck for the couple of days, seems good. Yet to explore it fully.

Do let me know in case you also have found some cool extensions for Chrome.