Here’s a look at the best Google Chrome extensions which can spruce up your browsing experience by a notch or two. The Web Store is stuffed with a load of goodies in the form of games, useful plug-ins and what not. We’ve been careful to pick only the cream of the crop while putting together our collection of the must haves in this category. So that’s exactly why you should be paying careful attention to it, especially if you surf the web through the browser in question. These options have been listed out in no particular order of priority.
1 – Google Dictionary:
Just as its name suggests, our first pick id a dictionary; but it’s no ordinary one, mind you. Once installed on the browser, it allows you to search the meaning of any word you come across on the Internet, by just double-clicking on it. A small pop-up bubble appears on the screen, giving you the needed information, along with its pronunciation as part of an audio grab. And moreover, the complete dictionary meaning of that word can also be acquired by copying and pasting it on this software’s toolbar icon. The fact that all this can be done without having to leave the web page at all is what makes this plug-in a very nice one to have.
2 – Magic Actions for YouTube:
This next entry in our compilation is an absolute must have for anyone who in the habit of watching videos on YouTube quite regularly. Magic Actions turns the video-sharing website into a completely customizable experience, allowing you to set all kinds of preferences for it. Options such as automatically converting videos to HD, control of volume by scrolling the mouse wheel, viewing a video in Cinema mode which darkens the adjacent space, and more are made available by Magic Actions for YouTube.
3 – Shareaholic:
Shareaholic is the ultimate tool for social networking enthusiasts. Once you set up your accounts, it allows you to share any kind of links directly from the page you’re on to a large number of social networking websites and relevant tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Evernote, Delicious, Digg, and more. Besides, it has also been equipped by its maker with the ability to sync settings across multiple computers and browsers. And it even makes all your shared links searchable in one place. Its developer has claimed that this utility has been optimized to load instantly without slowing down the browser.
4 – Photo Zoom for Facebook:
Our next pick for this Google Chrome extensions roster is a superb one indeed. Described as the easiest way to view photos on Facebook, this tool blows up thumbnails and small photographs into larger images, and all users have to do to achieve this is have the cursor hovering over the desired image. It even consists of a number of preferences that you can set to customize your experience. Its developer has been infusing it with constant updates ever since it was launched, and hence a lot of new and handy features can be expected for it in the future.
5 – Send from Gmail:
Send from Gmail is a neat tool if you’re a frequent user of the synonymous email service. What it does is that it presents a button near the address bar, which opens up a small window, letting you quickly compose an email without having to enter the website. Moreover, when you click on an email ID on a webpage, it instantly creates a Gmail message for the same address using the page title as the subject and selected page text and link address as the message.
6 – AdBlock:
By far, one of the most satisfying and useful tools we’ve come across on the Web Store is AdBlock. Staying true to its name, it literally weeds out unnecessary advertisements from web pages. And the most helpful aspect about it is that it is even able to prevent YouTube ads from annoyingly showing up before the videos start buffering. Once AdBlock is installed you’ll notice that your web surfing experience has become a lot smoother, if nothing else. It actually blocks all ads from getting downloaded instead of just removing them after they’re downloaded.
7 – Awesome New Tab Page:
This addition to our list allows you to stylize your tab page with more than just the icons that are present on it initially. Furthermore, it also gives you greater flexibility for moving things around on the tab page. You can create custom shortcuts, search websites directly from custom shortcuts and even make your own widgets if you’re into HTML5/CSS3 developing.
8 – Google Calendar:
This last plug-in grants you a little button on your toolbar which can be utilized to have a look at your upcoming events fed into the Calendar service provided by the search giant. This way, you again don’t have to leave the page you’re currently on. Additionally, if you’re on a site which has a special event encoded on it, you can instantly add the event to your calendar with a single click. And it also shows events pulled out of whatever calendars you are logged into from within the browser.
Conclusion:
So those were all the best Google Chrome extensions we’d like you to have a look at. We’re sure you’ll find something very useful about all of the ones listed here. Of course, the Web Store is packed with a horde of tools. Anything essential that we missed out on according to you?
