We've already covered the "Get Rid of the New and Annoying Facebook Image Preview" extension here at Nerdy Nuggets. Works like a charm, doesn't it? This prompted me to look for other handy extensions for Chrome that can make browsing safer, easier, and more convenient.
After combing through the hundreds of available extensions and installing any of them that seemed at all useful or interesting to me, I chose these 10 as the cream of the crop. Click the title of the extension if you want to give it a try.
After the jump, 10 Google Extensions Worth Installing
1. Mail Checker Plus for Google Mail
This extension acts as a miniature e-mail client that keeps you from having to switch between your Gmail Inbox tab and whatever tab you're currently working on every time you receive or need to compose a new message. New mail notifications are customizable, and include playing a sound and/or displaying a small pop-up in the bottom right corner of your browser window.
You can also choose whether Mail Checker monitors only your Inbox, only your Priority Inbox, or all of your folders at once. You can preview new messages as they arrive, mark them as read, mark them as spam, delete them, or archive them.
If you want to read the whole message, simply click the + sign to expand the preview, or click the title of the email to automatically open your Gmail inbox in a new tab. As mentioned earlier, Mail Checker Plus also gives you the ability to compose a new message without ever having to browse to your Gmail inbox.
2. AdBlock
I would be remiss if I didn't mention AdBlock here, although most of you probably already know about it. AdBlock does what it says. All of those annoying ads running down the side of the web page or wedged in between paragaphs of the article you're reading? Gone. Another handy little feature? It blocks those infuriating 15 to 30 second ads that appear at the beginning of Youtube videos!
This particular AdBlock extension doesn't require the user to manually subscribe to any filters, which makes it a bit more user-friendly than its Firefox counterpart, Adblock Plus. The filters are already built in, so it simply works right out of the box. You do, however, have the option to add, configure, and remove filters if you feel the need.
3. Shareaholic for Google Chrome
I admit, this is a holdover extension from my Firefox days. If you do a lot of sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Blogger, etc., this extension is mandatory.
As you can see, clicking the Shareaholic button in your toolbar brings up a customizable list of sites to which you can share your currently viewed tab. It also provides a shortened URL of your currently displayed page powered by goo.gl url shortener. Dozens of sites can be added to the list, which you can select in the extension's options, so don't think you're limited to just the few shown here.
In fact, the first time you visit Shareaholic's options screen, you might be a bit overwhelmed at the number of choices offered.
The screenshot above is just a snippet of sites from which Shareaholic allows you to choose. That list goes on for quite a while. It's really the only sharing extension you'll ever need.
4. Stop Autoplay for Youtube
This extension is especially useful in an office environment, where watching a Youtube video on the clock might be frowned upon. With Stop Autoplay for Youtube installed, you can open a Youtube video in Chrome and it won't start until you press play. There are several other extensions out there that do this, but as far as I know none of them allow the video to continue pre-buffering once the video has been stopped, so when you're ready to play there's no waiting around for the video to load. Use this in conjunction with AdBlock for maximum effect.
5. Session Buddy
Session Buddy is a flexible and extremely handy session management extension. For all intents and purposes, a browser session is simply the tabs and windows that you have open in your browser at any given time. Your browser session will end once you exit your browser.
Session Buddy allows you to save your current session; restore a previously saved session into a set of windows, a single window, or the current window; automatically save your current session so that it can be easily restored in the event of a Chrome or OS crash; edit sessions by deleting unneeded individual windows/tabs, or rolling tabs into a single window; and even export your current session to a text or CSV file.
Session Buddy is most useful when working on online projects that require several open windows and tabs (e.g. extensive web design or writing a blog about browser extensions with multiple screenshots). If you've turned on the option to automatically save your current session, you don't need to worry about losing your work due to a Chrome or OS crash. Or, when you're done working, you can save your session, close your browser, and open up all the same windows and tabs needed to finish your work whenever you're ready to start again.
6. One Window
Even if you have Chrome set to open links in a new tab, there are still times when links are set to override that and open in a new window. This extension will force those new windows to open as new tabs, ensuring that you will never have more than one browser window open at a time. Nothing flashy here. If you're like me and you hate having more than one browser window open unless it's absolutely necessary, this extension is for you.
7. Apt-linker (Debian/Ubuntu users only)
You knew I was going to throw in some Linux-specific goodies eventually.
This extension turns apt-get install command lines into clickable url links that will automatically install the Ubuntu or Debian GNU/Linux package in question through your preferred package manager. For those of you who can't stand the terminal (which is something we'll discuss later, trust me) this extension is a must-have. For the rest of us who don't mind doing some terminal work, it's still mighty convenient. Go ahead and install the extension. When you get back, click the following command line and watch what happens:
sudo apt-get install gnome-do
Nice.
8. Neat Bookmarks
If you keep a lot of bookmarks (I have over 100), give Neat Bookmarks a try. It uses a tree structure to allow you to expand and search folders easily. I mainly use this extension for its search bar feature, which allows me to type in a search term to pull up the bookmark I need instantaneously, no browsing required. I still like to have my bookmarks bar showing, even though Neat Bookmarks pretty much makes it a redundancy. Call me old-fashioned. If you've been looking for an easier way to search or just browse through your bookmarks without taking up precious window real estate with the bookmarks bar, well...here you go.
9. PPASearch (Ubuntu only)
Another Linux extension! This one's even more useful than Apt-linker. With PPASearch, you can type in the name of any package (you must know the exact name), and PPASearch will locate user-contributed packages of the same name published in any Ubuntu PPA and show the results in a new tab. Cool!
10. SearchPreview
This extension adds preview images to Google search results, so you can get a thumbnail preview of what's on that site before you click the link.
Not only does this increase readability, but it helps you filter out irrelevant or possibly harmful search results. It should be noted that Google Search has a similar feature already built in, but does not allow the user to view all preview images at once, as this extension does. It's all about your personal preference, of course.
Now it's time to do some exploring of your own. Obviously, your needs may demand a different set of extensions that I may not have found useful or interesting during my search. Click here to browse Google's official Chrome extension library. You may be surprised by some of the powerful tools you'll find there.
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