Google Chrome and extensions

Little Helpers

By Dmitri Popov

Although Google Chrome (and its stablemate Chromium) is a newcomer to the web browser arena, it already sports an impressive collection of extensions. In this article, I'll describe some of the most useful.

Snip and Save

There are a few extensions that allow you to copy and save web snippets for later use, but Snippy [1] is by far the most versatile and easy to use of the bunch (Figure 1). Once installed, it lets you grab any part of the current web page and save it in the local snippet bin. The way Snippy captures a snippet is slightly different from what you might expect. Instead of highlighting the fragment you want to snip, you use the cursor to "zoom" on the part of the web page you want to grab.

Figure 1: Snippy lets you grab web snippets and save them in the cloud.

Snippy preserves all the formatting, so the snipped fragment is saved exactly as it appeared in the web page. All the snippets are saved locally and are accessed by clicking on the Snippy icon in the browser toolbar and hitting the Show snippets button. This opens the snippet bin where you can browse and manage your saved snippets and add comments to them. The snippet bin also features two buttons: SnipBin, which lets you upload the snippets to the SnipBin service, and Google Docs, which pushes the snippets to Google Docs. SnipBin is an open source application running on Google's AppSpot infrastructure.

Using SnipBin, you can store and manage snippets and share them with the world. SnipBin doesn't have editing tools, so if you want to modify snippets, you should upload them to Google Docs. Because Snippy lets you upload to both SnipBin and Google Docs, you don't have to decide which service you want to use. In fact, if you have the necessary technical chops, you can even roll your own SnipBin installation. Snippy does have a couple of limitations, though. It can't handle secure web pages, and you can't download snippets from SnipBin to another Google Chrome instance. Despite these small weaknesses, Snippy is a genuinely useful tool that can come in handy in many situations.

Money Talk

The Chrome Currency Converter extension [2] performs conversions between different currencies in a clever way. When it detects price values on the current page, it automatically converts them into the currency of your choice (Figure 2). The extension's options let you select the target currency and tweak other settings, enable the extension globally or only for specific websites like Amazon and eBay, and activate the rounding function and specify different formatting options, such as the decimal and thousand separators. The extension also provides a handy currency calculator (Alt+Shift+Ctrl+C).

Figure 2: Chrome Currency Calculator automatically converts prices on a web page.

Smarter Copy

If preserving the format when you copy a snippet from a web page to a document is more a nuisance than a useful feature, you'll likely appreciate the Auto Copy extension [3]. As soon as you select text, it is automatically copied into the clipboard, saving you a few mouse clicks in the process. By default, the extension preserves formatting, but you can configure it to strip it out. Also, you can enable the feature that adds the source URL to the copied snippet, which helpfully keeps track of the snippet's origins.

Writing Help

"After the Deadline" [4] uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology to find writing errors and offer suggestions (Figure 3). Once installed, the extension turns the browser into a competent spell-, style-, and grammar-checking tool. When enabled, it quietly monitors the text you type into a form on a web page, marks the errors and problematic portions, and provides suggestions. Besides English, the extension also handles French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. After the Deadline features proofreading options, a list of ignored websites and phrases, and an option that checks the contents of the form before you submit it.

Figure 3: After the Deadline adds a competent spell-, style-, and grammar-checking tool to the browser.

Reading Help

Reading articles on the web with a notebook or netbook is rarely a pleasant experience. Teensy fonts put serious strain on your eyes, and small screens often have problems rendering complex layouts. The TidyRead extension [5] provides an elegant solution to the problem. It simply extracts the body of the article and presents it in a reader-friendly form (Figure 4). The extension does an exceptionally good job of extracting stuff that matters and discarding everything else.

Figure 4: TidyRead makes it easier to read articles in your browser by extracting text and presenting it in a reader-friendly format.

Additionally, TidyRead offers some options for customizing the default settings. For example, you can choose between different layout styles (black text on a yellow background, white text on a green background, etc.), select another font size, specify the column width, choose an alternative font, and change the alignment settings. Using the buttons in the TidyRead toolbar above the article, you can customize each web page on the fly, or you can apply the settings globally by configuring them in the Options section of the extension. By default, TidyRead kicks in automatically as soon as you open a web page. However, you can disable this option and specify a keyboard shortcut, so you can activate TidyRead only when you need it.

Keep It Clean

I don't know about you, but I can't imagine using my browser without the AdBlock extension [6]. Like its Firefox sibling, this extension scrubs web pages of ads (Figure 5). Not only does this make the reading experience more pleasant, but it also speeds up loading time and reduces bandwidth usage, which can be particularly useful when you are using your notebook or netbook on a slow connection. In the Options section, you can specify how AdBlock deals with ads: It can simply hide them or prevent them from downloading altogether. If you have nothing against Google's text ads in search results, tick the I like text ads on Google search results checkbox.

Figure 5: AdBlock scrubs ads off websites.

Besides the default filters, AdBlock supports country-specific filters that can be handy for those who live outside the US or often visit international websites. AdBlock also lets you subscribe to any filter maintained by the AdBlock Plus project [7]. If AdBlock misses an ad, you can scrub it off manually using the Ctrl+Shift+K keyboard shortcut. The extension also offers more advanced tools for removing pesky ads. In the Blacklist sub-section, you can remove an ad by providing its direct URL and hide a specific part of the current web page by specifying an CSS string. Finally, if you feel bad that you're depriving your favorite blog or website of ad revenues, you can add it to the list of excluded sites, so AdBlock won't filter ads on it.

Shutterbug's Delight

Fittr Flickr [8] is a must-have extension for Flickr addicts. Once installed, it adds a few tiny features that significantly improve Flickr's usability. For starters, the extension adds keyboard shortcuts that make it easier to browse through photos and perform common tasks, such as going to the next or previous photo, adding a photo to favorites, navigating to a pool or photostream, and so on (Figure 6). To view a full list of supported shortcuts, use the ? key on any Flickr page. The extension also enables the tag auto-complete feature to speed up the tagging process and adds the Lightbox effect, which lets you view a larger version of the current photo. Fittr Flickr also gives quick access the photo's Exif data and generates a short flic.kr URL for use with microblogging services.

Figure 6: Fittr Flickr adds a few useful tools to Flickr.

You've Got Mail

Why bother keeping Gmail open in a separate window when you can use the Google Mail Checker Plus extension [9] instead? At first, it looks like just another Chrome extension that displays an unread email count. Dig deeper, and you'll discover a handful of genuinely useful features that make it a must-have utility for any Gmail user. For starters, Google Mail Checker Plus can display desktop notifications, so you can be notified of incoming email even with Chrome running in the background. In the notification window, you can not only preview each new message but also archive, delete, and mark mail as spam. The Options page (Figure 7) offers other useful tweaks. Here, you can change polling interval, configure Google Mail Checker Plus for use with Gmail on your domain, choose a different icon set, and much more.

Figure 7: Google Mail Checker Plus lets you manage your Gmail account right from Chrome's toolbar.

Chromey Calculator

Google is not only a powerful engine, it also doubles as a rather versatile calculator. You can use Google search to perform simple calculations, convert currencies and units, and do other nifty tricks. The Chromey Calculator extension [10] puts Google's calculating power at your fingertips. Once installed, the extension adds an icon to the main toolbar. Pressing the icon brings up the calculator interface; then just type the desired calculations and hit Enter, and you should see the result in the main pane. If Google fails to return an answer, Chromey Calculator queries the WolframAlpha computational knowledge engine. Chromey Calculator also keeps track of all queries and marks the source for each answer.

Final Word

Using your browser without extensions is like living in an apartment without furniture. So, you might want to install extensions to beef up your favorite browser's functionality and make your daily computing more efficient. Of course, which extensions to install depends entirely on your needs, but you might find the extensions described here handy in most situations.