Browser Extensions

Shane · **Posted:** October 10th, 2011, 6:02 pm

I don't care which browser you use, for the purpose of this topic let's just assume an extension is an extension no matter what browser you use.

First off I'd like you to list the extensions that you use so we can get a sample of what kind of features most people want to add to their browser. No need to provide links, just list what they do or what service they tie in with.

Secondly, what determines if you install an extension? How much of a net benefit is needed for you to install an extension for a particular website or service?

Finally, if forced which extensions on your list from the first part could you remove?

This is a bit of research for a personal project I am thinking about. If you could be as honest and complete as possible it would be great

.

Adbot · **Posted:** October 10th, 2011, 6:02 pm

Jason B · **Posted:** October 10th, 2011, 7:54 pm

Not to be a bother but whats an extension?

Priss · **Posted:** October 10th, 2011, 8:02 pm

My main extension and the one I use all of the time is one that encrypts and saves all of my passwords. Besides that I have my anti virus extension and Personas for firefox skin styles.

I really try to add as least as possible since this is my gaming computer.

Bryan · **Posted:** October 10th, 2011, 9:41 pm

[*] URL Shortener, shortens the current page to goo.gl, and provides a QR code. Handy.
[*] Google Reader Notifier, links to Google Reader, and provides a handy toast notification on new unread feeds.
[*] Google Dictionary
[*] The Unofficial RuneScape Toolbar for Chrome Extension, does what the Toolbar for Firefox/IE does, except in Chrome. And provides a bit more functionality too.
[*] Gmail Checker, snapshot of the inbox, straight from the extension, with toast notification.
[*] DeskSMS, all SMS gets pushed to either GTalk, Gmail, this browser extension, or its web interface. I can reply to it from here instead of reaching HALF AN ARM'S LENGTH to reply from my phone #firstworldproblems, it also allows me to annoy my friends with 90wpm texts in quick succession

[*] Chrome to Phone, pushes the current webpage to your phone, useful for when reading some long, interesting article, and have to go somewhere.

If an extension allows me to get more things done in less work, it'll be installed. That includes typing in mail.google.com (UGH), or reader.google.com (UGH), or runescape.com (UGH UGH UGH), goo.gl (I can never get it right, it's usually goog.gl or some crazy variation, and then afterward having to paste the shortened URL and adding .qr at the end, **** it), or having to e-mail or SMS myself the link I'm currently at. TOO MUCH WORK THERE. My Most Visited pages (Speed Dial), I visit once a day, but since there's only 8 of them, I forget to check other important things. These extensions also help me remind myself that there are other important sites to check, like Reader, Gmail, and the RS news.

If I HAD to remove some extensions, it would probably be replaced by an app on my phone, which would add on to more things to check once I'm on it. It'd be Gmail (thank goodness for push e-mail and push e-mail scheduling), DeskSMS (it's really a half arm's length away, bless it), and the RS toolbar (I'd already purchased an app that can do more things than the Chrome version can, what the hell).

Shane · **Posted:** October 10th, 2011, 9:59 pm

Jbobman7 wrote:

Not to be a bother but whats an extension?

An extension is a bundle of code that is created to allow the browser to do something else besides being a browser. See examples above.

addiv · **Posted:** October 11th, 2011, 1:50 am

AdBlock Plus
imgur - image hosting site popular with reddit
Meebo - alerts me to messages from gmail and a few other sources

I try to keep as few extensions as possible so it has to be something extremely useful before I'll add it. If I'm not using it on a weekly basis I probably don't add it. Extensions that come with a browser performance drop also get removed quickly. A qucker, lighter weight browser is more useful to me than an all-in-one browser tool.

I could drop imgur since I don't use it on a daily basis.

Adbot · **Posted:** October 11th, 2011, 1:50 am

Duke Juker · RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010

# AdBlock Plus- Advert and crap blocker.
# UnPlug- "...is an extension which lets you save video and audio which is embedded on a webpage - it's a video download tool."
# YouTube to MP3- "Adds links to convert and download Youtube, MyVideo, Clipfish, Sevenload, Dailymotion, MySpace videos as MP3 files."
I only get those extensions which I find useful. If I can get something out of using an extension, then I'll download it. If I plan on using the extension a lot or often, then I'll download it. Most other extensions are extraneous imo.

I use all three of these and would preferably not get rid of any of them. But, if I had to get rid of them, I would probably drop YouTube to MP3 first, then UnPlug, and finally AdBlock Plus.

newhero · **Posted:** October 11th, 2011, 11:38 am

firebug
speeddial

Jeki · **Posted:** October 12th, 2011, 3:12 am

[#] PasteBin extension - Basically I can paste large amounts of text (or even code) and it publishes it quickly to pastebin.com (quicker than using the web interface).
[#] YouTube Converter - Basically I can enter a YouTube url and convert it into an Mp3 and provides a link.
[#] McAfee SiteAdvisor - Tells me if a site safe or not (I really don't find it useful).

I also have AdBlocker but it's pretty **** so I don't use it that much. I looking for more useful extensions which will hopefully speed things up.

Evelyn · **Posted:** October 12th, 2011, 1:22 pm

ABP: It blocks ads. People need to realize that ad blockers are a fact of internet browsing and need to start researching a new form of web revenue. Also some anti-social filters that block all the stupid like and tweet buttons.

DMT: So I can have my downloads window in a tab instead, which I fixed as an App tab.

IE Tab: for those websites that'll only display right in IE, and for when I'm bored I can watch IE miserably fail the Acid3 test.

Save file to: Makes image saving way easier and quicker and I can organize into folders upon save.

Session Manager: I don't really use this much anymore, only time I directly interact with it is when FF crashes it reloads my tabs.

Status 4 Evar: With FF4+ Mozilla got rid of the status bar on the bottom of the page, and with it the loading progress bar! With this I set it so I get to see the linked page on the right side of the address bar, and the progress bar is a thin line under the text in the address bar.

FireFTP: I leave this inactive until I need to use FTP or something.

trekkie · **Posted:** October 13th, 2011, 3:51 pm

fyi cliff, the IE tab doesn't work anymore. it doesn't work with the new version of firefox and they haven't updated it in ages.

Evelyn · **Posted:** October 13th, 2011, 6:34 pm

trekkie wrote:

fyi cliff, the IE tab doesn't work anymore. it doesn't work with the new version of firefox and they haven't updated it in ages.

Yes it works, I just used it three minutes ago.

Earth · **Posted:** October 28th, 2011, 8:13 pm

If an extension looks interesting, I'll try it and if doesn't work well, it gets removed, if it's awesome, it stays

trekkie · **Posted:** October 29th, 2011, 10:59 pm

what exactly does flash block block?

and also, my mom uses chrome and when she gets to a new tab they have the google shop thing. anyway to get rid of it because she's complaining that she cannot type in the address right away without clicking it.

btw... why do you need to keep track of web site time??

Earth · **Posted:** October 30th, 2011, 6:17 am

trekkie wrote:

what exactly does flash block block?

and also, my mom uses chrome and when she gets to a new tab they have the google shop thing. anyway to get rid of it because she's complaining that she cannot type in the address right away without clicking it.

btw... why do you need to keep track of web site time??

...Flash

I don't know what you mean

Because I want to