The 10 Most Popular Chrome, Firefox And Opera Extensions

Browser extensions can improve a web browser’s functionality significantly. They can improve a user’s workflow on the web or add information to the browser that would otherwise not be directly accessible.

When you look at popular extensions you will notice that they differ considerable between browsers. The most popular Firefox extensions for instance are all about ad blocking, security, downloading and web development, while Chrome users like ad blocking, lookup extensions, notifiers and extensions that simplify day to day surfing. Simplifying day to day surfing extensions are also making the top list of Opera extensions along with adblocking and notification extensions.

Lets take a look at the top 10 extensions for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera.

Google Chrome

• Adblock – An adblocker for the Google Chrome web browser.
• Google Mail Checker – Notifies you if you have new mail in your Gmail inbox.
• FB Photo Zoom – Zoom photos on Facebook.
• Turn Off The Lights – Improves video watching on the Internet by dimming the rest of the page.
• Google Translate – Translate text on the Internet comfortably.
• Google Chrome to Phone – Send links and other information directly to Android phones.
• IE Tab – Display web pages designed for Internet Explorer directly in Chrome.
• Google Dictionary – View word and phrase definitions directly on the page they appear.
• Evernote Web Clipper – Save things you see on the Internet to your Evernote account.
• 
  Add to Amazon Wishlist – Add items that you see on the Internet to your Amazon Wishlist.

Firefox Add-ons

• Adblock Plus – An adblocker for the Firefox web browser.
• Video DownloadHelper – Download videos from hundreds, if not thousands of video hosting sites.
• Greasemonkey – Lets you install userscripts in the Firefox browser.
• Personas Plus – Install Firefox skins.
• Download Statusbar – Display downloads more conveniently in the Firefox status bar.
• Firebug – THE extension for web developers.
• Flashgot – Adds download manager integration to Firefox.
• 
  DownThemAll! – A built-in download manager for the Firefox browser.
• NoScript – THE perfect security extension.
• WOT – Know Which Websites to Trust – Displays security and privacy related information about websites before you access them.

Opera Extensions

• Gismeteo weather forecast in speed-dial – A speed dial extension that displays the weather forecast for a selected location
• YouTube WebM Plus – Play all YouTube videos in WebM format without Adobe Flash.
• Facebook Preview – Displays Facebook notifications, unread messages and friend requests inside a Speed Dial Cell.
• Gmail on speed dial – Displays the unread email count in a speed dial slot.
• Photo Tagger – Tag and save images that you find on the Internet.
• SaveFrom.net helper – Download files from Youtube, Rapidshare, Vkontakte und a few dozen other sites.
• Opera AdBlock – An adblocker for the Opera web browser.
• StockTwits – Stock market trending information.
• Reddit on Speed Dial – Displays Reddit karma and notifications in a speed dial slot.
• FastestTube – YouTube Video Downloader – Download YouTube videos.

At least one adblocker is among the top 10 in all three browsers. That’s however the only similarity you will find. The Opera and Chrome top 10 list no security related extensions, while the Firefox top 10 contains two. Opera is the only browser that offers speed dial / new tab page extensions, and four have made it into the top 10.

Are Chrome users more casual and less into security? Or are Firefox users downloading security related extensions because their browser is not as secure as Chrome?

What’s your take on the data?

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Modify Facebook To Your Liking With Social Fixer

Most Facebook users probably have one or two page elements or features that annoy the hell out of them. This can be a small recent change like the top posts feature that promotes some posts and modifies the timeline by doing so, or something bigger like the new photo viewer interface or the highly annoying Facebook Ticker. Tools like Social Fixer, a web browser add-on for Chrome, Firefox and Opera, can be used to make modifications to Facebook. The better ones even add new features to the social networking site that make their life on the site easier.

Social Fixer, previously known as better Facebook, introduces dozens of changes and feature additions to the Facebook web page. The majority of changes can be activated individually which leaves it up to the user if a particular feature is changed on or added to Facebook.

When you install Social Fixer in your browser you are asked if you want to start with a minimal version or the complete package. The minimal version makes only slight changes to Facebook and keeps most features deactivated. Users can then open the extension’s options that are displayed directly on the Facebook page to modify Facebook page elements selectively. The program runs a setup wizard after installation which informs the user about the core features that it provides.

The program lists dozens of preferences in the options. Take a look at the following screenshot that is showing the options in the Firefox web browser.

The extension even comes with a search to find options quickly. Options are displayed in groups like layout, display, chat or theme that all display multiple preferences.

Here is a list of some of the options that the extension offers:

• Show full image previews when hovering your mouse over pictures
• Disable the “Lightbox” (aka “Theater”) photo viewer popup
• Change font size to px for posts and px for comments
• Fix “Enter” key behavior to be a newline when adding comments, rather than submit
• Lock the blue header bar at the top even if the screen is small
• Reorder posts to be chronological and hide “Top Stories”
• Add “Reply” links to comments and float the reply box up to the comment
• Show “Friend Tracker” to get Unfriend notifications
• Display the “Control Panel” at the top. It can be used to mark messages read, reload or mute all.
• Hide the Ticker Feed of friend activities (Hide Facebeook Ticker)
• Hide friends’ real-time Game activity
• Hide the “Top Story” triangle indicators in the upper left of posts
• Fix timestamps to show actual date/time (“one hour ago” becomes “12:34am (one hour ago)”)
• Automatically mark a post as “read” after commenting on it
• Auto-expand comments on Questions post pages
• Left align the page rather than center
• Show old stories as grayed out rather than hiding them completely
• Turn off the chat sidebar on the far right (if it exists) and go back to popup chat list
• Group friends by online status (active on top, idle below)
• Install themes or skins on Facebook
• Enable Filters to hide specific post types in the news feed
• Add custom CSS styles

Those options are just the top of the iceberg. Social Fixer is a handy extension for Facebook users who want to modify the Facebook page to their liking. It is particularly effective in removing annoying page elements like the Facebook Ticker.

Social Fixer is available on the project website for all supported browser versions. It is also directly available on the respective add-on repositories.

An alternative is the userscript Facebook Fixer.

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: facebook, facebook tips, firefox add-ons, google chrome extensions, opera extensions