What browser extensions do you use?

#1

Browser extensions are one reason people pick some browsers and leave some, that is of course on top of other reasons like browser speed, resource usage and privacy. Extensions mean extensibility, getting your browser to do much more along what your line of activity (work) is. I use Chrome browser.

On my part, I use the following:

  • Alexa traffic rank- I want to monitor how our site is doing.

  • Wappalyzer - with this I get to know what scripts are on each website I visit, I also tell what framework and libraries there are on the site.

  • Momentum - this is an interesting extension that makes the “new tab” look pretty, with an inspirational quote or two and a cool image refreshed every once in a while.

  • HTMLify - this extension will force sites to present you the HTML5 version of videos if they exist, thus reducing the amount of flash you have to deal with.

  • Google Docs and Google Docs offline - These do just that, allow you to preview and interact with documents on the browser.

What extensions would you like our community to learn about?

#2

I was about to answer none, since I don’t like extensions, but after going through your post, I will actually try them out.

Nice picks

#3

I use ad-block,moment, leechblock, saversfromnet and google docs all for firefox

#4

1 Like
#5

I know the implications but sometimes its hard to find sites with decent adverts (like placing one or two) you just get unending pop-ups, banners etc etc which is irritating.

#6

Are you saying that for those well behaved sites you white-list or it’s all blanket?

#7

Do I need to white-list any site? I do not think so. Ad-block version 2 already accommodates non-intrusive advertisements such as those that do not intentionally block content you’re trying to view. those not including animations, sound and funny images and those containing plain text strategically placed not to distract browsing. So whatever remains there is not really important I guess

#8

I use:

Google Mail Checker: Put this in year ago and never took it down. It shows all unread mail across all categories. It was useful once upon a time. Now, not so sure.

StumbleUpon: Most epic way to discover sites aligned with my interests. Promoting procastination since 2004.

StayFocused: Because you occasionally have to double down and get shit down. Effectively restricts sites you can access and how long you can access them for. For the weak willed.

Chrono Download Manager: Pirates ahoy!

Adblock: A few worthwhile sites are white listed. The rest? Meh.

Silverbird: Lightweight twitter client. Helps me keep an eye on mentions and DM’s. Was excellent at viewing twitter via lists but it seems this functionality has since been broken :frowning:

1 Like
#9

On Chrome I mainly use:

  • Polarr for quick image editing
  • Pocket
  • Google Drive

On Firefox I mainly use:

  • Video Download Helper
  • Zenmate
  • HTTPS Everywhere
#10
  • U-Block Origin is a lighter and better replacement for AdBlock.
  • Pocket is nice for saving a few web pages I want to visit later
  • 1Password for managing my passwords.
  • JSON View for inspecting rendered JSON
  • OctoTree - code view on GitLab
  • Tabli for tab management since I am one of the users that have an average of over 20tabs
  • The Great Suspender - to suspend inactive tabs hence save of precious memory
  • PostMan whenever I am playing around with an API
  • Syotify since I like their Youtube + Spotify feel
  • Google Docs, sheets etc - these you cannot live without

Other Notable Mentions that I have

  • Blue Jeans Meeting - for my meetings when the local app crashes which happens more often than not
  • CIRC - I don’t use it anymore but it still is a nice IRC Client
  • GetThemAllVideoDownloader - nice downloader for people that are on OS X and Linux hence can’t tap into the power of IDM which is the only great app in Windows in my opinion.
2 Likes
#11

On Firefox:
Ghostery
Adblock
DownThemAll
Greasemonkey

#12

I know people who won’t be so excited about AdBlock :grinning::grinning:

1 Like
#13

At this rate we will have to moderate some people on here.

#14

@wanjaustev, see? That did not take long

#15

The Firefox equivalent of the handy Tampermonkey

#16

Ad-Block does more good to a website provider than not having it. Let me make my case.

Most people that have an adblocker are people that would NEVER click on an ad. Hence it saves you the additional bandwidth cost of delivering your ad to people that would never click.

Unless you are a porn site or one of those movie streaming sites that open many pop-ups using a javascript on-click event, an AdBlocker does more good than bad.

#17

Ads servers sell more than clicks. They do impressions too, but I get your point. Some ads are done for awareness and more often the message is on the banner. Who opts in to roadside billboards?

#18

Firefox:

  • DownThemAll, FlashGot, Ublock Origin

Main Chrome Profile:

  • Ublock Origin, PushBullet, Session Buddy, Stylish, Evernote Clipper, HTTPS Everywhere, Office Editing, PixelBlock, rapportive, Turn Off The Lights, Yesware Email Tracking …

Dev Chrome Profile:

  • Ublock Origin, Web Developer, EditThisCookie, Wappalyzer, Stylish, Advanced REST Client, CSSViewer, User Agent Switcher, JSONView, React DevTools …

Firefox for Android:

  • Ublock Origin, JSONovich

On Ad block (Ublock Origin, Adblock Plus etc):

  • You can always whitelist sites you’d like to support.
  • Ads are one of the most popular vectors of malware, and using ad block is basic computer hygiene. As Javascript pioneer Douglas Crockford put it ads are “a self inflicted XSS attack” and further stating;

The most reliable, cost effective method to inject evil code is to buy an ad.

Bonus:

I always have this page of mine as one of my start /pinned tabs in Chrome to avoid accidentally closing multiple tabs.

#19

My primary browser is Firefox running https everywhere and privacy badger from the good folk at EFF with Feedly to keep track must read websites.

FirefoxDeveloperEdition does what it says on the tin and I run Chrome in stock for those sites you must visit using incognito :grin:

#20