I am too wary of malware extensions to install that many. It is clearly trivial [0] for malware to get into the Chrome store, and Google is not doing enough to make me feel comfortable with it.<p>Additionally, I know that even as non-malware extensions grow in popularity they are solicited by malware companies to integrate their software in an update. I experienced this first hand with the HoverZoom extension. [1]<p>[0] <a href="https://awakesecurity.com/blog/the-internets-new-arms-dealers-malicious-domain-registrars/" rel="nofollow">https://awakesecurity.com/blog/the-internets-new-arms-dealer...</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.ghacks.net/2013/12/26/hoverzooms-malware-controversy-imagus-alternative" rel="nofollow">https://www.ghacks.net/2013/12/26/hoverzooms-malware-controv...</a>
I can't live without Tree Style Tabs[0] in Firefox. It's The Thing that finally got me to switch back to FF and I will never look back.<p>0: <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-ta...</a>
There's an incredibly useful extension that's not on that list that I bet a good number of HN folks would like:<p>Vimium [1]<p>It lets you use keyboard shortcuts to navigate through webpages, click buttons, jump to text boxes, etc. it's been huge for me both as a productivity tool (it's significantly faster than using a mouse for navigation) and also for reducing RSI/strain on my hands.<p>Here's a video of it in action as you really need to see it being used to understand the different interaction model it provides.<p><a href="https://youtu.be/t67Sn0RGK54?t=21" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/t67Sn0RGK54?t=21</a><p>1 - <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogba...</a><p>edit: fixed link (but if you enjoyed the writeup of data security requirements let me know).
On the off-chance that someone reads this and may find it useful, here are my most useful Firefox extensions:<p>Firefox Container Tabs. Allows me to have multiple office or gmail logins, amazon AWS console sessions, etc etc. And one to keep Facebook walled off in its own little prison. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...</a><p>SingleFile. Allows me to save a snapshot of a page when I bookmark it (or at any other time). This means that when I encounter a page, I can automatically archive a copy to read later without worrying if the author will delete it, or the site will be unavailable. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/single-file/?src=search" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/single-file/?...</a><p>Default Bookmark Folder. Always save new bookmarks to the same place, which is useful for keeping stuff together. I tag my bookmarks when I make them too, to make finding them again much easier. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/default-bookmark-folder/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/default-bookm...</a><p>Eno from Capital One. Lets me make a unique credit card for each site I buy from, so I can instantly tell if something is wrong if I see a bad charge. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/capital-one-eno/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/capital-one-e...</a><p>Tampermonkey. This lets me have a dark mode for Google search, and a bunch of other useful scripts. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tampermonkey/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tampermonkey/</a>
In the post:
"Shut Up disables comments everywhere. When I trust a platform's audience enough to read the unfiltered outputs from their brains, I enable comments for just that site. Sometimes I turn it back off immediately"<p>At the end of the post: A comments section with spam in it.
Nano Defender hasn’t been necessary in my experience. uBlock Origin can circumvent anti-adblock measures by itself.<p>I’m skeptical of Grammarly from a privacy standpoint. It seems to be an internet-enabled keylogger.
I just use uBlock Origin to clean up websites I visit of their trending sections, recommendation sections, comment sections. Sometimes I get rid of links that I might mindlessly click, like the whole top bar of reddit.com.<p>For example, these filters work really well on youtube.com<p>youtube.com##.ytp-pause-overlay<p>youtube.com##.ytp-suggestion-set<p>youtube.com##.ytp-endscreen-content<p>youtube.com###related
> Privacy Badger + UBlock Origin<p>The days of uBlock Origin on Google Chrome are numbered. It may not work for Google Chrome when Manifest V3 is implemented (and no recourse provided for uBlock Origin). [1]<p>P.S: I haven't kept up with the latest developments on this since last year.<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.ghacks.net/2019/01/22/chrome-extension-manifest-v3-could-end-ublock-origin-for-chrome/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ghacks.net/2019/01/22/chrome-extension-manifest-...</a>
The one extension I cannot live without is hover zoom+. Hover over any thumbnail (for a customizable amount of time) and it loads the full size image on top. When people see me using it with google images, they always ask how I did that.<p><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hover-zoom%20/pccckmaobkjjboncdfnnofkonhgpceea" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hover-zoom%20/pccc...</a>
Would add HTTPS Everywhere <a href="https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere" rel="nofollow">https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere</a> and NoScript <a href="https://noscript.net/" rel="nofollow">https://noscript.net/</a> to that list
That’s an insane amount of extensions, most of which seems to deal with fixing “broken” website or at least make them tolerable.<p>Reader mode is a little surprising, doesn’t Chrome have that built in?
For me it's uBlock Origin and uMatrix. The web is unbearable without those two. Pages load at least 50% faster. Makes you realize the amount of crap modern sites load.
It is mentioned in the link, but I just want to emphasize that Video Speed Controller [1] has been amazing for me. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well on Firefox (stuttering on higher speeds above 2X) when I tried it a year ago. Which means I'm stuck with chrome for at least a decent amount of my activity.<p>[1] <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/video-speed-controller/nffaoalbilbmmfgbnbgppjihopabppdk?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/video-speed-contro...</a>
I can recommend:<p>- Timelense preview for youtube: <a href="https://timelens.io/youtube/" rel="nofollow">https://timelens.io/youtube/</a> (needs greasemonkey or something)<p>- Opens pdfs in my pdf reader right away: <a href="https://add0n.com/open-in.html?from=pdf" rel="nofollow">https://add0n.com/open-in.html?from=pdf</a> (invert sumatra pdf on windows and you even have a dark mode: "...\SumatraPDF.exe" -bg-color #000000 -set-color-range #FFFFFF #000000 )<p>- (there is also one to open in chrome, really good if you are using FF but need to use google products like meet or jamboard)<p>- TTS with amazon polly support (if you have an AWS account): <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/read-aloud-a-text-to-spee/hdhinadidafjejdhmfkjgnolgimiaplp" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/read-aloud-a-text-...</a><p>- oh and mouse users should always scroll my dragging right-click IMO :) <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/scroll_anywhere/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/scroll_anywhe...</a><p>- adblock for youtube sponsored bla bla within the video <a href="https://sponsor.ajay.app/" rel="nofollow">https://sponsor.ajay.app/</a><p>- backup what you typed in form fields: <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/textarea-cache/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/textarea-cach...</a><p>- stylish if you know CSS. I made wikipedia look more like the mobile version, make visited links visible globally, hide jira crap for sprint plannings etc.<p>- for good keyboard hint navigation: trydactyl (but saka keys is probably more beginner friendly)<p>- Show which links are fresh on news sites (e.g. on HN). FF only for now though. Just published it myself: <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/addon/seen-it-al.." rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/addon/seen-it-al...</a>.
I actually use this one a lot, lets you take a video and make it the full size of the browser. I find that theater mode youtube isn't quite big enough on a 4k screen, but I don't want to pop into fullscreen mode.<p><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fullscreen-video-to-windo/mkdkhflndckmdlpiaddfmpppmodplheo" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fullscreen-video-t...</a>
Disable HTML5 Autoplay <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/disable-html5-autoplay-re/cafckninonjkogajnihihlnnimmkndgf" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/disable-html5-auto...</a><p>Saka (Tab search with ctrl-space) <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/saka/nbdfpcokndmapcollfpjdpjlabnibjdi" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/saka/nbdfpcokndmap...</a><p>Session buddy (for when Chrome tab recovery fails) <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/session-buddy/edacconmaakjimmfgnblocblbcdcpbko" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/session-buddy/edac...</a><p>urlNeXT (c-s-right arrow to go to the next page, increments numbers in url, works well on forums) <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/urlnext/emepkgfiamgdjilgkacpciojagbolepb" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/urlnext/emepkgfiam...</a>
When I was doing some research, I found these Chrome extensions very useful:<p>- Export History -
Offered by: Christian Genco.
Export your browser history as JSON or CSV<p>- Multi-highlight -
Offered by: Alexius Lee.
Create a list of words to highlight on the page.<p>- Super Simple Highlighter -
Offered by: dexterouslogic.com.
Configure a set of persistent webpage highlighters and tags.<p>--<p>[1]: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/export-history/hcohnnbbiggngobheobhdipbgmcbelhh?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/export-history/hco...</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/multi-highlight/pfgfgjlejbbpfmcfjhdmikihihddeeji?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/multi-highlight/pf...</a><p>[3]: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/super-simple-highlighter/hhlhjgianpocpoppaiihmlpgcoehlhio?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/super-simple-highl...</a>
Some other unmentioned add-ons that I use frequently:<p>- Contextlets: <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/contextlets/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/contextlets/</a><p>Adds context menu items that execute custom JavaScript. Think of it as an advanced version of bookmarklets that can use webextension APIs.<p>Example use case: Search for the selected text in multiple search engines in a new window with discarded tabs.<p>- Distill Web Monitor: <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/distill-web-monitor-ff/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/distill-web-m...</a><p>Monitor website changes and get notification popups, email, SMS or push notifications on change. There are other alternatives that have the same basic functionality but I stayed with Distill as it is more customizable.
The Send to Kindle extension (<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/send-to-kindle-for-google/cgdjpilhipecahhcilnafpblkieebhea?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/send-to-kindle-for...</a>) will automatically convert to MOBI for Kindle, so you can skip the EPUB step.
Slightly irksome when by "Browser Extensions" the author only means "Chrome Extensions" and provides no links to equivalents for other browsers. That in itself is fine, but they could've titled it with "Chrome" in the headline, not a general term like "Browser".
Nice list. There are still extensions I wish someone would come up with. Like an extension to make Google Image Search only return images, not videos. I've basically given up on embedding gifs into HTML because it's impossible to find an actual gif with Google. All you get is videos pretending to be gifs.
I will also add flowcrypt in this list to send gpg encrypted mail. <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/flowcrypt-encrypt-gmail-w/bnjglocicdkmhmoohhfkfkbbkejdhdgc" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/flowcrypt-encrypt-...</a>
I just wrote one to show which links are fresh on news sites (e.g. on HN). FF only for now though:<p><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/addon/seen-it-all/versions" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/addon/seen-it-al...</a><p>feedback welcome
Can I add my own ?"BlinkFind"[0]<p>Yes it's exactly as the name implies ! It will BLINK the text you are trying to find on a page via "Ctrl+F" or "Cmd+F".
I honestly can't believe I'm the only user of this extension. I can not for the live of me find half the text I'm looking for on a webpage without it blinking.<p>[0]<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/blink-find-finding-text-o/kdebbcdhlebhajljmhpodplnlcjhifae" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/blink-find-finding...</a>?
utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon
Probably generation difference. The author is depending on google products and social platforms way more than I'd ever do. Facebook, youtube, gmail, chrome...
I love the [Vimium-FF](<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimium-ff/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimium-ff/</a>) plugin, which allows me to traverse the web with vim-like bindings. Great for traversing mouse free.
I try to keep things light—less time and energy thinking about things that only squeeze out that extra sliver of speed in obscure (for me) use-cases.<p>I use AdBlock and LastPass, and maybe a clipper—Notion, Instapaper. But other than that, I’ve found more extensions make me less able to focus on getting stuff done, and much more focused on whether I’m using the ‘right’ tool
in my firefox (not that it would really matter) I have only four:<p>Download notifications - since FF has crappy notifications about finished downloads unlike Chrome, so this way I can't overlook finished download<p><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gnome-download-notifications/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gnome-downloa...</a><p>HTTPS Everywhere and uBlock origin - no need explanation<p>To Google Translate - since FF doesn't have built in translation service, so this way I can easily translate page through right click menu<p><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/to-google-translate/" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/to-google-tra...</a><p>but if I would be using Chrome I would need just ublock and https everywhere (although not sure if is is not redundant nowadays in both browsers)
All very well, but each new extension adds to "waiting on extension". I tried moving the cache and chrome profile to tmpfs to speed things up. Could some developer embed such functionality into the executables?
Mine:<p>1. Dictionary by Google. I like double-clicking unknown words for an instant definition or translation.<p>2. Regex search. When ctrl+F just isn't enough.<p>3. Duplicate Tab Shortcut Key. For those times when I click on a search engine result before pressing ctrl.
Page Monitor is pretty great for getting notified when the code on a specific page changes so you can be first to grab something that pops back in stock.
Since GDPR websites come with the worst UX for cookie consent. If you feel adventerous and want to ignore cookie popups. I can recommend:
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/i-dont-care-about-cookies/fihnjjcciajhdojfnbdddfaoknhalnja?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/i-dont-care-about-...</a>
I recently deleted all of my extension off all three browsers (Chrome, Firefox, and Safari). The ad blocking on Firefox is almost as good as Ublock Origin. I found privacy badger to be largely useless.<p>The only thing I miss is lastpass, but I've gotten used to having it run as a desktop app.<p>Containers in Firefox were nice, but I've also gotten used to switching accounts.<p>The fact that extensions get 100% access to everything on your page (including password forms) is just a no-go for me. I have to draw the line somewhere.
If you can live without Chrome, you can live without all Chrome extensions in the article; If you can live without a desktop/laptop, you can live without all Chrome extensions.
I just don't like this kind of eyeball-attracting title: Too much exaggeration