This is a second post of "Best Google Chrome Extensions" theme in which each month I will share 5 useful Chrome extensions that can help you to ease up your routine internet browsing activity in Google Chrome browser. If you missed or haven't checked the first post of this theme then do also checkout Best Chrome Extensions - August 2013.
This month I have picked up another 5 useful Chrome extensions for various tasks like Tracking URLs or shortened URLs, Blocking Ads for clutter free reads, Loading web pages more faster and securely and much more.
1. Goo.gl URL Shortner
Do you like to see lengthy & unfriendly URLs when someone shares with you over social media or via email? They consume much character space and not friendly to read as general url comprise session tokens and query string data that is useful only to the servers/computers to process your web request. Check the following 2 URLs of Google Search result, for example.
Unshortened URL:
Shortened URL:
You can see that the former url has got unfriendly and machine oriented data though the later shortened one looks neat and consumes less character space.
goo.gl url shortner extension allows you to shorten the current website URL with the Google URL shortner service http://goo.gl/. Using this extension you can shorten URLs, track total number of clicks on the url, generate QR code of the url, share directly on social media and much more.
2. AdBlock
It's a kind of install and forget extension but the benefits after installing the same are bigger and better. AdBlock is the most popular adblocker for Chrome. It blocks all advertisements on websites even on Facebook and Youtube! You just need to Install it once and afterwards it will do everything for you automagically!
All your favorite news & magazine websites, social media sites will be clutter free from Ads. You can read your favorite articles without any flashy distractions. Using AdBlock also results in faster page loads. You can also disable blocking ads on some of your favorite sites. Additionally, you will see a number count of blocked ads on any web page on the top right corner.
3. Disconnect
Go invisible from trackers using Disconnect. Disconnect extension lets you visualize and block the invisible websites that track your search and browsing history. Do you see ads from some specific categories on your favorite sites for which you had searched on Google or somewhere else? If yes then you are definitely being tracked by third party sites. This clearly means that unknowingly you are leaving your activity footprints behind for tracking sites.
Here comes the Disconnect in picture. Disconnect works as an anti-tracker and anti-cookie extension that stop websites to track your movements over the web. It also offers secure Wi-Fi to prevent wireless eavesdropping by encrypting you data you exchange. Checkout the following video which demonstrates how disconnect secures you from WiFi Snooping and Widgetjacking.
Check the following screenshot taken from Tech Crunch's home page which clearly show that it notifies almost 150+ sites when you visit the site. Few of them are blocked analytics domains (the circles rounded with red colors) that track your web activity. Disconnect smartly block all those sites that track anything and allows rest to execute normally.
Blocking this much incoming data obviously increase the web-page loading speeds. Disconnect claims that web-page loads 27% faster due to their smart extension!
Explore more details at Disonnect Help page.
4. Chrome To Mobile
Chrome To Mobile helps you to quickly send webpages from your desktop to Android or iOS devices. If you ever come across a Google Map or some great article and want to get the same on your mobile as quick as possible then Chrome To Mobile is for you. Additionally, you can send an offline copy for offline viewing purpose.
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| Image Credit: Google Chrome Web Store |
To use Chrome To Mobile:
- On your mobile device:
- Install Chrome for Mobile on your device, if not installed.
- Sign in to Chrome on your Android or iOS device.
- After you've signed in, make sure that the Chrome to Mobile service is turned on.
- On your computer:
- Install Chrome To Mobile extension on your desktop Chrome browser.
- Click the Chrome to Mobile icon
Chrome to Mobile in the address bar. - Click Connect your mobile device.
- Select the same account that you used to sign in to Chrome on your mobile device.
- Click Allow access.
Checkout the complete guide on Chrome To Mobile by support.google.com.
5. Image Properties
Ever needed to view more details pertaining to the web image? You could try Google Chrome's "Inspect Element" for the same. However, it's a tedious and confusing task. But imagine how it would be if you can just right click on any image and you've access to all the image meta data information! Better, right?
Image Properties extension for Google Chrome does the same. It adds itself as a right click menu option in your Google Chrome. It provides all the available and necessary information related to web image that you may require in your project work or upcoming blogpost.
Once you are done with the installation, you just need to do right click on any web image. You should see a popup window having all the available image information like image source, URL Location, dimensions, file size and format type. If you are from web-development background then you will find this extension pretty helpful.
Install Image Properties extension from Chrome Web Store
Would you like to recommend others your favorite Chrome extension that can be useful to others? If so, add the same in the comment section. I would like to include the same in the future posts.
Would you like to recommend others your favorite Chrome extension that can be useful to others? If so, add the same in the comment section. I would like to include the same in the future posts.