Friday, March 19, 2010

Strengthen Google Chrome with Extensions


Google Chrome entered the browser market with a lot of hype and promises, and it did to certain extent grab the attention of the internet community when it first rolled out. Chrome was famous in weeks, it was versatile, easy to use, no mess browser that delivered on its promises. Soon more updates followed and Chrome was on top of many others. Then with the stable release of Google Chrome 4 a new feature was available and that was Chrome extensions (windows only).

The new "Extension" for chrome is very identical to Firefox add-ons. Extensions allowed user to have more control of its browser as the user wanted. Although I had doubts about chrome extensions when it came out, the results so far has proven me otherwise.

Amount of Extensions available for chrome (that is still new) is staggering. There are number of extensions for multiple purposes. Since Chrome and Google are linked the number of "Google" related extensions are high. I certainly find my chrome browser more entertaining with its extensions on. But whether it will be able to challenge Firefox add-ons is anyone guess. Its right up there, but not yet up to Firefox standards.

Extensions are on the way for non-Windows users. "To those using Google Chrome on Linux, extensions are enabled on the beta channel," said Chrome Product Manager Nick Baum in a blog post. "And for those using Google Chrome for Mac, hang tight--we're working on bringing extensions, bookmark sync, and more to the beta soon."

Time will tell what new features will be available. Firefox is moving to a new extensions foundation called Jetpack that, like Chrome's technology, uses Web standards such as HTML and CSS. Firefox will support the current XUL system but hopes Jetpack will offer advantages of easier development, installation, and updates.

I will soon put up Chrome Extensions that will be useful to many. There under trial at the moment. Results should be up by next week. Till then check out Chrome Extension Gallery https://chrome.google.com/extensions

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