Ask HN: What are the most useful Chrome extensions?

[beforelight]

In other words, what are your favorite Chrome extensions and why?

My top 3 most used Chrome extensions to help with productivity and stay focused while coding.

Tabs Outliner | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggkanocgddhmamlbiijnphhppkpkmkl

Papaly - Bookmarker | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-bookmark-speed-di/pdcohkhhjbifkmpakaiopnllnddofbbn

Limitless - Productivity Manager | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/be-limitless/jdpnljppdhjpafeaokemhcggofohekbp

[xpop2027]

OneTab [!!!!]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/onetab/chphlpgkkbo...

Evernote Clipper: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/evernote-web-clipp...

Buffer: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/buffer/mjojodpkaee...

Last Pass: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lastpass-free-pass...

Rapportive: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rapportive/hihakjf...

Checker Plus for Gmail: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/checker-plus-for-g...

[scrollaway]

JSONView: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jsonview/chklaanhf...

OneTab: http://www.one-tab.com/

Privacy Badger: https://www.eff.org/privacybadger

[rejfyl]

First time I've heard of OneTab and checking it out now.

[steveridout]

Momentum | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momentum/laookkfkn...

This displays a beautiful photograph on your "New Tab" page instead of a list of your most visited sites, which if you're anything like me is procrastination central. It serves as a reminder for me to slow down, stay focussed, and not obsessively check news, Hacker News, etc... (yep, it's not exactly working at the moment ;-)

It also allows you to specify a main task for the day to keep you focussed but I only occasionally use that.

[berwin]

I also find Earth View from Google Maps as a fun extension too. It sets your new tab to a random location on Google Maps and you can open up the location in the Maps for more in depth looks.

Earth View from Google Maps | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/earth-view-from-go...

[artimaeis]

Currently | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/currently/ojhmphdk...

Minimal new tab showing the date, time, and weather info. I'm always opening new tabs - this way I keep a little better track of time and am much more likely to know what it's like outside.

[fragmede]

Empty new tab page | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/empty-new-tab-page...

When you open a new tab, instead of showing, well, anything, it just gives you a blank page.

[UniZero]

Benchwarmer | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/benchwarmer-new-ta...

Great for designers. Beautifully displays top / new Dribbble submissions on new tab page.

[mfkp]

My essentials:

Disconnect: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/disconnect/jeoacaf...

Edit this Cookie: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/editthiscookie/fng...

HN Collapse: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-collap...

HTTPS Everywhere: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/https-everywhere/g...

JSON Prettifier: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/json-prettifier/kc...

Postman: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/postman-rest-clien...

uBlock: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/%C2%B5block/cjpalh...

[hga]

I prefer the "hckr news" extension. In addition to collapse/expand, it has a "[collapse whole thread]' option so that you can do it in the middle of a thread, and most importantly, puts a vertical orange bar to the right of all new messages since I last refreshed or visited the page.

[mcantelon]

I've been using REST Console, which is useful, but sounds like Postman may have more features.

[hamhamed]

My adblock is uBlock: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/%C2%B5block/cjpalh...

I also use Ghostery to block more scripts that slow sites down, and to block Google Analytics for my startup (so no faking stats): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ghostery/mlomiejdf...

I'm also a half marketer, so I use Alexa, Similar Web, Moz toolbar, and Open SEO https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/open-seo-statsform...

[ende42]

µBlock is great. I used Ghostery first and then Disconnect. But with µBlock in advanced mode I can block facebook.com on all sites but facebook, twitter.com on all site but twitter, and g+ on all sites but google.

[rejfyl]

Ghostery does wonders and been using it for awhile now.

[lalwanivikas]

Streamkeys[1]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/streamkeys/ekpipjo...

AdBlock(not ABP): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiob...

And Clearly: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clearly/iooicodkii...

Because I just can't imagine my browser without them :)

[1]: http://streamkeys.com/

[mapunk]

Have you tried uBlock instead of AdBlock? I've like it much better since switching

[navbaker]

Just curious, why specifically AdBlock and not ABP?

[petekp]

Google Dictionary is one I use frequently, every day. Just double-click a word to see its definition.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-dictionary-...

[donut2d]

On Mac you can use a 3-finger tap on a world or select "Look Up In Dictionary" from the context menu to look it up in the dictionary and Wikipedia.

[ArekDymalski]

TL;DR Link Preview - great for reading short summaries before you click the link. It's a shame that no so many people use it. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/link-preview/ohmam...

Diigo - much better than Evernote IMO. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/diigo-web-collecto...

Readability Redux - for distraction free reading https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readability-redux/...

OneTab - to tame the tab chaos. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/onetab/chphlpgkkbo...

[jibberia]

Cloud to Butt Plus: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cloud-to-butt-plus...

It adds just a small bit of delight to my daily tech web browsing. Highly recommended for the occasional chuckle.

[Mister_Snuggles]

If you're looking for one to install on a machine that a co-worker forgot to lock, I recommend nCage: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ncage/hnbmfljfohgh...

[galfarragem]

My top 3 of not mentioned chrome extensions:

Extensity (enable/disable chrome extensions) - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/extensity/jjmflmam...

Batch Fatkun (great image downloader) - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fatkun-batch-downl...

[!!!] Kiwi amazon price compare (compares prices between multiple Amazon websites) - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kiwi-amazon-price-...

[skurks]

Edit This Cookie - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/editthiscookie/fng...

SPOF-Matic (simulate 3rd party resources being unavailable) https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/spof-o-matic/plikh...

JSONView https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jsonview/chklaanhf...

[cead_ite]

Vimium: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogba...

[itsamenathan]

Also cvim: https://github.com/1995eaton/chromium-vim

[kanzure]

Is there anything like Tabs Outliner but attached to the same window? More like Tree Style Tabs. At this point I may even be willing to run mitmproxy to inject an iframe into every page or something :(

[dmtintner]

There's TabMan. I think it has a much nicer interface https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabman-tabs-manage...

[Gambit89]

This is not quite what you asked for, but you can achieve a "managed dual/side pane" with a tiling window manager, letting the window manager keep the outline on the side rather than the browser, so that you don't have to juggle windows yourself. I do this with Tabs Outliner myself and it's quite flexible for me: when I want a full screen vs a side panel, I simply switch between the layouts.

[steveridout]

Apologies for the shameless plug, but I've made a Chrome extension which should be useful for anyone learning a foreign language:

Readlang | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readlang-web-reade...

It allows you to read web-pages in your target language, translate the words and phrases you don't know, and review them all later with flashcards which include some context from the original source.

[DonnyV]

Checker Plus for GMAIL - access gmail emails

Send from Gmail - create an email with a link of the site your on pasted in gmail

Cool Clock - clock

Hangouts - send SMS right from the browser

Google Calendar - nice list of up coming events in calendar and create new ones

BoogleMarks - search and access your Google Bookmarks

ColorZilla - take color sample from web sites and color picker

EditThisCookie - edit and manage cookies of current site

Awesome Screen Capture - capture entire page and crop options and save options

Visual Event - see javascript code attached to DOM events and see how many events are attached to a DOM node.

IE Tab - use IE render engine in Chrome for old sites.

[kendallpark]

## Currently

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/currently/ojhmphdk...

beautiful extension that replaces the "New Tab" with this week's weather. It's remarkably useful to one that never can be bothered to check the weather and the design is top-notch.

## Stay Focusd

Great way to limit time on distraction sites. I have ten minutes of Facebook time a day.

[sjkaliski]

Point: http://www.getpoint.co/

Awesome chrome extension for sending links to friends & chatting about them.

[forgotpasswd3x]

This is so cool! I hope they put out Firefox and Safari versions in future.

[belowsanity]

Definitely going to check out Limitless since I'm currently using StayFocused.

1. Adblocker | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiob...

2. Stayfocused | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankej...

3. Papaly | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-bookmark-s...

4. Codota | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/codota/cnpdaoipdfb...

5. ZenHub for GitHub | https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/zenhub-for-github/...

[minot]

See also uBlock https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/µblock/cjpalhdlnbp... for ad blocking.

[orangedev]

- Hacker news special https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn-special-an-addi...

- New tab GRE, A new word and it's meaning shows up every time I open a new tab, looks cool too. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-gre/bkddfb...

- Plays a random song every time I click on it, its fun https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/random-song/epeedg...

- Remove element, helps me read peacefully https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/click-to-remove-el...