Handy Browser Extensions
ProfHacker 2013-03-20
No doubt many of our readers do a significant proportion of their work in a browser window; that’s certainly true of many of the members of the ProfHacker team.
Extensions can make our browsers more useful for us, or at least help us to accomplish some of our browser-based tasks a little more efficiently. A recent ZDNet article took a quick look at several extensions for Chrome; though many of the extensions listed there are most suited to web developers, the article prompted me to take a look at my own Chrome extensions.
What I discovered was that, while I don’t use very many extensions, I use the relatively few I have a lot, often in combination with one another. Here’s what I’ve got installed:
- Evernote Web Clipper. Evernote’s a big part of my workflow; being able to add materials without having to leave my browser is very handy.
- Pocket. Pocket is my reading list of choice. This extension lets me quickly save items for later reading.
- Save to Google Drive. This extension does exactly what it suggests. Since I use Google Drive a lot, I find it very convenient. I can also see myself using it to share interesting materials with my students.
- Zotero Connector. I think we’ve mentioned Zotero a few times on this blog. The connector makes it easy for those using Zotero Standalone to add items to their libraries.
- Readability. I’ve already noted that I use Pocket for my reading list, so why have the Readability extension? Because it still serves the important purpose of making sites Zotero-compatible, even if they weren’t before.
Though I’ve focused on Chrome extensions here, I should point out that most are also available for Safari and/or Firefox—so those who prefer other browsers aren’t necessarily stuck with Chrome.
What about you? Are there any browser extensions that you find especially useful? Let us know about them in the comments.