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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Five Chrome extensions to improve web experience
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Five Chrome extensions to improve web experience

You can enhance the features and functionalities of your web browser with the following extensions

Chrome extensions are available on Chrome’s web storePremium
Chrome extensions are available on Chrome’s web store

Every web browser comes with its own set of extensions, referred to differently on different browsers. On Chrome, they are called extensions, while on Firefox they are known as add-ons. We have shortlisted some useful extensions for Chrome users. They are available on Chrome’s web store. Type Chrome web store on your Google search bar and it will open the store, and you can see Extensions on the left side of the screen, right under Apps and Games.

KeyRocket for Gmail

Keyboard shortcuts are very popular with users as they save valuable time by accomplishing tasks through a few key presses. KeyRocket for Gmail is one such extension that can cut the time you spend fumbling for the mouse for everything. To help users pick it up easily, it shows the exact key presses and combinations that would work instead of a mouse click. All you need to do is switch on keyboard shortcuts in your Gmail settings and remember them. Pressing G with I opens Inbox, while just pressing C opens compose mail. To select and unselect a conversation press X.

Data Saver by Google

Google’s Data Saver, which until now had been available on Chrome’s mobile app, is now available for the Chrome web browser as well. Though, it is still in beta stage, it offers most of its functionalities to desktop users. Data Saver reduces the loading time of a webpage by almost 50% by redirecting the webpage to Google’s web servers where they are compressed and optimised for users on low internet bandwidth. It doesn’t work on sites which use HTTPS (Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to encrypt user communication and in pages opened in Incognito mode. To see how much data has been saved, simply click on the Data Saver icon and it will show how much data was saved.

Fair AdBlock App (by Stands)

Ads on webpages are increasingly becoming a nuisance. At times, they are placed in such a way that users find themselves getting involved with them in some way or the other (even for closing the ad you end up clicking on it). Fair AdBlock can not only remove them but will also block adware that track what you do on a webpage. Adware collect data about users and redirect users’ search requests to unknown sources. However, not all ads are bad and a lot of times we learn about new things through them. The extension allows ads on health, humanitarian causes, education and environment. Though you will know right away whether the AdBlock is any good or not, you can also look up how many ads and popups were blocked by simply clicking on the extension icon at the top of the page.

Google Dictionary

While reading a story online, a lot of times we come across new words. The next thing that many users do is that they open another tab and type the word to find out what it means. Dictionary by Google shows the meaning on the same webpage by a simple double click on the word. It opens a small window right above the word with the closest meaning. In case you want to know more just click on the more tab on the window and it will take you to the Google page where you can see all possible meanings and use cases of the word. The extension can help users save time spent on the process of opening another web page and typing the word again.

Save to Google Drive

This one allows user to take screenshots of any webpage with all the elements. The screenshots will be uploaded right away on your Google Drive account and can be accessed as an image or pdf. You can’t edit or make changes to them. However, it can be very handy for publishers, bloggers or investigative agencies who want to keep a record of what is happening on a webpage at a particular time. For social media buffs this makes sharing an entire story as an image on social networking sites easier.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhijit Ahaskar
Abhijit writes on tech policy, gaming, security, AI, robotics, electronics and startups. He has been in the media industry for over 12 years.
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Published: 28 Jan 2016, 03:45 PM IST
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