We all know that there are various applications, software, programs etc., that are there to make our lives easy.
These software and other useful applications are developed by various top skilled professionals/software developers all over the world.
So now let’s look at some of the useful tools which make developers’ lives easy.
Every developer must know these extensions which are available in Google Chrome.
Let’s see one by one-
1. Daily.dev
As a developer, I personally suggest daily dev as an important extension which every developer must know because it helps us to stay updated on the latest technical developments which is the basic necessity of every developer.
It also help us to get the latest extension with technical advancements.
It is somewhat like a newsfeed which contains blogs, technical news etc..
2. Web Server for Chrome ( 200 OK )
One of my favorite extensions of Google Chrome is 200 OK, which serves web pages from a local folder over the network, using HTTP.
It runs offline.
This helps us to mock the server from local build without deploying it.
3. Postman
We all know the purpose of the postman application which is used for backend API hitting purposes.
For quick API related activities, we can use the postman extension provided by Google Chrome which helps in doing some of the major basic level of operations in POSTMAN application.
I always suggest downloading the POSTMAN application for high level API purposes.
I just prefer this extension just to do basic API activities.
4. Eye Dropper
We can directly select color codes from web pages, color pickers or our personal color history using this extension.
Most of the front-end developers and UI/UX designers use this extension to easily identify the color codes which are not mentioned anywhere.
5. Wappalyzer
We always wonder about the technologies which are there behind a website which is too good.
So how can we identify this?
The answer is Wappalyzer.
6. Awesome Screenshot and Screen Recorder
Even though we have applications or other methods for taking screenshots and screen recording, having an extension makes things easier.
7. GoFullPage
As I said about screenshots GoFullPage is a different kind of extension for taking screenshots.
We may encounter some web pages which may be large with lots of data below.
So, we may have to scroll to access the entire page.
So how can we take screenshots in this situation?
8. You.com
This extension is a type of search engine focused mainly on developers to copy coding snippets from stackoverflow, GitHub, Geeks for Geeks kind of websites.
It also has two bonus features, one is built-in color picker and other one is, wait, you better find out.
I am leaving that as a suspense which of course makes you awestruck for sure.
9. JSON Viewer
We developers need a JSON viewer to view properly aligned JSON data. It is an extension for printing JSON and JSONP.
10. CSS Scan
What if we can get the entire styles of each and every element in a webpage on a single click!
It would be amazing, right?
Using the CSS Scan extension, we can copy the CSS of an object just by clicking it.
Unfortunately, this extension is a paid one and still a very useful extension.
11. Web Developer
This is an extension which also helps developers by adding a toolbar in our chrome browser with different tools that are helpful for development.
12. Automa
How to automate our browser?
Automa helps us to do that. From auto-fill forms, doing a repetitive task, taking a screenshot, to scraping data of the website, it’s up to you what you want to do with this extension.
And you also can schedule when the automation will execute.
13. Octotree – GitHub code tree
We developers are always familiar with Github and used to it.
This is an extension which enhances our Github experience by adding extra features like bookmaking repos, issues etc, supporting private repositories and more.
14. QuickCode – Free Online Programming Courses
Another useful extension which helps us to learn by showing online courses which are available.
This extension notifies us when the new courses are live.
We can search free courses by different Programming languages, web frameworks and developer tools.
15. Grammarly
Grammarly as in the name is used to check grammatical errors and suggests some standard corrections wherever needed.
Even though it is not targeting developers, everyone needs to send official mails, right?
So, we can use this to send or write something which is official. It is a paid extension even though it has some basic free features.
16. Wordtune – AI-powered Writing Companion
This extension is also used for writing purposes like Grammarly.
Using Wordtune we can write easily.
It may suggest some better standard sentences and also helps us if we lack vocabulary or if we find it hard to make sentences.
It is an AI-powered writing companion that understands what we’re trying to say.
17. Lorem Ipsum Generator
As in the name, this extension is used to generate default text, in technical language, Lorem Ipsum.
We can customize the number of sentences, paragraphs etc.
18. Focus To-Do: Pomodoro Timer & To Do List
We all know the famous Pomodoro Technique, which is used to productively handle our tasks by a time management method based on 25-minute stretches of focused work broken by five-minute breaks and longer breaks, typically 15 to 30 minutes, are taken after four consecutive work intervals.
This extension makes sure to implement this technique in our daily tasks and gets best results from us for the tasks we are doing.
19. BrowserStack
FrontEnd developers or Testers need to test websites in different web browsers (cross browser compatibility).
So rather than checking it in different browsers/platforms one by one we can make use of this extension BrowserStack, which can test our website in different browsers, mobiles.
This extension minimizes the time spent in switching browsers.
20. Forest: stay focused, be present
This is another extension used to increase our productivity by making us stay focused on a task which is important.
Forest extension makes us stay focused by a pleasant tree planting game rather than surfing unwanted/ irrelevant stuff which drains our time.
21. Redux DevTools
The developers who use state management in their application needs Redux Dev Tools extension.
Because it helps in debugging the application’s state. Mainly used for Redux development workflow but it can be used with any other architectures which handle the state.
22. Tab Manager Plus for Chrome
We developers have a bad habit of opening a lot of tabs which makes our browsing cumbersome.
We are not doing this intentionally, but it happens without our knowledge.
Most of us faced this problem, right? So how can we solve this?
Tab Manager Plus for Chrome to the rescue.
It quickly finds open tabs, see all windows in one view, find duplicates and limit tabs per window.
The best Tab Manager for Chrome.
23. Font Finder
As in the name this extension helps us to find the font name used in a web page.
Wait, there’s more.
It gives us information about the Fontweight, color,style, variant etc.
It is really helpful for Front End Developers and UI/UX designers as well.
24. Page Ruler
This is a front-end developer friendly extension which helps developers to measure distances (in pixels) on a webpage.
Also, we can check whether the elements in the page are on a straight line using this ruler extension.
25. Ghostery
Are you a person who is concerned more about your privacy?
Are you fed up with the advertisements in the online web pages?
Do you want to customize your display by showing only relevant information?
The solution for all these questions is Ghostery.
Ghostery is a powerful privacy extension. Block ads, stop trackers and speed up websites.
26. Clear Cache
We all know what a cache is and when it needs to be cleared.
Generally, we have a built-in option for clearing caches in Chrome browser itself.
But an extension is there which does more.
On a single click we can quickly clear our cache with this extension without any confirmation dialogs, pop-ups or other annoyances.
We can customize what and how much of our data we want to clear on the options page, including: App Cache, Cache, Cookies, Downloads, File Systems, Form Data, History, Indexed DB, Local Storage, Plugin Data, Passwords and WebSQL.
27. JSONVue
An extension which is used to validate and view JSON documents. It points to the parse errors and other errors if any.
28. Google Keep Chrome Extension
What if we have a save for later option in all the websites we visit?
We can do this by using Google Keep Chrome Extension.
It allows us to save a webpage, image, or quote that we want to save for later.
We can take notes on saved content, add labels to our notes, automatically save to Google Keep.
29. Dark Reader
This is a health-conscious extension which enables dark mode to all the websites.
By enabling dark mode, we can protect our eyes.
Dark Reader inverts bright colors, making them high contrast and easy to read at night.
We can also adjust the brightness, contrast, sepia filter, dark mode, font settings and the ignore-list.
30. Screen Shader | Smart Screen Tinting
Another health-conscious extension which gives a soothing orange color for web pages to decrease eye-strain, eye fatigue and to appease your brain’s day/night cycle.
Computer displays produce bright blue light which can strain your eyes late at night and interfere with your sleeping cycle.
Screen Shader helps us to resolve this problem.
Bonus Tools !
31. AdGuard AdBlocker
We saw an advertisement blocking extension earlier in this blog.
This AdGuard AdBlocker also helps us to block advertisements but this extension goes a bit more by blocking advertisements on all web pages, even on Facebook, YouTube and others!
32. Keeper® Password Manager & Digital Vault
Keeper generates strong passwords, autofill and protects our confidential info with zero-knowledge encryption.
Keeper is the most secure way to store your passwords and private information, protect yourself against credential-related cyberthreats, and be more productive online.
33. eyeCare – Protect Your Vision
This is one of my favorite health-conscious extensions which notifies us in multiple ways to take breaks and helps you with eye exercises based on the 20-20-20 rule and with lower back exercises.
This extension makes sure whether we are taking necessary breaks against our work schedule or against the time which we spend in front of the computer.
“Health is wealth”.
Final Thoughts
Well, That’s it.
These are the most useful extensions (I personally suggest) which help a developer or even an end user to make their life easier, but Google Chrome Web Store is vast with a large number of many other useful extensions.
So don’t stop here, keep browsing, stay updated (can use Daily.dev extension for this 😜).
Have a good day!
On a side note, if you need software development expertise get in touch with our team at Perfomatix.
