I always find it interesting to see how other people complete the same tasks I do but in a completely different way; I always end up learning something new! Recently I asked my talented and creative friends and coworkers which web browser they used and what extensions they have installed to make their lives easier. Some of the extensions I had never heard of before and have since installed to make my own life easier. I realize how valuable it is to take a step back from my own process and learn from the ways other people go about doing things. Here’s what my pals had to say about their browser of choice.
The Infamous Preferred Web Browser Discussion
Not surprisingly many of the P1WS peeps use Chrome as their first choice of all internet web browsers, but, just like me, use Firefox as a backup. Some use Chrome for work and Firefox at home for personal use. Many of the folks at Page One who primarily use Apple products are also using Safari at home on their tablets or when they are mobile. Our Web Development team also uses Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera for testing purposes - to see how what we build will look like in browsers other than Chrome & Firefox. Last year Mozilla created Firefox Developer Edition, which was the first browser built just for developers, and a few of our developers tried it but since it was so new there were lots of glitches and they found it crashed too often to rely on. I'm sure we’ll try again someday.
Our Essential Extensions
Wow, there are SO MANY extensions! There are extensions that are helpful for people of all professions and passions - web developers, designers, writers, photographers, SEOs, music lovers, bargain shoppers, and the list goes on. So I was happy to hear what my trusted advisers were using, it helps me narrow the list further than just having to rely on the user-generated reviews. Here are a few of the most used extensions at Page One Web Solutions.
- Ad Blocking Extensions - I don’t tend to block ads in my particular job position, I try to take stock of the ads around me and why I am seeing them. However, I can totally understand why ads could really annoy the Average Joe internet user. We like Ad Block/ Ad Block Plus, Adblock for YouTube, and AdBug Plus.
- Making Lists/To Dos Extensions - We are all busy these days with endless things to do at work and at home. We love extensions like Any.do that help us keep our lives and our calendars that much more organized.
- Web Developers’ Favorite Extensions - There are so many great resources out there so here are just a few that we love here: Firebug, FireFTP, Google Analytics Debugger, Google Tag Assistant, PageSpeed Insights, Web Developer, Website IP, and YSlow.
- Sharing/Storing Extensions - Some extensions make it much easier to share or store web pages. Our favorites are Bit.ly to shorten long links to share with each other or on our social media profile, LastPass to share and store passwords (we really love this one!), the Pin It button for Pinterest, and Instapaper for saving articles/videos that automatically syncs with your other devices. Our team also finds Awesome Screenshot to be a helpful tool which allows you to take a screenshot and mark it up so you can share it with others.
- Word Extensions -Since we’re doing so much writing a few of our favorite word-related extensions are Grammarly, which helps with spell check and grammar, and Google Dictionary which allows you to easily get the definition of words as your browsing. I can’t tell you how many times I used to open a new tab and search for a “definition of X” before I installed this!
- Extensions for Designers - I am sure there are way more than this, but the couple of extensions that we use most are ColorZilla and Eyedropper. Both of these tools are similar, you can find a color that you like and the tool will match it and give you the RGB or hex profile for it.
Of course, this isn't an exhaustive list of the extensions we love the most, but this does account for many of the extensions the Page One crew use a regular basis. Which web browser do you prefer? What extensions do you use each day that you have found to make your job more efficient? Share with us in the comments section below!