Tag Archives: extension

Downloading the CRX of a Chrome extension

There was this certain extension whose popup was too high for my screen. To fix the issue I needed to download the CRX file of the extension. But with the new Chrome Web Store layout there isn’t a way to do that as you did earlier.

But then Pahan came up with a solution. The trick was to make use of the Chrome’s Developer tools pane. Here’s how:

  1. Navigate to the extension’s page in the Web Store.
  2. Open Developer Tools (wrench icon -> Tools -> Developer Tools)
  3. Click on its Network tab.
  4. Now click on the ‘Add to Chrome’ button in the extension’s page. (If you’ve already installed it you have to uninstall and try again)
  5. The Dev Tools pane will show several files. Find the one with a .crx extension among them.
  6. Right click on it and choose Copy Location.
  7. Now go to Firefox (or any other browser) and open the link. You’ll be prompted to save the file.
Know an easier method? Let me know in the comments.

What are the technologies behind this site?

Builtwith extensionWhen you come across a nicely built website, don’t you always wonder what technologies the site is built with. Perhaps a sneak peek at the page source can give you some idea.

But there’s an easier method. There’s this nifty little Chrome extension called BuiltWith (available for Firefox as well). When you’re in a webpage simply click the BuiltWith icon and it pops up with the list of technologies the page is built with and a small description of each of them. The image shows a part of the list twitter.com is built with. Yes, it works on https sites as well.

This may not be much of a thing for some people, but if you’re a noob about these things like me you’ll be able to learn a lot of web-tech stuff with this.

Chrome extensions you MUST have

I’m angry today. Very. And I will be writing about must-have Chrome extensions. Keyword: must-have. If you think they aren’t must-have, fucking leave already! Sorry, I won’t use swear words again.

1. AdBlock
It’s the first must-have. Why not? How the hell is one supposed to browse the web with all the colorful ads? You have to concentrate on the content, not the ads.

2. Evernote Clipper
When you find something interesting in a web page what do you do? Clip it to Evernote of course. You don’t use Evernote? Go fuck yourself. Sorry.

3. LastPass
What can you do without lastpass? Type in the usernames and passwords everytime manually? You browser saves them? That’s only temporary. You HAVE to use lastpass.

4. Mail Checker Plus for Gmail
How else would you get a notification when a mail comes? You don’t use Gmail? Dumb idiot!

5. RSS Subscription Extension
Without this how would you subscribe to blogs? How would you find the RSS links of a web site? This is an official Google extension, so you better install it now. Now.

6. Singreesi
It was developed by me. So all of you MUST install it. No excuses, please.

7. Wikipedia Companion
Everytime you want to check up a word, a name, or something what do you do? Open a wikipedia tab and do search. Stupid numbskull. Go install the Wikipedia Companion. It’s the super easy way to browse wikipedia.

Okay, that’s it for now. I’m going to kill someone and get rid of this anger. Kthxbai.

Bring your dear Vim to Firefox – Vimperator

If you are a die-hard Vim fan and haven’t heard of Vimperator already, here’s great news: You can control your web browser using the keyboard without the need to touch your mouse just like in Vim.

Vimperator is a Firefox extension that creates a Vim-like environment in your browser. It removes all clutter including the menu bar, tool bar and bookmarks bar. However if you want, you can bring them up again using a simple command. Navigating the pages are same as in Vim, use hjkl and what-not. The list of commands you can use is enormous, but thankfully Vimperator has a great documentation as well. Just type :help and hit Enter to view the help.

You can build aliases, map keystrokes, etc in a separate configuration file named .vimperatorrc. There are also dozens of plugins available.

It takes some time to get used to the command-only interface, but once you are through you will know that it’s worth the effort.

Take a look at the minimal look of Firefox once Vimperator is installed:

Chrome extensions I can't live without

Just thought of sharing the Google Chrome extensions I use daily. In fact I’ve tested a lot of Chrome extensions and these are the few that have remained without being uninstalled.

  1. Google Mail Checker Plus
  2. Readability Redux – Extension for the popular Readability bookmarklet
  3. Instachrome – Plugin for Instapaper
  4. Tweet Button
  5. goo.gl URL shortener
  6. FeedSquares – Google Reader extension
  7. Session Buddy – Remembers the currently opened tabs

ezLinkPreview makes browsing in Google Chrome damn easy

This wonderful Chrome extension has made my life quite easy, especially because I browse a lot of news sites. Hover on a link while pressing Alt and the link’s target page opens up in a popup. No more messing with the tabs. The popups are easily expandable and movable.

This comes especially handy when you’re in  a news site and have to open new tabs for each news item you want to read.

Download link

Here’s a screenshot to give you an idea: