Essential Chrome Browser Extensions for Web Workers (Part 2)
Part 2: “Having A Nice Place to Start.”
When you fire up a new Chrome browser tab, what do you see?
Maybe you get the not-so-bad Google default — with a big fat Google search bar, some browser history/faves listed with screenshots, & links in the upper right to your Google world of apps and emails.
Google’s default is fine. Its a solid default anyway — but do you ever feel its just too much? Maybe you think its not what you really need or care about for a ‘dashboard’?
Browser Extensions for Tab “Home” Pages
Browsers nowadays are pretty malleable. Extensions can be widgets, games, and even tab home pages.
For the past months, I have explored and shared some tab home page extensions with folks here @Valtira.
Here are a couple of faves that have been passed around and used at the office. Momentum & Panda.
Less is More — Momentum
Lets start with the “Less is More” dashboard tab. Meet Momentum.
“Momentum is Chillsville”
When it all seems like it is already too much, Momentum kinda reclaims your browser experience and restarts you with a relatively relaxed tempo & feel.
The Obvious:
- It is dead simple
- It quotes Gandhi sometimes
The Details:
- Large format, beautiful & interesting backgrounds used
- ‘Can’t miss it’ time display & Hello message
- Area for you to add your “main focus for today”
- Simple weather detail in the upper right corner
- Simple to do list in the lower right corner
- A chilled out quote is displayed at the foot of the page
“Replace new tab page with a personal dashboard featuring todo, weather, and inspiration.”
I switch to this extension when I need to chill out. It is like a walk outside compared to even the Google default. Momentum is simple, clear, and uncluttered.
For the Designer/Developer in You! — Panda
Panda is pretty sweet if you like web design and are into the development side of things.
It can likely fit well with Web Workers of all stripes — but I think the folks on the front-end will like it a little more.
“It’s like a relaxed Buzzfeed for Web Design.”
The Obvious:
- The UI is simple
- It has a sweet Dribbble feed (or you can set it to Behance)
- There is a cute panda logo
The Details:
- There is a headline news feed on the left for Hacker News, Designer News, or Sidebar.io
- There is an image feed on the right for Dribbble or Behance that shows the current popular (or latest) sweetness
- In the upper right there is a nav for settings
“Bringing you the most popular shots from Dribbble and latest news from Layervault Designer News.”
This app is available as an extension to update your browser default tab — or you can test or visit the app online: http://usepanda.com/app/
When I am working on design and designerly things — I really like having the Panda extension driving some inspiration.
Hope these extensions rock your world.
If you know of more that are solid & similar — pass ‘em on. I am always looking for new and respected extensions.
Enjoy!
— Sheldon
PS: Here is the main link to the Google Chrome Extensions Store.
PPS: If you need some browser tab control —
Check out “Essential Chrome Browser Extensions for Web Workers
Lotsa Tabs Edition: ‘Get yer tabs under control’!
If you found this post valuable I’d really appreciate it if you could hit the Recommend button — Thanks!
