This is the blog of web developer and designer Andy Walpole.
Create and do what is new, through and through.
A Blog in Suburban Glory: Web Design Ideas and Inspiration
10 Chrome Extensions for Web Designers
If you are using a PC for web design then it's likely that Firefox is your choice of browser while those using Mac's are more likely to use Safari. The new face in the class is Google Chrome.
Google already had a well-established relationship for the Mozilla Foundation so it was a complete surprise when they released their first version of Chrome for public use in 2008. It was talking point not just within the tech community but also within the mainstream media.
Jump through to 2010 and today Google are currently carrying out a high profile advertising campaign on billboards and in newspapers.
I presume that Chrome is an integral part of their forthcoming netbook OS and there can be little doubt that this is a stepping stone to releasing a Google PC OS in the future. If everyday web users like and use their browser then they are going to be more susceptible to switching to their OS when it comes onto the market.
Chrome is released under a BSD licence which means that the code can be incorporated not just into other Open Source projects but even into proprietary software.
I have though real concerns about how Google has used Open Source for this project as I'm not sure that they have done so out of principle or as a business decision. Yes, it's great that a large IT company releases their code for all to use but at the same time they are a corporation that makes billions of dollars profit every year – they have the means to pay those that contribute to their software projects an appropriate commercial rate.
In December 2009 Google announced that its extension repositary was now open to Beta users on the Windows platform. As of date there are 1,525 free extensions available for Chrome users to install and use.
For us Firefox users, the Firebug addon and the Web Developer toolbar are essential aids in our everyday design and development work. It would be impressive feat for Chrome to equal these comprehensive offerings let alone beat them.
If this third-party extension is supposed to be a Chrome version of the popular Firefox addon then it fails miserably. The UX is horrendous and barely readable. The functions it offers to web designers are limited but nevertheless bread and butter: validation, disabling CSS, hiding images, outline tables and showing images with an alt description. I count that Chrome Web Developer Tools offers over 40 different features.
Score: 4 / 10. Poo pants. Avoid.
At least the interface to this extension is user-friendly. However, there are only four different functions: View source, validate HTML, validate CSS and a link to the pointless browsershots.org
Score: 4 / 10. Solid but so basic as to be an unnecessary addition.
Firebug doesn't need much of an explanation and this is the portal of the project to Chrome. However, the inbuilt WebKit debugger is a really solid tool. Just right click on an element and then click on inspect element and you're see what I mean. I'm not aware of any Firebug Lite extensions yet.
Score: 5/10. Firebug on Chrome has yet to find a reason to exist.
It's only on version 0.0.5, by Pendule is a solid little effort by developer christian.ubu. The UX is fantastic, and although the options are minimal compared to Firefox's Web Developer Toolbar, at least it shows promise
Score: 6/10. It's not always necessarily about size but what you do with it.
If you've looked at a webpage and wondered “How did they manage to do that?” then this extension is for you. It will tell you what analytical tracking system they use, their Javascript library, server information; P3P policy, if any; advertising system and document information including which version of HTML and meta text.
Score: 8/10. Impressive.
This allows users to switch from Chrome to Internet Explorer and back again without having to actually open the IE browser. It crashed when I tried it but it's okay apart from that one incident. It seems to render in IE version 7.
Score: 7/10. A one trick pony but it does what it says on the label.
Every web designer needs some sort of colour finder tool. I use the standalone application Pixie but this will do the job just as well.
Score: 7/10. Colour-tastic.
This is an essential tool for checking your work on different sized monitors.
Score: 7/10. Works fine.
Allows you to measure any item on the page. Could be useful although this type of function should be a part of a larger web designer tool rather than on its own.
Score: 6/10. You could easily live without this.
I presume this must have been a Google engineers' tool that they have opened up for public use. It took me a while to get it working and in the end I had to download and use the developer version of Chrome rather than the beta, however this will be of interest to the students of the burgeoning discipline of frontend engineering. Explaining the features of this extension would take an article in itself
Score: 9/10. Mighty impressive.
As a signing off note though I would recommend, as I mentioned before, using the inbuilt Chrome inspector as it's very comprehensive and useful. That in itself is worth playing around with but whether it will make you ditch Safari or Firefox for Chrome is a different matter.
Have you found a Chrome extension that you would recommend to others? If so, fill in the comment form below.
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Other blog posts:
Probably the most uninviting hotel website in the world
"The line is the alpha and the omega, both in painting in construction in general. The line is path, passage, movement, collision, facet, edge, joining, transection."
- Alexander Rodchenko (1891 - 1956)
Suburban Glory covers the folowing areas:
London Web Design Bishops Stortford, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, Epping, Harlow, Thaxted, Hertford, Sawbridgeworth, St Albans, Stansted, Chadwell Heath, Goodmayes, Ilford, Hackney, Seven Kings, Redbridge, Havering, East London, Essex, Hornchurch, Stratford, Newham, Dagenham, Barking, Manor Park, Forest Gate, Chafford One Hundred, Grays, Tilbury, Hainault, Walthamstow, East Ham, West Ham, Whitechapel, Bethnal Green, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, Becontree, Theydon Bois, Debden, Loughton, Buckhurst Hill, Woodford, Chigwell, Grange Hill, Fairlop, Barkingside, Newbury Park, Gants Hill, Upminster, Plaistow, Bromley-by-bow, Canning Town, Hackney Wick, Homerton, Dalston Kingsland, Mile End, Limehouse, Canary Wharf, Beckton, Cyprus, Shadwell, Heron Quays, Brentwood, Shenfield, Saffron Walden, Dunmow, Ongar, Romford, Docklands
