Learning to code is one of the most challenging and probably the hardest things for newbie programmers. And once you have learned to code, and started working as a software developer, boosting your productivity is the other hardest for you in industries. There is no doubt that software developers always look for tools and technologies to develop their applications faster. They don’t want to spend too much time doing a few things manually or repeating the same tasks again and again. They want to build and ship the product as soon as possible. This is the reason they always check out some tools, software, or extensions that help them in boosting their productivity.
Whether it’s a keyboard shortcut or software or some kind of extension, developers don’t get hesitated when it comes to using them in their development environment. After all, these chrome tools and extensions are making their life easier, and it is helping them in shipping their product faster.
Chrome Overview
Now let’s talk about the Google Chrome browser. No doubt Chrome is the most popular web browser all over the world and almost 60% of the world’s population uses this browser. Even a lot of people don’t like to browse anything until or unless they do not install chrome on their devices.
For most developers, chrome is the primary web browser when it comes to building their applications, debugging their applications, and checking if the web application works fine or not. The reason behind its popularity is the support for the web features and the built-in developer tools that chrome offers itself. Whether you’re building a new application or debugging it most of the time chrome will be your first choice. Chrome also offers some of the best extensions to use in web application development and testing. A lot of developers are using these extensions regularly in their day-to-day job to stay productive and to make their tasks easier for themselves. In this article, we have compiled some of the best extensions which you may have used or not used in your career.
If you’re confused that which extension will be useful for you then this article is worth reading. We have compiled some of the best extensions for programmers and developers to boost the productivity. Let’s discuss them one by one…
Table of Content
1. Octotree- Github Code Tree
Being a developer we all know the popularity of GitHub and you might have used it for sure. Don’t you feel uncomfortable on GitHub when you need to click on the folders manually to check the subfolder in it? Of course, it is confusing and annoying when you need to understand the folder structure, and you need to click on the folders, and their subfolders to check the files, and their code manually.
This extension solves this problem and makes your life easier. Octotree is a great extension for GitHub explorer. It shows your repository on the left-hand side of your project which helps you to understand the folder structure. It looks something like you’re viewing your project in a text editor VS Code. With the help of this extension, it is easier to navigate to a specific file.
2. OctoLinker
This is another useful extension for GitHub explorer. If you are checking the code in a file, and you don’t understand a few links in your file (what it is all about) then using this extension you can get the details of the link and navigate to it. It allows you to navigate to a link in your folder or switch to the link imported outside of your folder. For example, if you’re working on a React project, and you see that index.css is imported in indes.js then clicking on the link index.css redirects you to the index.css file.
3. ColorZilla
If you’re in web development, and you need to do minor designing work in your job then this extension is for you. This extension helps you to quickly identify color values. For designers, it’s a useful extension that boosts productivity while working on some frontend or designing part. It also offers you some amazing features such as getting colors of dynamic hover elements or generating a CSS gradient.
4. Wappalyzer
This extension is very helpful in identifying the technologies used on the website. You can check whether your application is written in React, Angular, Meteor, Backbone, Firebase, PHP, Django, or something else. You can detect information about web servers, frameworks, caching, programming languages, databases, content management systems, analytics, etc.
5. Window Resizer
This extension helps in checking the responsiveness of your site. It’s a useful extension if you’re working on some designing part, and you want to test your application on different screen resolutions. You can check how your application will appear on different browser window sizes. You also have the option to add a custom screen resolution.
6. CSS Peeper
Developers use the built-in Chrome developer tool to find an element and check the styling of that element. It will be great if you are allowed to edit the page like inspect element does. It will be easier for you to make the changes on the backend of the sire. CSS Peeper extension is helpful for this purpose. After installing this extension you can click on a certain area of the page, and you can check the styling of the highlighted area. Also, you can check what assets or colors are used on the web page.
7. User JavaScript and CSS
While working on some web applications if you want to check the look and feel of the website by adding some custom CSS or if you want to check the behavior of your webpage by customizing the code in JavaScript then this extension is useful for you. Using this extension you can add your own custom CSS, libraries, and JavaScript code to set the rules for a specific webpage.
If you’re working for any client, or you’re working on any web project then this extension is helpful in debugging your JavaScript code. It is also great for prototyping your own application or creating your own website widgets.
8. Toggl Track: Productivity & Time Tracker
Tracking your time spent on various activities is really important for time management. This extension is made for you if you want to track your time spent on various tasks. This productivity extension integrates 100+ popular tools such as Google Docs, Google Inbox, JIRA, Khan Academy, Salesforce, WordPress, etc. A lot of options are available in this extension.
You can start the timer, you can use Pomodoro Timer and from integration settings, you can also select the web apps you want the Toggl Track extension to show up on.
9. WhatFont
Being a designer or frontend developer you will be working a lot with fonts on web pages. These days nobody wants to ‘view source’ and check the details of an element manually. It is time-consuming and sometimes frustrating for developers.
WhatFont extension is helpful in getting the exact font details on a webpage without viewing and checking the code manually. You just need to hover over the text, and you will find the information about the font.
10. AdBlock
This extension is not new for anyone who gets frustrated with the unwanted ads that appear on the website. For developers, it is really annoying to see ads while doing some coding research. Installing this extension will not just save you time but also will display the content faster than before.
11. Web Developer
This is another useful extension for the developers as it adds various tools to the toolbar and its original concept came from the PNH Developer Toolbar. The extension, Web developer provides numerous handy tools which are useful for the daily activities of designers as well as programmers. Many useful tasks can be done with this extension such as adding outlines to elements, finding all broken images on the page, displaying rulers, etc.
12. Right Inbox
Who doesn’t like a managed inbox, and if you are a busy developer then it is a must for you. Right Inbox is an email productivity tool that helps you to manage your work productively by spending less time in the inbox. This extension helps you with various features such as Gmail Sequences, Send Later, Templates, Mail Merge, etc, and all these save a lot of your time. With over 250,000 users, Right Inbox is liked by all, so install now and work effectively.
13. Ghostery
This Google extension helps you to detect pixels, trackers, or any other snippets embedded on the websites. Once your install this extension you can see which trackers and plugins are available on the web page that you have visited. Moreover, Ghostery also allows you to protect your privacy from unknown websites.
Some other useful extensions are given below which you can explore:
- JSON Viewer (JSON/JSONP highlighter extension)
- OneTab (Extension to manage chrome tabs clutter)
- Requestly (Extension to Intercept & Modify HTTP Requests)
- Clear Cache (Development tool extension to clear cache automatically)
- Session Buddy (Session manager extension)
- Check My Links (Link checker extension)
- Checkbot (Extension to test SEO, speed, and security of webpages at a click)
- Edit This Cookie (Cookie manager extension)
Conclusion
These Chrome extensions act as superpowers in your browser, transforming the way you build and debug websites. Customize your toolkit, streamline processes, and unleash your development potential.
We have mentioned 13 best extensions for programmers and developers to boost the productivity that might be useful for you, but there are variety of other extensions available for developers to boost productivity and perform various tasks.
