Tabs that won’t shut up, ads that pop up everywhere, and getting cheated on prices – you just can’t ignore the new reality of our web browsing experience.
Save your sanity, and some money too, with these free browser plugins.
1. Adblock Plus
We all know how frustrating ads are. Ever had your cute cat videos get intercepted by a 30 second ad? Ever had a pop-up attack you when we’re harmlessly trying to shop? Here’s how to avoid them all.
Adblock Plus is on a variety of browsers, and even offer their own app for phones.
2. Fount
If you’re a designer like me, you’re fascinated by the gorgeous variety of fonts all over the web. But I also get infuriated when I can’t pin down the name of the font for something cool I just saw. Fount helps solve that problem by nestling right into your Bookmarks. Just click it, highlight your font, and celebrate.
3. Image Search Options
For those of us who can’t seem to find the source to a gorgeous image, this extension for Chrome and Firefox is there for you. You’ll never be accused of plagiarism again with Image Search Options.
4. Panic Button Plus
Remember the terror of your parent walking into your room while you were on that not-so-academic website? Fear no more. PanicButton for Chrome hide all your tabs as soon as you click it, giving the illusion of an empty browser. When the coast is clear, just click again and your tabs will come back.
5. Ponify
This one is really just for hilarity. Say, for example, you can’t stand the enthusiasm for the Kardashians. With Ponify, you can replace “Kardashians” to “Butts” or “Donald Trump” to “The Biggest Idiot in the United States of America.” Laughter for hours.
6. WOT
None of us like viruses or scams, and that’s what WOT understands. Each website gets a rating based on trustworthiness and child safety. Good websites are green, red are bad. So easy, your grandpa could handle it.
7. The Great Suspender
My mind has a million tabs open at any given point, so what makes me think that I can manage a browser on top of that? The Great Suspender saves your battery power by suspending a tab you aren’t using. If you remember that you need that tab, don’t worry, just click to reload.
8. Prioritab
Prioritab is a nice way to get your life in order. Not only can you add your priorities for the day, week, and month, it gives you percentages of how far you are through the day, month, and year (which I like, because I often open new tabs to try and find that exact information).
9. Honey
Finding online coupons is a chore. Honey automatically detects which coupons are eligible on a site and sends them straight your way. Everything from free shipping to 50% off. Another bonus from Honey is their rewards program. So, yeah, add this one now.
10. Pocket
I love reading news stories online, and so do you — but another similarity between us is that we find articles in passing on our feeds, and never really read much past the headline. Pocket lets you save the article in a nifty queue where you can read it later.
But there’s tons of other options for it too: saving recipes, photos, or blog entries. All when you’re ready to look through them.
