Tools of the trade: my three favorite browser extensions
If you ever find yourself wondering what those little icons to the top right of the browser are, be sure to read this post! If you are familiar with these, you know that they are called extensions and they can be a total life-saver when doing web-based work. This post will kick off a series of posts called "Tools of the Trade" where I talk about the products and services you will need for success at whatever you are trying to do on the web.
For the first post, I'm going to keep things simple and only cover 3 browser extensions. They all work brilliantly on Google Chrome, my preferred browser.
If you download only one browser extension, download LastPass! LastPass is the ultimate password manager that helps you automatically and securely remember your passwords so you don't have to.
Before installing LastPass, it was an absolute nightmare to remember and manage passwords. Now I can't stop telling all of my friends about it because of the profound difference it has made in my life!
Here are my top 3 favorite things about LastPass:
1) I never have to type in my passwords for any website, ever. This sounds to good to be true, but recalling passwords to get onto your favorite sites becomes a thing of the past once you start using this amazing piece of absolutely free software.
2) If I am using anther computer I can install LastPass, login using my LastPass master password, and my passwords now help me automatically login.
3) LastPass is secure. The folks at LastPass take security very seriously. This is why LastPass is trusted by countless companies in the tech world.
So, if you are keeping your passwords on scraps of paper scattered about your work space (you know who you are!), give LastPass a try. If you already have a password manager, still give LastPass a try, because LastPass is the absolute best, hands down!
Eye Dropper is an open source tool that helps you select and manage colors. This sounds pretty simple, but consider this: our computer monitors are capable of displaying 16,777,216 unique colors. Wow! This little browser extension helps me capture groups of colors, and then gives me easy access to their "color names". By "color names" I mean the different alphanumeric representations of numbers that computers use to identify colors. I can copy and paste the 6 digit color-code from Eye Dropper and it will automatically show up in Wix. Fantastic!
Awesome Screenshot is an awesome tool that I use a lot. In fact I've already used three times in this post alone! Awesome Screenshot helps me take virtual pictures of websites. Why is it so awesome? Well, you may be familiar with the PrtScrn (Print Screen) button on most keyboards. This also allows you to capture whats on your screen and save it into an image. Awesome Screenshot allows you to capture an entire webpage. This means that you can get one image that displays vertically and captures the website in an image from header to footer even if the footer is not visible in your current browser window!
What are you waiting for? Go ahead and get these awesome browser extensions now and start impressing all your friends!
Bonus Extension: If three extensions wasn't enough and you want another fantastic extension, I recommend AdBlock Plus to get rid of all those pesky banner ads!
