Customise a browser to your liking to make your Internet surfing more enjoyable. — Image by storyset on Freepik
Of course, merely picking a browser isn’t the end of the story – once decided, users can really start making a browser “theirs”, tailoring it for their needs and the most seamless experience.
One of the simplest ways to do that is to install extensions and add-ons.
Here are a few highlights to get started:
Dark mode on
While cooking one’s cornea with a webpage that rivals the sun in sheer brightness might be fun to some, most people would probably prefer their corneas uncooked.
This is where Dark Reader comes in handy – it gives almost every website an automatic dark mode, and while colours can be a little off here and there, it’s preferable to getting hit with the equivalent of a flashbang on every new page.
Sure, some browsers have a built-in dark mode, but those tend to behave inconsistently on some websites – making Dark Reader a great choice for a global option.
Users can also disable it on specific websites and even apply custom settings.
It’s available for free on both the Firefox and Chrome extension stores, and there’s a version for Safari too.
Smoother surfing
Another extension that might be worth adding to Chrome or Firefox is Search YouTube, which adds an option to search YouTube for the highlighted text in the right-click menu.
Browsers usually have support for looking up highlighted text with a search engine in the right-click menu, but not for YouTube, making this a handy addition.
Securing your data
Those concerned about their privacy and data security should take a look at Firefox Relay.
Firefox Relay is an official Mozilla extension that provides email aliases that can be used instead of an actual email address to register for things online.
So if a website the alias is registered with is compromised or breached and the password is exposed, no one will be able to tie that password with a real email address, adding an extra layer of security.
This makes it similar to creating a throwaway account, except the main account still receives the forwarded emails.
Any email sent to the alias can also be filtered before it is forwarded to the main one.
While it’s a given that Relay can be installed on its namesake, it’s also on Chrome too.
Turn down for what
Those who miss the heyday of radio in the age of streaming services are in for a treat.
Avid radio listeners can try installing the Worldwide Radio add-on, which as its name suggests has hundreds of radio stations from around the world, including Malaysia.
Meanwhile, those that have a need for a louder in-browser volume can look at Volume Master on Chrome and SoundFixer on Firefox, which can be used to boost or lower audio levels.
On-the-fly translations
For the folks on Firefox who lack a way to translate an entire webpage to another language the way Chrome does, the Translate Web Pages (TWP) add-on will definitely do the trick.
It functions much like the feature on Chrome but on Firefox, while also adding the option to use Yandex instead of Google Translate.
However, the feature on both browsers can end up misaligning the webpage’s layout quite a bit, which isn’t ideal.
If the use case only requires a translation for a specific part of the page, then consider the official Google Translate extension on Chrome, which adds text-to-speech and the option to only translate certain text on the page.
A similar option is available via Simple Translate on Firefox, which only translates highlighted text and has performed well in our tests, such as while trawling for deals on Taobao, for example.
Productivity boosters
Frequent email writers might find the Grammarly extension pretty useful, since it handles spelling and grammar checks while also giving phrasing suggestions at the same time.
Being available on pretty much every browser is a nice perk too.
If managing a huge number of tabs is a big priority, the Tab Groups Extension on Chrome and Panorama View on Firefox can help by organising them into categories that stay hidden until they are opened – since having every tab opened at once can make for a pretty cluttered browsing experience.
This can help improve workflow between reference materials and tasks, or even segment work items by priority.
