Essential Browser Extensions
With the (not so) recent changes by Google Chrome to force extensions to comply with manifest v3, we've lost some of the best in class browser extensions that were a godsend for web development and beyond.
Here's a list, of what I consider, essential browser extensions.
Detailed
Detailed is a lightweight yet powerful SEO extension that gives instant access to key on-page elements, including (but not limited to);
- Title
- Headings
- Meta data
- Links (internal, external, nofollow, etc)
- Image alt text
- Schema
- Social
- Quick links to external tools
Perfect for quick audits and content checks without digging through source code. Created by Glen Allsopp (ViperChill).
Web Developer
Web Developer by Chris Pederick is an oldie but goldie.
Packed full of useful tools, including the ability to;
- Display a resizable ruler, which is perfect for measuring and checking alignment
- Create line guides, which is another great tool for checking alignments on x and y axis
- Disable Javascript, popups, and notifications
- View, disable, delete, and add cookies
- Disable, display, view, reload, and edit linked CSS
- HTML form modification tools
- A whole heap of image related tools
- Miscellaneous tools that allow you to; display hidden elements,
- The ability to outline elements by type, including external links, absolutely positioned elements, frames, headings, non-secure elements, tables, table cells, etc.,
- and so much more...
Cookie Management
The original EditThisCookie died with manifest v3 changes. Lucky for us, the original codebase was open source and hosted on github. Somebody has forked, fixed, and published a working version that complies with the enforced changes.
Don't be put off by the reviews. There are 100k+ users, presumably users from the previous version.
Redirect Path
This plugin is super useful for helping you instantly uncover hidden redirect chains, errors, and HTTP headers.
Redirect Path highlights 301, 302, 404, and 500 status codes, along with client-side redirects like Meta and JavaScript — surfacing issues you might otherwise miss.
Easily inspect HTTP headers, server details, caching behaviour, and IP addresses with a single click. A powerful tool for SEOs, developers, and anyone debugging HTTP behaviour.
Wrapping up
While this is obviously not an exhaustive list, and it covers probably less than a 1/4 of the total extensions I use on a regular basis, these are almost certainly the tools I use the most frequently, and are the first extensions I install on new devices.