8 Google Chrome Extensions for Journalists

When you’re browsing the web for information to help write your story, no browser helps you pull together your work better than Google Chrome. Google Chrome allows you to add extensions to increase the functionality of the browser and help turn it into a real writing and compiling powerhouse. Here are eight Google Chrome extensions which can help journalists get more done with Google's revolutionary browser. After the Deadline As a journalist, you know how important it is to ensure that your copy is free from spelling, punctuation, or grammar errors. After the Deadline's powerful AI system checks your spelling, grammar, and overall writing style to make sure your online copy is error-free. It also checks text in other languages, such as French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese. It's a prime addition to any online journalist's toolbox. Awesome Screenshot: Capture & Annotate The name for this extension not only sums up its primary functions, but mentions one main thing: it is awesome. You can easily make a screen capture of either part of a page or a whole page, add annotations such as boxes, circles, text, and arrows, and then save it to your desktop or upload it to the web for easy sharing. Creating screen captures has never been this easy or fun! Once you begin using it, you'll wonder how you compiled and annotated screen images without it. Concentrate This extension does a simple, but important job: it allows you to block out sites that distract you to help increase your productivity. When you’re up against a deadline, you don’t want to get distracted by social networking websites or online games. This extension helps keep your focus on the task at hand. Once you have enabled it, simply add the sites that distract you most while working along with the number of hours and minutes you want the sites blocked, and that's it! Chrome Pad Chances are, you may write in another program like Notepad or Microsoft Word or Textmate while you draft your stories and research. Chrome Pad acts like an online scratchpad, letting you quickly jot down notes while you search. While there are several types of note keeping extensions available for Chrome, I love using Chrome Pad because it's simple and easy, and notes can be shared via Gmail or Twitter. Chrome Toolbox Chrome is a very powerful browser even without the use of extensions; however, it takes an extension like Chrome Toolbox to pull those features out and use them at your will. With this extension, you can save form data, customize tab behavior, and put your most-used Chrome functionalities in a simple drop-down menu. Perhaps the best feature of this extension is the ability to drag any Flash or HTML5 video out of a page into its own separate pop-up window. Chromodomo Chromodomo is an extension which helps you manage your time based on the time-tested Pomodoro Technique™. Once you have the hang of how this system works, you’ll find yourself power-charging through your research and writing towards the next break. Combined with Concentrate, these extensions will help keep you on track so you spend more time writing and less time surfing elsewhere. Social Translate With the number of events which have happened recently in other countries, journalists have found that social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have been key to getting the word out about these events before traditional media can. Social Translate works as your own personal translator for Facebook and Twitter, and allow you to read their posts using the Google Translate engine. Who knows; you may even start to pick up another language while using this! Tab Manager While being able to bring up multiple pages within a tabbed browser is great, you can quickly end up with a browser so crowded with tabs that you can't tell them apart. Tab Manager helps you separate and manage your tabs easily and efficiently. It even works between different Chrome windows! You can even close multiple tabs at once, search through your tabs by title or URL, and move tabs between windows. It's a must-have extension for the savvy Google Chrome user.

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8 Google Chrome Extensions for Journalists

Maurice Cherry

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Maurice Cherry