For a lot of us Google Chrome is still not hot enough. The reason? It’s still not extendable enough like Firefox. The easiest way of course is through add-ons as Firefox calls them or extensions as Google Chrome calls them. Chrome has a lot going for it despite the vacuum of extensions. The population may be small but the seeds of popularity are being sown with these baby steps.

Google Chrome Backup

If the first thing you savor is peace of mind then the Google Chrome Backup is a must install. This is a small tool to create, backup, restore and manage Google Chrome profiles that holds all your bookmarks, history, saved passwords etc. This is not an extension in the strictest sense as it does not run within the browser but as a separate install. Nevertheless, it’s an important tool to have.

The 1.1MB download works with Google Chrome version 0.2.149.27 onwards and requires .NET framework.

AdSweep

A simple ad blocker extension that modifies the CSS rules on a webpage to hide the advertisements. The small javascript code recognizes ads (especially banner ads) based on specific patterns and blocks them. The extension may not work on all webpages because some ads may escape the recognition patterns used by AdSweep.

The 32KB AdSweep userscript works with Google Chrome developer version 4+.

TPGoogleReader

This is a Google Reader extension for Chrome. The extension makes reading and managing feeds a one click job. It installs as two little icons on the toolstrip and shows the number of unread feeds. In the normal mode, clicking on the items counter opens the first unread item and marks it as read. In the auto-mode, one click on the checkbox opens the unread items in background tabs and marks them as read.

The 9.7KB TPGoogleReader extension is compatible with Google Chrome developer version 4+.

Smoothscroll

This extension simply adds the smooth scrolling behavior to Google Chrome. Smooth scrolling auto-scrolls the browser at a constant speed. Click the middle mouse button/scroll wheel and drag the mouse down to set the scroll speed.

The Smoothscroll extension is a 3KB download compatible with Google Chrome developer version 4+.

Bubble Translate

This Google Chrome extension enables you to do inline translations of a webpage into any language supported by Google Translate with a single click. You can set all language choices from its settings.

The Bubble Translate extension is a 34KB download compatible with Google Chrome developer version 4+.

These five extensions represent just a few of the many that are out there and slowly burgeoning with each iteration of the Chrome browser. Hopefully, it won’t be long before Chrome would give the Firefox add-ons gallery a run for its download. For us users, this is a war where we will get all the spoils.

True, five is a very small number. Which is your extension you would have liked to have seen on the list?