Serious bloggers have a lot on their plates. They have writing, promotion, networking, quoting, designing and more to deal with. On top of all that, many bloggers have a day job on top of it all. How in the world can one person make the time to get it all done? These days there are many browser extensions that can make at least part of the blogging process easier.
Firefox has many add-ons that fit the bill. Check out these MakeUseOf articles covering some of them: 3 Firefox Add-Ons To Help You Blog More Easily, and 7 Writing Addons for Turning Firefox into the Ultimate Writer’s Suite.
As a formidable opponent , Google Chrome now also has many blogging extensions to make the life of the blogger a bit easier.
Blog From Any Webpage with Chrome Blogging Extensions
Many bloggers do a lot of quoting from and commenting on other articles and sites. This is a big part of many blogs. Many bloggers like to introduce their readers to new finds or share their opinions on something already written about.
Google Chrome has a few extensions that gives you the ability to post to your blog from the site you want to write about. For this task, check out Blog This (for Blogger users), TypePad Blog It (for TypePad users), Shareaholic for Google Chrome, and Scribefire (actually a full-featured blog editor but also makes posting links and comments to your blog easier).
Handle Screenshots Of Webpages
Another aspect of blogging that can take up a considerable amount of time is taking and posting screenshots of websites. You may have noticed that we do that a lot here on MakeUseOf. That’s because it gives readers a better idea about the site or web tool we are talking about. Google Chrome has some extensions that can minimize the amount of work that goes into this job.
Try out Webpage Screenshot. This extension allows you to grab a screenshot of the entire webpage with the click of a button.
There are also tools that allow you to do some image editing to your screenshots directly from within your browser. The Picknik extension can do this and so can the Aviary Screen Capture extension.
Other Extensions To Help A Blogger Out
If you haven’t heard of the Zemanta add-on for Firefox, let me tell you a bit about it now because Google Chrome now has a Zemanta extension. Zemanta actually enhances your blog’s dashboard making various tasks (such as suggesting links and finding photos) easier.
Also take notes on sites you pass by with the Evernote extension, check your work when you’re done writing with the After the Deadline extension, and quickly find definitions to words on the fly with Google Dictionary.
As you can see, there are a lot of extensions out there that can possibly help a blogger. Which extensions you choose to use will depend on what type of writing you do on your blog. Which extensions do you use while you’re blogging?
I'm looking for chrome extension that counts blog post's words. Can you tell me about that. I need this extension badly.
Copy and Paste it in Microsoft word, you can see word counts there. Or you can also paste your content in Google docs, and press, Ctrl+Shift+C.
chrome
Hey Timmyjohnboy, I'm using Aviary but I also like Awesome Screenshot from Diigo. The interface is a little cleaner and it's much easier to save or email the screenshot. I typically like to email screenshot to my Posterous blog and with Awesome Screenshot, I save a step versus Aviary.
My latest finds are Evernote and My Shortcuts. I like My Shortcuts because it gives you access to all of your Google apps, but you can also designate up to 5 other URL's for quick access.
Thanks for the list!
Hey Timmyjohnboy, I'm using Aviary but I also like Awesome Screenshot from Diigo. The interface is a little cleaner and it's much easier to save or email the screenshot. I typically like to email screenshot to my Posterous blog and with Awesome Screenshot, I save a step versus Aviary.
My latest finds are Evernote and My Shortcuts. I like My Shortcuts because it gives you access to all of your Google apps, but you can also designate up to 5 other URL's for quick access.
Thanks for the list!
Although not actually a browser plugin but a bookmarklet, UseKit is cool enough to be written up here on MakeUseOf: http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/u...
Thanks for sharing!
At http://useKit.com we also provide a customizable extension, that brings you:
- annotations
- web fragment storing
- a connection to shareThis, Deliciouse, Twitter
- Language translations with a double click
- Embedded maps and a lot more...
It's free, see: http://useKit.com
At http://useKit.com we also provide a customizable extension, that brings you:
- annotations
- web fragment storing
- a connection to shareThis, Deliciouse, Twitter
- Language translations with a double click
- Embedded maps and a lot more...
It's free, see: http://useKit.com
Although not actually a browser plugin but a bookmarklet. Thanks for sharing!
A few come to mind:
LightScreen Portable
Screenpresso
Jing
I only recently switched to chrome because I was having so many issues with Firefox. The ONLY thing I really missed was zemanta. I looked for an extension and didn't see it, so I'm very excited you included this one. On my way to download now. :)
Hey Thanx...
for helping us to improve writing skills
It helps a lot
ones again Thanxx..
Hey Thanx...
for helping us to improve writing skills
It helps a lot
ones again Thanxx..
Very nice collection!
I'm encouraged that ScribeFire is available for Chrome, and I'm looking forward to its features catching up with the Firefox version. Specifically, it's not doing image uploads right now, but I hear that's coming soon.
I discovered Zemanta recently, and I think it really deserves an article all its own. It truly helps a LOT in blogging, I recommend wholeheartedly.
I recommend Aviary Screen Capture for handling screenshots of webpages. Is there any free tool for taking screenshots like the IrfanView screenshot capture, so that we can take screenshots for not only webpages and also outside our browser window.
I used ScreenShot firefox extension in past which works fine
you can use the button on your computer print screen sysrq that will take a picture of the whole screen okthen use the paint app in windows and paste the picture then you can use that ok
A few come to mind:
LightScreen Portable
Screenpresso
Jing