Every browser can have its features expanded with add-ons. This allows the browser to be tailored precisely to your own needs by ret­ro­act­ively adding in features that the browser doesn’t normally have.

What are add-ons used for?

The following types of add-ons are the most popular at the moment:

  • Language support, such as Google Translate, Grammarly, etc.
  • Ad blockers such as AdBlock Plus or uBlock origin
  • Online con­fer­ence features such as Cisco Webex, Skype, Google Hangouts, etc.
  • Social media tools, such as for Instagram, Pinterest, or others
  • Video down­load­ers
  • Website screen­shot tools such as Fireshot, Evernote Web Clipper, etc.
  • Password managers such as LastPass

Browser add-ons are usually called ‘ex­ten­sions’, but this depends on the browser. They come from in­de­pend­ent de­velopers and are offered in browser-specific online shops.

Defin­i­tion

Add-ons are small programs that expand or extend the features of a browser.

Where can you find browser add-ons?

Chrome

In Chrome, add-ons are called ‘Ex­ten­sions’. You can get Chrome to show you your installed ex­ten­sions by typing the following in the address bar:

chrome://extensions

You can install new ex­ten­sions via the Chrome web store.

Firefox

You can find add-ons for Firefox in the Mozilla store.

You can look at your installed add-ons by typing the following into the address bar:

about:addons

Opera

Opera also calls its add-ons ‘ex­ten­sions’, and you can find them in the add-ons store

Microsoft Edge

You can also find the add-ons for Microsoft Edge in the add-on store.

Safari (Mac)

To find suitable ex­ten­sions for Safari, you should go to Safari > Safari Ex­ten­sions in the browser menu.

What’s the dif­fer­ence between an add-on and a plug-in?

Strictly speaking, add-ons are a subtype of plug-ins, which are small programs that give extra features to the main program.

For browsers, however, a key dif­fer­ence exists between add-ons and plug-ins: plug-ins are compiled programs (ex­ecut­ables) that are linked to the browser using an interface. Well-known examples of this are Adobe Flash Player or the Java plug-in. Many browsers provide support for plug-ins and will only allow add-ons or ex­ten­sions to run if they work with stand­ard­ised in­ter­faces (APIs) and were pro­grammed using strict, pre-defined standards and safety rules.

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