It has been widely reported that the official Google Chrome extensions gallery will be opened next week, just in time for Add-on-Con 09, a conference about…well…browser addons and plugins. Google is a ‘gold sponsor’ of this event and therefore has a big interest in showing off some of its new wares instead of the developer upload screen which is currently in place.

What can we, as users of Chrome, expect from this launch? What impact will it have on the browser scene? Well we can be sure of at least three things:

Google Chrome extensions gallery

1) Ease of use
Google has tried in the past to make ease of use and practicality one of the key features of all of its products. This will be the same for Google Chrome extensions. For those who have already given a test drive to these addons and plugins, you will know how easy it is to install them (one click), that you don’t need to restart your browser and that the speed of startup and running doesn’t seem to be affected. This should continue by having a one-stop-shop for free browser plugins.

2) Careful explanations
In the Developer application process, Google tried to make sure that Developers presented clearly what their addon was and what functionality it would bring to the user. They also mentioned having Youtube videos from the Devs, explaining their products. Whether they have had enough time to put these together or not, the results should be interesting to see.

3) Hardly any change for end user
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Even if the Developer’s gallery is opened and is stuffed full of amazing extensions and free download, most people will not know or care about it, as the build of Chrome which is currently in the ‘normal’ user’s possession does not possess the ability to run the extensions. We can not expect that Google will be pushing the date forward of their next build (which may or may not include native support for the extensions), so we should assume that they will still only be the plaything of the most tech-savvy beta testers.

The wait is almost over – by next week we will see what Google’s strategy is, and how they plan to implement it. We are sure that at the Add-on-Con 09 event there will be a large number of announcements regarding the subject, as well as perhaps some of Google’s own Chrome extensions that they’ve been developing of late. We wait with baited breath!

Sogou cloud Chinese pinyin is a Google Chrome extension that allows you to enter Chinese characters inside text boxes using the pinyin method (as opposed to writing each ‘stroke’ of a character). The extension itself works to synchronize the visibility of the Sogou cloud pinyin input bar across all tabs of the browser.

You can see an example of it in action here:

As it is in its first iteration, it is quite basic, however it seems to have a wide range of vocabulary stored already, and accessibility for China is an extremely important step towards Google’s world domination. It will also be really helpful for various other sites, such as PartyPoker (partypoker.com 中文), as it should bring in a whole range of new clients. This is an interesting plugin as it may pave the way for input methods to be removed from the operating system, and as Google plan to release its Chrome OS late next year, they will need to have a number of options available for non-English writers and speakers to access their languages.

Google itself have a standalone product for inputting Chinese via pinyin, however that is tethered to the Windows operating system. This sort of option could be an excellent way for them to move away from the Microsoft dominated product.

The plugin itself should be properly tried and tested, but for now it is exceptionally promising!

Sogou Cloud Chinese Pinyin

Homepage: https://code.google.com/p/sogou-pinyin-chrome-extension

Download: http://sogou-pinyin-chrome-extension.googlecode.com/files/sogou-pinyin-extension-0.0.1.crx [Mirror]

gPDF is a Google Chrome extension that allows you to read PDF files in your browser without a plugin. It scans pages for the links and then redirects them to Google Docs in built PDF viewer.

After installation there is very little to configure with this smart little plugin – you simply browse to a page with a PDF link and you can see when you mouse-over a link that it is now set to open in Google Docs.

It is difficult to find fault with this extension. As it doesn’t actually follow the links it finds on the pages, on slightly annoying factor is that sometimes the PDF link doesn’t work – this is due to some download managers taking the URL of a file that they want to monitor and adding it to the URL, like this:

http://www.website.com/downloadmanager.php?document.pdf

To the gPDF extension, this looks like a PDF file, but actually it is not, and so it will not open in Google Docs.

Apart from this small thing, however, the software is sound and seamless. It’s clear that developers are quickly making plugins and addons for Chrome to bring it up to some ‘industry standards’.

You can download the file directly below, or visit the developer’s website to find out some more information about the extension.

gPDF Chrome extension

Direct download – http://blog.arpitnext.com/get-gpdf/gPDF.crx

Homepage – http://blog.arpitnext.com/gpdf