How weird would that be if I wasn’t trying out the new Google+, being a tech guy and all.
And while I hate the concept of the social networking, I actually do like the new thing.

Why? Because it gives you the option to choose exactly how social you want to be. I won’t be covering the whole thing as many have done so already, but the option to create and manage the circles, choose what stream to read, follow whoever you want and all the sharing/privacy settings are really doing it for me. Plus, the beautiful interface is really nailing it.

I never had a facebook account because of all the critically missing features. And now I have finally created a new google account to enter the social networking world.

But giving the whole thing is rather new, the interface (beautiful and functional it is) is missing some features. Enter extensions developers to solve our problems. The weird thing is that firefox has less extensions for this. But for me it actually worked pretty good, since one thing firefox can’t do is have multiple google sessions opened in different tabs. And since I didn’t want to have G+ on my regular account and created a new one just for this - I’d be forced to log on and off constantly, which, of course, is not the greatest web experience.

So I enter the G+ from chrome. And if you do it too, here are some essential extensions for better experience:

+1 Button - Plus One Button - Version: 0.2.2
Plus one every page you like with only one click, directly from omnibox, without any annoying popup
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kmonhedbcpagbphilnoajiencllnpoii

+Comment Toggle - Version: 0.1.0.11
Allows you to hide/show comments on Google+
You definitely want this, especially if you’re following some celebrities and don’t want to scroll for 2 minutes through every post.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mnhiknfpdlpmmgmecadnffgmgpgaldlo

-1 Minus One - Version: 0.4
-1 in Google+
Don’t really know to what effect it works.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/naieljaeedpjcgjlhnkpnobnbkocahfe

Beautify G+ - Version: 0.1.1
Makes Google+ a little bit nicer to look at
One of the most useful, as it lets you pin the top and side bars and have only the stream itself scrolled.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kbkpajolelcpmhkbcnmoaafpmfkepohl

G+ Count Favicon - Version: 1.1
Replaces the favicon on plus.google.com with one that shows the current notification count.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/illlmhgddcibickdjmdieldgfmpcnmgm

Google+ Tweaks - Version: 0.3
Tweaks to the layout and features of Google+ (Google “Plus”) Full width, thumbnails only, etc.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ldhcojnagiekommchjbokpofakjeknme

Replies and more for Google+ - Version: 1.22
Adds reply and reply-to-author buttons to Google+ comments and a number of other enhancements.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fgmhgfecnmeljhchgcjlfldjiepcfpea

Usability Boost for Google Plus™ - Version: 1.4.1
Makes Google Plus more pleasant, greatly improves readability !
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dkcppcocablbakkaboahjmljpodddkcp

Try them out and don’t forget to browse through the options - you probably don’t want every default setting and do want to set some additional features.

Glad to see Google finally nailing this aspect.

Ozzik