Google just launched the official website for extensions, themes, apps and other bits and pieces of the company’s Google Chrome web browser.
One of the things that kept Chrome extension development and especially distribution behind (Firefox) was a missing official website that would host the majority of extensions for the Google browser.
Google Chrome users who wanted to use extensions had to rely on third party websites to find some that they could use and install.
This has changed today with the release of the official Google Chrome Extensions website which tries to become for Google Chrome what the Mozilla website is for Firefox add-ons.
Google Chrome Extensions is listed as a beta service at the moment like many Google services that have been released to the public for the first time.
Official Google Chrome Extensions Website
old snapshot of the website
The website lists popular and featured Google Chrome extension on the frontpage with options to load the full list of extensions sorted by rating, date, popularity or featured category.
A search is also provided to find extensions as quickly as possible. The extension gallery is missing categories and tags to find specific extensions. This could become a problem once the Google Chrome Extensions website reaches thousands of extensions.
The individual extension pages contain a description, screenshots, user comments and an install button to install the extension directly in the Google Chrome web browser. Take a look at the Google Mail Checker extension for an example.
old chrome extension interface
The most recent listing lists 415 extensions that are currently hosted at the Chrome Extensions repository. It is unclear if all extensions known to man are already hosted at the website but it seems unlikely.
One interesting feature is that the number of users of a specific extension is shown on the website. It is again unclear if this number is simply the download count of each individual extension or the actual in-use count of all Chrome users. The former seems to be the logical choice.
The Google Chrome Extensions website is a step in the right direction. It provides a central location for all Google Chrome extension needs. The usability problems (missing categories) are likely to be addressed soon to offer visitors a better browsing experience. Interested users can access the website here.
Update: The extension’s website has been updated several times by Google in the recent past. The company removed most options to filter extensions, leaving only options to search, browse by category, and by rating as options on the site. It also stopped listing the total number of extensions on offer.