Safari Extension Gallery adds new features to your browser

Browser extensions take programs that we like and add features so they become programs that we love. Safari now has an extensions gallery to make it easier to love the browser of choice for many Mac users.

Safari 5 first added browser extensions in June, but finding the best and brightest to take advantage of that wasn’t user-friendly. Only developers capable of building extensions or people very plugged in could discover them. Apple has simplified the process with today’s unveiling of the Safari Extension Gallery, a collection of add-ons available for download.

The Safari Extension Gallery has items from several big name sources, including Amazon, Bing, eBay, Major League Baseball, and Twitter. These add-ons provide shortcuts to popular functions like search, deliver content to your screen without having to visit certain websites, and adds support for new features not available in the standard version of Safari.

The gallery is available for browsing at http://extensions.apple.com. Here are a few notable add-ons to consider adding:

Rapportive - We’ve covered Rapportive as a great tool to add quick links to social media and custom information. This add-on extends that function with notes on Facebook or LinkedIn profiles.

Add to Amazon Wish List – Amazon Wish Lists are designed to bookmark products you wish to buy, or have others buy for you. This makes it easier to add items to your wish list – no matter what website you’re visiting – if Amazon offers that product.

Bing Highlights - Maps, flights, translations, and search are available without having to leave the page. If you see an address, highlight it and a Bing Maps image ill appear.

Exposer – While it’s common to get tab previews in Opera, Exposer makes it possible to get a highlight of a tab’s content. When multiple tabs are open, hover over that tab and see a thumbnail to preview which window you seek.

Twitter for Safari – Twitter decided to make its own official add-on, which makes it possible to see trends, tweets, and users directly from the toolbar.

SafariRestore or Sessions – Track your browsing history with these extensions, which backs up your open windows in case of a crash or desire to store for future use. Sessions or SafariRestore will be able to restore.

Facebook Photo Zoom - If you’re a fan of Google Image’s new hover zoom, you’ll like this extension, which does the same for Facebook photo galleries. Place your mouse over a thumbnail and the image will zoom so you do not have to click and open individually.

Procrastinate – Tools like Instapaper, Read It Later, and Pinboard save webpages for when you want to read them later. This makes it easier to click a link and send that page to your desired bookmarking service.