This guide will help you understand the advantages of bookmarklets over add-ons, how to install bookmarklets followed by a list of essential bookmarklets that should work across all popular browsers including Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, IE and Safari.
Why Use Bookmarklet over Add-ons
If you were to choose between a bookmarklet and a browser add-on, both offering similar functionality, here are a couple of reasons why you may want to go with bookmarklets:
1. Add-ins are browser specific so tomorrow if you decide to move from Firefox to Opera or Google Chrome, your favorite add-ins will no longer work. On the other hand, a bookmarklet written for Firefox is very likely to work with Safari or IE.
2. Some add-ins can break (or won’t install at all) if you try installing them on a newer version of the browser. And this is a big problem considering that new browser patches are released every couple of months.
3. Unlike add-ins that require installation, you can add and remove bookmarklets without restarting the browser.
4. Poorly coded add-ins can significantly slow down your browser while bookmarklets have negligible (if any) effect on memory usage as they are executed on-demand.
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