Chrome WebStore
I opened my browser (read Google Chrome) yesterday and i saw something new in it. Apps !!! I was like, "Hello!! What are you?" And within two clicks of the mouse i end up in the CHROME WEBSTORE!!! It is awesome the way Google does it! Google has now housed all of its Chrome Extensions, Skins and Apps (yes that is correct, Apps) under one roof and it is simply awesome to say the least. Most of these products or add-ons are free, but you can charge for your apps as well. It takes a nominal fee of $5 to submit your app into the Store itself. A price which is next to nothing in my opinion, given that it is a one time payment.
The first time i ventured into the store i hit it off with my favorite section which happens to be the Themes Section. The Store currently houses a whole gamut of Themes that are more than what you would normally see in your Tool Menu -> Options -> Personal Stuff -> Get Themes. You actually had some amazing set of colors and covering all kinds of people. These are a few i tried out for my browser:
The Shrine Theme
Ethereal 2 (This is the one i stuck with)
Coming Winter Theme
You also have a fantastic set of themes for Football lovers, one for every popular football playing nation. Here is the one for Brazil.
Then you have the Apps. Now let me give an idea of what Apps are. They are not Add-ons. They do not form a part of your browser. Remember the blank empty space when you minimize all the options in a new tab of Chrome ie Most Visited and Recently Closed. Well there is an empty space there with a nothing in the background except for your theme's image/design if you have one. Point is imagine if you could have tiles or links to the favorite Apps you could possibly have, instead of an empty space. They are like little tools just as you have in your cell phone. These are specifically built for Chrome i guess, since they are Chrome Apps but can be run in other browsers as well. But the thing is that they are highly advanced and interactive websites which open in a new tab. You get access to 3 default Apps when it is activated in your browser, they are, The WebStore itself, an interesting Game called Entanglement and Popit, another game i guess, no clue really have not tried it yet. So fundamentally these are web applications built keeping in mind the Chrome Browser.
Then finally you have the Chrome Extensions which are closer to the conventional Add-ons you get in other browsers like FireFox. These appear along with the Tools Menu in the Top right hand corner of your Browser. These are called browser actions and are meant for adding additional functionality to your browser, an extn for Gmail or any other mail to check your Mail in a single mouse click. You also have page actions which come up only in specific pages such as a Map functionality which will appear in the OmniBar when you navigate to a page with an Address in it.
Apart from giving the user a brilliant experience, the WebStore is a fantastic place to let loose as a developer and/or tester. The documentation for all of this is simply fantastic and easy to use and as usual supports all well known technologies like JavaScript, HTML and CSS. I am neck deep into understanding Extensions for the time being. I may get to the Themes as well. ;)
All in all a great add on to an already brilliant browser, which simply makes the Web experience that much more brilliant. :D