Chrome: If you frequently search for image files when you encounter new animals, foods, and other words you can save time by installing Image Dictionary, a Chrome extension that can automatically display Wikipedia images for a word using a mouse clicks. More »

Chrome: Select Search is a Chrome Extension that pops up a ballon with a number of search engines when you select a block of text. When you double-click on a word or phrase you can quickly pop open a search in Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Binsearch, and others.More »

You may sometimes be in a position where you need to look up information but do not have Internet available at the moment. This can be during your daily commute or in a situation where an Internet connection is not available or working. We have reviewed several options in the past to get the majority of Wikipedia contents on your system locally to access the information without the need for an Internet connection. Check out WikiTaxi, OkaWix or Wikipedia School DVDs if you are interested in those methods.

The latest option has been exclusively designed for the Google Chrome web browser and therefor also Google’s Chromebook. The web application allows you to download nearly all textual contents from Wikipedia to make them available directly in the Chrome browser.

You are asked to either pick a 13 Megabyte dump of the most popular Wikipedia articles or the big database which weights in at about 1 Gigabyte. You can also select one of four available parsers which turn the Wikipedia information into HTML contents that are readable in the web browser.

Especially the large download make take a while, and you also need to make sure that you have enough disk space available for it.

Once installed you can use the following page to access your Wikipedia information offline in the Chrome browser. The developer suggests to bookmark the page for fast access.

It offers a search option, access to the program settings, access to the article index and an option to load a random article from the repository.

The search supports suggestions which are displayed automatically once you start typing in the first letter of your search term.

The articles are complete with the exception of media and the footnotes which are not displayed at all.

Search results are displayed almost instantly on modern computer systems.

Chrome users who would like their own personal Wikipedia copy on their computer can download and install the web app from the official Chrome web store. (via Chromestory)

Chrome: Sometimes, when you're reading Wikipedia, you need to open up another article to better understand the one you're reading. Wikipreview saves you from opening them in tabs by showing you a preview of that article when you mouse over it. More »

Wikipedia Beautifier is an extension for Google Chrome that removes all the clutter from Wikipedia and lets you focus on the most important aspect of the online encyclopedia: its content. Wikipedia Beautifier has been inspired by Readability, and aims to provide the same amount of article-centered beauty, while also keeping the familiar navigation menus within reach.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, Christmas has come early again this season with the launch of Jimmy Wales’ annual appeal for Wikimedia Foundation donations. Wales’ ubiquitous banner ad is now in its seventh year and the company is shooting for $16 million dollars to keep their impressive collaborative encyclopedia afloat ad free.

And while Wikipedia tested out different banners for the 2010 launch, none came close to the effectiveness (a 3% click through rate!) of the unintentionally hilarious image of Wikipedia founder Wales gazing at you intently. The image is so beloved that someone actually created a Google Chrome extension that allows you to take the Wales banner with you wherever you go online. And so we did.

You can download the extension here.

Wikipedia is a trusted source of information – when you want a general reference or want to define something, without adding all the text in your document. I regularly use the online encyclopedia for my writing work, projects and when I want to refer to definitions or popular personalities. If you are a writer and regularly use Wikipedia pages for referencing, you are certainly going to love the Wikipedia companion extension for Google Chrome.

After the extension is installed, click the small “W” icon placed just right to the Chrome address bar:

This opens a small pop up window where you can type the keywords in a text box and search the Wikipedia website without leaving the current page.

The extension is useful, because I can search Wikipedia from the same browser tab and avoid distractions while I am writing something. The second advantage is that the extension lets you open the page in a new browser tab, in case you want to read the complete Wikipedia page. Here is how the pop window loads the content:

Wikipedia Companion is a Google Chrome extension that can be used to search Wikipedia in a small browser window without leaving the active website. That’s ideal for users who usually look up things on Wikipedia while browsing other websites.

The extension places an icon in the Google Chrome address bar which opens the Wikipedia browser on the active page. The cursor is automatically placed in the search form on top. A search will display the contents of the article in the browser window. All links are loaded in that window as well so that it is possible to load multiple articles directly in the window.

Basic controls at the top of the window can be used to go back and forth, clear the browsing history and to open the active Wikipedia page in a new tab in the browser.

The options of the extension can be accessed by right-clicking the icon in the address bar. Here it is possible to configure the primary and secondary languages, browser window width (normal and wide) and if featured articles should be displayed on the start page of the extension.

Wikipedia Companion is a handy extension for Google Chrome users who work with Wikipedia regularly. The extension can be downloaded from the Google Chrome extensions gallery.