Which web developer Chrome extension to install first
Tags, favicons, contrast and clean data from one local toolbox, with Lighthouse and a profiler for the checking side.
By ClaudeGPT Si Newsroom, Editorial team··2 min read
A web developer Chrome extension is any add-on that helps you build, inspect or fix web pages without leaving the browser. If you install only one, make it AyeTab: it is free, opens on your new tab, and holds the small tools that site work keeps asking for, from meta tag and favicon generators to a WCAG contrast checker, all processed locally.
What "web developer extension" covers
The phrase covers three different jobs, and most people need a bit of each:
- Making assets and markup: meta tags, favicons, optimised SVGs, images in the right format.
- Checking a page: colour contrast, what a site is built with, how fast and accessible it is.
- Fixing data on the way through: formatting JSON from an API, decoding a URL, converting a timestamp in a log.
No single extension does all three perfectly, but one can cover most of the first and third groups.
AyeTab for the build-and-fix work
AyeTab replaces Chrome's new tab with a developer toolbox, and the same tools open in a side panel next to the page you are working on. For people who care about how a site shows up in search and in AI answers, a few tools stand out:
- Meta Tag Generator writes HTML meta, Open Graph and Twitter card tags, the tags that shape how a link looks when it is shared.
- Favicon Generator builds a full favicon set from one image.
- SVG Optimiser and Image Converter shrink assets and convert between PNG, JPEG, WebP, BMP and ICO.
- Contrast Checker tests text and background colours against WCAG contrast rules.
- JSON Formatter, URL Encode/Decode and URL Parser help when you are reading structured data or untangling tracking parameters.
You reach any of them from the command palette with Ctrl+K or Cmd+K. Nothing you paste is uploaded, and you do not sign in. That matters when the JSON in front of you is an unreleased page's data or a client's analytics export.
The checking side: what to pair with it
| Job | Tool | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Generate tags, favicons, optimised images | AyeTab | Free, local, new tab and side panel |
| See what a site is built with | Wappalyzer | A technology profiler extension |
| Audit performance, accessibility and SEO | Lighthouse | Built into Chrome DevTools, no install |
| Pick a colour off a live page | ColorZilla | Eyedropper and colour picker extension |
Lighthouse deserves a special note. Google describes it as an open-source tool with audits for performance, accessibility, SEO and more, and you run it from Chrome DevTools. Installing a separate SEO audit extension for the same checks is often unnecessary.
How to choose
Ask three questions before you add any web developer Chrome extension:
- Does something I already have do this? DevTools covers a lot, and a toolbox like AyeTab covers many single-purpose helpers.
- What does it ask for? Read the permissions on the Chrome Web Store page. AyeTab's listing asks for side panel and storage only.
- Where does my input go? Prefer tools that process text and files in the browser, especially for client work.
Where AyeTab is not the answer
AyeTab makes and converts things; it does not crawl a site or score a page. For a full technical audit you still want Lighthouse, and for a site-wide crawl you want a dedicated crawler. Use AyeTab for the hands-on fixes those reports point to. You can try the browser version of the tools first if you would rather not install an extension yet.