How to Customize Google+ & Your Profile

Not crazy about Google's design choices for Google+? Using scripts for Greasemonkey, Extensions for Chrome, Firefox Add-ons, and other browser plug-ins, you can make some pretty wild changes to the look and feel of the site. You can also take a more utilitarian route and take advantage of code that can translate posts from directly within Google+ or port all your Facebook photos to Google+ Photo (i.e., Picasa), where storage is virtually unlimited if you have a Google+ account (photos 2048 x 2048 pixels and smaller don't count toward your 1GB allowance).

Check out these 16 scripts and tools that modify or enhance Google+

1. Google Plus Header Hider (Mozilla) hides the black bar at the top of the screen. Hover over it to bring it back.

2. Google+ Enhancer (Mozilla) adds the number of unread items in Gmail, Reader, and Calendar to the black bar.

3. Google+ Manager (Firefox) and Goo Plus Manager (Chrome) gives you keyboard shortcuts and a table that outlines them all, as well as adding a translation button next to every post.

4. Google Plus Tweaks (Mozilla; also available for Chrome, hides Google+ functions or features that you don't use, expands the page to the full screen width, and lets you toggle comments, preview images on roll-over, and more.

5. Adhik (Safari, Chrome) is somewhat similar to Google Plus Tweaks, streamlining the look and general experience of Google+ with design modifications that focus on the content being shared by people in your Circles. Notice in the image the "linen" background and how posts are more prominently boxed off.

6. Google+ Commander (Mozilla) lets you add keyboard shortcuts for sharing, plus-one-ing, commenting, displaying notifications, and jumping between your homepage, profile, photos, and Circles.

7. Fixed Google+ Notification Bar (Mozilla) freezes the Google+ notification bar for quicker access to notifications and other features on Google Plus and Google Search. Two variations are included: only that freezes the right part of the bar, and one that freezes the entire bar.

8. G+ Friends First (Mozilla) shows your friend stream by default when Google+ first loads.

9. Google Plus Auto Pager (Mozilla) auto-selects the "More" button at the bottom of posts on a profile page, letting you scroll through more updates faster.

10. Nicknames For Google Plus (Mozilla) lets you add nicknames and icons to your contacts in Google Plus, using a Google Doc spreadsheet. (Note that the original spreadsheet adds nicknames for existing users whom you may not know or want to follow. The second link provides details on creating your own spreadsheet.) 11. Show full size links to Google Plus album photos (Mozilla) gathers links to full-sized photos being previewed on a Google+ album page via a button in the menu bar.

12. Google+Facebook (for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome)—currently in dispute with Facebook and not supported at present--adds a Facebook icon to your Google+ page to the left of the home icon that displays your Facebook feed. This plug-in worked at first until Facebook pulled the plug on it. We can't guarantee that service will resume.

13. Surplus (Chrome)

The toolbar offers plenty of useful functionality, but unlike Mary's little lamb it simply doesn't follow us everywhere we go. Pop the Surplus extension into Google Chrome, and you'll have access to your notifications no matter where you are. Surplus also lets you utilize the Google+ sharing functions even when the bar is MIA.

14. Google+ -> Contrast, Denser, More Features (Chrome) lets you customize scrolling, background, navigation, image size, and placement of other elements on the page.

15. Google+ Ultimate for Google Plus (Chrome) rejiggers a lot of the look and feel of Google+'s UI, such as the making the status bar at the top of the page and the left sidebar float so that they stay in place when you scroll, slimming down the scrollbars, and adjusting the whitespace on the page.