I love Netflix. Like, seriously love it. But I’m not blind to its shortcomings either and sadly there are plenty of them!
The folks at Lifehacker have created a new Chrome extension that — for want of a better expression — fixes many pet hates users of the popular streaming service have with it.
Among the interface and usability niggles it nixes:
- Hide potential spoiler images and text snippets
- Remove duplicate recommendations
- Disable Facebook integration prompt
- Show expiring titles
- Hide sections
- Plenty more
Even better is that each tweak can be enabled or disabled individually, letting you craft the perfect experience for you.
You can grab the add-on from the Chrome Web Store right now. Naturally you’ll need to be a paid-up Netflix subscriber to make use of it.
Read on for my four favourite features this add-on offers, and do share your own in the comments below.
Dark Netflix Theme
If you watch Netflix in bed at night the default theme may seem a little too bright on your eyes. Flixplus includes an option to tone it down with a dark theme alternative.
View Details on Click
“Oh that show looks interesting,” I think. So I click on it to learn more. Bad move. Instead of showing details of the title on click, like a brief synopsis and user ratings, Netflix will instead start playing it.
It may save time when diving into content, but it makes browsing a little harder and a lot slower. You have to hover over a title, wait for the pop-over to show, then click on the title to be redirected to the listing page. Tl;dr: hassle.
Check the “Clicking on poster shows details instead of playing” option in Flixplus to fix this behaviour.
Remove Facebook Section
I have no desire to share what I’m watching on Facebook, and even less to see what people I know are watching. Netflix doesn’t let you ‘dismiss’ the prompt to integrate with Facebook or hide the sprawling greyed out and useless section it takes up on the page.
Check the “Hide Facebook recommendations / login prompt” in Flixplus to banish it for good.
Watch a Random Episode
The problem with so much choice is the indecision is creates! Sometimes I want to watch a show but I don’t know which episode. With this add-on you can enabled a “Random Episode” button that, like it says, picks an episode at random for you to watch.
- Source: Lifehacker