As the web’s foremost research tool all of us, in some shape or other, make use of Wikipedia. From swatting up on a topic before breakfast to appeasing a sudden pang of curiosity –it’s hard to imagine life before it.
Using Wikipedia in Chrome isn’t exactly difficult: it can be accessed like any other website. But if you’re a particularly heavy users of it you can get to articles even quicker by cutting out the need to go to Wikipedia to search. The following open-source Wikipedia Search extension for Google Chrome is not an official add-on for the knowledge repository, but it sure does make accessing articles on it easy as pie.
The chief draw is that it allows you to search Wikipedia straight from the omnibar in Chrome — meaning you’re never more than a literal tap or two away from loading up the page you need.
Using it is simple: you type the word ‘wiki‘, hit the space bar, then enter the name of the article or subject area you’re looking for. And, just like a regular omnibar search that offers up result suggestions from Google, this extension offers auto-suggestions from Wiki as you type.
For times when you’re reading an article and want to learn more about something you encounter, the add-on has another handy feature. When highlighting a word or phrase in the body, a quick right-click offers the option to open it up on Wikipedia in a new tab.
Various languages are supported to let users browse their local version of Wikipedia. To configure, head to Tools > Extensions > Wikipedia Search > Options, select a language and click Save. Changes are applied automatically.
Wikipedia search for Chrome is a free add-on, available from the Chrome Web Store. Best bit: it requires minimal permissions.