G+me for Google Plus, Better Google+ Stream Collapsing
Update: The G+me extension is no longer working. It was last updated in 2011 and it appears to have been abandoned by its creator. There is no comparable extension available at this point in time. Google did change how comments are displayed though so that you won't run into a seemingly endless list of comments in your stream anymore.
The stream, that's basically all the messages that people write that are in your circles, provided that the post's visibility includes you on Google Plus. I'm personally not that happy with the way the stream is displayed on screen. Sometimes, you see so many comments under a message that you have to scroll multiple pages to get to the next message in line.
Collapsing is the answer, at least for me. The free Google Chrome extension G+me for Google Plus enhances Google's web app by making it a lot easier to work with large streams of messages and comments.
The Google+ interface does not really look that different after you have installed the extension in Chrome. You may notice a gray bar at the top of each entry with two down arrows. This bar is used to collapse a thread. Just click on it and you will notice that it has been collapsed into a single row in your interface.
That row is still highlighting the important information about the message. This includes the person who published the message, the time of posting, the first few words of the message and the number of comments it has received. Plus, you will automatically see if new comments have been posted. Read comments are displayed in gray. If a new comment is posted the count turns to red highlighting the number of new comments since the collapsing of the message on Google+.
The state of each message is remembered and you will find the same layout on subsequent visits. But G+me for Google Plus does not only provide the functionality to collapse messages. You can also use it to collapse comments only. That's handy if you want to keep the original message visible but are not interested in the comments.
Collapsing messages or comments will mark them read automatically.
One interesting option is the list mode that you can switch to. This is done with a click on the extension's button in the Chrome address bar and the selection of list mode from the options.
This collapses all messages on the Chrome Stream page automatically, great for a fast overview of all messages without scrolling.
This turns Google Plus into a dashboard with excellent visibility. A click on a message expands that message in your stream. Only one message will be open at most. When you click on a new message to read, the old expanded message will be collapsed again. Very handy.
You can furthermore mouse over any collapsed message to see its contents and comments in an overlay on screen.
Chrome users can download G+me for Google Plus from the official Chrome Web Store.
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“Sometimes, you see so many comments under a message that you have to scroll multiple pages to get to the next message in line.”
Don’t scroll – use keystrokes. Hitting “j” moves you down to the next post, “k” moves you up to the previous. Let the G+ built-in tools do the scrolling for you. :)
Something associated with G+ is unstable. The +1s on many recent posts on my profile appear to be wiped out. G+ may not be ready for prime time. I’m sure it was a coincidence that the +1s disappeared shortly after posting the following status:
G+ testimonial: With Google plus, I don’t have to google myself any more. Now all my intimate details are on my G+ Profile. Thanks G+ for saving me from the self indulgence of self googling.
I need to find a firefox extension that does this.