Facebook Photo Zoom

Regis Gaughan’s Facebook Photo Zoom is a free Google Chrome extension that does a simple but useful thing: it automatically displays the full version of Facebook photos when you hover your cursor over them. It saves a lot of time over opening each image separately, especially if you’re low on bandwidth, and it makes it easier to recognize friends and other familiar faces.

Google Chrome extensions generally download and install in a flash, and you don’t need to restart your browser to start using them. Facebook Photo Zoom is managed from the Extensions page on the Tools menu, but unlike many other Chrome extensions it actually has some options to configure, such as a slider for setting zoom opacity, a keyboard shortcut tool, and fields for setting image fade in milliseconds. There’s even a Help page, another pleasant departure from the usual sparse documentation offered for Chrome add-ons, which we admit are usually simple enough not to require any instructions.

So how does Facebook Photo Zoom work? Very well indeed. We browsed to a friend’s page and moused over some pictures. Hovering the cursor over a picture opened a pop-up with a full view, and rolling the cursor away closed it just as quickly and smoothly. It didn’t matter if the picture was posted in a photo album or on a wall; Facebook Photo Zoom blew it up to normal size when we moused over it. If you’re a Chrome user who spends a lot of time on Facebook, this extension is essential. If you live on Facebook but haven’t tried Chrome yet, now’s your chance!