Google Chrome may be faster in some cases and offer a more streamlined interface, but its developers know it has no real chance of gaining any traction without an add-on system. Add-on support, or extensions, as Chrome calls them, has been built-in for a while, but it isn't turned on by default, as it still is very experimental. This hasn't stopped some from developing extensions for the browser, and now Yahoo has put more weight behind the feature as it launched a Delicious extension for Chrome.

"Delicious extension (alpha version) for Google Chrome is now available," Amit Papnai, Delicious Extensions Team, said in a Google Groups post. "This is a light version of the extension and allows you to sign-in and post bookmarks to your delicious account. It adds a button on the omni bar for sign-in/bookmarking and and also allows you to bookmark using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+D. The button becomes visible after a page is fully loaded."

The new extension allows users to store, tag, describe, and share bookmarks, while making it easy for them to employ the service inside the browser, but it is an early build mostly showcasing the technology. As Chrome matures and support for extensions becomes more stable, we'll likely begin to see a lot more extensions with increased functionality. It is important to note, though, that Chrome has a different approach to extensions to Firefox's, as they can be built using web technologies like JavaScript much more similar, in fact, to Mozilla's Jetpack than to the proper add-on system.

The reason why it is important for Chrome to develop extension support is because it is one of the major motives users love Firefox and are hesitant to move to another browser, even if it has some advantages. Add-ons have been big contributors to Firefox's success and, today, there seems to be one for just about any purpose imaginable and unimaginable and, if Chorme is to have any chance, it will have to offer similar functionality.