How to save data and money when browsing through facebook pictures using FB Photo Zoom Chrome Browser Extension

Hello! i am sorry to have been text-mute this long. Today promises to be another day in which I’ll be sharing with you just another tip on how you can save surfing the web, with social networking as emphasis – Facebook to be precise.  Going through publications online you might have come across texts describing one of the beauties of web page designs to be making every information not more than three clicks away from the page user. Thus keeping your visitors coming means keeping info as close as possible.

This rule of thumb however is still lacking in some websites. Unfortunately, the cool chrome extension I will reveal to you does not cover all websites for now. Hence, we shall limit our article content to just on social network where I have tried it, Facebook.

Introducing the Facebook Photo Zoom

The zoom effect

You will agree with me that chrome browser is one of the fastest you can use for surfing the internet. Now coupled with browsing your Facebook pages with speed, you can also save money and data using a cool chrome browser extension I came across today, the FB Photo Zoom Extension.

Advanced Setting Window

You will agree with me that, when viewing that beautiful photo of a friend or loved one on Facebook you need to click on the photo, and then face book loads another page with a zoomed version of the picture. Though savouring such beauty is worth expending additional data, you will also agree with me that looking for another alternative to having a different page load is best; meaning you save that added data for further browsing. See the images below from my page for how the extension works:

A normal photo view on my Facebook page

Same picture when hovered on. Note the small version
on the left of the zoomed image.

FB Photo Zoom's simplicity is what has made it the most popular Facebook extension on the web with over 1 million users and counting. It is also light weight and integrates seamlessly into Facebook so you can see the larger images of photo albums, profile photos and more whenever you hover over a zoomable image! What more it also gives you the chance to set zoomed photo opacity and display time delay to your taste.



Supported browsers


For now, the FBPZ (Facebook Photo Zoom) is supported by Safari, Google Chrome and the good old Firefox. Hopefully this cool extension by will be improved on to work with other browsers out there. I recommend you update your browser to the latest version supported by your machine. Please do! You may wonder why I stress the update thing. I don’t want to digress, but as a web developer, I feel the pain of other web developers in trying to develop cross browser designs simply because many internet browsers decide to stick to archaic browsers or don’t care about updates. Yes, I know some machines or computers are incapacitated for such. But please do move on to newer updates as you may be missing cool tools that make web or internet surfing or productivity fun and easy.


What to do when FBPZ appears broken?


Whenever you are in a fix or think the FBPZ (Facebook Photo Zoom extension) is broken, don’t panic. There is always help available. But before you scream, do the following: First, make sure that the extension is enabled and that the extension is on from your Chrome Extensions page. When Facebook Photo Zoom is active, you should see an icon in the lower right by your chat status, and when you hover, it should say "FB Photo Zoom (on)" (see screenshot). If it says "(off)" simply, click the icon to turn Facebook Photo Zoom back on.

But if that icon is missing and you are sure the extension is correctly enabled on your Chrome Extensions page, then in nearly all cases a hard refresh (hold shift and press refresh) will fix Facebook Photo Zoom. If you still aren't seeing the icon-box near the chat and you're sure the extension is enabled correctly then something may have gone wrong. Feel free to contact the developer here with as much detail as you can regarding the issue (browser version, operating system, Facebook nationality, etc). If FBPZ seems broken, 99% of the time it can be fixed by refreshing the page. Occasionally Facebook might release an update, which may break the extension. There is usually a fast turnaround if this is the case.


To get the Facebook Photo Zoom for your browser, go to your browser extension store or get it here.


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