SHINE for reddit (beta) is a free Reddit Chrome extension to browse Reddit with a clean UI. When I say clean UI, it means the neat and organized placement of all the Reddit options, like, list of sub-reddits, options to add new link/text, sign-in/register, etc.. The extension also lets you checkout the comments and other details of any post on the same page, instead of opening it in a new tab.
There are also no suggested posts and other banners which keep coming at the top of the page. You can easily switch among Hot, New, Rising, Controversial, and Top. Apart from common list view, there’s also a grid view which shows all the posts to you in the Pinterest-like interface. You can even choose the default view mode for each of the subreddits of your choice.
Using the SHINE for reddit (beta) Chrome Extension:
You don’t really have to do anything to use SHINE for reddit (beta), except for adding it to your Google Chrome. There are no settings to be adjusted. It’s all about enabling/disabling the extension. When you want to use the fresh UI provided by the this extension, enable it, otherwise you can keep it disabled. When the extension is enabled, you will see the homepage of the Reddit as shown in the screenshot below:
You can see that the UI resembles the card like interface which you might have seen in the Google’s Material Design. Each of the post has the title, time elapsed since submission, submitted by, subreddit to which it was submitted, number of comments, number of upvotes, share, save, etc..
Clicking on the post will show you the content of it (depending upon post type) and the comments on the same page as a sidebar on the right. You can easily comment and upvote the post from here.
The default category of the posts is set to Hot, but you can choose to change it easily from the option at the top right. You have the choice to choose from Hot, New, Rising, Controversial, and Top.
Similarly, you can also switch from the List view to Grid view. The Grid view is similar to the one you get while using Pinterest. You can see there are the familiar options which you come across while using Reddit. However, the options for saving, sharing, and hiding are stacked under the three dot icon.
If you want to browse the list of sub-reddits and other options, then you need to click on the Menu option to get a sidebar. It will give you the options to submit a content to reddit, browse subreddits, visit your profile, adjust settings and preferences. Do remember that Preferences means the Reddit official settings and Settings means the settings for SHINE extension.
Under the Settings option, you can choose default layout, show/hide shortucts bar, enable/disable night mode, enable/disable NSFW content, and default view for individual subreddits.
In addition to all this, there is a sidebar next to the Menu option, which gives access to the options for submitting text/link to reddit, create a new subreddit, and check your recently visited links on Reddit.
You may also like: 6 Free Reddit Clients for Windows.
Final Verdict:
SHINE for reddit (beta) is a really good Chrome extension to browse Reddit with all new and easy to navigate UI. It gives a whole new experience to the Reddit browsing. The best part is it does all this silently, with no pop-ups or banners coming up to irritate you. If you’re a regular Reddit user, then you will love it for sure.
