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Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have in 2021?

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Re: Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have in 2021?

#41
post #13
post #9

- uBlock Origin for FF and Chrome. For Safari (on both macOS and iOS) I use wipr. - Dark Reader

+ to Dark Reader. Can’t stand most websites without it. Not sure how we switched from a dark screen to wanting everybody to stare into a bright lightbulb all day, but I’m glad things are finally going back.

I was kind of forced into the Dark Reader way of life and I love it. I got a monitor with Adobe RGB color gamut. I have no use for this, and the OS doesn't understand it, so by default all colors are wrong. I know it's wrong and it makes me mad. So I put the monitor into sRGB mode. But in that mode, you can't adjust the brightness and so things are way too bright. I use dark mode for everything, though, so it's not too bad. The improved contrast ratio is actually excellent, and I much prefer a too-bright monitor in dark mode to a dim monitor in either bright or dark mode.

Dark Reader was the missing link for web designers that won't make a dark mode. Honestly, in a lot of cases it does a nicer job than the designer, so for a few sites I opt out of dark mode and let Dark Reader do it for me.

HN is one of the hardest sites to get right, however. It seems to change every version. My current configuration is: Dynamic, Contrast +20, Grayscale +100. I lose my topcolor, but everything else looks good. (This changed with a recent Dark Reader update. I had everything perfect, but the algorithm changed, and so I compromised on this. A few weeks in, and HN looks normal to me. If I saw the unmodified page, I don't think I'd know which site I was on!)

Re: Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have in 2021?

#42
Video Speed Controller lets you speed up any HTML5 video. No more sitting through videos at 1x speed!

Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/video-speed-contro...

Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/videospeed/

Even for a site like YouTube that has built-in speed control settings, it's still useful since (1) you can make the speed exceed 2x and (2) you can use keyboard shortcuts to tune the speed easily.

Re: Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have in 2021?

#44
I will write about Firefox extensions. Firefox is the only browser with some privacy potential. Chrome and Brave are spyware.

* privacy / ads block:

- uBlock Origin

- Decentraleyes (against "free", centralized, content delivery): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/decentraleyes...

- Disable-javascript (a simple javascript switch) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/disable-javas...

- Twitter (and Facebook) containers https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/twitter-conta...

* bookmarking / organization:

- Tab Session Manager https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-session-m... (to save sessions)

- Stringmark https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stringmark-hi... (simple bookmark manager, locally stored, that also save snipped of texts and with possibilities of creating separate lists, perfect for academic research)

* to improve navigation

- SponsorBlock https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sponsorblock/ (it help skipping annoying youtube content within popular videos)

Re: Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have in 2021?

#45
I stopped trying to whitelist sites. Now I just use cookie autodelete and container tabs.

Full list:

- Joplin web clipper

- BitWarden

- Firefox containers

- Containerise (choose tab container based on domain name or url regex)

- Cookie autodelete (in case I ever accidentally log into something in the wrong container, this cleans it up)

I also modify the search bar so it only suggests locations from my bookmarks, and I use separate bookmarks for each account, eg:

- gmail [user@gmail.com]

- gmail [other@work.com]

- aws console [prod@work]

- aws console [me@personal]

- github [work]

- github [personal]

I type "gmail work", hit return and Firefox opens it in the correct container tab, already logged in. (Honestly, who uses bookmarks any more? They just turn into a bloated to-do list, hundreds of links you'll forget about until one day you try them and the domain no longer exists)

Make Google results suck less with Greasemonkey and a script that blocks junk domains (I maintain my own block list). And I have a junk Google account just for random searches etc, and I leave that logged into the "default" container tab, so I'm not plagued by Google cookie / T&C pop-ups.

Other Greasemonkey scripts, eg: make Reddit suck less by using old.reddit.com.

I also log into Firefox and sync this stuff across all of my browsers. Unfortunately the setting per addon do not sync so I always export text configs to a Syncthing directory any time I make a change (eg: update containerise rules, blocklists, cookie autodelete settings)

Re: Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have in 2021?

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also on Firefox. It appears that I'm not as privacy/security conscious as are most in this thread, but I heartily second HTTPS Everywhere. However, the single Firefox extension that's indispensable to me is Tree Style Tabs. See: https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab . Is it possible (for a Web page hoarder like me) to organize and access 500+ tabs across seven Firefox windows? You betcha it is, with Tree Style Tabs.

I've played with Tree Style Tabs, but it seems like there's some configuration required for the optimal result. So I ask: have you done any configuration changes to it?

Also a TST user. It take some getting used to, I don't think I'll ever go back to using horizontal tabs. It is very much functional out-of-the box and it comes with a lot of preferences to choose from. However for a cleaner interface you'll have to customize your UserChrome.css.

This is what I'm using right now - https://pastebin.com/bKHM8hp9

Re: Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have in 2021?

#47
Bitwarden - for passwords

Brave - for adblock built in

Sponsorblock - to cull all the youtube bullshit

Imagus - to hover over images and see the content without having to open a new tab

old reddit redirect - for the occasional google result that takes you to reddit

reddit enhancement suite - to remove all custom css from old reddit

Re: Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have in 2021?

#48
post #44

I will write about Firefox extensions. Firefox is the only browser with some privacy potential. Chrome and Brave are spyware. * privacy / ads block: - uBlock Origin - Decentraleyes (against "free", centralized, content delivery): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/decentraleyes... - Disable-javascript (a simple javascript switch) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/disable-javas... - Twitter (a…

> ...Chrome and Brave are spyware.

I understand Chrome, but Brave ? Care to expatiate ?

Re: Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have in 2021?

#50
post #42

Video Speed Controller lets you speed up any HTML5 video. No more sitting through videos at 1x speed! Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/video-speed-contro... Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/videospeed/ Even for a site like YouTube that has built-in speed control settings, it's still useful since (1) you can make the speed exceed 2x and (2) you can use keyboard shortcuts to tune…

Video Speed Controller was an absolute revolution for me. No more switching tabs because the video is too slow.
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