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For your next side project, make a browser extension

geoffreylitt.com

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Re: For your next side project, make a browser extension

#11

Post by 65 »

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #7
65 wrote: post #2

A lot of the most useful software I've made for myself has been browser extensions. Spend too much time on Hacker News? I made an extension to freeze the front page so it updates once every 6 hours. Spend too much time on Reddit? I made an extension requiring a password to be input for every page I visit. Want to extensively filter LinkedIn jobs, and track which jobs you've applied to? I made an extension to apply ve…

FWIW, HN has settings to limit how much time you spend here.

I do use it for other sites as well, like news sites. You can freeze any site for a specified period of time. It definitely makes me use the sites less frequently.

Re: For your next side project, make a browser extension

#12

Post by AlbertCory »

This is a plug for an extension I didn't write, and have no stake in:

https://free.law/recap

it's a browser extension that defeats the Pacer monopoly on (many) legal filings.

If you do have Pacer and download something, it automatically uploads it to a free server. Thus, it becomes free to everyone else. I think some Big Law firms must use it, because a surprisingly large number of docs are available free.

Legalities of this? They seem to be getting away with it.

Re: For your next side project, make a browser extension

#13

Post by 2h »

no dont. I would like to see less people doing browser extensions, and more people writing simple servers. so many companies offering free tier, it would be helpful for people to share who they chose and why, and for people to swap recommendations.

extensions allow you to bypass the same-origin policy, but they dont give you the full power of a server. plus with a server, you can choose any language you want, you aren't locked into JavaScript like you are with an extension.

Re: For your next side project, make a browser extension

#14

Post by cldellow »

AlbertCory wrote: post #12

This is a plug for an extension I didn't write, and have no stake in: https://free.law/recap it's a browser extension that defeats the Pacer monopoly on (many) legal filings. If you do have Pacer and download something, it automatically uploads it to a free server. Thus, it becomes free to everyone else. I think some Big Law firms must use it, because a surprisingly large number of docs are available free. Legalities…

> Legalities of this? They seem to be getting away with it.

The US government runs PACER itself, they don't contract it to a profit-motivated third-party. [1] As a result, they're pretty lenient. At one point, their website said: "The information gathered from the PACER system is a matter of public record and may be reproduced without permission".

So it's totally legal.

The RECAP people also make it _really_ easy to ingest documents. For example, lawyers can add a RECAP email address as one of their default contact addresses with the court. Then all filings on any case that lawyer is involved in get automatically ingested when they are filed.

[1]: Well, they outsource the administration to a third-party. But it seems more like a "we pay you, you keep the lights on", vs a public-private partnership where the third-party has a profit incentive based on the revenue of the service.

Re: For your next side project, make a browser extension

#15

Post by conqrr »

Chrome Extension Developer experience was the worst. A week of wait of approvals, Management of extension packages isn't great. Rejects on image formats etc. Firefox hasn't yet adopted Manifest V3 which is also a bummer.

After all this, I still managed to put up Selaro which is a workplace links organizer: https://getselaro.com

Re: For your next side project, make a browser extension

#16

Post by shyn3 »

65 wrote: post #11
PartiallyTyped wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, HN has settings to limit how much time you spend here.

I do use it for other sites as well, like news sites. You can freeze any site for a specified period of time. It definitely makes me use the sites less frequently.

I love this idea of making your own. I wanted to create one that types the text I highlight like a type writer. Will have to try it now. Thanks.

Re: For your next side project, make a browser extension

#17

Post by andy_ppp »

I was thinking about building a browser extension that allowed me to tag videos on YouTube and using AI figure out if I would like to hate new videos and mark them as such (interesting, exceptional, funny, not interested, spam, time waster etc.). Maybe it could rewrite clickbait headlines too. Eventually it could completely edit all the rubbish out of YouTube videos based on my likes and be a kind of personal assistant to help to avoid mindlessly watching things that aren't good for me...

Re: For your next side project, make a browser extension

#18

Post by redeux »

2h wrote: post #13

no dont. I would like to see less people doing browser extensions, and more people writing simple servers. so many companies offering free tier, it would be helpful for people to share who they chose and why, and for people to swap recommendations. extensions allow you to bypass the same-origin policy, but they dont give you the full power of a server. plus with a server, you can choose any language you want, you are…

Hating on JS and suggesting people write servers aren’t very constructive suggestions. A browser extension is just a client, you can back it with the “full power” of a server if you want.

Re: For your next side project, make a browser extension

#20

Post by iambateman »

To extend the idea a bit…iOS shortcuts should be considered “extensions” by the same token.

They’re incredibly easy to make and can create a lot of value, plus they’re shareable.

As an example…I built https://SimplifyRecipe.com/shortcut in a couple hours and it’s been extremely useful for getting rid of the life story on recipe pages. Lots of people connected with that concept, so now I’m working on building a full-fledged app.

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