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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

#81

Post by old_hat »

cdrini wrote: post #70
jakear wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm. I tried this with an super simple extension[1] I had lying around and couldn't get any network requests to work. The error thrown in console was a generic "NetworkError", but the network tab shows no relevant entries at all. Not a great developer experience, especially compared to chromium. https://github.com/JacksonKearl/FeelingBlue/blob/main/extens...

Odd! Were you trying to fetch a public, CORS-enabled API? That should just work. If you were trying to make a network request for a non-CORS endpoint (eg fetch the google homepage or something), you'll need to add the domain to your permissions section. Eg: "permission": [ "storage", " https://google.com " ]

Not OP, I built an extension for a site that sent CSP headers. Because the browser extension wasn't allowed in the list of JS sources, it all borked.

Not certain that's this user's issue, but that is another thing to check.

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

#82

Post by nirvdrum »

satvikpendem wrote: post #26

PSA: If you're making a browser extension, please support Firefox as well, not just Chrome. Firefox makes it easy since they support the `chrome` namespace for functions [0]. You can also use React/Next.js or another frontend library too if you prefer. I had created an extension a while ago out of pure HTML, CSS, and TypeScript but I found that was quite annoying to add more complex features with lots of state. I swi…

Do you have any pointers on effective profiling strategies of extensions on Firefox? I tried to contribute to an open source extension and ran into an issue where the "Performance" tab won't work [1]. I tried using the Firefox Profiler, but that's for the whole browser. It can work, but it gives too much noise. I love Firefox, but this put a huge damper on my willingness to work on browser extensions.

[1] -- https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1766271

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

#83

Post by tectonic »

I have a personal browser extension that I use as a grab bag of assorted tools and fixes for sites that annoy me. It's half way between a userscript, a bookmarklet directory, and a UNIX shell, with little commands that run automatically on certain sites or operate on the DOM, and can pipe output to other commands. Here's a very old video of it in action: https://vimeo.com/118090094 (It's no longer open source because I don't want to have to maintain it for other people.)

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

#84

Post by user982 »

64392947 wrote: post #78
alphabet9000 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

firefox/mozilla doesn't really make it easy (compared to chrome) mozilla now requires "add-on signing" [0]; extensions now have to be "signed" (By mozilla) before you can permanently side-load your own private extension onto regular firefox. they also require you to use 2FA [1] when setting up a firefox.com account (which is required in order for you to upload extensions so they can be signed). at least with chrome y…

I can understand why the first example is burdensome and don't have any quarrel with it but I can't help but lack sympathy for the second example. If your barrier as a developer is setting up 2FA I can't help but doubt you ever cared much about supporting Firefox anyway. This is like a taxi driver complaining about needing to have proof of insurance and a driver's license.

I'm just an old-fashioned programmer, I don't think I should have to register with an authority and submit all of my code to them just to be able to run something I've written for myself on my own computer.

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

#85

Post by gklitt »

satvikpendem wrote: post #26

PSA: If you're making a browser extension, please support Firefox as well, not just Chrome. Firefox makes it easy since they support the `chrome` namespace for functions [0]. You can also use React/Next.js or another frontend library too if you prefer. I had created an extension a while ago out of pure HTML, CSS, and TypeScript but I found that was quite annoying to add more complex features with lots of state. I swi…

FWIW, I also shipped Twemex on Firefox, but the userbase is comparatively tiny—-about 20x more users on Chrome (or Chromium-based browsers using the Chrome store) compared to Firefox.

I’m excited about the ongoing push towards cross-browser standards in this area; Safari has become way more compatible recently as well.

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

#87

Post by selcuka »

gernb wrote: post #69
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…

> Spend too much time on Hacker News? I made an extension to freeze the front page so it updates once every 6 hours. Me, I just open a guest account, or a new profile, etc. Meaning, the extension is at most a reminder to try to stop. it's still trivial to bypass

> the extension is at most a reminder to try to stop. it's still trivial to bypass

Well, of course. You can also disable the extension, but that's not the point.

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

#88

Post by selcuka »

cookingrobot wrote: post #80

Are browser extensions safe? My understanding is they generally get access to everything you browse, and are too big a security risk for a work machine. Is it as bad as I think?

> they generally get access to everything you browse

They don't have to. Extensions declare which sites they want access to in the manifest file. Many extensions and user scripts only get access to specific sites.

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

#89

Post by geraldwhen »

satvikpendem wrote: post #26

PSA: If you're making a browser extension, please support Firefox as well, not just Chrome. Firefox makes it easy since they support the `chrome` namespace for functions [0]. You can also use React/Next.js or another frontend library too if you prefer. I had created an extension a while ago out of pure HTML, CSS, and TypeScript but I found that was quite annoying to add more complex features with lots of state. I swi…

Firefox’s signing process is terrible. I’ve made several extensions and I would rather just stick to chrome.

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

#90

Post by [deleted] »

satvikpendem wrote: post #26

PSA: If you're making a browser extension, please support Firefox as well, not just Chrome. Firefox makes it easy since they support the `chrome` namespace for functions [0]. You can also use React/Next.js or another frontend library too if you prefer. I had created an extension a while ago out of pure HTML, CSS, and TypeScript but I found that was quite annoying to add more complex features with lots of state. I swi…

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