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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

#91

Post by geraldwhen »

tzs wrote: post #53

I very briefly looked into extensions for some things I wanted to do, but got kind of lost in the documentation. The browsers seem to expose a very large API and I failed to figure out if it supports what I wanted. Essentially what I wanted was to be able to implement a simplified version of the "wget" command. I wanted to be able to invoke the extension on a page and have it save the current page contents to a file,…

This will take you less than 30 minutes with playwright and or puppeteer. A browser extension probably won’t work and would take at least 10x as long to write.

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

#93

Post by bil7 »

selcuka wrote: post #87
gernb wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I agree with who you're replying to. A blocker is no blocker if it is trivial to disable.

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

#96

Post by no_wizard »

satvikpendem wrote: post #29
fswd wrote: post #23

Any suggestions for a good stack to develop extensions? I'm coming from nodejs/react, and would like to stay close to that. Is there an up-to-date stack I can clone, copy, and deploy with something like 'yarn run build' and start hacking?

I've used NextJS for browser extensions, works well. There are templates on GitHub but to be honest it isn't that hard to package into a browser extension.

Biggest thing is just packaging it as a static site without SSR correct?

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

#97

Post by satvikpendem »

gklitt wrote: post #85
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.

Haha, thanks for that, I am one of your few Firefox users for Twemex. Congrats on the acquisition, how is that going?

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

#98

Post by satvikpendem »

no_wizard wrote: post #96
satvikpendem wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used NextJS for browser extensions, works well. There are templates on GitHub but to be honest it isn't that hard to package into a browser extension.

Biggest thing is just packaging it as a static site without SSR correct?

Correct.

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

#99

Post by mfrisbie »

I was enthusiastic enough about extensions that I decided to publish a book about building them: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/

Browser extensions are severely underrated as a platform because they aren't sexy. For all that mobile devices have given us, so much of our work continues to be done using a desktop browser. Enhancements such as augmenting websites with widgets, supplying contextual information, and automating repetitive tasks using the authenticated session - when applied appropriately - can save someone hours every day.

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

#100

Post by johannes1234321 »

bil7 wrote: post #93
selcuka wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I agree with who you're replying to. A blocker is no blocker if it is trivial to disable.

It is about blocking yourself so the routine is interrupted. Suddenly it is no one click routine action anymore, but you take make the decision to bypass a conscious decision of the brain. At that point you can decide to stop and go back to your actual work and thus break the habit of ope ing that page too often.
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