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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

#101

Post by eyelidlessness »

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

Executive function tools: not an exact substitute for executive function capabilities. ;)

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

#102

Post by caseyw »

tectonic wrote: post #83

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…

That’s a very cool piece of tech right there. Has in evolved much since then?

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

#103

Post by Glench »

Glench wrote: post #66

I wrote something similar about extensions being a good starting place for indie hackers that are trying to make money. Many of the same conclusions as the author of the article — low barrier to creating, can sometimes grow and be useful for a lot of people with no scaling issues: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/why-browser-extensions-are... Also, I run a service that lets extension developers take payments in thei…

Also, I'd love to hear other extensions people have made in the same vein the author talks about — things that get on their nerves so they did something about it. Here are mine:

- Remove Floating Banners: A button that gets rid of all `position: fixed` elements on a page to give you more reading room. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/remove-floating-ba...

- Autodelete History by Keywords: Remove history / download entries for keywords or URLs automatically as you browse. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/autodelete-history...

— Auto Scroll Search: Lets you CTRL-f search infinitely scrolling web pages. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/auto-scroll-search...

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

#104

Post by daveed »

I spent some time some productivity extensions, for gmail replies[0] and quick notetaking[1]. It was a lot of fun, but like other people have mentioned, porting to and working with manifest v3 is not as nice. I've noticed also that the way Google asks for permissions from the user is done in human-understandable, but worst-case language. For example, I think there was something where I wanted access to the current tab, so I could inject an overlay. I think a friend told me during installation that I was asking to see their history and browsing data. Which is true - knowing what page they're on does let you recreate their browsing history... but when presented to the user like that, it makes it seem like tracking history is the primary thing the extension does? Anyway, frustrating.

[0] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/akndolpagcjaolannk... [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/icdbglcdnjonofjpcf...

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

#105

Post by drowsspa »

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…

Isn't it easier to do those via User scripts?

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

#106

Post by cassepipe »

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 think mail confirmation or yubikey is fine but I never understood why I need an app on my phone for authentication. What if I lose the phone? How would I get my account back? Tried some authenticator app on the desktop once also and got locked out of my account after that because my computer crashed and I had to reinstall it. Never again.

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

#107

Post by qwertox »

daveed wrote: post #104

I spent some time some productivity extensions, for gmail replies[0] and quick notetaking[1]. It was a lot of fun, but like other people have mentioned, porting to and working with manifest v3 is not as nice. I've noticed also that the way Google asks for permissions from the user is done in human-understandable, but worst-case language. For example, I think there was something where I wanted access to the current ta…

I know this hurts as a developer, but using this language is just a way of being sincere to the user.

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

#108

Post by 2h »

ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #76
brycedriesenga wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd prefer to choose how much risk I want to take when installing extensions. Just give me a warning and let me do what I want.

Signed extensions can be loaded into release versions of FF. A compromised dev account can create signed malicious extensions. TFA protects everyone.

yes, thats all true. however people should be able to choose their own level of protection. not have the most secure (and most cumbersome) rammed down their throats.

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

#109

Post by 2h »

tech234a wrote: post #58
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…

The signing requirement only applies to the stable and beta versions of Firefox. It can be disabled in about:config in Firefox Developer Edition (which is basically the same as beta), as well as in Nightly, ESR, and Unbranded builds [1]. [1]: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing

this is not true. with Android version at least, an AMO account is also required.

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

#110

Post by derefr »

daveed wrote: post #104

I spent some time some productivity extensions, for gmail replies[0] and quick notetaking[1]. It was a lot of fun, but like other people have mentioned, porting to and working with manifest v3 is not as nice. I've noticed also that the way Google asks for permissions from the user is done in human-understandable, but worst-case language. For example, I think there was something where I wanted access to the current ta…

They're describing the worst-case thing someone could do with the privilege being granted, because they have no way of saying what the developer will do with the privilege.

The way to make the prompt sound less scary, is to use finer-grained permissions where the worst-case thing someone could do is less scary.

(Or, if there aren't any fine-grained permissions suited to doing your task — then propose some! The browser vendors would love to get real feedback on the kinds of fine-grained hypothetical privileges that extensions authors would actually find useful. Otherwise they're stuck reading the source code of a small sample of extensions, and extrapolating general patterns of privilege-use from there.)

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