5 ms·

I always thought it was bizarre that WebExtensions had no UI framework. Injecting stuff into a website seems like a poor solution

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
tyingq 9y ago
There is a bit of separate ui, both for the config page and the div (popup panel) that pops when you click the extension button. What were you looking for instead?
- singularity2001 9y ago
  the problem with the Pop-Up panel is that you cannot open it programmatically
revelation 9y ago
That's all these extensions are. Injecting stuff into websites, usually all of them. I needed a Chrome extension after they inexplicably broke backspace navigating backwards (it literally has the same icon as the backwards UI button). That extension needs to inject a script on every. single. website. It's like Google is spending millions upon dollars building convoluted sandboxing security features, and there is a place for that in protecting us from code execution. But then everyone is pushing for "apps on the web" and here we are with random extensions that can do everything. And they do: lots of them make money through selling your browsing history.
- nothrabannosir 9y ago
  > they inexplicably broke backspace navigating backwards Hallelujah, praise the lord! He is righteous and he is Good. Finally. I cannot count the number of times I accidentally hit tab in a form text input, backspace, and lose the entire form. Of course it’s built in JS so state isn’t saved by browser on going forward. Because why use standards? It’s 2017, ain’t nobody got time for functionality. It got so bad I now automatically open a text editor to write the text in, first. This was a bug bear of epic proportions. Good riddance.
  - kuschku 9y ago
    That was the standard navigation method of every webbrowser for decades, not a bug.
    - kelnos 9y ago
      Just because something is and has been standard for a long time, it doesn't make it good UX.
    - merlish 9y ago
      It sucks that it's gone - it took me months to retrain my muscle memory to stop using backspace - but I've definitely accidentally navigated back from a form before. I've adjusted. It's a hard decision but imo the right one. Future generations shouldn't have to deal with this. To anyone reading who needs a keyboard-based substitute: Alt+Left Arrow.
      - kuschku 9y ago
        [Alt]+[←] requires two hands, though: One to press the [Alt] on the far left of the keyboard, one to press [←] on the far right of the keyboard. That’s horrible.
        dawnbreez 9y ago
        I typically use a vim-like set of keybinds when possible, so for me it's something like shift-H or g,h.
        jholman 9y ago
        That's weird, because I press it all the time with one hand. I don't even reliably use the same hand. Does your keyboard not have an Alt key to the right of the space-bar?
        kuschku 9y ago
        On international keyboards, there is no right alt key, but instead at that place is [AltGr], which triggers both [Alt] and [Ctrl]. [AltGr]+[M] for example gives μ, [AltGr]+[E] gives € and [AltGr]+[Q] gives [@]. Obviously, [AltGr]+[←] doesn't work. It's one more of those shortcuts that make it obvious that whoever made the decision only ever used a US Standard keyboard, and never even considered international users. The only decisions even worse are ever using ` (it's a 4 key combo on some international keyboards, and not at all existing on others), or ~ \ [ ] { } ( ) ; : (all of these are combinations of usually two or three keys on most international keyboards).
eejdoowad 9y ago
An extension overlay API would have saved me so much pain when building Saka (saka.io). There are two options for injecting UI today: 1. Inject UI directly into the document 2. Inject an iframe containing the UI into the document Both rely on manipulating the document, which can be used to fingerprint users. Most developers opt for 1 because it requires no setup and lets the content script synchronously access the UI. 2 is needed when the injected UI containing sensitive information. I'd like an extension overlay API that lets you inject: 1. UI local to the tab 2. UI that persists across all tabs In a brief #webextensions IRC discussion, I was told an overlay API isn't viable for a number of reasons, one of which is multiple extensions may conflict.
- hawski 9y ago
  Did they tell you how the extensions may conflict? I don't understand what it means. Couldn't it work like e.g. context menu does already for extension icon?
  - eejdoowad 9y ago
    What happens when two extensions try to place a widget in the same location? Chaos. Not that the status quo is any better. Interestingly, Firefox's sidebar API only allows a single sidebar to be shown.
    - drdaeman 9y ago
      I still don't get it. What problem they're trying to avoid? It's exactly the same if two extensions would currently try to manipulate the page by adding a frame (or, worse, a <div> with non-isolated UI) to the same location. The only difference is, with out-of-page widgets (e.g. overlay regions or popouts), they won't be visible in the page's DOM.
      - eejdoowad 9y ago
        My understanding is that if they do implement an API, they want it to be better than the status quo, not the same.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

tyingq 9y ago

There is a bit of separate ui, both for the config page and the div (popup panel) that pops when you click the extension button. What were you looking for instead?

singularity2001 9y ago
the problem with the Pop-Up panel is that you cannot open it programmatically

revelation 9y ago

That's all these extensions are. Injecting stuff into websites, usually all of them. I needed a Chrome extension after they inexplicably broke backspace navigating backwards (it literally has the same icon as the backwards UI button). That extension needs to inject a script on every. single. website. It's like Google is spending millions upon dollars building convoluted sandboxing security features, and there is a place for that in protecting us from code execution. But then everyone is pushing for "apps on the web" and here we are with random extensions that can do everything. And they do: lots of them make money through selling your browsing history.

nothrabannosir 9y ago
> they inexplicably broke backspace navigating backwards Hallelujah, praise the lord! He is righteous and he is Good. Finally. I cannot count the number of times I accidentally hit tab in a form text input, backspace, and lose the entire form. Of course it’s built in JS so state isn’t saved by browser on going forward. Because why use standards? It’s 2017, ain’t nobody got time for functionality. It got so bad I now automatically open a text editor to write the text in, first. This was a bug bear of epic proportions. Good riddance.
- kuschku 9y ago
  That was the standard navigation method of every webbrowser for decades, not a bug.
  - kelnos 9y ago
    Just because something is and has been standard for a long time, it doesn't make it good UX.
  - merlish 9y ago
    It sucks that it's gone - it took me months to retrain my muscle memory to stop using backspace - but I've definitely accidentally navigated back from a form before. I've adjusted. It's a hard decision but imo the right one. Future generations shouldn't have to deal with this. To anyone reading who needs a keyboard-based substitute: Alt+Left Arrow.
    - kuschku 9y ago
      [Alt]+[←] requires two hands, though: One to press the [Alt] on the far left of the keyboard, one to press [←] on the far right of the keyboard. That’s horrible.
      - dawnbreez 9y ago
        I typically use a vim-like set of keybinds when possible, so for me it's something like shift-H or g,h.
      - jholman 9y ago
        That's weird, because I press it all the time with one hand. I don't even reliably use the same hand. Does your keyboard not have an Alt key to the right of the space-bar?
        kuschku 9y ago
        On international keyboards, there is no right alt key, but instead at that place is [AltGr], which triggers both [Alt] and [Ctrl]. [AltGr]+[M] for example gives μ, [AltGr]+[E] gives € and [AltGr]+[Q] gives [@]. Obviously, [AltGr]+[←] doesn't work. It's one more of those shortcuts that make it obvious that whoever made the decision only ever used a US Standard keyboard, and never even considered international users. The only decisions even worse are ever using ` (it's a 4 key combo on some international keyboards, and not at all existing on others), or ~ \ [ ] { } ( ) ; : (all of these are combinations of usually two or three keys on most international keyboards).

eejdoowad 9y ago

An extension overlay API would have saved me so much pain when building Saka (saka.io). There are two options for injecting UI today: 1. Inject UI directly into the document 2. Inject an iframe containing the UI into the document Both rely on manipulating the document, which can be used to fingerprint users. Most developers opt for 1 because it requires no setup and lets the content script synchronously access the UI. 2 is needed when the injected UI containing sensitive information. I'd like an extension overlay API that lets you inject: 1. UI local to the tab 2. UI that persists across all tabs In a brief #webextensions IRC discussion, I was told an overlay API isn't viable for a number of reasons, one of which is multiple extensions may conflict.

hawski 9y ago
Did they tell you how the extensions may conflict? I don't understand what it means. Couldn't it work like e.g. context menu does already for extension icon?
- eejdoowad 9y ago
  What happens when two extensions try to place a widget in the same location? Chaos. Not that the status quo is any better. Interestingly, Firefox's sidebar API only allows a single sidebar to be shown.
  - drdaeman 9y ago
    I still don't get it. What problem they're trying to avoid? It's exactly the same if two extensions would currently try to manipulate the page by adding a frame (or, worse, a <div> with non-isolated UI) to the same location. The only difference is, with out-of-page widgets (e.g. overlay regions or popouts), they won't be visible in the page's DOM.
    - eejdoowad 9y ago
      My understanding is that if they do implement an API, they want it to be better than the status quo, not the same.