10 ms·

Show HN: BetterSlack – A Chrome extension to make Slack better

80 points by g3rv4 8y ago

geekuillaume 8y ago
One of the problem I always have on Slack or other chats is the 300+ unread messages after being offline for a day or two. I tend to skip everything but sometimes I miss things I should read... A solution?
- g3rv4 8y ago
  what would you like it to happen? the extension may be able to filter the ones sent in the last N hours and adjust the number of unread... but that wouldn't solve the problem of missing things you should read.
- weego 8y ago
  That's a people problem that needs a people solution.
  - jermaustin1 8y ago
    I would agree with this. Seems like a flag on a message that is considered important would be all that is needed.
    - amelius 8y ago
      Soon there will be an extension which automatically flags all messages sent by the current user as important.
      - dvtrn 8y ago
        It already exists, it's called Gmail. I've audibly remarked more than once, as if the Gmail UI could respond to me in kind: "if you mark everything as important nothing is important"
      - jermaustin1 8y ago
        Fine you can't flag your own message as important, others have to tag it important.
- emddudley 8y ago
  I think it's a common misunderstanding that we must read everything in Slack. You don't have to. If something's important it will come up again, or if it's directly relevant to you then someone will tag you. When someone asks about a Slack conversation you didn't see, just say you missed it. It's a better norm than being expected to stay up to the minute on every word uttered by every employee.
  - dingaling 8y ago
    > If something's important it will come up again So why use it at all? That's rapidly becoming my thought on this Slack mess. If it's important they'll call me or send an email. Just like in 2015. > just say you missed it Technology is supposed to make data manageable. If it doesn't then it's a failure. I've deleted the Slack app from my phone. It has progressed through the stages of Usenet in a few years. Now the signal is unrecoverable in the noise. It has failed.
    - g3rv4 8y ago
      why use it at all? you may not be the one who chooses what tool your team uses for communication.
    - strken 8y ago
      I don't think any technology makes data manageable in the sense that you want it to. Summarising information is still relegated to humans, and filtering noisy sources of information is on you. For instance, your company might have a hundred slack channels and private conversations. You could be interested in five (channels specific to projects you're on, things you're interested in, or non-critical alerts), not interested in ninety (other projects, functional groups you don't care about, other groups' lunch plans), and actively disinterested in another five (#random, #politics-that-make-me-angry, #synergy, #build-system-spam).
    - briandear 8y ago
      The problem is your team, not the platform. Use channels, be disciplined about what goes on in the channels. Use threads for side conversations. Use private messages when needed.
- bobwaycott 8y ago
  Anything important enough that should not be missed should be sent in an email. Slack, IRC, and other chat-likes are additional communication channels—they shouldn’t be a primary mission-critical delivery system.
- dorfsmay 8y ago
  Temporary and if it needs an answer, answer only makes sense if near immediate: use IM (slack etc...) Just an FYI that everybody needs to know or needs an answer regardless of when you can answer: use email Information that is valid until a major change (or forever if that exists): document in your wiki or whatever documentation system you use. When I'm back from time off, I mark all slack channels as read.
- bproven 8y ago
  Doesn't apply to Slack, but Zulip's solution is use topics : https://zulipchat.com/hello/ https://zulipchat.com/hello/
- vishnu_ks 8y ago
  You should checkout Zulip https://zulipchat.com/why-zulip/ https://zulipchat.com/why-zulip/ Disclaimer: I am a full time contributor at Zulip.
- prolikewh0a 8y ago
  Shift + Esc
- andrewkfiedler 8y ago
  I've started enforcing a thread only mentality in most of the channels at my work. It lets you easily catch up on the topics you care about.
pingec 8y ago
Finally a way to ignore a user!
- brootstrap 8y ago
  lol -- that angry boss who always yells things in slack chat, OUR APP IS BROKEN WE NEED TO FIX IT ASAP... see ya later sk8r , you've been silenced
fb03 8y ago
I have tried slack for some months and found it super laggy, both on the desktop and on android. Then someone invited me to try Discord for company comms and I said "that's a gaming-oriented app, cmon it won't work well".... my mind was blown by how smooth Discord is. We are a small shop but since we migrated from Slack to Discord we haven't been focusing much on 'how to communicate' but more on actually just chatting. I advise everyone that talks about Slack to try Discord as a good alternative, even if your use case is synchronizing a loosely-knit team over the internet.
- g3rv4 8y ago
  I'd love to give zulip a try
- brobdingnagians 8y ago
  Hmm, looks like Discord backend is built on C++/Elixir/Erlang[1], and Slack is built on a scripting language. I think people underestimate the difference in scalability and UX with something like this that handles lots of small packets. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/3q62hw/on_what_technology_is_built_discord/ https://www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/3q62hw/on_what_...
  - aidos 8y ago
    Many of the complaints regarding slack are about the interface, not the backend architecture.
  - fb03 8y ago
    I am sorry, I was actually talking about the Front UI, and both use JS (and Electron on the desktop) iirc. Slack gets choppy (almost down to typing lag!) pretty quickly on a middle-tier Android phone and with Discord, it keeps snappy no matter what. I'd say that Discord is the actual Slack killer today.
    - lwansbrough 8y ago
      Discord is bigger than Slack, so I’d say that may already be true. The secret to their app’s speed is using native components inside their React Native app. The chat UI (messages and input) for instance (IIRC) is native.
zachsnow 8y ago
Hey this is neat! Re: injecting into Slack.app, you're right, it's a pain. I had a simple approach here: https://zachsnow.github.io/slinger/ https://zachsnow.github.io/slinger/ but it needs to be updated for every version (which of course I didn't do). It would be cool if you made it so that users could inject it manually (via enabling --dev and $.getScript() or so) into the app; I for one don't restart Slack very often, so it wouldn't be too much of a pain.
- g3rv4 8y ago
  nice! yeah, the problem with dynamically loading the script is that an attacker could inject anything... and they could easily steal your slack token. But that sounds like an amazing thing for me to use locally :)
robmccoll 8y ago
Is there a way to view and interact with multiple conversations at the same time? I want pop-up tabs or pop-out windows or something. Slack always seems like a step backwards in chat to me.
- g3rv4 8y ago
  oh, pop-out threads would be nice. I share your frustration :( and that's what compelled me to take a first stab at solving some issues.
stunt 8y ago
Markdown support for links from users is a bad idea and just makes phishing attack easier as many organizations have public channels.
- g3rv4 8y ago
  oh, an attacker could do [https://nicely-looking-url.com](https://shady-site.com) https://nicely-looking-url.com](https://shady-site.com). I see your point. however, anybody with a bit of javascript knowledge can do it. I guess we need to keep educating people about the importance of checking urls?
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
NelsonMinar 8y ago
I like having reacji to the right of the message instead of below. Slack should steal that idea. Screenshot here: https://i.imgur.com/mDYtOy2.png https://i.imgur.com/mDYtOy2.png
- g3rv4 8y ago
  somebody on Slack is already aware of the possibility: https://twitter.com/SlackHQ/status/1033279901888065536 https://twitter.com/SlackHQ/status/1033279901888065536
danShumway 8y ago
> If you write [here's a link](https://gmc.uy https://gmc.uy), it shows it as a link :) > The nice part? it shows it as a link for everybody, not only those who have the extension installed. Wait, wat? I'm looking at the code[0], and this is the most surprising part of this entire project to me. Slack goes out of its way to say "we don't support Markdown because we think the link support is an exploit." But they just have an alternate, undocumented way to send links anyway? Is that a bug on Slack's side? I'm trying the syntax format that you're casting to in DMs to myself, and it doesn't seem to work? Are they doing clientside escaping or something? Don't get me wrong, I think the "people might phish links" excuse is kind of lame when there are multiple ways for them to mitigate that problem, I'm just very curious about how and why this works. [0]: https://github.com/g3rv4/BetterSlack/commit/24ad3b57da7a9c9c6455a038b96a2ac44a71ac73 https://github.com/g3rv4/BetterSlack/commit/24ad3b57da7a9c9c...
- g3rv4 8y ago
  I guess that if they consider it a vulnerability, they're going to do the check on the server side... I really hope they don't though. If they do, I'll fix it on the extension (so only people with the extension would see the markdown links as real links). Also: to answer your question... yes, there's an undocumented way of sending them. And yes, the client escapes `<https://url.com|the https://url.com|the title>` to `<https://url.com|the https://url.com|the title>`. The format is the same format used by bots to generate links.
- Savageman 8y ago
  I don't think it's a bug, since they've always supported links in their Web API, both for users and bots. It just happens the Slack client doesn't use that feature.
  - danShumway 8y ago
    Huh. They do[0]. I stand corrected. I wonder why they don't also support it for the client[1]? It can't possibly be for security if they have a workaround. I guess for whatever the same reason is that they invented their own slightly messed up version of Markdown instead of using the same format as 99% of the entire web. :/ I dunno. Glad that there's a workaround though, and that it's officially supported. [0]: https://api.slack.com/docs/message-formatting#linking_to_urls https://api.slack.com/docs/message-formatting#linking_to_url... [1]: https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/204399343-Sharing-links-in-Slack https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/204399343-Sharing-l...
targafarian 8y ago
Would it be straightforward to do e.g. Mathjax rendering of equations delimited by dollars-signs? e.g.: $\int_a^b x$ or $$\int_a^b x$$
- g3rv4 8y ago
  yeah! if you have a library that does it, you could inspect when a message is created and call the library when the message is rendered. PRs are welcome :)
gcb0 8y ago
I can't believe. They now have a GUI to create "chrome.exe $url" on your desktop?! why?

80 points by g3rv4 8y ago

One of the problem I always have on Slack or other chats is the 300+ unread messages after being offline for a day or two. I tend to skip everything but sometimes I miss things I should read... A solution?

g3rv4 8y ago
what would you like it to happen? the extension may be able to filter the ones sent in the last N hours and adjust the number of unread... but that wouldn't solve the problem of missing things you should read.
weego 8y ago
That's a people problem that needs a people solution.
- jermaustin1 8y ago
  I would agree with this. Seems like a flag on a message that is considered important would be all that is needed.
  - amelius 8y ago
    Soon there will be an extension which automatically flags all messages sent by the current user as important.
    - dvtrn 8y ago
      It already exists, it's called Gmail. I've audibly remarked more than once, as if the Gmail UI could respond to me in kind: "if you mark everything as important nothing is important"
    - jermaustin1 8y ago
      Fine you can't flag your own message as important, others have to tag it important.
emddudley 8y ago
I think it's a common misunderstanding that we must read everything in Slack. You don't have to. If something's important it will come up again, or if it's directly relevant to you then someone will tag you. When someone asks about a Slack conversation you didn't see, just say you missed it. It's a better norm than being expected to stay up to the minute on every word uttered by every employee.
- dingaling 8y ago
  > If something's important it will come up again So why use it at all? That's rapidly becoming my thought on this Slack mess. If it's important they'll call me or send an email. Just like in 2015. > just say you missed it Technology is supposed to make data manageable. If it doesn't then it's a failure. I've deleted the Slack app from my phone. It has progressed through the stages of Usenet in a few years. Now the signal is unrecoverable in the noise. It has failed.
  - g3rv4 8y ago
    why use it at all? you may not be the one who chooses what tool your team uses for communication.
  - strken 8y ago
    I don't think any technology makes data manageable in the sense that you want it to. Summarising information is still relegated to humans, and filtering noisy sources of information is on you. For instance, your company might have a hundred slack channels and private conversations. You could be interested in five (channels specific to projects you're on, things you're interested in, or non-critical alerts), not interested in ninety (other projects, functional groups you don't care about, other groups' lunch plans), and actively disinterested in another five (#random, #politics-that-make-me-angry, #synergy, #build-system-spam).
  - briandear 8y ago
    The problem is your team, not the platform. Use channels, be disciplined about what goes on in the channels. Use threads for side conversations. Use private messages when needed.
bobwaycott 8y ago
Anything important enough that should not be missed should be sent in an email. Slack, IRC, and other chat-likes are additional communication channels—they shouldn’t be a primary mission-critical delivery system.
dorfsmay 8y ago
Temporary and if it needs an answer, answer only makes sense if near immediate: use IM (slack etc...) Just an FYI that everybody needs to know or needs an answer regardless of when you can answer: use email Information that is valid until a major change (or forever if that exists): document in your wiki or whatever documentation system you use. When I'm back from time off, I mark all slack channels as read.
bproven 8y ago
Doesn't apply to Slack, but Zulip's solution is use topics : https://zulipchat.com/hello/ https://zulipchat.com/hello/
vishnu_ks 8y ago
You should checkout Zulip https://zulipchat.com/why-zulip/ https://zulipchat.com/why-zulip/ Disclaimer: I am a full time contributor at Zulip.
prolikewh0a 8y ago
Shift + Esc
andrewkfiedler 8y ago
I've started enforcing a thread only mentality in most of the channels at my work. It lets you easily catch up on the topics you care about.

pingec 8y ago

Finally a way to ignore a user!

brootstrap 8y ago
lol -- that angry boss who always yells things in slack chat, OUR APP IS BROKEN WE NEED TO FIX IT ASAP... see ya later sk8r , you've been silenced

fb03 8y ago

I have tried slack for some months and found it super laggy, both on the desktop and on android. Then someone invited me to try Discord for company comms and I said "that's a gaming-oriented app, cmon it won't work well".... my mind was blown by how smooth Discord is. We are a small shop but since we migrated from Slack to Discord we haven't been focusing much on 'how to communicate' but more on actually just chatting. I advise everyone that talks about Slack to try Discord as a good alternative, even if your use case is synchronizing a loosely-knit team over the internet.

g3rv4 8y ago
I'd love to give zulip a try
brobdingnagians 8y ago
Hmm, looks like Discord backend is built on C++/Elixir/Erlang[1], and Slack is built on a scripting language. I think people underestimate the difference in scalability and UX with something like this that handles lots of small packets. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/3q62hw/on_what_technology_is_built_discord/ https://www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/3q62hw/on_what_...
- aidos 8y ago
  Many of the complaints regarding slack are about the interface, not the backend architecture.
- fb03 8y ago
  I am sorry, I was actually talking about the Front UI, and both use JS (and Electron on the desktop) iirc. Slack gets choppy (almost down to typing lag!) pretty quickly on a middle-tier Android phone and with Discord, it keeps snappy no matter what. I'd say that Discord is the actual Slack killer today.
  - lwansbrough 8y ago
    Discord is bigger than Slack, so I’d say that may already be true. The secret to their app’s speed is using native components inside their React Native app. The chat UI (messages and input) for instance (IIRC) is native.

zachsnow 8y ago

Hey this is neat! Re: injecting into Slack.app, you're right, it's a pain. I had a simple approach here: https://zachsnow.github.io/slinger/ https://zachsnow.github.io/slinger/ but it needs to be updated for every version (which of course I didn't do). It would be cool if you made it so that users could inject it manually (via enabling --dev and $.getScript() or so) into the app; I for one don't restart Slack very often, so it wouldn't be too much of a pain.

g3rv4 8y ago
nice! yeah, the problem with dynamically loading the script is that an attacker could inject anything... and they could easily steal your slack token. But that sounds like an amazing thing for me to use locally :)

robmccoll 8y ago

Is there a way to view and interact with multiple conversations at the same time? I want pop-up tabs or pop-out windows or something. Slack always seems like a step backwards in chat to me.

g3rv4 8y ago
oh, pop-out threads would be nice. I share your frustration :( and that's what compelled me to take a first stab at solving some issues.

stunt 8y ago

Markdown support for links from users is a bad idea and just makes phishing attack easier as many organizations have public channels.

g3rv4 8y ago
oh, an attacker could do [https://nicely-looking-url.com](https://shady-site.com) https://nicely-looking-url.com](https://shady-site.com). I see your point. however, anybody with a bit of javascript knowledge can do it. I guess we need to keep educating people about the importance of checking urls?

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

NelsonMinar 8y ago

I like having reacji to the right of the message instead of below. Slack should steal that idea. Screenshot here: https://i.imgur.com/mDYtOy2.png https://i.imgur.com/mDYtOy2.png

g3rv4 8y ago
somebody on Slack is already aware of the possibility: https://twitter.com/SlackHQ/status/1033279901888065536 https://twitter.com/SlackHQ/status/1033279901888065536

danShumway 8y ago

> If you write [here's a link](https://gmc.uy https://gmc.uy), it shows it as a link :) > The nice part? it shows it as a link for everybody, not only those who have the extension installed. Wait, wat? I'm looking at the code[0], and this is the most surprising part of this entire project to me. Slack goes out of its way to say "we don't support Markdown because we think the link support is an exploit." But they just have an alternate, undocumented way to send links anyway? Is that a bug on Slack's side? I'm trying the syntax format that you're casting to in DMs to myself, and it doesn't seem to work? Are they doing clientside escaping or something? Don't get me wrong, I think the "people might phish links" excuse is kind of lame when there are multiple ways for them to mitigate that problem, I'm just very curious about how and why this works. [0]: https://github.com/g3rv4/BetterSlack/commit/24ad3b57da7a9c9c6455a038b96a2ac44a71ac73 https://github.com/g3rv4/BetterSlack/commit/24ad3b57da7a9c9c...

g3rv4 8y ago
I guess that if they consider it a vulnerability, they're going to do the check on the server side... I really hope they don't though. If they do, I'll fix it on the extension (so only people with the extension would see the markdown links as real links). Also: to answer your question... yes, there's an undocumented way of sending them. And yes, the client escapes `<https://url.com|the https://url.com|the title>` to `<https://url.com|the https://url.com|the title>`. The format is the same format used by bots to generate links.
Savageman 8y ago
I don't think it's a bug, since they've always supported links in their Web API, both for users and bots. It just happens the Slack client doesn't use that feature.
- danShumway 8y ago
  Huh. They do[0]. I stand corrected. I wonder why they don't also support it for the client[1]? It can't possibly be for security if they have a workaround. I guess for whatever the same reason is that they invented their own slightly messed up version of Markdown instead of using the same format as 99% of the entire web. :/ I dunno. Glad that there's a workaround though, and that it's officially supported. [0]: https://api.slack.com/docs/message-formatting#linking_to_urls https://api.slack.com/docs/message-formatting#linking_to_url... [1]: https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/204399343-Sharing-links-in-Slack https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/204399343-Sharing-l...

targafarian 8y ago

Would it be straightforward to do e.g. Mathjax rendering of equations delimited by dollars-signs? e.g.: $\int_a^b x$ or $$\int_a^b x$$

g3rv4 8y ago
yeah! if you have a library that does it, you could inspect when a message is created and call the library when the message is rendered. PRs are welcome :)

gcb0 8y ago

I can't believe. They now have a GUI to create "chrome.exe $url" on your desktop?! why?