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Browser extensions are underrated, and ideal for such use cases! More people should consider it as part of their tech arsenal. Congrats!

evermike 8y ago
I agree. And once again I will note that browser extension was the crucial idea behind our growth. But there are some difficulties. For example, sometimes our customers do not understand that the extension is needed and delete it :) Or, for example, they have several computers and on each, they need to install our extension. And they simply forget it.
- ernsheong 8y ago
  Interesting real challenges. Definitely the cons of an extension for a product like Everhour.
briandear 8y ago
I really hate browser extensions because the product now forces me to use a particular browser. Rarely do products like this support Safari for example. It also requires a strong level of trust as well.
- k__ 8y ago
  Aren't extensions standardized for a years now?
  - ernsheong 8y ago
    Safari hasn’t joined the standards yet. You can do one code base for FF and Chrome, but Safari is a totally different beast.
    - evermike 8y ago
      Moreover, Apple is deprecating legacy Safari Extensions now and pushing developers to transition to Safari App Extensions – which are offered through traditional Mac apps via the Mac App Store. More here - https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/09/safari-12-extensions-more/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/09/safari-12-extensions-more/ It's another headache for us. So far we did not find any good step-by-step article on how to do it.
      - maio 8y ago
        We have pretty complex extension so we decided to write Chrome API compatibility layer. It allows us to run our existing Chrome extension as an Safari app. extension. Check out https://github.com/avast/topee https://github.com/avast/topee - It's work in progress (but already complete enough for our use case).
    - maio 8y ago
      Check out https://github.com/avast/topee https://github.com/avast/topee - It allows us to use same codebase for Chrome and Safari (app. extension).
- evermike 8y ago
  Are you using Everhour? I'm asking because we do our best to support the most popular browsers: Chrome, Firefox and Safari. We do not force you to use one. I.e. we offer same functionality in your preferred browser. But each browser has its own features and ecosystem. Chrome is the easiest from tech perspective. Safari for example has a very strange review policies. Judge for yourself, as soon as we release a new version of our extension, Chrome releases it within an hour and does it automatically. In Safari, we need to send it for review each time and wait for a week or two. During this time we can release a few more updates.

evermike 8y ago

I agree. And once again I will note that browser extension was the crucial idea behind our growth. But there are some difficulties. For example, sometimes our customers do not understand that the extension is needed and delete it :) Or, for example, they have several computers and on each, they need to install our extension. And they simply forget it.

ernsheong 8y ago
Interesting real challenges. Definitely the cons of an extension for a product like Everhour.

briandear 8y ago

I really hate browser extensions because the product now forces me to use a particular browser. Rarely do products like this support Safari for example. It also requires a strong level of trust as well.

k__ 8y ago
Aren't extensions standardized for a years now?
- ernsheong 8y ago
  Safari hasn’t joined the standards yet. You can do one code base for FF and Chrome, but Safari is a totally different beast.
  - evermike 8y ago
    Moreover, Apple is deprecating legacy Safari Extensions now and pushing developers to transition to Safari App Extensions – which are offered through traditional Mac apps via the Mac App Store. More here - https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/09/safari-12-extensions-more/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/09/safari-12-extensions-more/ It's another headache for us. So far we did not find any good step-by-step article on how to do it.
    - maio 8y ago
      We have pretty complex extension so we decided to write Chrome API compatibility layer. It allows us to run our existing Chrome extension as an Safari app. extension. Check out https://github.com/avast/topee https://github.com/avast/topee - It's work in progress (but already complete enough for our use case).
  - maio 8y ago
    Check out https://github.com/avast/topee https://github.com/avast/topee - It allows us to use same codebase for Chrome and Safari (app. extension).
evermike 8y ago
Are you using Everhour? I'm asking because we do our best to support the most popular browsers: Chrome, Firefox and Safari. We do not force you to use one. I.e. we offer same functionality in your preferred browser. But each browser has its own features and ecosystem. Chrome is the easiest from tech perspective. Safari for example has a very strange review policies. Judge for yourself, as soon as we release a new version of our extension, Chrome releases it within an hour and does it automatically. In Safari, we need to send it for review each time and wait for a week or two. During this time we can release a few more updates.