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> I do lots of extension development Off topic, but since you seem experienced at this, do you recommend any resources for extension development for someone th

> I do lots of extension development Off topic, but since you seem experienced at this, do you recommend any resources for extension development for someone that's beginning from scratch with no experience in this area?

horsawlarway 4y ago
I would still recommend the docs from MDN and Google. If you're relatively familiar with web development in general - you can just peruse the APIs that are available for extensions Chromium based: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/ https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/ Or for Firefox: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/Web... Then hit the MDN "My first extension page" to get a mostly functional manifest file: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Your_first_WebExtension https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/Web... Get familiar with `about:debugging` in firefox, and `chrome://extensions` in chrome - you'll need them to load your test extensions. Finally - It's very worth it to read and understand the "core concepts" as outlined here, starting with the content_scripts: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/content_scripts/ https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/content_scr...
mfrisbie 4y ago
I was frustrated with the lack of resources, so I'm publishing a book on it: "Building Browser Extensions". Available later this year. https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/ https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/ And check out the companion extension: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/b2x https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/b2x
dirkf 4y ago
Wladimir Palant (original creator Adblock Plus and nowadays doing security work with a focus on browser extensions) has recently started a blog series on browser extension security: https://palant.info/2022/08/10/anatomy-of-a-basic-extension/ https://palant.info/2022/08/10/anatomy-of-a-basic-extension/

horsawlarway 4y ago

I would still recommend the docs from MDN and Google. If you're relatively familiar with web development in general - you can just peruse the APIs that are available for extensions Chromium based: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/ https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/ Or for Firefox: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/Web... Then hit the MDN "My first extension page" to get a mostly functional manifest file: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Your_first_WebExtension https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/Web... Get familiar with `about:debugging` in firefox, and `chrome://extensions` in chrome - you'll need them to load your test extensions. Finally - It's very worth it to read and understand the "core concepts" as outlined here, starting with the content_scripts: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/content_scripts/ https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/content_scr...

mfrisbie 4y ago

I was frustrated with the lack of resources, so I'm publishing a book on it: "Building Browser Extensions". Available later this year. https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/ https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/ And check out the companion extension: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/b2x https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/b2x

dirkf 4y ago

Wladimir Palant (original creator Adblock Plus and nowadays doing security work with a focus on browser extensions) has recently started a blog series on browser extension security: https://palant.info/2022/08/10/anatomy-of-a-basic-extension/ https://palant.info/2022/08/10/anatomy-of-a-basic-extension/