6 ms·

Google reveals Chrome extensions plan

19 points by johns 18y ago

andreyf 18y ago
I wonder if the security features are going to prevent extensions from talking to each other. I'd love it if my GMail tab could run an extension which provided services to an extension in my HN tab...
unalone 18y ago
Good to see they're planning AdBlock in advance. That'll hopefully shut up the nuts who're saying that Google will do anything to prevent AdBlock on Chrome and that it's all a conspiracy.
- boredguy8 18y ago
  Because conspiracy theories are grounded in rational thought... "They're just saying it, it will never show up" "They'll have secret hooks to get around AdBlock" "They'll have in-browser ads" &c
- sant0sk1 18y ago
  shuts up =]
- bootload 18y ago
  "... Good to see they're planning AdBlock in advance. ..." Does that include a mechanism to block textual adverts as well as image based adverts?
  - Herring 18y ago
    You've got to figure some extensions'll be made by the public. From the specs, it sounds like google will be building extensions. Imo this is a good change, I've always thought firefox should have a team making & maintaining extensions.
    - bootload 18y ago
      "... I've always thought firefox should have a team making & maintaining extensions ..." Probably not a good idea for most (aside from Google who have the resources). Most projects concentrate on the core api, documentation and leave the the add-ons for users. I'm specifically thinking of Firefox, JQuery etc.
      - Herring 18y ago
        Google has been bankrolling mozilla for the past couple years now. It's probably in mozilla's interest anyway since extensions provide some good lock-in.
rscott 18y ago
If they could bring it to Mac at the same time that would be fantastic.
- MikeCapone 18y ago
  Ditto.
- kentosi 18y ago
  Agreed. They mentioned that they were working on it on their blog when Chrome was released (bringing chrome to Mac and Linux), so I'm hoping it's still a priority. http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2008/09/platforms-and-priorities.html http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2008/09/platforms-and-prioriti...
  - eelco 18y ago
    At least they're still working on it ;) http://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/MacBuildInstructions http://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/MacBuildInstructions
sant0sk1 18y ago
"Of all the Firefox plug-ins, this is the one essential one," said Firefox user Ole Eichhorn. "Chrome is faster until you factor in all the cruft that gets downloaded as ads, then it isn't faster anymore. When Chrome supports AdBlock, it will be the winner, but until it does, Firefox is the only choice." http://safariadblock.sourceforge.net/ http://safariadblock.sourceforge.net/
- unalone 18y ago
  Safari AdBlock doesn't work nearly as well. It's less intuitive - very sadly, considering Safari itself is quite intuitive. Also, Safari's got some stability issues. Maybe it's just Safari 4, but I've been having some irritating crashes recently.
zitterbewegung 18y ago
You would think that they maybe should have held off releasing chrome until extensions were put into chrome possibly?
- bdr 18y ago
  I think it's better to release early and iterate. Extensions aren't a launch-critical feature.
andreyf 18y ago
The patch set for extensions is out for review here: http://codereview.chromium.org/12809/show http://codereview.chromium.org/12809/show
shadytrees 18y ago
This has to be the one of the most idealistic specs I've ever read: http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/extensions http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/extensio...
- omouse 18y ago
  It actually sounds do-able considering how Chrome is built and how Google has built other things using HTML and JavaScript.

19 points by johns 18y ago

I wonder if the security features are going to prevent extensions from talking to each other. I'd love it if my GMail tab could run an extension which provided services to an extension in my HN tab...

unalone 18y ago

Good to see they're planning AdBlock in advance. That'll hopefully shut up the nuts who're saying that Google will do anything to prevent AdBlock on Chrome and that it's all a conspiracy.

boredguy8 18y ago
Because conspiracy theories are grounded in rational thought... "They're just saying it, it will never show up" "They'll have secret hooks to get around AdBlock" "They'll have in-browser ads" &c
sant0sk1 18y ago
shuts up =]
bootload 18y ago
"... Good to see they're planning AdBlock in advance. ..." Does that include a mechanism to block textual adverts as well as image based adverts?
- Herring 18y ago
  You've got to figure some extensions'll be made by the public. From the specs, it sounds like google will be building extensions. Imo this is a good change, I've always thought firefox should have a team making & maintaining extensions.
  - bootload 18y ago
    "... I've always thought firefox should have a team making & maintaining extensions ..." Probably not a good idea for most (aside from Google who have the resources). Most projects concentrate on the core api, documentation and leave the the add-ons for users. I'm specifically thinking of Firefox, JQuery etc.
    - Herring 18y ago
      Google has been bankrolling mozilla for the past couple years now. It's probably in mozilla's interest anyway since extensions provide some good lock-in.

rscott 18y ago

If they could bring it to Mac at the same time that would be fantastic.

MikeCapone 18y ago
Ditto.
kentosi 18y ago
Agreed. They mentioned that they were working on it on their blog when Chrome was released (bringing chrome to Mac and Linux), so I'm hoping it's still a priority. http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2008/09/platforms-and-priorities.html http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2008/09/platforms-and-prioriti...
- eelco 18y ago
  At least they're still working on it ;) http://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/MacBuildInstructions http://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/MacBuildInstructions

sant0sk1 18y ago

"Of all the Firefox plug-ins, this is the one essential one," said Firefox user Ole Eichhorn. "Chrome is faster until you factor in all the cruft that gets downloaded as ads, then it isn't faster anymore. When Chrome supports AdBlock, it will be the winner, but until it does, Firefox is the only choice." http://safariadblock.sourceforge.net/ http://safariadblock.sourceforge.net/

unalone 18y ago
Safari AdBlock doesn't work nearly as well. It's less intuitive - very sadly, considering Safari itself is quite intuitive. Also, Safari's got some stability issues. Maybe it's just Safari 4, but I've been having some irritating crashes recently.

zitterbewegung 18y ago

You would think that they maybe should have held off releasing chrome until extensions were put into chrome possibly?

bdr 18y ago
I think it's better to release early and iterate. Extensions aren't a launch-critical feature.

andreyf 18y ago

The patch set for extensions is out for review here: http://codereview.chromium.org/12809/show http://codereview.chromium.org/12809/show

shadytrees 18y ago

This has to be the one of the most idealistic specs I've ever read: http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/extensions http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/extensio...

omouse 18y ago
It actually sounds do-able considering how Chrome is built and how Google has built other things using HTML and JavaScript.