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I quite like bookmarklets, easy to write. Tried a userscript but couldn't get into it. Never tried an extension, wouldn't know where to start.

lstamour 3y ago
Start with ChatGPT or a sample extension. The unfortunate part of web browser extensions is that, like the treadmill of web frameworks and app development, browsers can’t seem to stop changing and tweaking how extensions work and remove perfectly good functionality. So you end up sometimes having to rewrite an extension or its manifest with very little assistance from browser makers. But at least you don’t need to learn XUL any longer, so not all changes are bad ;-)
- notzane 3y ago
  I made this extension fully using chatGPT to diagnose some layout issues. It’s super simple but chatGPT was definitely useful setting up the chrome boilerplate (and commenting what each option meant). Make sure you ask it to target the most recent version, they recently changed (to v3?) and it seems chatGPT prefers writing for the old version. https://github.com/notzane/red-box-outline https://github.com/notzane/red-box-outline
ustad 3y ago
Check out Firefox examples on github, you’ll like it, I’ve had great experience learning from them to add nifty features to my browser: https://github.com/mdn/webextensions-examples https://github.com/mdn/webextensions-examples
olejorgenb 3y ago
How do you "compile" the bookmarklets? I know of https://bookmarkl.ink/ https://bookmarkl.ink/ but then we're back trusting some third-party service again. I get that it's not rocket science, but this is definitively a small hurdle to overcome.
- account-5 3y ago
  I don't compile them. I just write the JavaScript and wrap it in an anonymous function then save the code as a bookmark.
  - olejorgenb 3y ago
    Ah, I thought it didn't work to simply paste the javascript directly into the bookmark. Don't you have to minimally URI encode it? `javascript:URI_ENCODED_CODE`
    - madacol 3y ago
      No, Firefox automatically encodes it, but it does have other gotchas because line-breaks are removed - You have to put `;` on each statement - You cannot use inline comments, // you cannot do this

lstamour 3y ago

Start with ChatGPT or a sample extension. The unfortunate part of web browser extensions is that, like the treadmill of web frameworks and app development, browsers can’t seem to stop changing and tweaking how extensions work and remove perfectly good functionality. So you end up sometimes having to rewrite an extension or its manifest with very little assistance from browser makers. But at least you don’t need to learn XUL any longer, so not all changes are bad ;-)

notzane 3y ago
I made this extension fully using chatGPT to diagnose some layout issues. It’s super simple but chatGPT was definitely useful setting up the chrome boilerplate (and commenting what each option meant). Make sure you ask it to target the most recent version, they recently changed (to v3?) and it seems chatGPT prefers writing for the old version. https://github.com/notzane/red-box-outline https://github.com/notzane/red-box-outline

ustad 3y ago

Check out Firefox examples on github, you’ll like it, I’ve had great experience learning from them to add nifty features to my browser: https://github.com/mdn/webextensions-examples https://github.com/mdn/webextensions-examples

olejorgenb 3y ago

How do you "compile" the bookmarklets? I know of https://bookmarkl.ink/ https://bookmarkl.ink/ but then we're back trusting some third-party service again. I get that it's not rocket science, but this is definitively a small hurdle to overcome.

account-5 3y ago
I don't compile them. I just write the JavaScript and wrap it in an anonymous function then save the code as a bookmark.
- olejorgenb 3y ago
  Ah, I thought it didn't work to simply paste the javascript directly into the bookmark. Don't you have to minimally URI encode it? `javascript:URI_ENCODED_CODE`
  - madacol 3y ago
    No, Firefox automatically encodes it, but it does have other gotchas because line-breaks are removed - You have to put `;` on each statement - You cannot use inline comments, // you cannot do this