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Show HN: Hacker News Talk, a Chrome extension for real-time commentary

48 points by wildermuthn 13y ago

wildermuthn 13y ago
Built with Firebase, Angular, Node, Redis. Just the right recipe for a Chrome extension. Huge kudos to the Firebase team. Can't say enough about their product and support.
hanley 13y ago
Is the source code available for this?
- jaredsohn 13y ago
  Chrome extensions are just HTML/JavaScript/CSS so there should always be source available. Sometimes it is obfuscated, although that is not the case for this extension. You can get the source by either installing it or by using this extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-extension-source-v/jifpbeccnghkjeaalbbjmodiffmgedin https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-extension-s... which lets you view the source prior to installing. (And that extension has source available on github.)
angersock 13y ago
bahahahahahahaha this is going to end so well (Seriously, though, good work!)
Spittie 13y ago
That's cool. I find the real-time typing quite annoying, mostly because if two or more people talk at the same time, messages that aren't completed yet get pushed to the bottom. I think it might get really messy if a lot of people start using it. The nicest thing in my opinion is that every article get it's own chatroom, so that people can talk about a single argument (and can post things that aren't maybe worth a full comment). Is a Firefox version under development?
- wildermuthn 13y ago
  Good points... every comment thread gets its own room too, like yours above: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6562592 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6562592 The reasoning behind the streaming text and auto-submits is to keep the conversation ephemeral, in the moment, more like talking than texting.
petercooper 13y ago
I know it's been discussed before, but I so wish Chrome Extensions for use on specific sites didn't need to ask for permissions like "Access your data on all websites" and "Access your tabs and browsing activity." It's a usability nightmare and sounds rather scary in today's security climate.
- wildermuthn 13y ago
  Thanks, Peter. Others have mentioned this as well. About 30 minutes ago I submitted an update that limits the extension's permissions to HN only, although it still accesses your active tab in order to place you in the right room. I'll see about a work-around for the tabs.
  - petercooper 13y ago
    Ah, cool! I just assumed this wasn't possible and Chrome forced developers to do this as extensions always seem to ask for these overarching permissions when I check them out, sadly.
mappum 13y ago
Good job, but I have one small suggestion: the name colors should be seeded by the name value, so people are always the same color. That's what IRC clients do so you remember people a little better.
StavrosK 13y ago
It's not working for me. I get: Denying load of chrome-extension://hhelddnkhfpbelngoaknanokldjhfhfd/app/js/vendor/underscore-min.map. Resources must be listed in the web_accessible_resources manifest key in order to be loaded by pages outside the extension.

48 points by wildermuthn 13y ago

Built with Firebase, Angular, Node, Redis. Just the right recipe for a Chrome extension. Huge kudos to the Firebase team. Can't say enough about their product and support.

hanley 13y ago

Is the source code available for this?

jaredsohn 13y ago
Chrome extensions are just HTML/JavaScript/CSS so there should always be source available. Sometimes it is obfuscated, although that is not the case for this extension. You can get the source by either installing it or by using this extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-extension-source-v/jifpbeccnghkjeaalbbjmodiffmgedin https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-extension-s... which lets you view the source prior to installing. (And that extension has source available on github.)

angersock 13y ago

bahahahahahahaha this is going to end so well (Seriously, though, good work!)

Spittie 13y ago

That's cool. I find the real-time typing quite annoying, mostly because if two or more people talk at the same time, messages that aren't completed yet get pushed to the bottom. I think it might get really messy if a lot of people start using it. The nicest thing in my opinion is that every article get it's own chatroom, so that people can talk about a single argument (and can post things that aren't maybe worth a full comment). Is a Firefox version under development?

wildermuthn 13y ago
Good points... every comment thread gets its own room too, like yours above: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6562592 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6562592 The reasoning behind the streaming text and auto-submits is to keep the conversation ephemeral, in the moment, more like talking than texting.

petercooper 13y ago

I know it's been discussed before, but I so wish Chrome Extensions for use on specific sites didn't need to ask for permissions like "Access your data on all websites" and "Access your tabs and browsing activity." It's a usability nightmare and sounds rather scary in today's security climate.

wildermuthn 13y ago
Thanks, Peter. Others have mentioned this as well. About 30 minutes ago I submitted an update that limits the extension's permissions to HN only, although it still accesses your active tab in order to place you in the right room. I'll see about a work-around for the tabs.
- petercooper 13y ago
  Ah, cool! I just assumed this wasn't possible and Chrome forced developers to do this as extensions always seem to ask for these overarching permissions when I check them out, sadly.

mappum 13y ago

Good job, but I have one small suggestion: the name colors should be seeded by the name value, so people are always the same color. That's what IRC clients do so you remember people a little better.

StavrosK 13y ago

It's not working for me. I get: Denying load of chrome-extension://hhelddnkhfpbelngoaknanokldjhfhfd/app/js/vendor/underscore-min.map. Resources must be listed in the web_accessible_resources manifest key in order to be loaded by pages outside the extension.