7 ms·

Show HN: HackerNews as default tab (chrome extension)

54 points by andreasklinger 13y ago

andreasklinger 13y ago
hey guys "It's like Hackernews but for tabs" As a friday afternoon hack i build a little extension that shows the latest of HN in your default tab of chrome. Hope you like it - it's a genius way to start procrastinating ;) Let me know what you think! Also if you are applying to the SummerBatch - all the best :)
- tokenizerrr 13y ago
  The permissions are too much.
mstroeck 13y ago
Love it! Much better than the default, especially in Chrome.
jkbr 13y ago
Nice hack, I really see the pro-procrastination potential ;) I find even the default tab too distracting and so one of my favourite extensions is Empty New Tab Page: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/empty-new-tab-page/dpjamkmjmigaoobjbekmfgabipmfilij https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/empty-new-tab-page...
- Theodores 13y ago
  Thanks for the tip! A couple of months ago I looked for something similar as I really didn't like my most visited pages popping up on a new tab - non work things mixed in :-) I arrived at something showing those pointless 'apps for chrome' in big icons but completely blank is way better!
skagarroum 13y ago
Awesome! Installed.
dewey 13y ago
This just replaced Speed Dial 2 [0] for me. I realised I hardly use the shortcuts anyway. Thanks for sharing! [0] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speed-dial-2/jpfpebmajhhopeonhlcgidhclcccjcik?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speed-dial-2/jpfpe...
victormx 13y ago
Thank's to help procastination, loved the extension
frankwiles 13y ago
What a horrible idea for productivity! hahaha
- yebyen 13y ago
  I don't know, just think of how much time I'll save by not actually having to "go" to HackerNews explicitly in order to avoid whatever else I'm working on :) HN: You're already there, now get back to work A new spin on noprocrast!
nashashmi 13y ago
We rarely get work done as it is. I think the world will be a bit more productive without it.
- darkstar999 13y ago
  We? Speak for yourself.
stronglikedan 13y ago
Could it be made to dynamically load more stories as I scroll? You know, to completely kill my productivity. It's just suffering now with this extension, and I'd like to finish it off.
wcdolphin 13y ago
Sounds cool, but I simply cannot agree to the privacy implication: Access your data on all websites Chrome's stupid privacy model for extensions ruins this otherwise cool project for me.
- 27182818284 13y ago
  I don't think I've installed any Chrome extensions other than the one for LastPass because of the "access your data on all websites" and even LastPass' made me pretty nervous.
  - erichurkman 13y ago
    I actually got rid of LastPass because of how poor the Chrome extension is. Between spamming the error console with errors, to injecting terrible HTML/CSS to pages for their little field 'star' icon, to terrible/broken notifications for innocuous things. (The yellow toolbar icon turning red could mean any number of things, from 'duplicate passwords detected' to 'please log into lastpass'.)
- ry0ohki 13y ago
  Yeah I swore off extensions after a simple "browser resize" extension started inserting affiliate links into Google searches.
rrhoover 13y ago
Love this Andreas! For those unaware, Andreas built a similar extension for Product Hunt: http://www.producthunt.co/posts/product-hunter http://www.producthunt.co/posts/product-hunter
oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
I know this is just a joke, and I'm probably going to get shouted down for being too serious, but if Chrome really lacks a way of setting your default tab, surely an extension that lets you choose any URL, including the wonderful HN, would be preferable...
- andreasklinger 13y ago
  nice idea this is one of those ideas where you kinda just assume it already exists
  - 55873445216111 13y ago
    It does https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-redirect/icpgjfneehieebagbmdbhnlpiopdcmna https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-redirect/i...
    - underwater 13y ago
      That extension does a simple redirect, which means Chrome populates the address bar with the target URL. So it's not possible to open a new tab and type a search term.
lawl 13y ago
I really liked the idea. So I wanted to make a generic website out of it you could just set as default URL for new tabs, for example in firefox. Then I realized how much I hate and suck at CSS. So I'll just leave this here, should anyone want to pick up the mess I hacked together. preview: http://dumbinter.net/hn.html http://dumbinter.net/hn.html (really lacks some css) code: https://gist.github.com/lawl/9842357 https://gist.github.com/lawl/9842357 intended to be run as cronjob and just spit the generated html into a file. I guess you could also do it completely client side with the JSONP API. But I like my sites static. Less clicks in NoScript. By the way I'm not in any way affiliated with wimg.ca, the just seemed to do the job.
- lziz 13y ago
  Would you mind tossing it up on a repo? Or just mentioning what's in the jq file? Trying to reproduce to style it up a bit. Thanks!
  - lawl 13y ago
    Sorry, should have mentioned that. It's a commandline JSON parser. http://stedolan.github.io/jq/ http://stedolan.github.io/jq/
nilkn 13y ago
How frequently does it update the sites it shows?
- olalonde 13y ago
  Every 5 minutes it seems (https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-gistfile1-js-L8996 https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-gistfile1-js-...).
brickcap 13y ago
Question for the dev: Where did you find PayMeForReviewsUser2041? I could use him on a couple of my own apps. Would you mind lending him to me?
Houshalter 13y ago
Anyway to use the cool interface without replacing my default tab? HN isn't the only website I visit.
Oculus 13y ago
Is there a warning label for complete and permanent destruction of one's productivity?
brunorsini 13y ago
Love it. One suggestion: I'd love to see options for setting custom story density.
austinl 13y ago
It's a tough choice for me between this and Currently (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/currently/ojhmphdkpgbibohbnpbfiefkgieacjmh?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/currently/ojhmphdk...) which shows the time and the weather with each tab.
caiob 13y ago
In the description, there's an interesting username: "★★★★ Love this app" – PayMeForReviewsUser2041 Care to explain this?
- leoalves 13y ago
  In the bottom of the page "Disclaimer: some of the reviews above are meant to be sarcastic and not by real people. Please Google don't ban this app. Kthxbye."
csallen 13y ago
Cool extension. I'd love it if you made the story names a little more bold. That's generally how I choose what I want to read.
olalonde 13y ago
Does your extension really need all those permissions? "permissions": [ "webRequest", "tabs", "http://*/*", "https://*/*", "storage" ] Does your code really need to be minified? Why do you fetch the HN front page using an external API (http://producthunter.awesome.io/hn.json http://producthunter.awesome.io/hn.json) when you could easily scrape HN's front page directly? Finally, you should probably disclose that you are tracking people who use your extension through Google Analytics (https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-gistfile1-js-L9025 https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-gistfile1-js-...). Sorry for being a bit paranoid... Other than that, seems like a nice extension!
- andreasklinger 13y ago
  thanks for reaching out Does your extension really need all those permissions? "permissions": [ "webRequest", "tabs", "http://*/*", "https://*/*", "storage" ] Good question - maybe you know ways to improve this Storage is to cache results, webrequests to request the json, tabs to place the tab. Im unsure if i access anything through http:// http:// anymore - might just be a development relict. I could limit to certain domains to avoid hacking vectors. But that's a bit too much for an simple friday afternoon hack i guess. Does your code really need to be minified? I used grunt / yeoman for chrome extensions. Minifactions came out of the box and i didn't see any reason not to minify. Eg i also minify all JS on my websites Why do you fetch the HN front page using an external API when you could easily scrape HN's front page directly? HN's html structure is quiet a pita so i wanted to keep this on the server site (updates through chrome app store can take days). I could use inofficial HN JSON APIs but i needed to add my imgur links anyway and i don't know any safe way to make those on the client side without enabling people reusing my api keys. Finally, you should probably disclose that you are tracking people who use your extension through Google Analytics Good idea. It didn't came to mind because most extensions like this use GA to track usage/events/etc - some even use JS error loggers. Where would you communicate this? TBH i hardly ever communicate this on my website projects neither (apart of in the wall-of-text-TOS) thanks for the feedback

hey guys "It's like Hackernews but for tabs" As a friday afternoon hack i build a little extension that shows the latest of HN in your default tab of chrome. Hope you like it - it's a genius way to start procrastinating ;) Let me know what you think! Also if you are applying to the SummerBatch - all the best :)

tokenizerrr 13y ago
The permissions are too much.

mstroeck 13y ago

Love it! Much better than the default, especially in Chrome.

jkbr 13y ago

Nice hack, I really see the pro-procrastination potential ;) I find even the default tab too distracting and so one of my favourite extensions is Empty New Tab Page: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/empty-new-tab-page/dpjamkmjmigaoobjbekmfgabipmfilij https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/empty-new-tab-page...

Theodores 13y ago
Thanks for the tip! A couple of months ago I looked for something similar as I really didn't like my most visited pages popping up on a new tab - non work things mixed in :-) I arrived at something showing those pointless 'apps for chrome' in big icons but completely blank is way better!

skagarroum 13y ago

Awesome! Installed.

dewey 13y ago

This just replaced Speed Dial 2 [0] for me. I realised I hardly use the shortcuts anyway. Thanks for sharing! [0] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speed-dial-2/jpfpebmajhhopeonhlcgidhclcccjcik?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speed-dial-2/jpfpe...

victormx 13y ago

Thank's to help procastination, loved the extension

frankwiles 13y ago

What a horrible idea for productivity! hahaha

yebyen 13y ago
I don't know, just think of how much time I'll save by not actually having to "go" to HackerNews explicitly in order to avoid whatever else I'm working on :) HN: You're already there, now get back to work A new spin on noprocrast!

nashashmi 13y ago

We rarely get work done as it is. I think the world will be a bit more productive without it.

darkstar999 13y ago
We? Speak for yourself.

stronglikedan 13y ago

Could it be made to dynamically load more stories as I scroll? You know, to completely kill my productivity. It's just suffering now with this extension, and I'd like to finish it off.

wcdolphin 13y ago

Sounds cool, but I simply cannot agree to the privacy implication: Access your data on all websites Chrome's stupid privacy model for extensions ruins this otherwise cool project for me.

27182818284 13y ago
I don't think I've installed any Chrome extensions other than the one for LastPass because of the "access your data on all websites" and even LastPass' made me pretty nervous.
- erichurkman 13y ago
  I actually got rid of LastPass because of how poor the Chrome extension is. Between spamming the error console with errors, to injecting terrible HTML/CSS to pages for their little field 'star' icon, to terrible/broken notifications for innocuous things. (The yellow toolbar icon turning red could mean any number of things, from 'duplicate passwords detected' to 'please log into lastpass'.)
ry0ohki 13y ago
Yeah I swore off extensions after a simple "browser resize" extension started inserting affiliate links into Google searches.

rrhoover 13y ago

Love this Andreas! For those unaware, Andreas built a similar extension for Product Hunt: http://www.producthunt.co/posts/product-hunter http://www.producthunt.co/posts/product-hunter

oneeyedpigeon 13y ago

I know this is just a joke, and I'm probably going to get shouted down for being too serious, but if Chrome really lacks a way of setting your default tab, surely an extension that lets you choose any URL, including the wonderful HN, would be preferable...

andreasklinger 13y ago
nice idea this is one of those ideas where you kinda just assume it already exists
- 55873445216111 13y ago
  It does https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-redirect/icpgjfneehieebagbmdbhnlpiopdcmna https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-redirect/i...
  - underwater 13y ago
    That extension does a simple redirect, which means Chrome populates the address bar with the target URL. So it's not possible to open a new tab and type a search term.

lawl 13y ago

I really liked the idea. So I wanted to make a generic website out of it you could just set as default URL for new tabs, for example in firefox. Then I realized how much I hate and suck at CSS. So I'll just leave this here, should anyone want to pick up the mess I hacked together. preview: http://dumbinter.net/hn.html http://dumbinter.net/hn.html (really lacks some css) code: https://gist.github.com/lawl/9842357 https://gist.github.com/lawl/9842357 intended to be run as cronjob and just spit the generated html into a file. I guess you could also do it completely client side with the JSONP API. But I like my sites static. Less clicks in NoScript. By the way I'm not in any way affiliated with wimg.ca, the just seemed to do the job.

lziz 13y ago
Would you mind tossing it up on a repo? Or just mentioning what's in the jq file? Trying to reproduce to style it up a bit. Thanks!
- lawl 13y ago
  Sorry, should have mentioned that. It's a commandline JSON parser. http://stedolan.github.io/jq/ http://stedolan.github.io/jq/

nilkn 13y ago

How frequently does it update the sites it shows?

olalonde 13y ago
Every 5 minutes it seems (https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-gistfile1-js-L8996 https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-gistfile1-js-...).

brickcap 13y ago

Question for the dev: Where did you find PayMeForReviewsUser2041? I could use him on a couple of my own apps. Would you mind lending him to me?

Houshalter 13y ago

Anyway to use the cool interface without replacing my default tab? HN isn't the only website I visit.

Oculus 13y ago

Is there a warning label for complete and permanent destruction of one's productivity?

brunorsini 13y ago

Love it. One suggestion: I'd love to see options for setting custom story density.

austinl 13y ago

It's a tough choice for me between this and Currently (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/currently/ojhmphdkpgbibohbnpbfiefkgieacjmh?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/currently/ojhmphdk...) which shows the time and the weather with each tab.

caiob 13y ago

In the description, there's an interesting username: "★★★★ Love this app" – PayMeForReviewsUser2041 Care to explain this?

leoalves 13y ago
In the bottom of the page "Disclaimer: some of the reviews above are meant to be sarcastic and not by real people. Please Google don't ban this app. Kthxbye."

csallen 13y ago

Cool extension. I'd love it if you made the story names a little more bold. That's generally how I choose what I want to read.

olalonde 13y ago

Does your extension really need all those permissions? "permissions": [ "webRequest", "tabs", "http://*/*", "https://*/*", "storage" ] Does your code really need to be minified? Why do you fetch the HN front page using an external API (http://producthunter.awesome.io/hn.json http://producthunter.awesome.io/hn.json) when you could easily scrape HN's front page directly? Finally, you should probably disclose that you are tracking people who use your extension through Google Analytics (https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-gistfile1-js-L9025 https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-gistfile1-js-...). Sorry for being a bit paranoid... Other than that, seems like a nice extension!

andreasklinger 13y ago
thanks for reaching out Does your extension really need all those permissions? "permissions": [ "webRequest", "tabs", "http://*/*", "https://*/*", "storage" ] Good question - maybe you know ways to improve this Storage is to cache results, webrequests to request the json, tabs to place the tab. Im unsure if i access anything through http:// http:// anymore - might just be a development relict. I could limit to certain domains to avoid hacking vectors. But that's a bit too much for an simple friday afternoon hack i guess. Does your code really need to be minified? I used grunt / yeoman for chrome extensions. Minifactions came out of the box and i didn't see any reason not to minify. Eg i also minify all JS on my websites Why do you fetch the HN front page using an external API when you could easily scrape HN's front page directly? HN's html structure is quiet a pita so i wanted to keep this on the server site (updates through chrome app store can take days). I could use inofficial HN JSON APIs but i needed to add my imgur links anyway and i don't know any safe way to make those on the client side without enabling people reusing my api keys. Finally, you should probably disclose that you are tracking people who use your extension through Google Analytics Good idea. It didn't came to mind because most extensions like this use GA to track usage/events/etc - some even use JS error loggers. Where would you communicate this? TBH i hardly ever communicate this on my website projects neither (apart of in the wall-of-text-TOS) thanks for the feedback