

Show HN: HackerNews as default tab (chrome extension) - andreasklinger
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hackernews-default-tab/gofiefpdbkknjlkdhmlgnhloepilkmmp

======
olalonde
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-...](https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-
gistfile1-js-L9025)).

Sorry for being a bit paranoid... Other than that, seems like a nice
extension!

~~~
andreasklinger
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

------
wcdolphin
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
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
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'.)

------
stronglikedan
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.

------
oneeyedpigeon
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
nice idea

this is one of those ideas where you kinda just assume it already exists

~~~
55873445216111
It does [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-
redirect/i...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-
redirect/icpgjfneehieebagbmdbhnlpiopdcmna)

~~~
underwater
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.

------
andreasklinger
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
The permissions are too much.

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

------
lawl
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
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
Sorry, should have mentioned that.

It's a commandline JSON parser.

[http://stedolan.github.io/jq/](http://stedolan.github.io/jq/)

------
jkbr
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...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/empty-new-tab-
page/dpjamkmjmigaoobjbekmfgabipmfilij)

~~~
Theodores
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!

------
dewey
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/jpfpe...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speed-
dial-2/jpfpebmajhhopeonhlcgidhclcccjcik?hl=en)

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

------
rrhoover
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)

------
brickcap
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?

------
caiob
In the description, there's an interesting username: "★★★★ Love this app" –
PayMeForReviewsUser2041

Care to explain this?

~~~
leoalves
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
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.

------
frankwiles
What a horrible idea for productivity! hahaha

~~~
yebyen
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!

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

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

~~~
darkstar999
We? Speak for yourself.

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

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

------
victormx
Thank's to help procastination, loved the extension

------
nilkn
How frequently does it update the sites it shows?

~~~
olalonde
Every 5 minutes it seems ([https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-
gistfile1-js-...](https://gist.github.com/anonymous/9847044#file-
gistfile1-js-L8996)).

------
skagarroum
Awesome! Installed.

