Ask HN: What browser extensions have you built for yourself? - mpatobin
======
stefanpie
My highschool ( I just graduated) has a some sort of gradebook management
software used by the teachers / admin / parents / students to view and manage
grades, attendence, payment, and so on. The frameowkr used is down kind of
convoluted framework Enterprise software combination that the school
purchased. And for some reason the school let us see our points erned on ecah
assignment out of the total but only showed the letter grade and not the
percent for the class. So calculating weighted grades by hand to figure out
your class percent was a huge pain for everyone (and some teachers didn't like
if you asked them.to show you your percent which they had access too). So one
of the first experiences I had writing stuff with js and web technologies was
writing an extension to take in all the grades, parse them, and calculate
grades based on percents imputed for weighted catagories. Everyone thought it
was cool and it became a big thing. I was even super stoked when I got it to
save and load the weights using chrome local storage so you don't have to
input it everytime. Even though it's pretty simple software, it was my first
experience seing the actual impact on my peers every day by some price of
software I write.

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tripoli/jmiafjndie...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tripoli/jmiafjndiefejlbbgiadmfhbgcbffgio)

------
matt-tingen
Not extensions, but I have a few userscripts I use to fix minor annoyances
with various websites:

\- Netflix - Skip intros and quickly go to next episode

\- Github - Linkify branch names in PRs

\- Yelp - Open directions in a new tab rather than a modal

[https://github.com/matt-tingen/userscripts](https://github.com/matt-
tingen/userscripts)

------
karakanb
I had built and published 4 different Chrome extensions:

\- Random Facts: a random fact about numbers with a beautiful image on new
tabs. [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/random-facts-on-
ne...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/random-facts-on-new-
tab/golgobfokbeogpppkfookhgoalecliea)

\- Game of Thrones Quotes: a random GoT quote on every new tab.
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/game-of-thrones-
qu...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/game-of-thrones-
quotes/pfdpbbjmnlfggaiecpbecgjjpfbcdecp)

\- Open Wikipedia: an extension to overcome the Wikipedia blocks in Turkey.
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wikipedia-a%C3%A7%...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wikipedia-a%C3%A7%C4%B1c%C4%B1/fgahdplpgmaoalaececccdphcmbinjog)

\- Open Imgur: an extension to overcome the Imgur blocks in Turkey.
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/imgur-a%C3%A7%C4%B...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/imgur-a%C3%A7%C4%B1c%C4%B1/adcjcicnaepmahfjlglahaehjgagjoch)

All of the extensions are open source; the links can be found in the extension
descriptions.

------
techniko
I made an extension for my teachers that let them put a Google Doc onto Google
Classroom, from the Google Doc. It's weird how Google doesn't have that built
in, but it means that my teachers don't have to open up a new tab and go
through the process, they can just do it from the Doc.
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/share-doc-
to-...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/share-doc-to-
classroom/)

I also made an extension that opens the current page (or link/video/image) in
a popup window. Because I have so many tabs sometimes I just want one window,
and it does it. I have options for half/third/full screen size so I can have
them side by side (as well as just dragging to resize the window).
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/focus-
popup/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/focus-popup/)

I also made an extension that fixed a specific issue on Apple Intranet Wikis
playing videos in Chrome, but that Wiki system isn't used anymore.

Usually my extensions are just to fix minor problems/annoyances.

------
pdp19
I ported Alisdair McDiarmid's bookmarklet[1] to an add-on that will hide
sticky content on a site. There was already a Chrome equivalent, but nothing
for Firefox. It can be found here: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/kill-sticky/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/kill-sticky/) It's especially handy these days with the
influx of cookie/GDPR agreement overlays, or app download dickbars[2].

[1] [https://alisdair.mcdiarmid.org/kill-sticky-
headers/](https://alisdair.mcdiarmid.org/kill-sticky-headers/) [2]
[https://daringfireball.net/2017/06/medium_dickbars](https://daringfireball.net/2017/06/medium_dickbars)

------
cvs268
Deep Thought Tabs [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/deep-
thought-...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/deep-thought-
tabs/)

Adds funny, profound observations in newly opened empty tabs, with fresh
images each time.

    
    
        - WebExtension written in plain JavaScript. No libraries. No cruft.
        - Displays "deep-thoughts" even in offline-mode (no background-images).
        - Fetches relevant fresh background images each-time from Unsplash and Flickr.
    

Checkout the source to learn how to create simple webextension addons for
Firefox in JavaScript.

Few interesting bits of code:

    
    
        * Fisher-Yates shuffle algorithm.
        * Ken-Burns effect for still images.
        * Visual (image-preview) tooltips in CSS.
        * Asynchronous XMLHttpRequest.

------
chewz
Bing Wallpaper for ChromeOS

[https://github.com/chew-z/Bing-Wallpaper-for-
ChromeOS](https://github.com/chew-z/Bing-Wallpaper-for-ChromeOS)

Augment - simple reminder that Google is a Big brother

[https://github.com/chew-z/Augment](https://github.com/chew-z/Augment)

Foogle - fool Google - my fork of TrackMeNot - which pollutes your search
history with possible but random searches....

[https://github.com/chew-z/Foogle](https://github.com/chew-z/Foogle)

NewTab - custom new tab page

[https://github.com/chew-z/NewTab](https://github.com/chew-z/NewTab)

~~~
slow_donkey
This seems sightly masochistic

------
slow_donkey
[https://github.com/choyg/ChromeNotis](https://github.com/choyg/ChromeNotis)

Notifications toggle. The code is comically simple but it's the one extension
besides adblocking I regularly use.

~~~
slow_donkey
So simple that I actually didn't know any js when I wrote this which has
become quite clear to me when rereading the source

------
dani_c
Used to love playing dice on various crypto sites. Always have been in awe at
those custom dice bots that people have built on Chrome.

And I've noticed that there isn't one for Edgeless (dice & blackjack with 0%
edge), and so I've created a dice bot that allows a multiple steps martingale
strategy.

It's open source and 100% free, give it a roll!

Github repo: [https://github.com/Whatzhub/edgeless-
dicebot](https://github.com/Whatzhub/edgeless-dicebot)

EDG DiceBot 1st Run!
[https://youtu.be/CUqNCWi6pPA](https://youtu.be/CUqNCWi6pPA)

------
lutostag
[https://github.com/lutostag/webextension-
formsave](https://github.com/lutostag/webextension-formsave)

It saves what you write in textareas so it doesn't get lost when something
goes awry.

When the old-style Firefox extensions were going to be deprecated, I went
through my installed ones, picked one that wasn't built yet and started from
scratch.

The most interesting/difficult part was getting CI setup for both Firefox and
Chrome with the always changing landscape of support for extensions in
selenium.

------
vrk7bp
A friend and I have been building some small tools that make it a little
easier to make better investment decisions (and to get some experience with
some different frameworks and technologies).

We released this extension recently to make it easy to jot down quick notes
and keep track of stock prices.

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/yogi-invest-
more-w...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/yogi-invest-more-
wisely/ejnbhjkjbmndbehmolegmapncflmcgfo/related)

------
rchakra3
I realized I was spending a whole bunch of time tracking down web references
for my grad school assignments (and forgetting most of them) so I made
something super simple that generated them from my bookmarks:

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bookmarks-to-
refer...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bookmarks-to-
references/aigindmbmcgegjhjnonholgaebnldmln)

------
seanwilson
I made [https://www.checkbot.io/](https://www.checkbot.io/) to check for SEO,
security and speed best practices on websites. Most tools only check for a
small number issues or one page at a time whereas this extension crawls from
page to page checking your whole website.

------
timpetri
Not much of an extension but I created a simplistic dark chrome theme to go
with the dark menu bar on macOS.

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dark-mode-theme-
fo...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dark-mode-theme-for-
googl/dogmjhegnegcnfdnjdlmjfgghceifgmg)

------
poerhiza
Firefox web extension to save a page's content as an image (save recipts,
etc).

[https://github.com/grafie/acceptum/tree/master/firefox/dist](https://github.com/grafie/acceptum/tree/master/firefox/dist)

------
elkali
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jump-to-
hn/fopjleg...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jump-to-
hn/fopjlegcdhogedbmpkdljokglemjckdm?hl=en)

Read HN discussions on any article.

------
jvanveen
[https://github.com/VoIPGRID/vialer-js/](https://github.com/VoIPGRID/vialer-
js/)

A softphone built on top of Sip.js and Vue. It also runs in a webpage or as an
Electron app.

------
DSKX
Google Search, Tumblr and some other.

BTW, do you use apps to build extensions?

Not wysiwyg but sort of wysiwyg? I don't mean IDE.

------
aasz
I built a WhatsApp Web bot which runs as a Chrome extension, recently made the
code public.

[https://github.com/aalsuwaidi/wabot](https://github.com/aalsuwaidi/wabot)

------
random_coder
I noticed I spend too much time reading wikipedia articles, jumping from one
to another, so I built a chrome extension to limit that browsing time to a few
minutes per day.

------
joshmn
I wrote one to get my Chipotle faster, back when Chipotle's online ordering
didn't validate the order time server-side.

------
meagher
extension that allows you to quickly block sites when you’re trying to focus.

[https://github.com/tmm/block-fox](https://github.com/tmm/block-fox)

------
jlevers
I made an extension to make Photobucket photos visible again, since last year
Photobucket suddenly put all their photos behind a huge paywall last year, and
destroyed a lot of knowledge on forums that I use:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/photobucket-
embedd...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/photobucket-embedded-
imag/ogipgokcopooepeipngiikdkpmcpkaon?hl=en-US)

