
Show HN: How many miles do you think you've scrolled today? - prashantb
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/scrolltrotter/mppejknbhapogefdpekbpalahphlhgdm
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erikig
Can "Read and change all your data on the websites you visit"

Chrome extensions that require such extensive permissions make me extremely
nervous and I don't think I'm alone. Is there a way to build this in a way
that didn't require such elevated privileges?

~~~
jfoster
It's been a while since I dabbled in Chrome extensions, but if nothing has
changed, then not as a Chrome extension, unfortunately. If you mean
theoretically, then of course; Chrome could let extensions subscribe to
particular event hooks and whatnot and get very fine-grained about it. I
expect that would actually be too fine-grained for most users, but what they
have at the moment is a system where installing almost any extension feels
quite risky. I'm not sure that Google really want Chrome extensions to exist,
though. It feels like a very neglected part of Chrome.

~~~
prashantb
On the last part, I agree with you from a developer's point of view as well.
The review process is a shambles at the moment. Sometimes the review process
can take weeks and one can still get rejected with no explanation. I
understand the need for a manual review when an extension asks for powerful
permissions like this one does but an approval time of more than a week is a
bit much. And every subsequent update to the extension (even a small
description change) also goes through the same review process. Imagine a
critical bug fix taking more than a week for approval! It feels like they want
to shut down their doors for individual developers. In comparison, firefox
took only 2 hours to approve the same extension.

~~~
ajayyy
Firefox only does manual reviews on "Recommended Extensions"

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glup
I was once in a seminar led by one of the world's pre-eminent primate
researchers who explained that, without any irony or humor, he refused to
scroll when reading emails--Anything important should be immediately visible.

~~~
KMnO4
This is also standard journalism practice, and I use it all the time as a
somewhat heuristic for news article credibility.

Journalists are taught to put the most important details at the head of an
article, and the least important at the end. This is tradition from print
newspapers, where your article would be cut if the editor didn't have enough
space. Sometimes only the first paragraph would make it into print, so you'd
better make sure all the important details are in there.

If I'm reading an article and it doesn't have all the important information
before the fold, there's a high probability (in my experience) that other
issues exist (eg shoddy sources or plain factual errors).

~~~
chmod775
> Journalists are taught to put the most important details at the head of an
> article

In online journalism practice many do the exact opposite. They make you read
paragraph after paragraph of speculations and bullshit before
elaborating/explaining their click bait headline. Anything to make you stay
and scroll so their ads get more screen time.

~~~
gumby
Relating to another HN submission today about site optimization: my brain
interprets this as "a slow loading site" and I just abandon the page after the
first paragraph or two (exception: some private blog pages).

Then again I started reading print newspapers about 40 years ago and this was
also the approach for reading the paper so I learned a long time ago to be
parsimonious with my time.

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spuz
A long time ago when I used to spend almost all my day in front of a computer,
I wrote a program that would measure the physical distance my mouse cursor had
moved thinking surely it must be several hundred meters a day. In fact it was
only about 30 metres per day. I imagine to scroll a mile would take several
months for the average web user.

~~~
ccostes
It seems like cursor acceleration (breaking the linearity between pixel and
physical distance) would make this non-trivial; curious how you implemented
it.

~~~
spuz
Well I wanted to specifically measure cursor distance rather than mouse
distance so acceleration doesn't come into it. As long as you can sample the
mouse position frequently enough, you can get an idea of how far it has
travelled. All I had to do to convert pixels to physical distance was use a
tape measure to get the width and height of the visible part of the screen.

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joshiefishbein
This would be interesting to see on my phone at the end of the day. Even
having decreased my social media and news consumption considerably over the
last few years, I still catch myself mindlessly scrolling from time to time.

I would love the shameful alert that told me “you’ve scrolled twice as many
miles as you’ve walked today” since I know the second set of metrics
definitely exists. It may be what I need to quit the habit completely.

~~~
inetknght
I think that would actually fit very well alongside eg Apple's "You've had 30
minutes of screen time today" messages

~~~
joezydeco
The Apple Lisa had a "mouse odometer" in software that tracked the number of
pixels moved since startup.

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thereyougo
I'd like to see a leaderboard there

~~~
_jal
Cow Clicker 2.0

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rootusrootus
I wonder how well the "pixel distance scrolled" translates into the actual
distance your finger moved the wheel.

~~~
lukax
This is a bit hard to calculate because of scroll acceleration and inertial
scrolling.

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dghughes
Within the last six months I've developed arthritis in both my hands (and
ankles). Each morning when I wake up both of my hands are stiff like they've
been in ice water.

My right index finger which I use for scrolling using my mouse scroll wheel
(and typing). when I bend in in the morning my index finger it will make a
snapping noise. None of my other fingers make the snapping noise.

The odd thing is it isn't the joint. If I bend my fingers in the morning and
my index finger snaps you'd think it was the joint. I experimented and cracked
my index knuckle after it made the snap and the knuckle snapped.

Anyway that's a tale of my bizarre life somewhat related to this topic.

~~~
adamredwoods
I find scroll wheels dangerous on the index finger, as it gets quite a
workout. I prefer touchpads/ mousepads for scrolling, but I'm curious if foot
pedals would be better.

~~~
twicetwice
Interesting—I scroll with my middle finger, always have. I thought everyone
did. Makes sense in retrospect that different people would find different
"intuitive" ways of using a mouse, though!

~~~
dghughes
I do now!

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tzvsi
Source:
[https://github.com/prashantbaid/scrolltrotter](https://github.com/prashantbaid/scrolltrotter)

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mpolichette
I will log this as the first appearance (to me) of the "light mode also
available" pendulum swing! See you all in a year!

~~~
prashantb
Thanks. This was a very intentional decision to keep light mode as "also
available".

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michaelcampbell
[https://whatpulse.org/](https://whatpulse.org/) has been doing this sort of
metrics gathering for years. Keyboard and network stuff too.

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javahava
If you're tired of scrolling on your phone's browser:
[https://www.jumpbrowser.com/](https://www.jumpbrowser.com/)

~~~
Jaruzel
Shame that's only iOS - is there something similar for Android?

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DonHopkins
How long until web sites start offering Frequent Scroller Miles?

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mrlala
I scroll for light-years because of my logitech mx master 2s which has a ball
bearing on the wheel so it can go flying.

With a high refresh monitor it's just fun to scroll around!

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duke_core
How did you go about developing this? Am curious to see what 'level' of chrome
its implemented on

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zuhayeer
They should make it so the distance you run today becomes your allowance for
how much you get to scroll

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2OEH8eoCRo0
I've always joked that some people run a marathon and some people scroll a
marathon.

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EvgeniyZh
I want a system-wide app measuring scrolling distance for smartphones

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cheeze
Any firefox equivalent?

~~~
prashantb
Here you go - [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/scrolltrotter...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/scrolltrotter/)

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unnouinceput
"You will need Google Chrome to install most apps, extensions and themes.

Download Google Chrome"

Yeah buddy, just wait for me to install that. Any Firefox equivalent?

~~~
prashantb
Here you go - [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/scrolltrotter...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/scrolltrotter/)

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abinpal89
Nice one PB

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taksintikk
1/64th of a mile

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starpilot
3 parsecs

