Comments on: For Browser Extensions, Grease is the Word http://softwareas.com/for-browser-extensions-grease-is-the-word Mahemoff's Podcast/Blog - Web, Programming, Usability from the Author of 'Ajax Design Patterns' (AjaxPatterns.org) Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:17:45 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 hourly 1 By: » Mozilla Bespin Meetup FND’s Blag: Just Another Personal Wobsite http://softwareas.com/for-browser-extensions-grease-is-the-word/comment-page-1#comment-421058 » Mozilla Bespin Meetup FND’s Blag: Just Another Personal Wobsite Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:54:10 +0000 http://softwareas.com/?p=488#comment-421058 <p>[...] Ubiquity as Firefox extension API On a slightly unrelated note, it has been suggested that Ubiquity might be integrated into Firefox, which in turn could lead to a pure-JavaScript API for extensions (currently writing Firefox extensions involves a lot of overhead, e.g. creating XML documents). That would of course be most welcome! [...]</p> [...] Ubiquity as Firefox extension API On a slightly unrelated note, it has been suggested that Ubiquity might be integrated into Firefox, which in turn could lead to a pure-JavaScript API for extensions (currently writing Firefox extensions involves a lot of overhead, e.g. creating XML documents). That would of course be most welcome! [...]

]]> By: Anamai.net » Blog Archive » Greasemonkey, Chrome Edition http://softwareas.com/for-browser-extensions-grease-is-the-word/comment-page-1#comment-375313 Anamai.net » Blog Archive » Greasemonkey, Chrome Edition Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:15:26 +0000 http://softwareas.com/?p=488#comment-375313 <p>[...] be extended to form a more comprehensive extension platform. It will be interesting to see if, as I speculated on my blog today, this patch is to be the seed for Google’s overall approach to Chrome [...]</p> [...] be extended to form a more comprehensive extension platform. It will be interesting to see if, as I speculated on my blog today, this patch is to be the seed for Google’s overall approach to Chrome [...]

]]> By: Ajaxian » Greasemonkey, Chrome Edition http://softwareas.com/for-browser-extensions-grease-is-the-word/comment-page-1#comment-360619 Ajaxian » Greasemonkey, Chrome Edition Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:09:18 +0000 http://softwareas.com/?p=488#comment-360619 <p>[...] be extended to form a more comprehensive extension platform. It will be interesting to see if, as I speculated on my blog today, this patch is to be the seed for Google’s overall approach to Chrome [...]</p> [...] be extended to form a more comprehensive extension platform. It will be interesting to see if, as I speculated on my blog today, this patch is to be the seed for Google’s overall approach to Chrome [...]

]]> By: mahemoff http://softwareas.com/for-browser-extensions-grease-is-the-word/comment-page-1#comment-360592 mahemoff Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:46:36 +0000 http://softwareas.com/?p=488#comment-360592 <p>Xavier, I believe (a) can be overcome simply by giving scripters the APIs to talk to the chrome. And wrt (b), I would rather have an architecture that starts small and extends upward than start with the giant beast (ok I'm exaggerating) and make it overkill for the multitude of simple apps. Even with the current Greasemonkey technology, you can write a complex app by simply pulling down extra code using On-Demand Javascript. An enhanced version of Greasemonkey might let you declare dependencies, which would automatically download. The main point is, whether 1 file or 100, it's all just plain old Javascript.</p> Xavier, I believe (a) can be overcome simply by giving scripters the APIs to talk to the chrome. And wrt (b), I would rather have an architecture that starts small and extends upward than start with the giant beast (ok I’m exaggerating) and make it overkill for the multitude of simple apps. Even with the current Greasemonkey technology, you can write a complex app by simply pulling down extra code using On-Demand Javascript. An enhanced version of Greasemonkey might let you declare dependencies, which would automatically download. The main point is, whether 1 file or 100, it’s all just plain old Javascript.

]]> By: xavier http://softwareas.com/for-browser-extensions-grease-is-the-word/comment-page-1#comment-360405 xavier Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:01:59 +0000 http://softwareas.com/?p=488#comment-360405 <p>XPI is overkill for lots of things, and it has lots of room for simplification... but a) there are good extensions that do not target loaded documents but the chome itself b) there are good extensions that are document-oriented, but require a level of complexity that hardly makes sense to pack inside a single script file (or that even uses native code)</p> <p>Out-of-the-box userscript support is a huge step towards empowering users to shape the web, but doesn't do much towards what I perceive as google's vision of the browser-is-the-os.</p> XPI is overkill for lots of things, and it has lots of room for simplification… but
a) there are good extensions that do not target loaded documents but the chome itself
b) there are good extensions that are document-oriented, but require a level of complexity that hardly makes sense to pack inside a single script file (or that even uses native code)

Out-of-the-box userscript support is a huge step towards empowering users to shape the web, but doesn’t do much towards what I perceive as google’s vision of the browser-is-the-os.

]]> By: FND http://softwareas.com/for-browser-extensions-grease-is-the-word/comment-page-1#comment-360320 FND Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:56:50 +0000 http://softwareas.com/?p=488#comment-360320 <p>I couldn't agree more - creating an XPI is a major pain compared to simply writing a few lines code. Let's hope Mozilla will realize this soon.</p> I couldn’t agree more – creating an XPI is a major pain compared to simply writing a few lines code.
Let’s hope Mozilla will realize this soon.

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