example-chrome-extension VS hoverzoom

Shameless plug: I was totally dissatisfied with the state of extension documentation and tutorials, so I wrote a book on building Chrome extensions: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/

I was enthusiastic enough about extensions that I decided to publish a book about building them: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/

Browser extensions are severely underrated as a platform because they aren't sexy. For all that mobile devices have given us, so much of our work continues to be done using a desktop browser. Enhancements such as augmenting websites with widgets, supplying contextual information, and automating repetitive tasks using the authenticated session - when applied appropriately - can save someone hours every day.

Browser extensions. Not quite a website, not quite a mobile app, and surprisingly pervasive. Most people don't realize how incredibly powerful they are, even with manifest v3.

I almost fell out of my chair when I found out there were no books on how to build them, so I wrote one: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/ It was incredibly enjoyable to go through the APIs and write about all the different crazy things they can do.

I was frustrated with the lack of resources, so I'm publishing a book on it: "Building Browser Extensions". Available later this year. https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/

And check out the companion extension: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/b2x

I will leave this as a gallery of emails with offers to buy extension hoverzoom: https://github.com/extesy/hoverzoom/discussions/670

Sidenote: The "collaboration" offers come from time to time even to non-extensions projects, if they are reasonably widely used. E.g. simple tools (rather widely used suite of android apps recently sold).

> Manifest V3 will stop this by limiting what Google describes "remotely hosted code." All updates, even to benign things like a filtering list, will need to happen through full extension updates through the Chrome Web Store. They will all be subject to Chrome Web Store reviews process, and that comes with a significant time delay.

So the author can't think of any other reason for this change other than to "slow down ad blocker updates"

Well how about stuff like this: https://github.com/extesy/hoverzoom/discussions/670

Where an extension dev details offers to "monetize" his app and basically perform a bait and switch and make it malicious.

These type of offers are actually quite common. See this[0] and the discussion[1]. I try to stick with only the most popular of extensions in the hope that any malicious changes would be widespread news, but it is still a gamble.

[0] https://github.com/extesy/hoverzoom/discussions/670

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37066680

As a maintainer of a semi-popular chrome extension[1], I receive so many buy-out offers that I started publicly collecting them[2] for everyone to see.

[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hover-zoom%20/pccc...

[2] https://github.com/extesy/hoverzoom/discussions/670

Also, here's a open source alternative.

I don't want to download a sieve from a russian forum. Hover Zoom+ is working fine.

Hover Zoom+: https://github.com/extesy/hoverzoom/ (this is the open source one, not the old one with malware)