Ask HN: What browser extensions are a must-have for HNers in 2021?

• treestyletab

  52 3,346 9.9 JavaScript

  Tree Style Tab, Show tabs like a tree.

Also on Firefox. It appears that I'm not as privacy/security conscious as are most in this thread, but I heartily second HTTPS Everywhere.

However, the single Firefox extension that's indispensable to me is Tree Style Tabs. See: https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab.

Is it possible (for a Web page hoarder like me) to organize and access 500+ tabs across seven Firefox windows? You betcha it is, with Tree Style Tabs.

• remove-youtube-suggestions

  24 344 7.2 JavaScript

  A browser extension that removes YouTube suggestions, comments, shorts, and more

• SurveyJS

  surveyjs.io sponsored

  Open-Source JSON Form Builder to Create Dynamic Forms Right in Your App. With SurveyJS form UI libraries, you can build and style forms in a fully-integrated drag & drop form builder, render them in your JS app, and store form submission data in any backend, inc. PHP, ASP.NET Core, and Node.js.

  

• FreeTube

  497 11,709 9.9 JavaScript

  An Open Source YouTube app for privacy

  

For desktop users I suggestion trying FreeTube which also has this feature

https://freetubeapp.io/#download

• videospeed

  141 3,667 5.0 JavaScript

  HTML5 video speed controller (for Google Chrome)

Video Speed Controller lets you speed up any HTML5 video. No more sitting through videos at 1x speed!

Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/video-speed-contro...

Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/videospeed/

Even for a site like YouTube that has built-in speed control settings, it's still useful since (1) you can make the speed exceed 2x and (2) you can use keyboard shortcuts to tune the speed easily.

• shortcutsensei

  2 5 0.0 CSS

  A cross-browser extension to teach keyboard shortcuts for web apps (eg. gmail)

If you are on gmail and want to learn more shortcuts try: https://github.com/janmechtel/shortcutsensei

• sidebery

  49 2,747 9.7 TypeScript

  Firefox extension for managing tabs and bookmarks in sidebar.

In the same vein I'd recommend Sidebery https://github.com/mbnuqw/sidebery for tree style tabs.

It has more sane defaults, even some animations, very accessible customization (e.g. you can theme every bit of bar in tab settings, not needing to go into chrome.css). It's also can be used as a basic browser "window manager", given that you can't split window into pane, but you can have multiple tab groups in one window and quickly switch between them.

• vimari

  15 2,508 0.0 JavaScript

  Safari port of vimium

  

• InfluxDB

  www.influxdata.com sponsored

  Power Real-Time Data Analytics at Scale. Get real-time insights from all types of time series data with InfluxDB. Ingest, query, and analyze billions of data points in real-time with unbounded cardinality.

  

• Svadilfari

  4 67 0.0 Swift

  Gesture Control for Safari on iOS and iPadOS

• bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean

  346 - -

• SponsorBlock

  904 8,735 9.3 TypeScript

  Skip YouTube video sponsors (browser extension)

• bypass-paywalls-firefox-clea

  19 - -

• Reddit-Enhancement-Suite

  2,205 4,010 8.4 JavaScript

  Reddit Enhancement Suite

• web-archives

  35 1,064 6.7 JavaScript

  Browser extension for viewing archived and cached versions of web pages, available for Chrome, Edge and Safari

• vimium

  51 22,179 9.3 JavaScript

  The hacker's browser.

• old-reddit-redirect

  58 376 5.6 JavaScript

  Ensure Reddit always loads the old design

• asciidoctor-browser-extension

  1 216 6.1 CSS

  :white_circle: An extension for web browsers that converts AsciiDoc files to HTML using Asciidoctor.js.

  

All the usual suspects named previously: uBlock Origin, Bitwarden, ViolentMonkey, Vimium, etc. Plus:

* Shift Click --As the name suggests. Shift+Click on any image on a webpage and it will open the image in a new tab. Great for quickly getting the full-size version of images on web pages and more useful than it sounds, as it saves opening the browsers dev tools pane and source code diving:

https://shft.cl

* Country Flag & Whois --not exactly a necessity, but a fun extension anyway. Gives you a wee flag at the side of your address bar, showing you which country the server of the site you're visiting is hosted in. On a more practical note, you can click the flag to view the Whois info for that domain:

https://add0n.com/country-flags.html

* Asccidoctor.js Live Preview --A while back I started using AsciiDoc for all my text composing needs, after finding the limitations and ever-multiplying variants of MarkDown increasingly annoying. Unfortunately, while many text editors come with Markdown preview capabilities, I've yet to find one that can do AsciiDoc previews. So that's where this extension comes in. I open my AscciDoc files in my browser and this extension automatically generates a preview, which I can then 'print to PDF' to have a nicely formatted document created using AsciiDoc:

https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciidoctor-browser-extension

* Stylebot --Inject custom CSS into any webpage. I use it on a couple of sites to fix annoying browser rendering quirks or remove irritating content [with display:none;].

https://stylebot.dev

* FireNvim --a nice accompaniment to Vimium. This extension turns text entry windows in web forms into NeoVim edit bufffers, allowing you to edit text using an embedded NeoVim instance. I don't actually use this as much as I thought I might, as I nearly always forget I have it installed:

https://github.com/glacambre/firenvim

These last two aren't browser extensions as such. But I can't imagine using my browser without these. So I think they deserve an honourable mention:

* Pinboard bookmarklet --I use Pinboard to save all my bookmarks. So they're accessible across all my browsers and all my devices. I have the Pinboard bookmarklet on the browser address bar on my desktop machines [and use the 'Share' menu on Android] to quickly bookmark pages from wherever I'm browsing.

* Telegram --One step down from permanent bookmarking via Pinboard, I use Telegram as my messenger app and avail of this facility all the time on Android to quickly stash links I want to take a look at later on a 'proper' computer --either to view on a larger screen, or because [as with this post] I want to compose a reply, without wrestling with a crappy touchscreen keyboard. Telegram has a 'Saved Messages' chat. So, on an Android device, I hit the 'Share' icon beside the URL on a page I want to save for later and then in the Share window that pops up, I send the URL to Telegram 'Saved Messages' where I can grab it later, when I'm on a real computer.

For anyone using Yandex Mail; Yandex also have a Telegram Bot which provides a similar function but also emails you the link as well. I used to use this til I realised the emails where pretty superfluous and just started sending links to my Telegram 'Saved Messages' instead:

https://t.me/YandexMail360_bot

• firenvim

  65 4,425 6.9 TypeScript

  Embed Neovim in Chrome, Firefox & others.

All the usual suspects named previously: uBlock Origin, Bitwarden, ViolentMonkey, Vimium, etc. Plus:

* Shift Click --As the name suggests. Shift+Click on any image on a webpage and it will open the image in a new tab. Great for quickly getting the full-size version of images on web pages and more useful than it sounds, as it saves opening the browsers dev tools pane and source code diving:

https://shft.cl

* Country Flag & Whois --not exactly a necessity, but a fun extension anyway. Gives you a wee flag at the side of your address bar, showing you which country the server of the site you're visiting is hosted in. On a more practical note, you can click the flag to view the Whois info for that domain:

https://add0n.com/country-flags.html

* Asccidoctor.js Live Preview --A while back I started using AsciiDoc for all my text composing needs, after finding the limitations and ever-multiplying variants of MarkDown increasingly annoying. Unfortunately, while many text editors come with Markdown preview capabilities, I've yet to find one that can do AsciiDoc previews. So that's where this extension comes in. I open my AscciDoc files in my browser and this extension automatically generates a preview, which I can then 'print to PDF' to have a nicely formatted document created using AsciiDoc:

https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciidoctor-browser-extension

* Stylebot --Inject custom CSS into any webpage. I use it on a couple of sites to fix annoying browser rendering quirks or remove irritating content [with display:none;].

https://stylebot.dev

* FireNvim --a nice accompaniment to Vimium. This extension turns text entry windows in web forms into NeoVim edit bufffers, allowing you to edit text using an embedded NeoVim instance. I don't actually use this as much as I thought I might, as I nearly always forget I have it installed:

https://github.com/glacambre/firenvim

These last two aren't browser extensions as such. But I can't imagine using my browser without these. So I think they deserve an honourable mention:

* Pinboard bookmarklet --I use Pinboard to save all my bookmarks. So they're accessible across all my browsers and all my devices. I have the Pinboard bookmarklet on the browser address bar on my desktop machines [and use the 'Share' menu on Android] to quickly bookmark pages from wherever I'm browsing.

* Telegram --One step down from permanent bookmarking via Pinboard, I use Telegram as my messenger app and avail of this facility all the time on Android to quickly stash links I want to take a look at later on a 'proper' computer --either to view on a larger screen, or because [as with this post] I want to compose a reply, without wrestling with a crappy touchscreen keyboard. Telegram has a 'Saved Messages' chat. So, on an Android device, I hit the 'Share' icon beside the URL on a page I want to save for later and then in the Share window that pops up, I send the URL to Telegram 'Saved Messages' where I can grab it later, when I'm on a real computer.

For anyone using Yandex Mail; Yandex also have a Telegram Bot which provides a similar function but also emails you the link as well. I used to use this til I realised the emails where pretty superfluous and just started sending links to my Telegram 'Saved Messages' instead:

https://t.me/YandexMail360_bot

• Cookie-AutoDelete

  73 1,703 0.8 TypeScript

  Firefox and Chrome WebExtension that deletes cookies and other browsing site data as soon as the tab closes, domain changes, browser restarts, or a combination of those events.

  

https://github.com/Cookie-AutoDelete/Cookie-AutoDelete/wiki/...

• hush

  40 3,093 0.0 JavaScript

  🤫 Noiseless Browsing – Content Blocker for Safari

• refined-hacker-news

  31 789 0.0 JavaScript

  ✨ Hacker News, but refined — Interface tweaks and features to make the HN experience better

Refined Hacker News [0] author here, thanks for the mentions :)

[0]: https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news

• RecipeFilter

  10 287 3.4 JavaScript

  Browser extension that focuses recipes front and center on food blogs

Lots of good extensions in this thread.

Here are some optional extensions I like:

- Twemex - https://twemex.app/ - Adds a really useful sidebar to Twitter.

- Recipe Filter - https://github.com/sean-public/RecipeFilter - Focuses recipes front and center on food blogs

- Notion Boost - https://gourav.io/notion-boost - Adds a lot of really nice features to Notion

- Tampermonkey - https://www.tampermonkey.net/ - Lets you create your own JS customizations on web pages without needing to make a whole browser extension.

I really wish it was far easier for everyday people to make their own personal browser extension-like functionality and share it with others. Extending the apps we use feels really empowering and can help people transition from helpless consumers of apps to authors of how their computer works. Here's an essay I like detailing this view:

https://www.geoffreylitt.com/2019/07/29/browser-extensions.h...

And while I'm here I'd also like to plug a service I wrote that lets you easily add paid features to extensions you develop:

https://extensionpay.com

I made it to use myself but lots of developers have found it useful in monetizing their extensions without ads or selling user data. And even to my surprise, users are actually willing to pay for browser extensions! The service has made devs over $13k since I launched earlier this year!

• Notion-Boost-browser-extension

  21 491 6.4 JavaScript

  Chrome & Firefox extension for Notion to add 20+ features like sticky outline, small text & full width by default, hide comments & help button, bolder text etc. Download here: https://gourav.io/notion-boost

Lots of good extensions in this thread.

Here are some optional extensions I like:

- Twemex - https://twemex.app/ - Adds a really useful sidebar to Twitter.

- Recipe Filter - https://github.com/sean-public/RecipeFilter - Focuses recipes front and center on food blogs

- Notion Boost - https://gourav.io/notion-boost - Adds a lot of really nice features to Notion

- Tampermonkey - https://www.tampermonkey.net/ - Lets you create your own JS customizations on web pages without needing to make a whole browser extension.

I really wish it was far easier for everyday people to make their own personal browser extension-like functionality and share it with others. Extending the apps we use feels really empowering and can help people transition from helpless consumers of apps to authors of how their computer works. Here's an essay I like detailing this view:

https://www.geoffreylitt.com/2019/07/29/browser-extensions.h...

And while I'm here I'd also like to plug a service I wrote that lets you easily add paid features to extensions you develop:

https://extensionpay.com

I made it to use myself but lots of developers have found it useful in monetizing their extensions without ads or selling user data. And even to my surprise, users are actually willing to pay for browser extensions! The service has made devs over $13k since I launched earlier this year!

• ExtPay

  56 430 3.9 JavaScript

  The JavaScript library for ExtensionPay.com — payments for your browser extensions, no server needed.

Lots of good extensions in this thread.

Here are some optional extensions I like:

- Twemex - https://twemex.app/ - Adds a really useful sidebar to Twitter.

- Recipe Filter - https://github.com/sean-public/RecipeFilter - Focuses recipes front and center on food blogs

- Notion Boost - https://gourav.io/notion-boost - Adds a lot of really nice features to Notion

- Tampermonkey - https://www.tampermonkey.net/ - Lets you create your own JS customizations on web pages without needing to make a whole browser extension.

I really wish it was far easier for everyday people to make their own personal browser extension-like functionality and share it with others. Extending the apps we use feels really empowering and can help people transition from helpless consumers of apps to authors of how their computer works. Here's an essay I like detailing this view:

https://www.geoffreylitt.com/2019/07/29/browser-extensions.h...

And while I'm here I'd also like to plug a service I wrote that lets you easily add paid features to extensions you develop:

https://extensionpay.com

I made it to use myself but lots of developers have found it useful in monetizing their extensions without ads or selling user data. And even to my surprise, users are actually willing to pay for browser extensions! The service has made devs over $13k since I launched earlier this year!

• refined-github

  21 23,056 9.4 TypeScript

  :octocat: Browser extension that simplifies the GitHub interface and adds useful features

  

An iPad extension would be cool :)

(like Refined Github https://github.com/refined-github/refined-github#install)

• conifer

  5 1,459 0.0 Python

  Collect and revisit web pages.

  

I would personally recommend

https://github.com/rhizome-conifer/conifer

The intent is a webrecorder for the internet.

It records all js libraries, loads videos, and all else.

Once stored, you can review a snapshot at that point in time.

They have a service option, webrecorder.io, but this one let's you store directly locally.

• Gitako

  3 2,331 7.3 TypeScript

  🐙 File tree extension for GitHub on Chrome & Firefox & Edge

I used Octotree for a long time but switched to https://github.com/EnixCoda/Gitako because it’s open-source.

• syncthing-android

  1,233 3,025 9.2 Java

  Wrapper of syncthing for Android.

  

• SingleFile

  94 13,673 9.7 JavaScript

  Web Extension for saving a faithful copy of a complete web page in a single HTML file

• WorkOS

  workos.com sponsored

  The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS. The APIs are flexible and easy-to-use, supporting authentication, user identity, and complex enterprise features like SSO and SCIM provisioning.

  

Suggest a related project