Making Your First Google Chrome Extension

[Tutorialzine]

http://tutorialzine.com/2010/06/making-first-chrome-extension/

[mcantelon]

It's very helpful, when learning how Chrome Extensions work, to download existing extensions, find where on your OS they are stored, then check out their code.

[hassenben → mcantelon]

Except when they are Google extensions and the JS is obfuscated + compressed + encoded and therefore completely useless.

[ulf]

When you compare this with the much more complicated process in Firefox you cannot help but congratulate the Google guys for making this happen. Well done!

[csomar → ulf]

No comparison between both. Can I change the URL bar in Google Chrome and add an icon or something to it? No! Can I change the refresh button to something else, add new functionality to the start page? No!

Google Chrome Extensions are just simple HTML5 apps in a small screen, that you access them through clicking an icon. So they can't be complicated. In Firefox it's a different thing, you have access to the whole browser and you can change anything. You can even integrate "DLL (C code)".

[WesleyJohnson → csomar]

I'm pretty sure Chrome Extensions allow you to integrate DLLs into your extension. Maybe this isn't the same thing you were referring to?

http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/npapi.html

[tomjen3 → csomar]

Maybe not, but on the other hand you can do more than your comment hint at.

I should know, I currently run both Adblock and Flashblock.

[csomar → tomjen3]

That's because Extensions can be GreaseMonkey Scripts, so they can change a page (or a specific page) HTML.

[WesleyJohnson → csomar]

Chrome Extensions could alter/add page content before they integrated the ability to run GreaseMonkey Scripts.

[Tutorialzine → ulf]

Absolutely agree. Making extensions for chrome is pure pleasure compared to Firefox. I think Google has a good strategy here..