(2019-07-29) Litt Browser Extensions Are Underrated The Promise Of Hackable Software

Geoffrey Litt on browser extensions are underrated: the promise of hackable software. Browser extensions are a special ecosystem worth celebrating.

browser extensions are the rare exception that allow and encourage users to modify the apps that we use

By installing four different Gmail extensions that modify everything from the visual design to the core functionality, in some sense, I’ve put together my own email client. Instead of being a passive user of pre-built applications, I can start assembling my own personalized way of using my computer.

The key to this breadth is that most extensions modify applications in ways that the original developers didn’t specifically plan for.

Many browser extensions are generic tools designed to enhance my use of all websites. I can use my annotation extension on every website everywhere, instead of needing a different highlighting tool for each article I read

When software is built in small units, it also changes the economics. Most extensions I use are free, and are perhaps too small in their feature set to support a full-blown business. (neo-victorian)

It’s not an accident that this openness emerged on the web platform.

Since the beginning of personal computing, there’s been a philosophical tradition that encourages using computers as an interactive medium where people contribute their own ideas and build their own tools—authorship over consumption. This idea is reflected in systems like Smalltalk, Hypercard, and more recently, Dynamicland.

here are some bigger picture opportunities I see for improving on extensions:

Accessibility: Today, it requires a big jump to go from using browser extensions to creating them

What if there were a quick way to get started developing and sharing extensions in the browser?

Update: I’ve started working on a system called Wildcard to work towards this vision

Compatibility: Because extensions hook into websites in unsupported ways, updates to websites often result in extensions temporarily breaking

The next platform

The Beaker Browser and the decentralized web community are exploring how the web works without centralized servers

Tim Berners-Lee is working on a new project called SOLID.

Feb'2024: HackerNews discussion

• Kartik Agaram: Just the framing of "browser extensions" is extremely problematic in the year 2024. Most browser extensions by weight are Google Chrome extensions. Google Chrome is unambiguously demonstrating that no API is safe in its quest to juice revenues. Anybody who builds extensions using Chrome’s APIs should be very aware that they’re quite possibly putting effort into something a juggernaut will stomp away without a second thought. I don’t care to live in strategically lost situations like this, so I think the conversation should be about Firefox extensions. Which also don’t have a great track record (the transition to Google Chrome compatibility a few short years ago still annoys me greatly), but are a qualitatively better counter-party to deal with.