Extend your browser 🌎

Hello friends!

I hope you're enjoying this Serial Maker newsletter! If you missed any of the past editions, make sure to check them out. And if you know someone who might benefit from this newsletter, please forward this email to a friend. 😀

PayPal just announced that it has agreed to acquire Honey Science Corporation for $4B. Honey is best known for its Chrome extension that helps you find savings as you shop online. In case you missed it, that's four billion dollars for a Chrome extension. It's time to take browser extensions seriously.

This issue is all about extending the browser 🌎
 

TLDR

• Find some cool Chrome extensions on Product Hunt

• Read the official, extensive Google docs

• You can build a simple Chrome extension in 10 minutes

Chrome extensions I use daily

The great thing about browser extensions is they live right inside one of your most-used apps, your browser. Below are a few extensions I use regularly.

Grammarly
Grammarly catches your spelling and grammatical mistakes as you write. It even evaluates the overall tone of your writing (formal, friendly, optimistic, etc.). I'm using Grammarly as I compose this newsletter.

Panda
Each time I open a new browser tab, I'm presented with my own curated dashboard of design and programming headlines. With Panda, you can customize this versatile news-reader layout however you like. And there's a super-useful "focus" mode, where you can manage a short list of your to-dos throughout the day.

GIPHY
Need to send a GIF? With the GIPHY extension, there's no need to leave your current page. Weave GIFs right into your regular workflow. Everyone needs more GIFs.

Code Climate
See all your terrible coding mistakes amazingly clean code while you're browsing GitHub.

React Developer Tools
If you've ever tried to debug a React app without this, you understand the pain. Make your life easier with this tool, and drill into each individual React component to inspect its current props and state.
 

Build your own

The core of a Chrome extension is nothing more than HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. If you're a web developer, you'll feel right at home building extensions.

First, check out the official Google docs. Everything you need to know about developing extensions can be found right there.

Want a simple tutorial? Here's one that will get you up and running with a basic extension in 10 minutes.

Chrome extensions can do all sorts of things: connect to public APIs, interact with the browser page, persist data. Here are a few articles on some advanced capabilities:

• Let’s create a simple chrome extension to interact with DOM

• How I wrote my first Google Chrome Extension using Spotify’s API

• Chrome Local Storage in Extensions

Once you've built your awesome Chrome extension, you can upload your extension in the Developer Dashboard and share it with the world!

If you've built a Chrome extension, or use one that I may not know about, I'd love to hear all about it.

Thanks for reading! 🙌

Hit reply to tell me what you're making. I'm looking for anyone interested in talking about their own side-projects and maker journey, so speak up if you'd like to appear in Serial Maker. I'd also love to know what you thought of this issue, and what you want to hear about in the future.

Until next week,

Craig