Hi

Chrome extension which allows you to right click on selected text and search on multiple sites at the same time.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

What's next and why is it taking so damn long?

Well, I'm currently testing version 1.6.

The reason it's taking so damn long is because I refactored all the config storage to a single JSON object... I don't understand how I didn't do this since the beginning, the code is way much cleaner than before... but with this changes, I had to include some backward compatibility functions, so when you first upgrade your extension, all your previously stored config data won't be lost... that way you won't hate me that much :D...

It's been kind of painful, I had to modify most of the code, and it's really hard to think of all possibilities and to test them... I believe I'm almost done... I'll try and finish by this weekend.

I also added a few new features. Here's what I can remember at this hour of the night:


  • Import/Export config: you can now copy your configuration to a text file and take it to any other install... it's still not Cloud Sync but it's a start, right?
  • Turn off the "call home" feature: there was a comment from a user (thanks for commenting, btw) on my last post about stats, asking if was it possible to turn off the Search Engines tracking feature. I can understand you guys being paranoid regarding what app devs are monitoring from your usage of their apps... in this case -in my case-, tracking is purely being done to satisfy my curiosity, to find new ways to improve my extension, and to share with you where other people is looking for the stuff they are interested in.
    I don't really care what you are looking for, nor who is looking for what... really... and no information that can lead me to that is being tracked. But it's Ok, as a friend of mine says: "being paranoid is not a flaw, but a virtue", or something like that :P
    To sum up, if you turn that off, I'll still be counting the clicks you make when you're using my extension, but no Search Engine names nor URLs are stored (it just says "confidential" on both fields) on Google Analytics.
    I hope this satisfies your needs... if not, let's discuss why not, convince me, and I'll remove all kinds of tracking for those who desire it... I'm still not that much convinced.


Well then, I'll make a post when the new version is published.

Cheers

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Last build published on chromeextensions.org

So yesterday, following a friend's advice (gracias @CostasDaniel!), I published my last build (0.1.5.5) on chromeextensions.org.

I still can't believe that in less than a day my extension was downloaded over 70 times... That's 50% more than the amount of times it was downloaded from Chrome Web Store... in a hole month! ! !

It might have to do with how well indexed this site is on Google's search engine. It's hard to believe it ranks better than Google's own web store...
Maybe, another reason is that new uploads are immediately featured on the homepage, which doesn't happen on Google's extension database.
That's a risk on itself, having spammers appear on your front page... in fact, before my app was published, there was a lot of Polish spam posts >.> (I'm guessing it was spam, I can't really read Polish)

Anyway, featuring recent updates is the best way to motivate new publishers to keep on doing it. I wish more on Chrome's Web Store worked that way. Today there's more strategically picked content, which is OK, but won't help dev beginners. That doesn't sound like the Google I like...