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

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...

First stats: 6/6 to 6/26 2011

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My never-ending ToDo List

Ever since I started coding this extension, I'm thinking of ways to improve it. Seems to me it will always be a work in progress... I don't mind that at all :)

Here's a list of the main features I'm still missing:

1. Cloud sync: that's the first one... everyone that uses this extension it requests it... the thing is that I'm betting on Google for a way to provide devs to easily store the local variables for each extension on the cloud. There are a few tricks I could use now, like storing data on bookmarks and then using that info from synced bookmarks. I don't like it... it assumes you'll be syncing your bookmarks... There's another way, using some other cloud services, but it all seems a bit messy for me... I'll wait a bit more to implement this one
2. In the mean time, I'll consider a settings export-import feature.
3. Click tracking: I'm already tracking clicks on Google Analytics, for statistical analysis purposes.
   - My next goal is to inform users how many times they clicked on each menu link, so they can know and decide which is the best way to sort their links.
   - Naturally, this is followed by an Auto-sort mechanism that would constantly re-sort your links in order of usage. I'm not sure how many people will like this, so it will definitively be an optional one :)
   - The 3 most used links will probably the ones by default when the extension is installed for the first time
4. Featured Search Engines stored on Local Storage: that list of URLs is always downloaded from my website. It's no big deal, but I'd like to keep a local copy of it, so whenever it's proper, I'll compare it to the one on my server, and if there are any difference, I can then let the users know there are new suggestions for them. It will also be an opt-out option.
5. Open tabs in background: Today you can decide if you want the search results to be opened on the same tab you are or in a new one... sometimes I hate it when the new tab gets focus... just because my bandwidth is slow, and I want to keep reading whatever I'm reading before the new tab is fully loaded. Maybe I'll be able to tap on the on-load event from the new tab and have it automatically get focus after it loaded... that might look weird... I'll have to test it :) (any slooooow website to test it with? ;)
6. Refactor the "my search engines" list: at first it was only one input text with all the comma separated values on one field for names and another one for URLs... nasty... from there to what it is today, let's say it improved a bit :D... the thing is that the code behind it is not as -ehem- elegant as it might be... (that's what happens when you build one of those grids from scratch with no clear idea of what will it be doing next)
   So I'll re-do it from scratch... no rush with that yet :D I'm the only one that will know it's there :P
   I'll probably rethink the sorting method at that time, because @siux666 doesn't like it and he doesn't know why :)
7. An alternative for the double click on the Featured links list: I don't like it... it was the easy way out of that grid component -jqGrid, BTW, excellent-... I'll have to think about what I'd like the most... probably an "actions" menu that will appear on a row hover event.
8. Pasting a URL containing "TESTSEARCH" will automatically replace the text to %s: that one is for Germán, the designer behind all the icons/logo :)

Change-log archives

Just in case I accidentally remove it from the install page -or I have to delete it because of lack of space- here are the first two change-logs ever since I published for the first time.

New on 0.1.5

Simplified options interface: no more Save options button. Everything is saved as soon as you change it.
Now if you only use one Search Engine, the link will show as a parent on the Right-click menu
Fixed some minor options bugs (check ToDo list)
Reduced extension size by 20% by removing unnecessary plugins (who cares!! :)

New on 0.1.4.1

you can now sort your list :)
removed the "upload" button... now just double-click on a listed URL to send it to your list.
changed the default search engines

Why did I bulid this extension?

It's simple: first of all, because I'm a lazy old bastard, who loves to lay on his couch, browsing the web on his Chrome, and moving as little muscles as possible.

Hence, I just want to select some text with my mouse, right click and search somewhere else than Google.

I use IMDB and Wikipedia a lot, almost as much as Google.

If I'm at work, I will probably use Chrome's omni-box + TAB search... It's just perfect!

But when I'm on my couch, I'm as lazy as they come :P

I found some extensions that did that, but didn't like them... the options pages where too complicated, and since I had already done some extensions coding at my work, I decided to create my very first own Chrome Extension.

I find coding a break from daily work, and Chrome extension's coding is plain simple and excellent. Plus I get to practice my JavaScript + jQuery very limited knwoledge.

So that's it... hope you like it... I've been tweaking it constantly ever since I first published it. Have some friends that do some beta testing for me, and have a long ToDo list for it.

I'll be posting here the progress, and of course, If you want so make some suggestions and comments about its features, you'll be more than welcome.

Besides, this is what I like the most, I am tracking it's usage. I can't know (because I don't want to) who's doing what, nor what are they looking for, but I can know which search engines are the most used.

So I'll be posting some interesting statistics. For example, I found out that the first two weeks since published, the most used search URL was a porn video site in Italy... very amusing :)

Not so amusing was the mental image that produced one of my friends, when he commented the advantages of browsing the web one-handed while watching porn sites... that was completely unnecessary >.>

Cheers!