Apologies for not actually putting anything out in months

I'm not sure how this could be implemented, but it would be really helpful to have

In navigating Lemmyverse for potential communities to subscribe to, it would be helpful to be able to redirect links to my home instance in a new tab to facilitate sorting through multiple communities at a time. Ideally, the option would be implemented with the ability to enable or disable either of the two context menu items to minimize context menu cluttering.

Say you want to message an admin of another instance. You can't look up who they are unless you go to that instance and have a look in the sidebar. You can click the admin to see their user page, but can't message them without opening that user page on your home instance.

In my head, this seems to be the exact same problem as communities, just applied to users.

So can we get a button on the user page to open that user on your home instance?

Thanks 🙂

This feature will be in 1.2.5, which is being submitted for review this week! I'm drafting this post early so that I can link it in the submission.

Open one of the following links, or try your favourite website. You can then use the 'Make a post' button in the popup or sidebar to generate a draft post with autofilled contents. Over time, we can customize how draft posts are generated for specific websites. Please comment below if you have thoughts on this feature.

I'm wrapping up with the new changes and I've started testing the extension for any remaining issues. Here is what you can look forward to:

Preview:

Changes with v1.2.5:

• Redirect posts to your home instance!: Post pages now have a redirect button that will find the same post on your home instance(1)
• Posts related to this webpage buttons in the extension popup
  • Make a post: This will pull the metadata from the page you are on and then open the post page in a new tab, autofilling in the title and URL. All you need to do is pick the community and hit 'Create'
  • Open Posts: This will check for any posts with the same URL, either as a link post or when the URL is in the post body. It will then open the post(s), but not before asking you when there are many posts. (see note on why it doesn't count automatically)
• Post an image: You can now right-click on an image, anywhere on the web, and hit "Post this image". It will open a new tab and autofill the title, image link, and add the URL to the body as "Source: url".
• Reorganizing popup:
  • I fixed the issue where the popup would still display a button after removing all instances from the list.
  • The number of default instances in the popup was reduced to 4
• General styling changes, wording improvements, and bugfixes

Status & Download Links:

Download from source: release v1.2.4 (github.com)

• While Edge and Opera are awaiting approval, you can install v1.2.4 from here, or through the Chrome store

Hi everyone!

On the surface, this update brings a handful of features integrating the extension with other tools and services. We have the first of many features from the LemmyTools userscript, as well as the support for Alexandrite and Photon frontends. You can also directly search for communities through Lemmyverse.net and for posts through search-lemmy.com, among other small changes.

The biggest change was behind the scenes. I've completely refactored the code throughout the extension. Now that we have a clearer plan for the extension, I simplified all around, such as consolidating most functions to a central utils.js file. I also reworked the settings, and unfortunately this means you may have to add your home instance again. Moving forwards, it should be a lot easier to maintain the extension and for people to collaborate, which brings me to:

Want to help?

All new improvements with v1.2.4

I finally got around to testing out the new changes and submitting the build.

I will make a proper post once it is approved on Chrome and Firefox, but if you get the update before I get a chance then you can read below for the new changes:

Changes with v1.2.4:

• search for communities through Lemmyverse.net or for posts through search-lemmy.com directly from the popup or sidebar
• First feature pulled from LemmyTools! You now have the option to hide the Lemmy sidebar entirely (more LemmyTools features to come!)
• Replaced non-functional 'subscribe' button on foreign /communities pages to make them useful (only when no account is signed in, so not to replace something functional)
• Initial support for Alexandrite & Photon frontends. Test them here:
  • Alexandrite: https://a.lemdro.id/c/lemdroid
  • Photon: https://nu.lemdro.id/c/lemdroid
  • New 'communityNotFound' button to account for alternate frontends: https://lemmy.ca/c/[email protected]
• Fix for generated link on CommunityNotFound pages
• Biggest change was behind the scenes: Completely refactored the code to move repetitive functions to a utils.js file. Should be a lot easier for people to collaborate and to maintain

Future Plans:

• Exploring a 'Reddit migrator' tool, similar to the mobile tool in Voyager, powered by lemmyverse.net
• Adding more features from LemmyTools Userscript, with help from /u/[email protected]
• Prepping for Firefox Mobile app, now that they are opening mobile up to all extensions!
• Keyboard hotkeys, possibly collaborating with someone that already implemented something similar
• Adding icons and simplifying the design, as the menus are getting very wordy
  • settings to limit onboarding / help instructions
• Ability to have multiple 'home instances'
• Finishing the setup so that people can contribute translations / other languages to the extension.

I'm using this to help populate my own instance and I'm having to trigger a search for communities I haven't pulled down before. But when I click 'trigger a search', the search bar is populating wrong. This is what I see:

instance_assistant[email protected]

If I edit the first instance of the name out, the search works fine, but this seems like a bug.

I can't believe how fast this addon was developed into something that is super useful.

A month ago I made a list of all the available addons to address this need. There were I think 4-5 of them and I actually didn't end up using any of them because they were too simple and didn't add much for my usecase.

In the intervening days (days!) this project has really fleshed out. I am impressed that you've managed to make an interface that makes sense. I wasn't sure if that would be possible because it is kind of an inherently complex situation.

And on top of that, it works. There are issues with federation which are network wide and not much you can do about that. But as much as the threadiverse is willing to cooperate, this addon smooths the experience.

Thanks, I really appreciate this.

Links:

• Firefox
• Chrome
• Edge - v1.2.3 is still being approved, you can grab the release from Github if you are eager
• Opera: Still under review, please download from Chrome webstore or Github release.

For questions / support: [email protected] (alternate: https://lemmy.ca/c/instance_assistant)

What's new?

(read on the wiki)

• You can now customize the instance list to match which instances you actually use. This should be helpful for those that have accounts on different instances.
• Added a settings page so that you can turn off features that you don't want active
• Added buttons for helpful tools that let you explore Lemmy/Kbin communities (with lemmyverse.net), and search across Lemmy sites (with search-lemmy.com).
• Added a sidebar for those that prefer it (works on Firefox, Chrome & Opera; Edge doesn't have sidebars yet but the code is there)
• Fix for issues with the search trigger on the community not found page (thank-you to whqwert!)
• Various bugfixes, small theme changes, and improved wording

What's coming up?

(read on the wiki)

• Working with the amazing /u/[email protected] to bring over features from the LemmyTools Userscript^1^
• Integrating lemmyverse.net and search-lemmy.com so you can do everything right on your community page^2^
• Adding icons and simplifying the design, as the UI is getting wordy
• Adding support for alternative home instances (ex. Alexandrite - Issue 14)
• Ability to have multiple 'home instances', so you can open it in any without having to change your home instance each time.
• Finishing the setup so that people can contribute translations / other languages to the extension.
• Getting the extension on Opera (no immediate plans, but this would be good to have)

More details:

1. /u/[email protected] has created a really useful userscript that you can find here: [email protected] (alternate: https://thesimplecorner.org/c/lemmytools). We're going to be working together to bring those features into Instance Assistant, so that you can have all the features in one place.

2. Right now there are buttons to explore Lemmy/Kbin communities (with lemmyverse.net), and search across Lemmy sites (with search-lemmy.com). Both of these take you to the respective webpages. Instead, it might be nicer to have a lightweight version right on the Lemmy/Kbin community page (or in the extension popup/sidebar). This should be possible using their APIs/data access, and I have a little working proof of concept already (see GitHub)

I'm new, what is this?

Instance Assistant is a browser extension that started out as a way to quickly jump from one community to the version on your home instance, so that you could subscribe/participate immediately. Since then, a few other features have been implemented:

Features

• Redirect to your home instance:
  • Buttons will be added to the sidebar of any Lemmy or Kbin community you visit, which will let you open the same community on your home instance.
• Open links in home instance:
  • Right click context menu will allow you to open any links in your home instance
• Improved Error Pages:
  • 'Community not found' pages now have better information, a button to trigger a fetch, a button to open a community in the source instance, and more.
• Customizable popup & sidebar menus:
  • Customizable list of instances to let you quickly switch home instances. This is great for if you have multiple accounts on different instances.
  • There are also buttons for helpful tools that let you search for communities (with lemmyverse.net), and search across Lemmy sites (with search-lemmy.com).
• Settings:
  • You can change the default behaviour of the extension, customize the popup & sidebar menus, and turn off features you don't want to use.

https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/instance-assistant-for-le/hnlndgeokcaocdklkbfjbfjplfnedehb

Similar to Chrome, this is v1.2.0, which doesn't have the right click context menu yet. Now that the previous version is approved, I've submitted v1.2.2 to Microsoft Edge as well. Cheers :)

I've made a number of improvements since the last time I was posting about my extension. The update is now available on both Firefox and Chrome web stores.

For questions / support: [email protected]

TLDR: See the respective download pages on Firefox & Chrome. The screenshots and features list are mostly self-explanatory.

Note on versions:

• Firefox has a more recent ~~1.2.1 version~~, because my build script missed some files while uploading v1.2.0. It doesn't look like Chrome had this issue.
• I'm uploading v1.2.2 to both stores today, which will bring the two missing features to Chrome as well. After 1.2.2, all browsers should have the same features. See below for details.
• EDIT: Version 1.2.2 is available on Firefox

So how is this different from other similar extensions?

You may have noticed the extension's name changed to be more generic (and include Kbin 🥳). I'm trying to make this a more well-rounded extension, and that means I've incorporated some features from the other extensions, in my own way.

Lemmy Links, Kbin Links, and the other forks:

This is a great extension that replaces links on your page with versions that go to your home instance. However, in order for this to work, it needs to recursively check every element on your page whenever DOM content (the stuff the browser is reading) changes. This is somewhat resource intensive, and while testing I ran into lag and freezing issues. As such, I decided to not include this functionality in the same way.

Instead, I've added a right click context menu that does the same thing. This way the user can pick which links they want the extension to convert, and it's a lot more efficient resource wise. While it's an extra click, I felt this was a reasonable compromise. However, I'm open to feedback!

NOTE: The context menu is available on Firefox, and it will be available in Chrome in about a week, depending on when they approve my update.

Lemmy Home Instance Helper

This is another extension which checks if you are logged in to an instance, and it creates a button to the search page if you are not. As my extension creates a button on any foreign instance, the search page is only helpful when a community hasn't been loaded into your home instance yet (ex. because you're the first one to try accessing it).

To deal with this, my extension modifies the "Community not found" pages with more instructions, as well as buttons to trigger the fetch process or to open the community elsewhere. See this screenshot for an example. Again, open to feedback!

As always, I'd love to collaborate with other people while building this. I'm still cleaning up my code, but feel free to look at the GitHub. If this extension gets popular, I will definitely need help for translations and for things like getting the extension on Safari (I don't have a recent Apple device to sign the extension with).

Note on permissions:

• The current versions request "Access to all sites". This is because the extension needs access to any page that contains "/c/", "/m/", or "/post/" in order to create the sidebar buttons. While the extension only looks for those pages, it will show up as "Access to all sites" when installing. Once I have a proper welcome message and settings page, I plan on making this permission optional so you can just use the popup menu if you would like.

Summary of Recent Changes:

• Added support for Kbin
• Fixed issue where button wouldn't load when navigating to a community within Lemmy (available on Firefox, should be on Chrome in a week).
• (NEW) Right-click context menu on Lemmy/Kbin community links to let you open them directly. You can test them out here: https://lemmy.ca/post/1282303 (available on Firefox, should be on Chrome in a week)
• (NEW) Information and buttons added to "Community Not Found" error pages to let you fetch the community or open it elsewhere.
• Updates to sidebar button to state the current selected instance and provide more detailed instructions as a dropdownList
• Refactored the code to remove more unnecessary permissions.
• Another pile of bugfixes, UI improvements, and better wording for instructions.

Future Plans:

• This is complete and will be in v1.2.2. ~~Bringing over the new changes to Google Chrome. Since chrome requires Manifest 3, I still need to iron out some issues with the service workers. The missing features are all related to the background processes that are running on the Firefox version~~
• Pushing to other browsers: Microsoft Edge & Opera are still reviewing v1.2.0. Unfortunately, I don't have any immediate plans for Safari, as I don't have a device that can sign the extension. I am looking into getting help for that.
• Setting up a proper Welcome page, Settings page, and Options menu to allow users to turn off features that they don't like. This will also let me make "access to all sites" optional.
• Finishing the translations' setup so that people can contribute other languages to the extension.
• Adding an option to save your own instances to the popup, for those that have multiple home instances.___

I just submitted a large update to both Firefox and Chrome web stores. Once it goes through review, you will be able to update to the new version. I'll make more posts to spread the word after that process is done.

So how is this different from other similar extensions?

You may have noticed the extension's name changed to be more generic (and include Kbin 🥳). I'm trying to make this a more well-rounded extension, and that means I've incorporated some features from the other extensions, in my own way.

Lemmy Links, Kbin Links, and the other forks:

This is a great extension that replaces links on your page with versions that go to your home instance. However, in order for this to work, it needs to recursively check every element on your page whenever DOM content (say, the code the browser is reading) changes. This is somewhat resource intensive, and while testing I ran into lag and freezing issues. As such, I decided to not include this functionality in the same way.

Instead, I've added a right click context menu that does the same thing. This way the user can pick which links they want the code to run on, and it's a lot more efficient resource wise. While it's an extra click, I felt this was a reasonable compromise. However I'm open to feedback!

Lemmy Home Instance Helper

This is another extension which checks if you are logged in to an instance, and it creates a button to the search page.

As this extension is creating a button on any foreign instance linking to the community page, the situation where this would be helpful is when a community hasn't been loaded into your home instance yet (ex. because you're the first one to try accessing it). What I've done instead is create a section that appears on such "Community not found" pages with more instructions on how you can start the loading/fetching process, as well as buttons to trigger the search or to open the community elsewhere. Again, open to feedback!

As always, I'd love to collaborate with other people while building this. I'm cleaning up my code, but feel free to look at the GitHub. If this extension is popular, I will definitely need help for translations and for things like getting the extension on Safari (I don't have a recent Apple device to sign the extension with).

Summary of Changes:

• Added support for Kbin
• Fixed issue where button wouldn't load when navigating to a community within Lemmy (fix is only on Firefox version for now).
• (NEW) Right-click context menu on Lemmy/Kbin community links to let you open them directly. You can test them out here: https://lemmy.ca/post/1282303. This is also only on Firefox for now.
• (NEW) Information and buttons added to "Community Not Found" error pages to let you fetch the community or open it elsewhere.
• Updates to sidebar button to state the current selected instance and provide more detailed instructions as a dropdownList
• Refactored the code to remove more unnecessary permissions.
• Another pile of bugfixes, UI improvements, and better wording for instructions.

Future Plans:

• Bringing over the new changes to Google Chrome. Since chrome requires Manifest 3, I still need to iron out some issues with the service workers. The missing features are all related to the background processes that are running on the Firefox version.
• Pushing to other browsers. Microsoft Edge needs some more testing, and I'm looking into other browsers. Unfortunately, I don't have a device that can sign the extension for Safari, so I will need some help to port that over. There are tools available for that, so it shouldn't be too hard :)
• Setting up a proper Settings page to allow users to turn off features that they don't like
• Either fixing the options page, or removing it entirely
• Finishing the setup so that people can contribute translations / other languages to the extension.
• Adding an option to save your own instances to the popup, for those that have multiple home instances.

Links that should work

• UBC Lemmy - Using markdown link formatting
• UBC Lemmy - Using markdown link formatting
• UBC Kbin - Using markdown link formatting
• [email protected] - Using ! format
• [email protected] - Using ! format
• [email protected] - Using ! format
• https://lemmy.ca/c/ubc - no formatting, on home
• https://lemmy.ca/c/world - no formatting, on home
• https://kbin.social/m/ubc - no formatting, on home
• https://lemmy.world/c/[email protected] - no formatting, on foreign
• https://lemmy.ca/c/[email protected] - no formatting, on foreign
• https://kbin.social/m/[email protected] - no formatting, on foreign

Links that should not work:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• https://example.com
• example.com

Image file that should work:

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/778315

Introducing the Lemmy Instance Assistant (browser extension)

Hey everyone :)

I started using Lemmy during the blackout, and I was finding it annoying to subscribe to new communities that I came across. I wanted to be able to quickly open a link on my home instance instead of copy/pasting the code, searching for it, and then subscribing. I looked around for an extension and didn’t see any * , so I started working on my first browser extension!

Firefox version is live, the Chrome version is still going through the review/approval stage. I’m working on getting it on other browsers as well.

https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/lemmy-instance-assistant

This extension will let you set your home instance (https://lemmy.ca for me), and then it will insert a button onto community pages on other Lemmy instances (see screenshots on extension page). I tried to mimic the existing design for the button, and I included some popular instances so you can quickly copy and paste when selecting your home instance.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Why doesn’t it redirect automatically?

Initially I tried to make it redirect, similar to ‘Old Reddit Redirect’. This is still possible, but it might be a little dangerous to have it set up that way. Since there is no way to predict what URL a Lemmy site will have, we can’t restrict the extension to specific domains. This means that the extension MAY run on other sites, depending on how it is detecting the Lemmy site. A button popping up is less harmful than being redirected unexpectedly.

Future plans:

GitHub link: https://github.com/cynber/lemmy-instance-assistant

• As mentioned above, we can’t specify which domains the extension should run on since that’s not something we can predict. I’d like to improve the specificity of which pages the button will appear on, to minimize unexpected behaviour. As this is my first extension, I’d appreciate help with this while I learn it myself!
• Right now the button does not appear if you are already viewing a community in a different instance, even if that is not YOUR instance (ex. You are looking at lemmy.world/c/[email protected], while your home instance is lemmy.ca). This limitation comes from the method I used to distinguish between the community page and your home instance page. I’m planning to change it to use the URL itself instead of card elements.
• It would be nice to be able to jump to a specific post. Currently, it appears that Lemmy post URLs do not include a slug for the community/instance, making it challenging to implement something like this. I plan on exploring this some more (relevant thread: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/875)
• I want to add a button next to other Lemmy links in the post body / comments. However, I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do this and which links it should appear next to.

Other thoughts:

Some of the third party Reddit tools that I used the most were the browser extensions. Reddit Enhancement Suite made it a LOT easier to start using Reddit, and other extensions like Old Reddit Redirect (the inspiration for my extension) fixed other annoyances. While there are a lot of areas where Lemmy can improve, I think it makes more sense to implement certain enhancements through browser extensions and separate tools. That is to say, I’m happy to let this be pushed into Lemmy’s code, but right now I feel like it makes more sense as a separate extension.

(*) Also when I started building my extension, I didn’t see any similar ones listed. A few other ones have now popped up, and it looks like a lot of them were forked from this project. So if you don’t like mine, there are others that you can try :) Similarly, I’m happy to collaborate if you want to help / integrate my extension into a bigger project!