cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/3232301

Status & Download Links:

Firefox v1.2.4 Chrome v1.2.4 Edge v1.2.3

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?

Get started:

I’ve put together some notes on how the extension is structured for those that want to help. The extension itself is fairly simple, and it doesn’t use any particular framework or anything. It should a great first project to work on, even if you are just learning or new to web development.

Having more people add to one place would make it easier for users that are juggling many extensions and userscripts. That’s why I’ve been focussed on having a more intuitive structure for the project and leaving detailed notes and comments. I’m also likely not going to have as much time starting next month so I’m trying to do what I can now to get everything rolling.

If you don’t know where to start or just have an idea, let me know and I’ll see what I can do :)

As always, you can add new ideas and issues here: https://github.com/cynber/lemmy-instance-assistant/issues

All new improvements with v1.2.4

New Changes
  • search for communities through Lemmyverse.net or for posts through lemmy-search directly from the popup or sidebar
  • You now have the option to hide the default Lemmy sidebar (more LemmyTools features to come!)
  • Replaced non-functional ‘subscribe’ button on foreign /communities pages (only when no account is signed in, so not to replace something functional)
  • Support for Alexandrite & Photon frontends. Test them here:
  • Fix for generated link on CommunityNotFound pages
  • Completely refactored the code to move repetitive functions to a utils.js file
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.
    • CynberOP
      2•1 year ago

      Yes fair enough, I’ll include a better description as a dropdown in future posts.

      Instance Assistant is a browser extension with a handful of tools on Desktop. It started out as a button to redirect to your home instance, but with the help of others we’ve included a few other functions and are working on more.

      You can see more here: https://github.com/cynber/lemmy-instance-assistant#features

      Screenshots here: https://github.com/cynber/lemmy-instance-assistant#screenshots

    • @ymhrEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      This is probably it’s headline feature

      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.

      You can see the full description on the relevant store.