Newsit: Making My First Browser Extension

this product

I've recently completed my first browser extension, although it's not profitable (at all), I thought it might be interesting to share the story.

// Background

When I'm browsing the web and see a random news article for example "Facebook Shuts Down AI Robot After It Creates Its Own Language!", I instantly want to verify the quality and validity of the article by reading the Reddit or Hacker News comment section. This would usually require either using the search feature on these sites or Google, which can be annoying and time-consuming.

// Solution: Newsit

I thought it would be cool to have a browser extension which would check the Reddit and Hacker News API's directly from the user's browser, either automatically or via a button click. So that's what I've tried to make.

https://newsit.benwinding.com

// Lessons Learned

• Chrome is easier to develop for (In my opinion).
• Chrome and Firefox have extremely similar API's
• Firefox Addon Store is easier to deploy to.
• Firefox Addon's work on Android mobiles!
• Bundling is not Ideal for extensions, better to explicitly reference 3rd party code, rather than bundling.
• It's fun to make extensions!

Let me know what you think!!