Proud as a peacock: my first Firefox Extension

Yes it’s true. Today I finished my first Firefox extension. Took me less than a week from the first time I started reading about it. I anticipated that it would be difficult and annoying work but I actually liked it. It reminded me of the first time I opened a HTML book after I decided I wanted to build a homepage. The same kind of logic and excitement.

As you can see in the image the extension adds a button to the Firefox Button area. When you move your cursor over the button a small + sign pops out. I spend a lot of time on the icon. I wanted it to look like it was a natural part of Firefox, not an Extension.

If you want to develop an extension too I would suggest starting at The Extension Wizard. This service generates an extension skeleton that you can build on. It is intended to save the time you would normally spend copying and pasting from other Extensions or from one of the tutorials you find online.

http://ted.mielczarek.org/code/mozilla/extensionwiz/

After that go to Eric from Roachfiend.com and read his tutorial. Reading that feels like sitting next to an expert friend who quickly takes you through the whole thing, makes everything seem easy and shows you what you can ignore and what is important.

http://roachfiend.com/archives/2004/12/08/how-to-create-firefox-extensions/

If you want even more then take one or two days off and read the excellent Toolbar Tutorial at borngeek.com. In an easy and practical manner they they explain everything you need to know about building a great Extensions and they don’t leave anything out.

http://www.borngeek.com/firefox/toolbar-tutorial/

I developed the Extension for Searcle.com which won’t be opened up for a few weeks. But if you want to test the Extension or Searcle just contact me.