Browser Bits

All the browser userscripts that I’ve been using were scattered across a multitude of pastebin links and git repositories. It became a bit of effort to track them down to re-install in Greasemonkey (Firefox) or Tampermonkey (Chrome) with the time expended searching exceeding the time saved using my extensions. No beuno.

Enter Browser Bits: a curation of userscripts. (See awesome-userscripts to learn more!) Ultimately, the repository will contain Stylus stylesheet overrides and related hodgepodge.

§My top two userscripts

Have a taste of my simplistic userscript utilization. It keeps me from breaking the computer, … erm, website.

§MediaWiki Sidebar Toggle

I use my mediawiki sidebar toggle userscript almost daily (click to install). NethackWiki, Wikipedia, and more operate on the mediawiki stack. The classic Vector theme employs an obstinate sidebar devoid of a toggle button. This script adds a toggle back in and binds it to Control-'.

§Advent of Code Adjustments

adventofcode.com has rather distracting styling (click to install). From text “glow” in lieu of typographically-sane emboldened text to a font choice which fails to be legible with a light foreground and dark background, it can use improvement. This userscript does not specify a replacement font, no. That’s for the user to decide! Merely specify your default fonts correctly and the userscript will just work.

§You can customize websites too

Install Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey then copy-paste a template into a new userscript. Give it a shot. If you can pick up a modicum of the browser Javascript APIs, you can inject stylesheets, remove unwanted elements, and more.

As a bonus, if you post the script to a public URL ending in .user.js visitors well be greeted with a prompt asking to install the userscript. This couldn’t be easier! Or you could be like me, dump the scripts into a Git repository.

Keep it simple. The web sucks a lot more than it ever did—vis a vis, the web from the first half of my life—however all hope is not lost. You too can fix up the web enough to keep your technological sanity in check.

§PS 2024 in Review in the works

I’ve been reading through my journals, all 70,000 words from 2024. It’s a slog. Stay tuned for a 2024 in Review post once my reading-while-navel-gazing-project arrives at completion.