My team recently published our very first Firefox extension: insult reminders, that I started talking about in last week’s post, to the Firefox Add-On Store. I ended up working on all parts of the extension over time. This included writing functionality in JavaScript, styling elements with CSS, building out HTML components, handling the publication process, and finally including components to make the project open-source.

Creating my first browser extension pushed me outside my JavaScript comfort zone, as I had to apply the language in entirely new contexts to enable browser modification. I also started using console logging to debug issues! Persistently fixing bugs piece by piece was extremely rewarding.

Group Work Dynamics

Working collaboratively with a team for the extension was a very different experience compared to solo or even other group coding projects. We adopted an open-source approach where everyone contributed freely, building on each others’ contributions. Surprisingly, we did not encounter many conflicts! I learned that I enjoy this style of organic, collaborative building.

Other Extensions

During project presentations, I was impressed by the creative extensions built by peers, especially TikTock and StudyTool. I see myself using TikTock, a pomodoro timer extension, in my daily workflow and StudyTool stood out to me for providing stress relief through comedy. I enjoyed seeing all the unique, creative projects.

Moving forward, we’ve started to level up functionality and are planning on releasing version 1.1 soon. Feel free to check out and contribute to Insult Reminders.