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Ashok Sachdev

January 10, 2023 1308 Views
12 mins read Last Updated January 10, 2023
Essential Guide For Chrome Extension Development

Quick Summary : In this essential guide, we will cover the basics of developing a Chrome extension. It discusses the different types of extensions, how to get started, and some tips for chrome extension development.

Extensions are small programs that can add new features to a web browser or modify the behavior of existing features. Extensions can be created for any web browser, including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Safari.

Browser extension development is the process of creating extensions for web browsers. Extensions are the best way to try your coding skills for good utilization as well as through them. You can design something that will allow you to do recurring tasks with just a few clicks. If you want to complete that, then it will be the best initiative to learn how to make a extension with this chrome extension development essential guide.

Google Chrome offers numerous different APIs to its extension developers, like pop-ups, creating notifications, inserting a new page, setting up a default search engine, or even building a context menu item (the menu that displays when you right-click on a page).

What is a Chrome Extension?

It is a small software program that can support customizing the browsing experience as well as it also makes your browser more powerful and automates the task for yourself. It helps you to save time and keeps your mind calm. It becomes a must for the utilization of chrome extensions when you want to automate a specific type of work and don’t know how to code.

For example, if you want to involve yourself in an online flash sale or want to keep updated with the latest deals, offers, and coupons from e-commerce players, then extensions may be the best choice. We would be happy to tell you more about another extension but before that, I will tell you about the extension, which I have used most of the time for shopping to save money.

A Chrome extension comprises CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, allowing you to include some functionality to Chrome by some JavaScript APIs Chrome exposes. An extension is mainly just a web page that is hosted within Chrome as well as can access some extra APIs

Google Chrome Extensions examples

There are lots of features of extensions. Some of them are given below:

Speedtest

Speedtest chrome extension

This helpful extension allows you to check your internet connection speed on the go. With its mobile as well as the desktop version, you can make sure your connection is top before downloading a large attachment or streaming a video. Speedtest can perform a quick connection test on the network you are utilizing with just one click.

Sortd

Sortd chrome browser extension

This plugin provides its users with a way to manage their priorities and inboxes, whatever matters most to them. It combines with Gmail and allows you to drag and drop messages into custom columns.

Save to Drive

Save to Google Drive Chrome extension

This extension installs a small icon at the top side of the browser. It can send your browsing data to your drive account so you can look at it later. It works by saving images and taking screenshots, audio, or video.

HTTPS everywhere

HTTPS everywhere Google Chrome extension

This extension boosts the security of your browsing by modifying any website from HTTP to secure HTTPS; that’s why it is secure as well as encrypted.

I don’t care about cookies

I don’t care about cookies Chrome extension

This extension is a lifesaver because almost every website asks you to agree with the cookies. It may not appear much but will hit the agree button automatically on cookie pop-ups. It will save you time as well as speed up your productivity.

What can extensions do?

Chrome Extensions can perform lots of things. They use either browser actions or page actions Page.

Browser action: It is not specific to a page and it does not matter where you are in the browser. You will typically see a UI added to the right side of Google chrome’s address bar.

Page Action: It is a chrome extension that is precise to specific pages. You will normally observe a UI inserted in Google chrome’s address bar.

How to Design a Chrome Extension?

Here are a few points that you should keep in mind while building one:

Keep Improving – This is one of the most important things you shouldn’t leave even after getting millions of users. Always take feedback as well as keep improving the product according to user requirements.

Just do what you promise – If the user has downloaded your extension, then you just have to do what you promise and nothing else. If you will observe when you download the auto buy app there is no need to sign up or provide any kind of data because they support you to purchase products on e-commerce portals.

Keep it easy – You can check other extensions. Most of the extension’s UI is too bad that can confuse and jumble you after downloading. Apart from UI, the procedure of user onboarding has to be super simple. Make it seamless as well as lightweight for utilization.

Keep observing your competitors – You should also put some effort into getting information about competitors’ products and what changes he is doing along with feedback and reviews from users.

What we are going to do Next?

In our previous blog post, We covered the detailed topic on creating a Chrome extension with React” in this article, we are going to design a basic Chrome extension that will show a simple popup message when clicked.

A couple of important files will be needed in this procedure: an HTML file (“popup.html”), an icon (“icon.png”), as well as all the major manifests (“manifest.json”). All these files will live inside a directory with your extension name.

A Chrome extension is described by its manifest. This snippet of JSON displays Chrome what files to load, how to interpret the extension, and how to act together with the user. The manifest file for our basic extension seems like this:

This manifest file will add an icon to the user’s toolbar and when you click on it, it will load the contents of the file whose name is “popup.html.”

Most of the fields in this JSON file are self-descriptive, so I will not waste your time in clarifying everything but take note of some of it.

  • manifest version informs Chrome what version of the manifest markup you are busy with. For the modern extensions, you will have to set this on 2.
  • Browser action can load the icon into the toolbar. It also allows the extension to respond to user input through a popup or badge or by displaying a tooltip. You can check out the complete list of the functions “browser_action” can perform.
  • Permissions control the extension’s operational region. The activated is the most common, which permits the extension to access the front-most tab. Google offers a list of all the permissions an extension can request.

If you know more about Chrome extension’s manifest can do so you can check out Google’s docs on extension manifests.

Writing a most common Chrome Extension: Popups Now that we have written in our manifest so we can figure out quickly what our extension will show. That’s up to our “popup.html” file, which will appear when the extension loads. Here is what we will be using for this project:

Connect To Chrome:

Now It’s necessary to load our extension!

Then you have to Go to chrome://extensions in your browser

You have to make sure that the Developer mode checkbox in the top right-hand corner is should be checked.

Now you have to click Load unpacked to pop up a file-selection dialog &choice your directory.

If the extension is valid then it will be loaded up and active right away and If it’s invalid, an error message will be shown at the top of the page. Then you have to correct the error and try again.

Your chrome extension should be enabled so you can see it in action.

You can see the effects of the extension by simply clicking on the extension.

Apply some logic:

Open the “popup.html” file and do those modifications.

The last thing we have to do that is build the plugin is to apply the logic that should execute when a user clicks the “Click” button.

Now you have to add an event listener to listen for the click event on the click button.

Just open up the popup.js file and put the following code:

Testing it out:

Note: Make sure to click reload after every modification you make so you can see it in action and yes, it will work very well.

End Part: Expanding Your Chrome Extension

Once you’re completed with your extension and are ready to publish so at that time, it will be needed to create a Chrome developer account. That’s not an easy procedure, but Google provides complete guidance for publishing your Chrome extension here.

You can do many things with your extensions, so If you want to learn more about everything Chrome extensions, you can check out Google’s Chrome Developer Extension Guide.

How to promote the chrome extension?

Here are a few tips that can support to promote a Google Chrome Extension:

  • You can ask for help from influencers.
  • If possible, then you can invite the media.
  • Guest blogging is also the best option.
  • People love things that are accessible for free.
  • You have not to be comforted even after your extension gets launched.
  • The advertisement may also be an excellent way for promotions.

How to do marketing of Chrome Extension?

Email Marketing

In the newsletter, you can explain the benefits of your extension, have a clear CTA, and you will be excited about the Chrome extension for your clients. This will also support user retention because people check out their browsers with their brilliant icon/logo every few minutes. To boost your success in doing a newsletter, you can have a very simple subject line as well as you have to keep in mind that the content should contain at least one call to action to lead your customers to what you wanted them to do.

Chrome Store SEO

First of all, it’s very essential to know what keyword can make rank better of your extensions in Chrome Store. You have to improve the description by utilizing relevant keywords that are more prominently and more regularly. You can also consider writing a longer description because it works superior when optimizing for ranking on long-tail keywords.

Get Reviews

If you keep your clients happy and regularly interact with them, then they can support drive word of mouth as well as they can also boost the ranking of your Chrome store. Just make a point to answer every query of Chrome’s store and ask them openly for feedback. If you get negative feedback, then politely respond to that. It will genuinely calm individuals down and if you are getting excellent feedback and replies from customers, then this will encourage more people to leave good reviews because they know you read them.

Generate income from your Chrome Extension

The main motive of your extension is to generate revenue. Once you have clear about your target audience and are familiar with how they will utilize the extension, you can easily plan how to generate income from it. We have also written an extensive guide on extension monetization. Here are some points:

Likewise, the basic extension is offered for free in this version, but if the customer wants a

premium version, then they need to pay for the upgraded version. This is a very common model which is also used by popular extensions like Grammarly.

In-App Payments and Purchases

In this model, the extension is free but there are inside attributes for which you charge from customers. In-app purchases are common between game applications as well as extensions. The user can select if they want to add the additional paid features.

Search Ads

In this approach, the ads are placed on a search engine results page and the ads will appear when the person is seeking something and it doesn’t disturb the user experience. You can modify search ads according to the user intent, so it improves the user experience.

 In-App Ads

This is one of the best and most common ways to monetize your extension. These are ads that will show to a user when they are using your extension. When you monetize via in-app advertising by a programmatic solution, then it puts the ads. Unlike static ads, this technique supports you to maximize your potential. By using display advertising, you can put the different types of ads.

Freemium

This is one of the trendiest models of monetization for applications and extensions. You can provide the extension for free with Freemium and here are some options through which you can generate the income.

You can provide a free, basic version with limited attributes. You can offer a free trial for a finite time interval. If you select this model, then it also includes its limitations since Google has discontinued paid extensions.

Cost of Google Chrome Extension Development?

Some of the factors that can affect the cost of development include the following:

  • The number of features and complexity of the extension
  • The number of platforms that the extension will be compatible with
  • The level of support and maintenance required
  • The timeframe for extension development

Blog App Cost Caluclators

Chrome extension development is a complex process, and it is essential to work with a developer with the experience and expertise to create a high-quality extension. By working with a skilled developer, you can be sure that your extension will be completed on time and within budget.

The cost of chrome extension development may vary depending on the features and complexity of the extension. This will depend on the features and complexity of the extension. Generally, the cost will range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

We have competitive pricing, which Starts from $1K, Yes! That’s true; Chrome Browser Extension development begins with the lowest at $8/ Hour with Groovy.

If you are interested in developing a chrome extension, please contact us to schedule a consultation. We are a chrome extension development company with experience in creating custom extensions for business, and we would be happy to discuss your project with you and provide a proposal.


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Written by: Ashok Sachdev

Ashok Sachdev is the Project Manager at Groovy Web who began his professional career as a programmer at the young age of 17. Ever since then he is actively growing, learning new things, and adapting to new roles and responsibilities at every step. Aside from being an app developer, he is highly admired for his project management skills by his clients.


Frequently Asked Questions

We hope these clear your doubts, but if you still have any questions, then feel free to write us on hello@groovyweb.co

There are many benefits to creating a Chrome extension. Extensions can make your browsing experience more efficient and enjoyable by adding new features or modifying existing ones. Additionally, extensions can be used to customize the look and feel of the browser or to change its behavior in specific ways.


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