Filed under: Google, Browsers
The fact that Google Chrome supports extensions is great, but there's one thing I'd like tweaked: those somewhat-frightening messages Chrome displays about an extension's API access.
For example, there's Typing Speed Monitor, which I recently posted. When you install it, you'll receive the following alerts:
...which certainly might look scary to the average user. TSM's developer happened to stop by and post a comment to allay those fears, stating that the alerts appear "because the extension needs to use the chrome.tab.* API (which gives it access to the URLs you visit) and it needs to use 'content_scripts,' which are injected into HTML pages and can manipulate their DOM elements."
There's nothing to fear, however, because your data isn't going anywhere: "[Typing Speed Monitor] can't give that data to anyone else because it doesn't have permission to access other hosts."
Still, the alerts are off-putting and even give more seasoned surfers cold feet when installing an extension -- which is where the alert above comes in. Michael Gundlach, who maintains AdBlock for Chrome, used Chrome's extension update support to push a reassuring note to its users about an upcoming change.
I've seen the "requires more permissions" alert before from an extension, but I haven't seen a dev take the time to explain to users what's going on. It's a smart, thoughtful move by Gundlach. Until Chrome offers more insightful (and accurate) alerts, developers might want to follow this example to avoid accidentally scaring their users.Chrome AdBlock dev pushes reassuring note to counter Chrome's scary extension warnings originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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