I’d like to develop a small plug-in for web browsers, namely Chrome and FireFox. Which one is easier† to develop for a first projet? I am very unfamiliar with this space as I spend most of my days coding server-side Java.
†: Easier in my context means:
- shallow learning curve
- least amount of additional tooling required
- a Java like syntax, i.e.: JavaScript
- solid API documentation
If it matters, here is the goal of my plug-in:
- find an image tag in a page with a specific tag. Example:
<img src="bobisyouruncle.jpg" findme="found" /> - send the image to my remote RESTful web service
- overlay an image onto the above image (or replace it)
- allow simple configuration and storage for authentication against the web service
Answers from folks with direct experience coding for both browsers are greatly appreciated.
Chrome. It has a fast and easy learning curve. Start here: https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/getstarted.html . The built in development tools allows you to debug your own code in a matter of a click. And ctrl+r actually refreshes your extension code.
Firefox extensions are much more complex and harder to develop. You will need to set up a development environment with many custom settings and “developer’s extensions” and it will be very hard to actually debug your code.
Update: an interesting real-world blog post comparing Chrome, FireFox and Opera extension building: http://blog.nparashuram.com/2011/10/writing-browser-extensions-comparing.html