New Book: Greasemonkey Hacks

27 Jan 12:40

Rev Your Web Engine with a Tuned Up Firefox - O'Reilly Media Releases "Greasemonkey Hacks"

If the Web is really the information super highway, then surely the web browser is the car that navigates the streets. And what's a car without a personalized license plate, chosen color, or customized interior? The same goes for the web browser. In just a short time, Greasemonkey, the hot new Firefox extension that allows people to write scripts that alter the web pages they visit, has achieved a cult-like following to rival that of any muscle car or mint condition classic Chevy (a 1956 of course).

With Greasemonkey, you can create scripts that make a web site more usable, fix rendering bugs that site owners can't be bothered to fix themselves, or add items to a web site's menu bar. With "Greasemonkey Hacks" (Pilgrim), you get a compendium of 100 hacks to alter pages to do anything from working better with technologies that make a web page speak out loud, to converting a page to Braille.

More than just an essential collection of made-to-order Greasemonkey solutions, "Greasemonkey Hacks" provides complete, fully developed user scripts you can use to modify web pages, the tools to customize these scripts, and the guidance to develop your own scripts from scratch. Whether you're an experienced web developer or a novice with no JavaScript experience, you'll learn how to:

Install, configure, and debug your first Greasemonkey script
Insert links into web pages, fix broken pop-up links, and follow links without clicking them
Beautify the Web by enhancing fonts, images, tooltips, lists, and tables
Intercept and modify web forms, generate developer reports, and debug Ajax web applications
Make search engines auto-complete your search terms, prefetch your results, and remember where you've been--without invading your privacy!
Add accessibility features that make sites easier to read and navigate
Download embedded movies, automate site registrations, and route around brain-dead browser sniffers

"If you are one of those people who want all the clever customizations and cutting-edge tips and tools you need to take command of any web page you view, then 'Greasemonkey Hacks' is the book for you," said the book's author Mark Pilgrim. "The possibilities of the Web are limited only by your imagination and your Greasemonkey expertise. "Greasemonkey Hacks" can't help you with the imagination part, but it can provide the expert hacks-complete with the sample code-you need to turn your brainstorms into reality".

Related links: (Open in a new window.)
www.oreilly.com/catalog/greasemonkeyhks/

Taken from Information Security Bulletin.