brilliant extension idea
Who out there isn't starting to get worried that Facebook's on its way to the usability and chaos of MySpace with the proliferation of Facebook applications. Well, Nicholas Pike has stepped up to do something about it. Read his blog post here and check out the early version of the Firefox extension.
Great stuff, Nocholas!
You know, the extension that kicked off the whole GreaseMonkey thing was called the All Music Guide Corrector. It was invented to fix the damage done by a very poor site redesign and it spawned a whole new category of tools that put a user in control of the content she's reading or interacting with.
This simple idea, that users should be empowered to deal with web content they way that they see fit, rather than the way the content producer intended, has fundamentally changed the web landscape and I believe this idea, powered by working examples like the All Music Guide Corrector, was instrumental in bringing about the revolution we've seen on the web in the last three years with mashups, the proliferation of web service APIs, and many other collaboration and sharing tools and systems.
So, what's next?
Photo, "It's all about control" by Flickr user ilmungo and used under a CC license.
reactions, thoughts, comments, etc.
Facebook apps are going to change the entire platform, and this is one of the best...http://apps.facebook.com/thenewsroom
Posted by: Ian from www.thenewsroom.com | August 4, 2007 7:05 AM
I too am getting rather fed up with having my inbox spammed every time somebody adds an application and wants me to join in.
I do not want to poke people on facebook, I do not want to install a poker application or play the zombie game, I don't particularly want to give people presents, or have a SUPERWALL. I don't want to check out Fortune Cookies, or quickly ask everybody in my friends list an inane question. I don't want to join the dark side, have a garden, or "compare" myself to others.
I just want a list of people I know, be able to see their photos, and write a small message to them now and again.
It won't be long before FB turns into Myspace.
Posted by: thepineapplehead | August 5, 2007 2:24 AM
A browser that does not let the user have 100% control over the website he/she visits it's not worthy to be used.
This is a good move for firefox, but I must admit that Opera on the other hand has built-in, simple to use features to deal with this like user js,site preferences (with stylesheets), and the quick preferences menu. This is something that should be available out-of-the-box
Posted by: mors | August 8, 2007 3:10 PM
Firefox also allows those things (user stylesheets, etc) however granted, they're nowhere near as accessible/easy to use as Opera for the average user.
Posted by: thepineapplehead | August 9, 2007 9:17 AM