Struck last month by Evan Williams saying:
"Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension which lets you to add bits of DHTML ('user scripts') to any webpage to change it's behavior. In much the same way that user CSS lets you take control of a webpage's style, user scripts let you easily control any aspect of a webpage's design or interaction."
Well, that's extremely interesting. Ran across it because BlogMarks is offering a replacement for Bloglines' Clip/Blog This function. That is (for users who opt-in) they're replacing a piece of functionality in another web app with their own. Imagine if there was a widespread facility to do that.
Then Mark Pilgrim came up with Butler.
Matthew Gertner: Why Autolink (and Greasemonkey) is evil
"They may provide fleeting satisfaction, but anything close to widespread adoption is going to create a big mess."
Agreed.
Now there's an early version of Greasemonkey for IE.
I’m really fascinated by the idea that a web site (and now, if I understand this right, a web application?) can be munged to your needs and preferences so easily. I’ve sampled from the page of available scripts, and I have to say it’s a pretty mind-blowing hack. (Thank you for "fixing" All Music Guide!)
The implications of things like Greasemonkey and PithHelmet catching on seem far-reaching. Think about the benefits of taking web standards to the next level and making sites that can anticipate and acknowledge your visitor’s preferences from their first visit (via standard DIV names or calls to your public “preferences” file). I wouldn’t begin to know how to make this stuff, but I can definitely see myself becoming a grateful consumer.
Brave new world!
