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Ask HN: Why create a browser plugin instead of a bookmarklet?

2 points by rufname ↗ HN
Why would somebody create a browser plugin, if the same functionality could be achieved with a bookmarklet? Are there advantages?

4 comments

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amadeuspagel
I don't have the bookmarks bar visible by default, so bookmarklets are basically useless to me.
pwg
One possible explanation: the individual creating a plugin instead of a bookmarklet is unaware of bookmarklet functionality.

There are likely many other plausible explanations.

leephillips
Good question. I use qutebrowser, which can run the equivalent of bookmarklets, but not plugins. One of the reasons I like it is that I can map any keys to invoke any script, including, but not limited to, javascript snippets.
detaro
Bookmarklets can't circumvent CSP policies (or at least couldn't always, not sure if this has changed), extensions can.