What is Greasemonkey?

It is a new word for you today: Greasemonkey

According to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greasemonkey:

Greasemonkey is a software implementation of a conceptcalled “Active Browsing”. It allows users of the Mozilla Firefox web browser to install user scripts which modify specific web pages. This web scripting was hither to reserved only for the authors of web sites. As the Greasemonkey scripts are persistent, the changes made to the webpages are permanent.

I am telling you Greasemonkey is a great extension, used only in Firefox and Flock. You can use Creammonkey for Safari. I have used Greasemonkey scripts for some sites. You would have to install Greasemonkey extension before you can install any scripts you find in the Internet. The installation can be found here. For Safari, it can be found here. No IE greasemonkey. It used to have one, but someone quits on that project, called GreasemonkIE.

You know, Google search engine looks plain and boring. White background. No style. Well, with Greasemonkey, you can change anything you want. However, you have to be good at writing scripts. I am not. I use scripts I found over the Internet.

Before Google without Greasemonkey:

After Google with Greasemonkey:

Is it cool? Something different! Nice… I have been using that Google new look. So refreshing. It is easy to install the script. You can install that script. It supports Firefox and Opera.I have a few greasemonkey scripts, most for Google… ie: Gmail. You know you don’t have to open the mail. You can click right button toward to the new or old mail messagel, and it will pop up the preview conversation, that is what Gmail likes to call. It is nice. The image of the preview conversation below:

I like this, why ? So I can search the email quickly without opening the mail. I don’t always want to read the whole e-mail. Just want to check it quickly. It is nice… you can install that script.

I am not sure if you know about the Lightbox javascript. It apparently is very popular in these days. It is good for building websites on your own and you can add those javascripts in your HTML. A few sites have used the Lightbox method. I cannot think of one yet… but I know Ridor of the Observe but Do Not Interfere used to have that script on his blog. I am not sure if he still uses it. There is a new Lightbox javascript 2.0, improved one; u can find it here.

When you click the image, and it will be shown in the front of the site you are on. First, it will show a loading icon, which means it is loading the image… then there will be aimage with a nice border and the rest is transparent black, like you can see the site through the transparent black. When you are done with viewing, you just click anywhere, and it will close and back to the site again.It is a very nice script. I plan to use on my webpage, when I build one. It also has Greasemonkey script, called Greased Lightbox. For a quick viewing of images before and after using Greasemonkey on my blog below:

before

after

Nice, huh? Yeah, it is… you can go to the site. Also, it has a mini video for you to watch in action.

I will add more greasemonkey scripts in the near future. There are many, many scripts that you can use to block ads, to pop up the photos, or to add new features that they should have. Greasemonkey will make your life easier. You can find scripts here.

Oh, you have to remember not all scripts will work… some will have bugs or errors, so don’t get too frustrated and thought maybe something is wrong with your Firefox or Greasemonkey script extension. It is not. It is the script itself. I have tried one or two that does not work right. If it does not work right, you can either remove it, or try to fix the script itself, if you know how to write one.

Enjoy it.

Blogged with Flock