038 — Extensions of Me

The OpenGraphs browser extensions are live! Well, at least some/most of them!! I share the latest updates on what I am working on for https://www.opengraphs.com, along with some browser extension inconsistencies.

You can find the OpenGraph Browser Extensions here:

Chrome - https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/opengraphs/kiifpjdcadbbbhoocoobahkogpnmngio
Firefox - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/opengraphs/
Microsoft Edge - https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/opengraphs/cfhfplinkfammfoljdakadohdgggkmch

And, here’s the link to the post on IndieHackers:

https://www.indiehackers.com/post/dirt-for-sale-breaking-ground-on-opengraphs-com-gkZlrGXD4nH5381idGWq

Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD1yMVA40nE

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Welcome to the wacky world of browser extensions in 2025. Between varying manifest version support, as well as inconsistencies in the user experience and capabilities of browser extensions on the same browser engine (looking at you Arc and Dia, on Chromium), it can be hard to provide a consistent nice experience between them all, but I am doing the best I can. So far, the best experience across the extensions are in both Google Chrome (native) and Microsoft Edge.

The thing that makes the experience so good is the Side Panel support, which was introduced with the rollout of Manifest V3. The beauty of the Side Panel API is that it allows the extension to remain open while you are navigating a site within a tab, or even changing tabs, which makes it great when you are trying to review the open graph/Twitter|X Card/meta data for sites and pages. Unfortunately, the Side Panel API is not yet supported in Firefox, nor Opera, and the semi-annoying thing is that it is unfortunately not consistently implemented on other Chromium-based browsers, like Arc and Dia. Basically, I have some work to do on the extension for Chrome if I want to make it usable in these non-standard browsers, but I’ll be getting to that at some point, and also sharing all the inconsistencies in the Browser Extension world across the board, both within browser ecosystems and across them.

Other than the browser extensions, I have been working on the OpenGraphs site, mainly focused on the copy and wrestling with the resistance as I try to showcase what OpenGraphs can be, how it can help automate a lot of busy work, and makes it a breeze when you want to go back and mass update the open graph images and data for big sites. The goal is to have an updated home page, browser extension pages, and tool page up and live by the next recordings.

To follow along, you can find me at https://www.ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com (https://bsky.app/profile/ryanhefner.com) and keep up with the show on https://www.allplay.fm and @allplay.fm (https://bsky.app/profile/allplay.fm).

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM (https://transistor.fm/?via=allplay)
Fathom Analytics (https://usefathom.com/ref/EKONBS)

#buildinpublic #podcast #startups #webdevelopment  #webdesign #bluesky #indiedev #bootstrapping #indiehackers

Episode Transcript

Ryan (00:15):
Hey. How's it going? I'm Ryan Hefner, and this is the All
Play podcast. So I always startthese episodes with so and give
some weird excuse about why Ihaven't been able to have the
episode out as, regularly as Iwanna be. The truth is, you
know, the kids have been inthese summer camps are all

(00:36):
different hours of the day.
And the normal time when I tryto sneak in a recording, which
is typically in, like, theafternoon of the day before I
have to head upstairs, just hasbeen getting kind of, taken from
me. So it's gonna make do withwhat I can. But, last couple
weeks, I just wanna do abasically a follow-up on where I
left last week and a few updatessince. So I was working on

(00:58):
opengraphs.com and working onthe website as well as some
tools I was talking about. Iended up doing the browser
extensions and actuallysubmitted the browser extensions
to the four, well, I guess fourof the five extension stores.
So I I submitted it to theGoogle the Google Chrome store
or Chrome Web Store. Sorry.Chrome Web Store, the Firefox

(01:22):
add ons, the Microsoft Edge addons, as well as the Opera add
ons. And so far, three of thefour have actually already been
processed and approved and arelive right now. So the Google
Chrome, Chrome Web Store islive.
Firefox add ons is live, andOpera add ons or not Opera add

(01:43):
ons. Microsoft Edge is live.Still waiting on Opera and
haven't submitted to Safari yetbecause of the whole Xcode,
submittal thing. It just kindaadds another level to it. But
gonna explore that, but alsoknow that there's a few things I
need to fine tune in theextensions probably before I do

(02:04):
that.
So extensions. It's a wild worldworld out there. There's a lot
of nuance as far as thedifferences between how the
extensions perform acrossbrowsers, across even browser
variants. The stuff that I'mfinding as far as, like, the the
Google Chrome Chrome and theChrome based browsers, there's

(02:27):
differences obviously there aswell. So Google Chrome, the way
that I have it set up right nowis it uses the v three manifest,
and the app launches by defaultin this side panel, which is
really cool because the sidepanel, if you don't I know if I
actually haven't used anyextensions that utilize this
yet, but also I I guess maybe Ihaven't been exploring all the

(02:50):
extensions that are out therefor offer right now.
But I guess maybe I shouldexplore some more just to make
sure that OpenGraphs is, youknow, up to snuff with the state
of extensions. But the sidepanel is really awesome. The
basically, what you end up doingis you launch up the OpenGraphs
browser extension. It launchesin the side panel, and then, I

(03:15):
have a little toggle on the theextension to where as you
navigate around pages on yoursite, it automatically loads the
OpenGraph data for each of thosepages, which is pretty cool. So
it's the OpenGraph data.
It's the metadata, you know, asfar as favicon title
description, as well ascanonical URL, and then also the
Twitter card stuff. So that'sworking really good. I'm gonna

(03:37):
see if I can try to, like,thread the needle with the
Google Chrome extension or theChrome extension and figure out
a way to basically both supportthe non native Chrome browser.
So essentially, things like Arcand Dia as well as the native
one. The the only thing is thatposes a little problem there is,

(03:59):
basically, the default actionwhen you click that extension,
it'll open it in a pop up.
But I need to figure out a wayto basically tell whether or not
you're in a browser thatsupports the side panel. And if
you are, try to then launch itdirectly into the side panel
view. And if not, I'll have togive, you know, I think you can

(04:20):
launch it via, like, some sortof context menu, which is kinda
weird. Maybe I might be able toput a a button in the pop up
itself. I don't know.
It poses a lot of, like, kindawonkiness as far as how you
structure the extension and whenyou have access to something
because the unfortunate thingis, basically, ARC and Dia

(04:43):
technically have the calls. It'sjust they they go nowhere. They
don't do anything. So they kindajust get gobbled up. I need to
see if there's a way to there'sdoesn't seem like there's, like,
any sort of, like, error promisehandling on that call that will
then let you kind of fall backinto launching a pop up or
launching the side panel.

(05:04):
This is a little bit wonky. Butregardless, they're live. So if
you wanna install it, install itin Chrome and it works good.
Microsoft Edge also side panelsupport, which is awesome and
works really great on Edge. SoEdge is looking good.
Firefox and and Opera, the popup experience isn't the

(05:24):
greatest. You know, it's nice toactually be able to reference
this stuff, especially the theauto loading of the page. Like,
as you navigate is a little bitlost because once you basically
blur the extension, it doesn'tstay up when you start
navigating around to otherthings. So then you have to
kinda launch it again everytime. Not terrible, but also not

(05:47):
the best experience.
I do think the side panel seemsto be the best experience of
the, for these kind ofextensions, but we'll see where
we take it. I'm trying not toget too hung up on the
extension. I just wanna getsomething quick and out. That's
why I have it out. There's morestuff I need to add to it.
There's little tweaks I wanna doto the styling and just like the
general flow of the extension,but just gonna try to keep

(06:12):
getting stuff out and updatingthe site so that way, I can kind
of share more and more whatOpenGraphs is gonna become. So
I'm working on the landing pagesfor the browser extensions,
which will include videos, whichI'm gonna be recording and
posting up onto those extensionpages on the various, you know,

(06:33):
add on web store places. And,yeah, so I'm feeling good about
that. I'm feeling good abouthaving those out. The thing I've
been trying to basically, thething that's been slowing me
down a little bit is I'm justtrying to really feel like, find
the words to explain whatexactly OpenGraphs is and just

(06:54):
kinda showcase the problem.
The thing is OpenGraph images,you know, they kinda maybe are a
little bit more of a vitamin.But I have a feeling as more and
more things like with AI andand, you know, I guess, things
getting consumed, it's gonna be,I think, more important to have
these things be really kind ofportable. And hopefully, the way

(07:16):
that sites and links are beingsurfaced will rely more on this
stuff. I mean, it already doeson social media, but I don't
know. I'm kind of I feel likeI'm wrestling the resistance a
little bit in my head.
I I find this the setup that Ihave to be really valuable and

(07:37):
streamlined. I think others willtoo, but I just need to get it
out onto paper and get it intothe website and out for other
people to basically learn aboutand evaluate whether it works
for them. So trying really hardto basically capture all that
and get it into a nice kind ofpunchy, you know, copy on the

(08:00):
website. And so that way peopleunderstand exactly what it is
and hopefully stir up someattention about it. I also
posted a update to IndieHackers.
I'm gonna try to share someupdates there both because I
think, you know, obviously, thisis kind of a tool that appeals
to people who are making stuff.And if you can make stuff and

(08:21):
offer tools that allow people tomake stuff faster, that is
that's good. That's one justgetting the rhythm of sharing
stuff, both just on socialmedia, but also in those kind of
communities in areas whereupdates are kinda meant to be
shared. I've also kinda I'vebeen slowly dipping a toe into
Reddit, which I never reallyhave in the past. And so trying

(08:43):
to figure out that space andjust kinda getting a read on how
people are sharing, what kind ofinteractions people are getting.
Because the thing that's gonnamake or break this thing is
really, I think, just awarenessand distribution. And and,
basically, you know, don't thinkfrom, like, a technical
standpoint, I'm gonna run intoany issues. It's really just

(09:06):
more of, can I communicate thevalues that that it adds? Is it
gonna be properly priced? And doI have enough awareness and
traffic and demand to basicallyjustify me continuing to work on
it?
So we're gonna find all thatstuff out, but I'm just gonna
keep putting stuff out there andsee how it goes. So I'll include

(09:28):
the links to the extensions inthe show notes. I'll also have a
link to the indie hack indiehackers post. So if you wanna go
over there, check it out. I'mgonna be making another update
over on indie hackers as I kindacontinue to flesh out the
extensions and try to, you know,get some more users using those
things.
Gonna have some updates comingout to the site shortly, which,

(09:52):
won't be in the show notes, butwill be in the next episode that
I launch. But, yeah. So that'sthe update with opengrass.com.
Check it out at opengrass.com.Sign up for the newsletter.
I'm gonna start sending outupdates as these things are
going live and continue to fleshout the site while I flesh out
the the apps. Well, the app and,well, apps maybe. I did end up

(10:18):
submitting for a Webflowdeveloper partner account, and
that was also approved too. Sogonna be digging into some of
these different services whereyou can kinda hook in to the
actual, apps and make it towhere it's really easy to
integrate OpenGraphs whereveryou are. So that might be a

(10:41):
little bit, I don't know,ambiguous as far as, like, what
the plan is there, but I thinkyou got it.
So yeah. For more episodes,check out allplay.fm. Once
again, I'm Ryan Hefner, andgonna be sharing some updates as
I build stuff. Alright. I'llplay you out.

(11:13):
Alright. Have a great one.Later.