Top 10 Greasemonkey User Scripts, 2009 Edition
The Greasemonkey extension is a marvel for customising your Firefox for a better browsing experience. But which Greasemonkey scripts really deserve your consideration? Check out our Top 10 and find out.
This list is a bit Google-heavy, but that’s to be expected—the search giant crafts all its web sites in the same kind of JavaScript that Greasemonkey works with, so geeks have the power to make Gmail, Google search, and other webapps much more useful and powerful.
All of these scripts run best on Firefox with Greasemonkey installed. (If you’re using Firefox and haven’t already installed Greasemonkey, you’ll need to do that before trying out the scripts below.) Some of them, however, can be loaded into other browsers, like Google Chrome’s dev channel version, Safari with Greasekit, natively with Opera’s user JavaScript tools, or apps like Trixie for Internet Explorer (which we haven’t tested with IE 8, so apologies for any confusion).
On with the user scripts!
10. Google Inline MP3 Player
Self-promotion alert! Adam wrote this one, but it’s not like it’s a big money-maker for him (there’s no money involved at all). All the Google Inline MP3 Player does is add a [Play] link next to any linked MP3 file you come across on the web, making it both easy to find them and super-easy to play them without having to wait for your browser plug-in, VLC, Windows Media Player, or whatever you’ve got on your system to load. It quickly inserts Google’s/Gmail’s player onto the page with the MP3 loaded for streaming, and you can hide the player again by clicking, well, [Hide Player]. Nice, simple, and works.
9. A Bit Better RTM
There are, to be sure, a whole lot of Greasemonkey scripts that tweak the AJAX-y interface of one of our favourite to-do managers, Remember the Milk. This one, though, is the most elegant and useful if you’re an RTM fan. It moves your lists to the left, where they’re more visible and accessible, and lets you hide lists you don’t normally examine (like, say, someday/maybe or shopping lists). It also adds more keyboard shortcuts that make RTM easy to get around, which is kind of a guaranteed fan-maker ’round these parts. All in all, a very helpful script.
8. Twitter Search Results
Apart from everything else you’ve heard about it, Twitter is a powerful, real-time search engine. With the Twitter Search Results user script installed, the top of your Google search results will also include the same results for that term you’d get from search.twitter.com, so you can see what’s being discussed before you take a look at what’s already been written.
7. Google Reader Absolutely Compact
If you’re a Google Reader user, chances are you value speed and reading space over fancy light-blue menus and drop-down widgets. This Greasemonkey script/Stylish style, crafted by Lifehacker reader Dustin Luck, isn’t for everyone, but it does compact as much information onto the Reader page as is seemingly possible (before jumping over to terminal-style, text-only reading). Other Greasemonkey coders have mined a similar vein, releasing the eye-catching Helvetireader and the Google Reader for Wider Screens tweaks.
6. Google Docs Download
For whatever reason, you can’t just select a bunch of Google Docs files and download them in your chosen format. That makes a theoretically convenient web-based work space much less convenient. Google Docs Download steps into the void, adding a right-hand menu that, after searching out and/or selecting the files you need, offers a handy, Down-Them-All-friendly download link for all the formats Google Docs supports.
5. TinyURL Decoder
They make long URLs email friendly and save Twitter users from overflowing their 140-character limit, but shortened links from services like TinyURL, bit.ly, and many, many others can be a pain to click, wait, and then be disappointed by. This script lets you see what’s behind http://tinyurl.com/abc123, http://bit.ly/lhrulez, and all the others (those were, by the way, random typing, not links we created). We’ve covered Firefox extensions and bookmarklets that do the same, but they require clicks or mouse-overs to activate; TinyURL Decoder clarifies the entire web for you automatically.
4. Gmail Unread Message Count in Favicon
A great little script that works in a tiny little space. Gmail Unread Message Count in Favicon does, well, what you might presume it does, but does it really well: It adds a number to the standard Gmail Favicon that gets brighter as more unread messages pile up in Gmail. It maxes out at “99+”, turns orange when you have a chat message, and changes to blue for the Google Apps users out there. Gmail offers a title bar tweak that puts just the number of unread messages in the front of your Gmail tab/window, but this little icon is far more intuitive and powerful.
3. Invisibility Cloak
Self-Promotion Alert Pt. 2: We made this one as well. It doesn’t alter how web pages display and operate; instead it alters how you operate your web pages. If you’re prone to more-frequent-than-necessary trips over to Twitter, Facebook, Fark, or any other time-sucking sites, just load them into Invisibility Cloak, and you’ll never see them before you hit that magic oh-well-work’s-almost-over-anyways time—3pm on weekdays, by default, but you can set any time that applies to your work flow.
2. Textarea Resize
Some web sites give you just one line of space to type out a lot of information, like an address, article comment, or other mini-post. Textarea Resize pushes on the downward edge of any typing area and makes it one line bigger whenever you hit Ctrl+Enter, and knocks it back down with a Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Take that, web sign-up forms!
1. Folders4Gmail
Move from traditional email clients to Gmail’s web interface, and the first thing you’ll likely ask is, “Where are the folders?” Folders4Gmail eases the transition and makes sense of Gmail’s clever, unique, but sometimes hard-to-grok labels. Create a folder called, for example, “Sports.” Next, create a folder named “SportsSoccer.” “Soccer” shows up nested under “Sports,” and you can get as multi-level as you’d like, assuming you’ve got this neat little script installed to show them all as drop-down, folder-like containers.
So ends another compilation of 10 tweaks we hope you’ll find useful in your day-to-day browsing. By all means, though, tell us the scripts you can’t believe we left off, and the better versions of the scripts we didn’t, in the comments.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
One of my favourites is the Flickr Link Original Images script.
[userscripts.org]
Yansky
Damn it, rickrolled twice.
I should have known.
Atharv Vaish
In the "can't believe you left it off" category, I'm shocked that The Movie Dude is neither on the original top 10 list nor the new one.
troy's twitter script is my personal fave. it's about teh on;y one i actively use.
I currently use six of these, but I hadn't seen the Google Docs bulk downloader before. I may have to try it.
SenorDunda
I only just discovered Troy's Twitter Script, and I'm really digging it. If you're stuck on the web UI, it really pimps it out.
[userscripts.org]
kevindente
would definitely love the RTM one if it could be integrated with a standalone app in prism!
Worth trying in a sec :D
@SoaringDisbelief:
Good point, especially a horrible Rickroll with pop-ups galore.
Deemonie
Seriously, Lifehacker? You announce the auto-ban for commenter douchbaggery, and yet you rickroll your readers? Sheesh.
SoaringDisbelief
Wow these are great. I especially love the RTM script that puts the categories at the side. It's much easier to read and it looks more organized.
Thanks Lifehacker, for another great post.
try this:
[www.chromeplugins.org]
Quéstor Nevada
@kevindente: Troy's Twitter Script rocks
theoa
I was wondering if anyone knew what modifications, if any, need to be made to user script for it to work in chrome
xor24
#10: You might also want to check out Inline Mp3 Player (JW version), or any of the inline player scripts listed at the bottom of that page.
#2: EZ Resize changes the cursor to a resize arrow at the bottom-left of textareas and at the right of text boxes.
Also worth mentioning, Videoembed embeds videos under video-links, or alternatively, a + sign to expand/hide videos that it embeds under video-links.
Deemonie
AGH. I got RickRoll'd by that bit.ly link. :(
Cody Logan
@Atharv Vaish: Me too, I'm not sure if Kevin was either using them as an example due to their names, or picked the second on purpose.
VenomIreland says click the heart button.
I'm confused. Isn't Textarea Resize a bookmarklet, not a Greasemonkey script?
Callimaco
maybe this belongs elsewhere (I hope it doesn't), but I can't seem to install any greasemonkey scripts. I've installed greasemonkey in firefox, and if I click on the "install this script" link, it shows me the actual script. If I right click the link, it gives me the option to "View User Script Source." Has anybody else come across this problem, or does anybody know what I need to do to get past it?
harv
@Atharv Vaish: I wish I'd read the comments before I clicked that link. Very annoying.
ekap328
These are definitely worth trying. I've used a bunch of these before especially 1 and 3, which are part of the Better Gmail extension. I never heard about number 6 and I will definitely try it right now.
If you'd like your Gmail unread counts to go over 99 or reflect new chat alerts, I'd recommend Gmail Favicon Alerts 3 over Gmail Unread Message Count: [userscripts.org]
Full disclosure: I helped design the pixel font and iconography in Gmail Favicon Alerts.
tylersticka
@SoaringDisbelief: Okay, I found it. I think Kevin didn't actually make that link, but someone did made it real... rickroll real. Sorry about that, I've changed it.
@Cody Logan: Ah, okay. I think Kevin didn't actually make that link, but someone did made it real... rickroll real. Sorry about that, will change it.
@Adam Pash: It's not a direct link, it's the the bit.;y one in the tinyURL decoder
cipotefello
@VenomIreland says click the heart button.: Ack, which one is the guilty rickroller?!
@SoaringDisbelief: Erm, what link is rickrolling you? I assure you, if that's the case, it was unintentional. I've tried following every link to no avail.
I found that the userscripts for basecamp really useful but there's about six of them that I use - if you are using Basecamp - definitely recommend doing a search on "basecamp" and seeing what appeals to your particular workflow.
KittyKittyKitty
Doesn't number 2 happen automatically in Chrome? Atleast I have seen a text area resize square at the bottom of most multi-line text inputs on stuff I browse in Chrome.
God I miss chrome on my mac! All stuff Mozilla just is so pathetic with system resources (I'm looking at you, Songbird and Firefox)
skorned
@Kevin Vesga: All of the userstyles.org styles can also be installed using Greasemonkey. Of the 10 in the list, 9 of them are greasemonkey scripts.
Reading the article is a prerequisite for commenting.
Troy's Twitter script would be my #1 on the list.
jkersh
Styles ≠scripts. Get it straight.
Kevin Vesga
I love the twitter results on google, makes it so easy to see the most recent news about what I'm searching. I have been using it for a while now and I love it!
The best script I've found puts a download link under each youtube video for FLV, MP4 and 3GP.
[userscripts.org]
schnikies79
I am sorry... I am a big Greasemonkey user and not one of these does anything for me. Most of the scripts that I use are for Gmail. Google Calendar, my.yahoo and Digg.
@Adam Pash: Nevermind, found and fixed.
One, not mentioned, that I find useful is:
RSS Panel X
[userscripts.org]
It puts a drop-down in the upper left corner of a site with RSS.
It's an easy way to determine whether or not a site has RSS without having to go look for the little icon, it supports Atom as well as RSS.
And, if I'm using an external feed reader instead of an integrated reader, all I have to do is right click
the feed link, copy link address, and paste it into my external reader.
stpurniq
@Adam Pash: Somebody ban Adam! XD
The Gmail email counter is a def. must.
Vilmar Simson
@harv: Did you restart firefox after installing greasemonkey? If worse came to worse you could copy paste the code into greasemonkey by adding "new user script"
SockPuppets
Pretty weak list :-( Theres a couple of good ones in there, though.
MkFly
@chriswitt:
Dude, I'm still kinda turned down with that... Anyway, I'm trying a prism gmail without using FF at all and it's a huge load of resources (~50000k).
Some rework may be needed in prism as it ain't taking the whole set of features out of FF to load them up to memory.
@m4rc310:
Hear-hear. I've often thought the same thing. I also wish there was a way to make the tasks area narrower for a bit better RTM, but I think I'm going off topic...
Glad I'm not the only one who's lamented the lack of greasemonkey & prism combo-sweetness!
chriswitt
@The How-To Geek: I have no idea why my comment ended up in this thread, it was clearly meant for a commenter further down the list. Sorry for any confusion!
Cool. Greasemonkey rocks! I miss them, nothing for chrome yet though (switched from firefox a few months ago). I've been using bookmarklets. I found a cool new site that has a huge list. http://www.bmlet.com
DanielleNubular
I use this userscript called - Yousabletubefix. Yes, it has a very weird name but the userscript is the best one i have ever found for YouTube
baskinghobo
I had to uninstall the greasemonkey Google Docs Download script after wreaking havoc with my Firefox configuration.
amIthe1
@onefish2: Yeah same here too... I use two of them on the list though... Makes getting through my reader feeds quite fast... The url expanding one's useful too...
What??? No Linkify???
Linkify was one of the first greasemonkey scripts I used. And it does something very simple. It turns non-hyperlinked URL on a site and makes it a clickable link. Really simple and useful.
@Yansky:
This is very helpful for batch downloading images from Flickr.
LLane
@Callimaco: yah, how does that make it into a top 10 greasemonkey scripts article?
mahumphrey
@Callimaco: If you look at the page, you'll see that it's also a greasemonkey script now.
Worthy Mention:
LongURL Mobile Expander: [userscripts.org]
ThaMofo
Oinkplus!!!!!!
Bill Goodman
I wrote a ban hammer script so I could ban Lifehacker commenters myself.
[userscripts.org]
Navin R Johnson
All the youtube ones, the google images big preview and the rapidshare link checker get my vote
Simieski
Awesome script: Google Reader Preview Enhanced
Want to view a full website without leaving Google Reader? With this script you just click "preview" and the post loads, so you can comment etc.
[userscripts.org]
Theo Jones
@Navin R Johnson: I'd sooner filter comments by their substance, not the poster. But that's one hell of tall order.
paintbox
I cringe when people suggest you use scripts to block ads; not only does it make the page load a smidge slower, it also only applies *after* the page has loaded *and* the page's javascript has run it's course.
Want to block ads? Adblock Plus. It actually speeds up pages by saving the ads' bandwidth as they're not downloaded.
As for styles installed as scripts:
There is a glitch with UserStyles' Greasemonkey versions - they all use the same variable name (css) and if you use more than one on a page / site at a time, they clash by skipping all installed except the last in the list.
Having styles as scripts is fine if you have 2 or 3 installed (for different sites), but once you go over a handful it's better to just install Stylish.
Pages will load faster, styles that reskin sites show immediately instead of having a flash of the default look... and you'll use less processing per page.
@harv: 1.) Restart Firefox after installing Greasemonkey
2.) Make sure Greasemonkey is enabled - look for the monkey face and make sure it's in shades of brown, not grey.
3.) Allow Javascript for the sites that host the scripts AND the sites that the scripts apply to.
@schnikies79: Oh, nice!
To be honest, I don't use any of them, and looking at the list I don't think there are any that I would want to use. I sure greasemonkey can do some better than these...
Samuel Clements
@kevindente: +1 for Troy's Twitter Script. I'm surprised that it wasn't listed in Top 10. It improves twitter web experience multi-fold.
I created a plugin to download music from blip.fm http://binho.net/blipfm.user.js very useful to me :)
SiyaIcarus
how about OinkPlus - integrates torrent sites with last.fm and myspace to help discover new music :D
BernardEpopeus
oinkplus.blogspot.com
The 1st Greasemonkey script I ever used. Now I use a ton but I still use Oink+ the most.
gigantore
@saintseminole: The second choice you listed (FormTextResizer) DID however work on *this* box. Thanks!
TextArea resize didn't work in >this< box on Lifehacker, so I'm wondering how well it'll work on other sites' comment boxes.
Folders4Gmail. THIS!!! I have been wanting this for ages. Thank you!
SonalCabbichoke
@Adam Pash: Testing comment replies.