OzBargain Plus - I made a Chrome extension to make OzBargain's UI better/easier to use

L[Deactivated] on 04/08/2020 - 18:42
Last edited 01/02/2021 - 13:02 by 1 other user

This Chrome extension has been taken offline and OP has requested for the thread to be archived.

Original post by OP:

I missed out on an IBL internship this semester at uni, so I thought I’d spend my free time on a side project instead to liven up my dead resume. But it had to be something I’d use instead of like some to-do list app from a Udemy course that I’d just do as an exercise.

So I figured since I use OzBargain a lot, I’d create a chrome extension for it. Tbh it started off just being for myself, cause I personally find OzBargain’s UI outdated + a lot of features are hidden behind the scenes (like filtering). But I thought maybe others might want to use it too.
So, if anyone wants to try it out, here’s the link:

Features

  • Modern UI + dark mode
  • Infinite Scroll
  • Quickview posts without navigating away and cycle through with prev/next buttons
  • Sort posts by their votes or freebie status
  • Filter out targeted, expired and out of stock posts
  • View comments based on whether they’re first, new, top or controversial
  • back to top button

For now, it works only as a visual/user-friendly layer for deals since that’s what I mainly use the site for. For anything else like the actual deal post itself, or competitions and forums, it minimises itself. If you find it annoying and want to choose when to see it, you can change it to start minimised in settings.

I wanted to avoid messing around with private account info, so if you want to vote or comment on anything, it just minimises and takes you to the Ozbargain native page/comment so you can do it there.

It’s definitely in experimental (or alpha?) stage at the moment. My testing basically was just me and a bunch of mates using it for a couple of days and pointing out bugs as they saw them. So yeah when you eventually come across some, please let me know.

Site Discussion

closed Comments

  • Godric on 04/08/2020 - 18:46
    +3

    I like Ozb the way it is tbh

    • [Deactivated] on 04/08/2020 - 19:59

      That's fair, when you use it for a while you defs get used to it

  • Hybroid on 04/08/2020 - 18:49
    +4

    I like it, feels more basic and cleaner to use. Coming to Firefox? Might want to take a crack at streamlining the awful Twitter UI mess next.

    • [Deactivated] on 04/08/2020 - 19:57

      Thanks! Yeah i thought most people used Chrome but I could probs port it to firefox

  • [Deactivated] on 04/08/2020 - 18:53
    -6

    🤦‍♂️

  • tempus on 04/08/2020 - 18:57
    +2

    Wow it's awesome! Just wish it was on Firefox.

  • tebbybabes on 04/08/2020 - 19:26
    +1

    Pretty good job. I've been using Ozb for waaaaay too long that a change will be a bit jarring for me, but it certainly looks nice. Almost gives me a slashdot kinda vibe.

    • [Deactivated] on 04/08/2020 - 19:58

      Thanks, yeah it defs takes some getting used to

  • IbnAwf on 04/08/2020 - 19:27
    +1

    I've been using it for the past hour, absolutely love it!

  • Evoque10 on 04/08/2020 - 20:40
    +2

    It's not bad. I appreciate the effort and it's actually quite enjoyable
    Very reddit-like :)

  • AustriaBargain on 04/08/2020 - 21:21
    +1

    I wish I still trusted Chrome.

    • [Deactivated] on 06/08/2020 - 16:37

      Interesting, i figured most people still used Chrome? Are you on Firefox?

  • MS Paint on 04/08/2020 - 22:12
    +1

    I wonder what scotties opinion is and if he got any ideas for future updates?

  • ShortyX on 04/08/2020 - 23:30
    +1

    Look better than the original - thanks. Quick open and close on deals is good.

  • Pemberk987 on 05/08/2020 - 00:06
    +1

    Now this is why i visit ozbargain……people designing or posting interesting\helpful things

  • RobBoss on 05/08/2020 - 12:58
    +1

    Nice work! Would love to see full support across the site! Kind of thrown off by the 1-2 sec it takes for the UI to change.

    • [Deactivated] on 06/08/2020 - 16:35

      Yeah agree 100%, will be smoothing it out over time in future updates when I get more feedback

  • PhilEv66 on 05/08/2020 - 16:27
    +1

    Very nice! I'll be using this from now on.

  • Vandelay Inc on 05/08/2020 - 22:07
    +1

    Keep up the good work Aseem

    • [Deactivated] on 06/08/2020 - 16:34

      Thanks mate

  • [Deactivated] on 17/09/2020 - 14:23
    Merged from Any CS/SWE Students/Devs Looking for an Open-Source Project?

    So to pad up my resume, I made a Chrome extension for OzBargain called OzBargain Plus which I launched about a month ago at this forum post:
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/556139

    It basically adds a modern UI layer over the OzBargain website and adds a bunch of quality-of-life features like quick view posts, post filtering, infinite scroll, etc.

    I made it purely for educational purposes (as my resume was basically empty beforehand) and to solve a problem that I thought other people shared (evidently ~70 users also feel the same way).

    I actually started my new job just last week so I want to share the benefits of the project with others; if you're a CS/SWE student that's in the same boat that I was, feel free to contribute!

    Doesn't matter how big or small your contribution is, if you smash out a ticket, feel free to chuck that you were an OzBargain Plus contributor on your resume.
    I reckon it'll make a more interesting project than the to-do list apps you do in most Udemy courses :D.
    And hopefully it'll boost your job prospects especially in times like this

    Here's the GitHub repository:
    URL Removed

    And here's the Chrome Web Store link:
    URL Removed

    It's still very early days for the project so there's a lot of places that could benefit from contributions.
    For more info on what and how to contribute, you can read the README and CONTRIBUTING files.
    And if you have any questions, feel free to comment down below or PM me!

  • [Deactivated] on 17/09/2020 - 14:57
    Merged from OzBargain Plus - A Community-Driven, Open-Source OzBargain Chrome Extension

    About a month ago, I made a Chrome extension for OzBargain called OzBargain Plus which I launched about a month ago originally at this forum post:

    It basically adds a modern UI layer over the OzBargain website as well as a bunch of quality-of-life features like quick view posts, post filtering, infinite scroll, etc (you can find the full list on the Chrome Web Store link). Since its launch, it's got a modest userbase of around 70 people.

    I made it purely for educational purposes (as I'm a SWE student and my resume was basically empty beforehand) and to solve a problem that I thought other people shared.

    I actually started my new job as a software engineer just last week (!) so I thought now would be an interesting time to share the benefits of the project with the community by open-sourcing it and making it a community-driven extension.

    I see it as a way for the community to directly impact how OzBargain should look and what features it should have.

    Obviously, there are people that find OzBargain perfect just the way it is (and indeed, it actually is a fairly clean and usable design).
    I'm definitely not trying to take away from OzBargain's following; this extension is meant to be used over OzBargain - so OzBargain still gets traffic.
    BUT if you're a person that sees areas where OzBargain could improve, feel free to participate in this project!

    The way it'll ultimately work is, regular users will submit feature requests that will go into a GitHub repository as Issues.
    These Issues will then hopefully be seen and built by developers in the OzBargain community.
    Everything will be super transparent as is the case with open-source projects in general.

    To suggest a contribution:

    If you have a GitHub account, visit this link and open a new Issue (basically just a forum post on GitHub):
    URL Removed

    Otherwise, use this Google Form and one of us will put it in GitHub issues:

    To contribute - if you're a developer:

    URL Removed

    Here's the GitHub repository:
    URL Removed

    Doesn't matter how big or small your contribution is, it all counts!
    It's still very early days for the project (it's still basically in alpha - not even version 1) so there's a lot of places that could benefit from contributions.
    For more info on what and how to contribute, you can read the README and CONTRIBUTING files.
    And if you have any questions, feel free to comment down below or PM me!

    And here's the Chrome Web Store link if you want to try it out:
    URL Removed

    • life is suffering on 17/09/2020 - 15:04

      was wondering if I can sort by views. so the votes might be less but there are lot of people who are not signed in? also alerts

      • [Deactivated] on 17/09/2020 - 15:08

        Yep, alerts/notifications are defs coming!
        And views is also a great idea, will keep that in mind for future updates

    • brokenglish on 17/09/2020 - 15:06
      +2

      Too reddity for me.
      The pages I frequent the most keep showing This page isn't quite ready yet.
      Good work though!
      Also kudos to you for managing to get a job during this period. A lot of people are surviving off Centrelink atm.

      • [Deactivated] on 17/09/2020 - 15:09

        Yep, totally fair - it's pretty much just compatible with deals atm so forums, live, comps etc won't be ready yet.
        I appreciate you trying it though!

        • brokenglish on 17/09/2020 - 15:10

          Yeah, I may give it a go again when it's more complete.
          I really like the sidebar categories!

    • johangules on 17/09/2020 - 15:15

      that seems nice

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