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Fran Verona
Fran Verona

Reputation: 5476

Chrome extension in Github instead of Chrome Store

I've developed a Chrome extension really useful for Google Reader fans, allow to mark individual items as read (like Gmail).

I don't want to pay US$5.00 right know, so I decided to upload my Chrome extension to Github, a free web repository.

Do you think that is going to be any problem with that? Anyone can explain me more about this please? (maybe some Chrome Extension's Developer)

Any help would be really appreciate it. Thanks!

EDIT: I uploaded here

Upvotes: 5

Views: 5054

Answers (1)

Chris McFarland
Chris McFarland

Reputation: 6169

If you want to maximise your extension's visibility, I'd say it's worth the $5. But if you don't care about how many people download it, and aren't too fussed about feedback and statistics, hosting it on Github is fine, too.

Some pros and cons:

Hosting your extension on the Chrome Web Store:

  • Pros:
    • Chrome users can easily search for and find your extension
    • Autoupdating is automatic (no need to keep an Update XML Manifest file hosted somewhere)
    • Semi-customisable feature page that fits in with every other extension on the Store
    • User reviews, star ratings and install counts
  • Cons:
    • Costs $5
    • Have to adhere to Google's Chrome Web Store policies

Hosting your extension elsewhere:

  • Pros:
    • Doesn't cost $5
    • Create your own feature page how you'd like
    • Don't have to adhere to Google's Chrome Web Store policies
  • Cons:
    • You have to specify and host an Update XML Manifest file to enable autoupdating functionality, and keep a PEM file safely somewhere (not a big deal but is extra work)
    • Not as many Chrome users will find your extension and give feedback (potentially, if you don't have your own community or advertising already in place)

When hosting elsewhere, you have to go through the packaging process, then host the CRX file somewhere for users to download, and also have to (optionally) keep an update manifest hosted somewhere and keep that up to date, so that your extension can auto-update itself for users that have installed it.

But if you're using the Chrome Web Store to host, you don't have to worry about this. You just create a normal ZIP file of your extension's files and then upload it to the Store, and you're done. The Store takes care of the auto-updating stuff for you.

Upvotes: 14

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