{{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot)
A userscript manager is a type of
browser extension
A browser extension is a small software module for customizing a web browser. Browsers typically allow a variety of extensions, including user interface modifications, cookie management, ad blocking, and the custom scripting and styling of web p ...
and
augmented browsing
A browser extension is a small software module for customizing a web browser. Browsers typically allow a variety of extensions, including user interface modifications, cookie management, ad blocking, and the custom scripting and styling of web ...
technology that provides a
user interface
In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
to manage
userscript
A userscript (or user script) is a program, usually written in JavaScript, for modifying web pages to augment browsing. Uses include adding shortcut buttons and keyboard shortcuts, controlling playback speeds, adding features to sites, and enhan ...
s. The main purpose of a userscript manager is to execute scripts on webpages as they are loaded. The most common operations performed by a userscript manager include creating, installing, organizing, deleting and editing scripts, as well as modifying script permissions (e.g. website exceptions).
Userscript managers use
metadata
Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...
that is embedded in a script's
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
primarily to determine the websites it should execute on and the dependencies necessary for the script to run properly. Metadata can also include information that is useful to the user such as the script's name, author, description and version number.
Functions
A userscript is a computer program (written in
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...
) containing metadata intended for use by a userscript manager. The metadata contains specific delimiters which help the userscript manager distinguish it from ordinary JavaScript files, along with configuration parameters used during installation.
Typical functions of a userscript manager include:
* Downloading dependencies (e.g. third party libraries, images)
* Providing automatic updates
* Creating and editing scripts
See also
*
Greasemonkey
Greasemonkey is a userscript manager made available as a Mozilla Firefox extension. It enables users to install scripts that make on-the-fly changes to web page content after or before the page is loaded in the browser (also known as augmen ...
*
Tampermonkey
Tampermonkey is a donationware userscript manager that is available as a browser extension. This software enables the user to add and use userscripts, which are JavaScript programs that can be used to modify web pages.
History
Tampermonkey was ...
*
List of augmented browsing software
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, + align="top" , Augmented Browsing Software
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! Form
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! Last Updated
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! , Bookmarklets
, Java ...