[Tutorial] Installing User Scripts (Tampermonkey)

[Tutorial] Installing User Scripts (Tampermonkey)

Introduction

User scripts (also often spelled userscripts) are small pieces of (javascript) code that can be run on any web page to enhance/change their behavior and user experience. Using them is quite easy and they can add a lot to your enjoyment of certain sites.

Installing the Add-on/Extension

To use user scripts you will need an Add-on (as Firefox calls them) or Extension (the term used by Chrome and Opera) to run them. The Add-on/Extension can be installed from the official Add-on page (Firefox) / Webstore (Chrome). To make things easier, this page on Greasy Fork has links to extensions for all browsers out there.

As you can see there are a few different User Script Managers. I would suggest going with Tampermonkey; it is the most used. Greasemonkey has suffered from quite a few issues since it updated to version 4.

Installing is easy; just click the Add to Firefox/Chrome/etc button, you will get a dialog box telling you what the extension can do in your browser (don't be alarmed at the many permissions it needs; that's exactly why these scripts are so useful), see the 1st attached image. Accept and the extension will be installed for you (older browsers might need to restart to enable it).

Once Tampermonkey is installed you will see a new button in your browser's button bar (usually to the right) and a tab will open that warns you about malicious scripts and shows all the features of the extension. While very powerful, user script manages can be abused so make sure to only install scripts from reputable sources. Should you want to play it safe, only use scripts that have lots of installs. If you read the entire features page you will get a good idea of what Tampermonkey can do for you (it can backup your scripts, for instance).

Installing a user script

Installing scripts is exceedingly easy; all you have to do is click a link and then confirm you want to install the script. As this is SteamGifts we'll install RaChart™ Enhancer as an example. Once you go to that page you will see a Download heading and a bold click here to install the script (see the 2nd image).

When you click this link a new tab will open with a Tampermonkey screen where you can click an Install button to actually install the script (see the 3rd image).

Once you clicked the Install button the script is now active (but pages you already had open in your browser will need a reload before you can see the results of the script).

(RaChart™ Enhancer will need some setting up to be useful, see its page for details; I can't stress enough how useful this script is.)

Some background information

On the right of the Install tab it shows you on what web pages a script will be run (see the 3rd image; "Include(s)"). Certain universal scripts will be run on every page you open but scripts meant to enhance a certain website should only run on the site they are meant for.

You can see the active scripts by clicking the Tampermonkey button on the button bar; the menu that appears shows all scripts running on the currently viewed page (see the 4th image). By default Tampermonkey will show the number of active scripts in a red square on the button but this can be disabled.

Also note the green sliding button in the menu that can be used to enable/disable individual scripts. If you go to Dashboard you will see a list of all installed scripts and can use that same sliding button. If there are certain scripts you use only once or twice a year you might want to disable them for the rest of the year; scripts could potentially make your page load slower (but often not noticeably so) or conflict with other installed scripts.

Useful SteamGifts User Scripts

There are quite a few very useful scripts specifically for SteamGifts and fortunately there is a thread that lists a lot of them: SG Add-Ons Registry - List of all scripts for SG.

Another easy way to find more is to search the forum for userscript. As you can see there are loads; just keep in mind that some are no longer supported by their creators and some have been superseded by other scripts (a look at the thread usually tells you what you need to know).

Other useful User Scripts

There are way too many great scripts out there to list, but it's good to know that many scripts can be found on Greasy Fork which we linked to earlier. There are a few other sites that host user scripts as well; Tampermonkey has a page listing them.

While not really the scope of this tutorial I'll list a few of my favorite scripts here, feel free to add your own favorites to the comments.

• Steam-AutoCraft; I only use this twice a year during the Steam Sales but it's a lifesaver, it automatically creates all Steam badges you have ready to go.
• YouTube Link Title; this will change a regular link to a YouTube page to a preview of the actual page, showing the name of the video and even allowing you to play it right on whatever page you are.
• Direct Google Images; now clicking an image on Google Image Search immediately opens just that image.
• Tumblr Image Size; automatically shows the largest version available of any Tumblr image when viewed directly (so when you open a 500 pixel image it will automatically change it to a 1280 pixel version if it exists.

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