Bookmarklets vs Browser Extensions

Developers should learn bookmarklets for quick prototyping, debugging, and automating repetitive web tasks, such as form filling, DOM manipulation, or scraping data during development meets developers should learn browser extensions to build tools that improve productivity, security, or accessibility directly within the browser, such as ad blockers, password managers, or developer utilities. Here's our take.

Bookmarklets

Nice Pick

Developers should learn bookmarklets for quick prototyping, debugging, and automating repetitive web tasks, such as form filling, DOM manipulation, or scraping data during development

Pros

• They are useful for testing web applications by injecting scripts to simulate user interactions or check performance without complex setups
• Related to: javascript, dom-manipulation

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Browser Extensions

Developers should learn browser extensions to build tools that improve productivity, security, or accessibility directly within the browser, such as ad blockers, password managers, or developer utilities

Pros

• It's valuable for creating custom integrations with web services, automating repetitive tasks, or targeting niche markets with browser-specific solutions, often requiring minimal deployment overhead compared to standalone applications
• Related to: javascript, html-css

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Bookmarklets is a tool while Browser Extensions is a platform. We picked Bookmarklets based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Bookmarklets wins

Based on overall popularity. Bookmarklets is more widely used, but Browser Extensions excels in its own space.