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1 <!-- BEGIN AUTHORED CONTENT --> | |
2 <p>Use browser actions to put icons | |
3 in the main Google Chrome toolbar, | |
4 to the right of the address bar. | |
5 In addition to its <a href="#icon">icon</a>, | |
6 a browser action can also have | |
7 a <a href="#tooltip">tooltip</a>, | |
8 a <a href="#badge">badge</a>, | |
9 and a <a href="#popups">popup</a>. | |
10 </p> | |
11 <p> | |
12 In the following figure, | |
13 the multicolored square | |
14 to the right of the address bar | |
15 is the icon for a browser action. | |
16 A popup is below the icon. | |
17 </p> | |
18 <img src="{{static}}/images/browser-action.png" | |
19 width="363" height="226" /> | |
20 <p> | |
21 If you want to create an icon that isn't always visible, | |
22 use a <a href="pageAction.html">page action</a> | |
23 instead of a browser action. | |
24 </p> | |
25 <p class="caution"> | |
26 <strong>Note:</strong> | |
27 Packaged apps cannot use browser actions. | |
28 </p> | |
29 <!-- [PENDING: We should show tooltips and badges, as well.] --> | |
30 <h2 id="manifest">Manifest</h2> | |
31 <p> | |
32 Register your browser action in the | |
33 <a href="manifest.html">extension manifest</a> | |
34 like this: | |
35 </p> | |
36 <pre>{ | |
37 "name": "My extension", | |
38 ... | |
39 <b>"browser_action": { | |
40 "default_icon": "images/icon19.png", <em>// optional</em> | |
41 "default_title": "Google Mail", <em>// optional; shown in tooltip</em> | |
42 "default_popup": "popup.html" <em>// optional</em> | |
43 }</b>, | |
44 ... | |
45 }</pre> | |
46 <h2 id="ui">Parts of the UI</h2> | |
47 <p> | |
48 A browser action can have an <a href="#icon">icon</a>, | |
49 a <a href="#tooltip">tooltip</a>, | |
50 a <a href="#badge">badge</a>, | |
51 and a <a href="#popups">popup</a>. | |
52 </p> | |
53 <h3 id="icon">Icon</h3> | |
54 <p>Browser action icons can be up to 19 pixels wide and high. | |
55 Larger icons are resized to fit, but for best results, | |
56 use a 19-pixel square icon.</p> | |
57 <p>You can set the icon in two ways: | |
58 using a static image or using the | |
59 HTML5 <a href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/the
-canvas-element.html">canvas element</a>. | |
60 Using static images is easier for simple applications, | |
61 but you can create more dynamic UIs — | |
62 such as smooth animation — | |
63 using the canvas element. | |
64 </p> | |
65 <p>Static images can be in any format WebKit can display, | |
66 including BMP, GIF, ICO, JPEG, or PNG. | |
67 </p> | |
68 <p>To set the icon, | |
69 use the <b>default_icon</b> field of <b>browser_action</b> | |
70 in the <a href="#manifest">manifest</a>, | |
71 or call the <a href="#method-setIcon">setIcon()</a> method. | |
72 <h3 id="tooltip">Tooltip</h3> | |
73 <p> | |
74 To set the tooltip, | |
75 use the <b>default_title</b> field of <b>browser_action</b> | |
76 in the <a href="#manifest">manifest</a>, | |
77 or call the <a href="#method-setTitle">setTitle()</a> method. | |
78 You can specify locale-specific strings for the <b>default_title</b> field; | |
79 see <a href="i18n.html">Internationalization</a> for details. | |
80 </p> | |
81 <h3 id="badge">Badge</h3> | |
82 <p>Browser actions can optionally display a <em>badge</em> — | |
83 a bit of text that is layered over the icon. | |
84 Badges make it easy to update the browser action | |
85 to display a small amount of information | |
86 about the state of the extension.</p> | |
87 <p>Because the badge has limited space, | |
88 it should have 4 characters or less. | |
89 </p> | |
90 <p> | |
91 Set the text and color of the badge using | |
92 <a href="#method-setBadgeText">setBadgeText()</a> and | |
93 <a href="#method-setBadgeBackgroundColor">setBadgeBackgroundColor()</a>, | |
94 respectively. | |
95 <!-- [PENDING: if you have a color but no text, will anything display?] --> | |
96 </p> | |
97 <h3 id="popups">Popup</h3> | |
98 <p>If a browser action has a popup, | |
99 the popup appears when the user clicks the icon. | |
100 The popup can contain any HTML contents that you like, | |
101 and it's automatically sized to fit its contents. | |
102 </p> | |
103 <p> | |
104 To add a popup to your browser action, | |
105 create an HTML file with the popup's contents. | |
106 Specify the HTML file in the <b>default_popup</b> field of <b>browser_action</b> | |
107 in the <a href="#manifest">manifest</a>, or call the | |
108 <a href="#method-setPopup">setPopup()</a> method. | |
109 </p> | |
110 <h2>Tips</h2> | |
111 <p>For the best visual impact, | |
112 follow these guidelines:</p> | |
113 <ul> | |
114 <li><b>Do</b> use browser actions for features | |
115 that make sense on most pages. | |
116 <li><b>Don't</b> use browser actions for features | |
117 that make sense for only a few pages. | |
118 Use <a href="pageAction.html">page actions</a> instead. | |
119 <li><b>Do</b> use big, colorful icons that make the most of | |
120 the 19x19-pixel space. | |
121 Browser action icons should seem a little bigger | |
122 and heavier than page action icons. | |
123 <li><b>Don't</b> attempt to mimic | |
124 Google Chrome's monochrome "wrench" icon. | |
125 That doesn't work well with themes, and anyway, | |
126 extensions should stand out a little. | |
127 <li><b>Do</b> use alpha transparency | |
128 to add soft edges to your icon. | |
129 Because many people use themes, | |
130 your icon should look nice | |
131 on a variety of background colors. | |
132 <li><b>Don't</b> constantly animate your icon. | |
133 That's just annoying. | |
134 </ul> | |
135 <h2 id="examples"> Examples </h2> | |
136 <p> | |
137 You can find simple examples of using browser actions in the | |
138 <a href="http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome/common/extension
s/docs/examples/api/browserAction/">examples/api/browserAction</a> | |
139 directory. | |
140 For other examples and for help in viewing the source code, see | |
141 <a href="samples.html">Samples</a>. | |
142 </p> | |
143 <!-- END AUTHORED CONTENT --> | |
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