jw.org JW Web Add-on

[gusdn1]

Hello everyone, 

 

Last week, I released two new tools that make it much more convenient for publishers to access content from the official website. Since then, I have received some feedback in the forum and through DMs. This feedback eventually led me to create a website addon that works directly with the official website, making content access much faster and easier. After one week of active development, the first phase is finally complete. I would like to present:

 

JW Addon for Text

VERSION 3.20

 

This new website addon contains several great features that greatly benefit publishers using the website for studying, research, or simply reading the materials.

What are the features?

1. Each paragraph of the article now has its own link. Instead of just sharing the entire article, publishers will now have the option to share specific paragraphs.
2. Integration with JW Library® and JW Library Sign Language® apps. For the first time ever, this tool allows you to open not only the entire article from the website in the app but also to jump straight to a specific paragraph. This is great for deeper study or for quickly noting ideas within a paragraph.
3. Integration with Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY™. The addon also enables content to be opened in the Online Library, which is perfect for research purposes.

 

Currently, only the Library app and Online Library have link features, and sometimes the functionality is limited. For example, the Online Library only generates links but does not direct to the app, and while the Library app has link features that connect to our website, it does not support the reverse. This tool solves all these issues by connecting our three platforms: the official website, Online Library, and the Library app. Please watch the following demonstration on how it works.

 

 

Where do I get the tool?

The tool is now available for download as a website extension, meaning it will be downloaded and installed in the web browser you are using, not as a desktop application.

These are the following web browsers that the tool supports (each item has a link to the download page):

• Google Chrome for Desktop
• Mozilla Firefox for Desktop and Android
• Opera for Desktop
• Other Chromium web browsers that support Chrome Webstore for Desktop

 

     Coming Soon

• Microsoft Edge for Desktop

 

I really hope that this new website addon tool will greatly benefit publishers with their personal study and research. Now that all platforms are connected, it should be much easier to move between different platforms. If you have any questions, clarifications, or feedback, please let me know in the forum or by DM.

 

 

BUT THERE'S MORE!

Later this week, this addon tool will be updated to include three more great features that publishers will love:

• Comments Transfer: This tool will allow comments made on the website to be transferred directly to the app.
• Transcript Downloads: This tool will be able to create transcripts for almost all videos and download them directly from the website.
• Alt View: This tool will have the ability to show the alt text of all images on the website.

 

More information about these three upcoming features will be provided later this week.

 

 

 

Edited September 23 by trottigy

[gusdn1]

UPDATE!

 

Hello everyone,

A new update for JW Addon for Text will be available this week!

 

This update will bring the version number up from v3.20 to v4.31. You will also notice the name change from 'JW Text Marker' to 'JW Addon for Text.'

This new update contains several new features:

• Comment Transfer: This feature makes it easier for publishers to create comments in the input boxes on the website and transfer them to the app.
• Transcript Download: This feature allows publishers to download a copy of the video transcript directly from the website.
• Content's Language Count: This feature shows the publisher how many languages the content is available in.
• Alt View: This feature allows publishers to see the description of each image in the article.
• Daily Text: A button has been added on the Library page that directly takes the publisher to the daily text and this week’s meeting materials.

Please watch the following demostration on how these new features work:

 

 

 

 

This update will be available for download in the following web browsers:

• Google Chrome
  • JW Addon for Text (Chrome Addon)
• Microsoft Edge
  • JW Addon for Text - Microsoft Edge Addons
• Mozilla Firefox
  • JW Addon for Text (Mozilla Firefox)
• Naver Whale
  • JW Addon for Text - Naver Whale
• Norway Opera 
  • JW Text Marker - Opera add-ons

 

FAQ

The following are the commonly asked questions.

• Will this addon be available in Apple Safari?
  • Unfortunately, it won't be available at this time. It is very expensive to deploy a website addon in Apple Safari.
• Will this addon be available on mobile or tablet devices?
  • It will depend on the web browser. Some web browsers support website addons, some do not. For example, on Android, Kiwi and Yandex browsers support Chrome extensions. On iOS, Orion browser supports Chrome extensions. Other browsers do not.
• Will this addon have more features, especially for media content?
  • What I can say right now is that development is ongoing in this area, but it is unknown when or if these features will be available.

PRIVACY

For those concerned about privacy, this website addon does not collect any information from users, personal or otherwise. Before becoming available for download, moderators from Google, Mozilla, and other tech companies thoroughly tested this website addon which takes days to finish to ensure it does not violate any privacy rules. Modern web browsers and tech companies have robust privacy rules and detection mechanisms, and they can take down applications or addons that violate those rules.

 

I hope this new update will further benefit publishers in their study and research. If you have any questions or feedback, please don't hesitate to DM me.

 

[gusdn1]

Later next week, a new update will be released which expands the support to Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY.

 

The support will include the following features:

• Ability to display alt text of the images
• Ability to stretch the website into full width.
• Ability to open the content to JW Library or JW Library Sign Language

 

 

 

There is also a plan to add features such as resizable study pane and dark mode, which are both in very early development and not expected to be available anytime soon due to its complexity.

 

Edited June 2 by gusdn1

[gusdn1]

Development of dark mode and resizable study pane for Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY has been postponed indefinitely; there seem to be an active development ongoing right now with WOL based on the observation made in recent days. 

 

Release of other 3 features will be delayed to early next week.

 

On 6/2/2024 at 6:07 PM, gusdn1 said:

There is also a plan to add features such as resizable study pane and dark mode, which are both in very early development and not expected to be available anytime soon due to its complexity.

 

 

Edited June 5 by gusdn1

[Dages]

Awww, I was hoping to test this stretch thing

[gusdn1]

A new update to JW Addon for Text will be available this week.

 

This update contains several improvements to the following:

• Alt text now show in distinction against the image caption.
• Extending support for Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY™:
  • Open in JW Library® and JW Library Sign Language® apps.
  • Display alt text for all images.
• A new feature exclusively for Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY™ called "Wide View." This feature allows the user to extend the width of the webpage wider allowing more content to appear on the screen.

 

This update will be available for download in the following web browsers:

• Google Chrome
  • JW Addon for Text (Chrome Addon)
• Microsoft Edge
  • JW Addon for Text - Microsoft Edge Addons
• Mozilla Firefox
  • JW Addon for Text (Mozilla Firefox)
• Naver Whale
  • JW Addon for Text - Naver Whale
• Norway Opera 
  • JW Text Marker - Opera add-ons

[Dages]

Do you plan to make these open source?

[gusdn1]

4 minutes ago, Dages said:

Do you plan to make these open source?

 

I'm thinking about it. But I have no definite plan as of yet. Also, my git is inside of an organizational account.

[Dages]

4 minutes ago, gusdn1 said:

my git is inside of an organizational account.

How does that work? Like a Branch level account?

 

[Dages]

On 6/10/2024 at 10:29 PM, gusdn1 said:

A new update to JW Addon for Text will be available this week.

 

This update contains several improvements to the following:

• Alt text now show in distinction against the image caption.
• Extending support for Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY™:
  • Open in JW Library® and JW Library Sign Language® apps.
  • Display alt text for all images.
• A new feature exclusively for Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY™ called "Wide View." This feature allows the user to extend the width of the webpage wider allowing more content to appear on the screen.

 

This update will be available for download in the following web browsers:

• Google Chrome
  • JW Addon for Text (Chrome Addon)
• Microsoft Edge
  • JW Addon for Text - Microsoft Edge Addons
• Mozilla Firefox
  • JW Addon for Text (Mozilla Firefox)
• Naver Whale
  • JW Addon for Text - Naver Whale
• Norway Opera 
  • JW Text Marker - Opera add-ons

the update doesn't work in the wol

[gusdn1]

May I ask what kind of browser do you have? The new addon update is still pending on some browsers, so it’s not available to all of them yet.
 

Also, have you granted permission to enable the addon for WOL? Sometimes it manually requires you to enable it.

Edited June 12 by gusdn1

[Dages]

49 minutes ago, gusdn1 said:

May I ask what kind of browser do you have? The new addon update is still pending on some browsers, so it’s not available to all of them yet.
 

Also, have you granted permission to enable the addon for WOL? Sometimes it manually requires you to enable it.

Chrome. It works well in JW.org but not in the WOL. The update was done this morning.
 

Tested in Firefox, same issue

Edited June 12 by Dages

[gusdn1]

2 minutes ago, Dages said:

Chrome. It works well in JW.org but not in the WOL. The update was done this morning.

Oh okay thanks, I just realized that I forgot to mention where the buttons are located for WOL. The buttons are located in the hamburger menu at lower right corner of the website. They are disabled by default because I want you guys to have an option to enable and disable them.

 

Hope that helps.

[And_Ray]

As a developer myself, I'd really like to see the source code on github. 

[Dages]

4 minutes ago, gusdn1 said:

Oh okay thanks, I just realized that I forgot to mention where the buttons are located for WOL. The buttons are located in the hamburger menu at lower right corner of the website. They are disabled by default because I want you guys to have an option to enable and disable them.

 

Hope that helps.

Yeah, I've checked it...

 

edit : Ho ! It works, albeit very inconsistently, for the picture alt. But not the wide mode.

Edited June 12 by Dages

[gusdn1]

5 minutes ago, Dages said:

Yeah, I've checked it...

 

edit : Ho ! It works, albeit very inconsistently, for the picture alt. But not the wide mode.

Cool, thanks for the note. I’m going to check the source later today. I already tested it in different devices and various browsers and it’s working but there’s always issues arises after it comes out because each individual devices can have little differences.

Edited June 12 by gusdn1

[Dages]

12 minutes ago, gusdn1 said:

Cool, thanks for the note. I’m going to check the source later today. I already tested it in different devices and various browsers but there’s always issues arises after it comes out. 

Alright, after deleting my cookie and accepting them again (disabling ublock origin first), the note thing works in Chrome.

For firefox, both things now works (using the same method)

Edited June 12 by Dages

[gusdn1]

That’s good to know.

Firefox is very fast when it comes deploying updates, Chrome and others aren’t. 
So, I may fix the issue for chrome but they won’t deploy it until days later.

Thanks a lot for the feedback though, greatly appreciate it.

5 minutes ago, Dages said:

Alright, after deleting my cookie and accepting them again (disabling ublock origin first), the note thing works in Chrome.

For firefox, both things now works

 

Edited June 12 by gusdn1

[Dages]

3 minutes ago, gusdn1 said:

That’s good to know.

Firefox is very fast when it comes deploying updates, Chrome and others aren’t. 
So, I may fix the issue for chrome but they won’t deploy it until days later.

Thanks a lot for the feedback though, greatly appreciate it.

 

Both are 5.1 version

[gusdn1]

In the near future, this addon will be updated to have all the links for sign-languages be opened in JW Library® app instead of JW Library Sign Language® app.

More information will be provided in the future.

Edited July 3 by gusdn1

[gusdn1]

Oops, did I drop something? 😂😂

 

[gusdn1]

Coming soon to JW Addon for Text

 

The update will include several improvements and new features:

• Subtitle Customization: This new feature allows you to customize the font size and style of subtitles.
• Media Player Custom UI: This new feature lets you adjust the transparency of the media controls when they appear.
• Unified App: This replaces the current feature by now opening sign language content in the JW Library app instead of the JW Library Sign Language app.
• Bug Fixes: Several bugs have been fixed, including an issue where alt texts were overlapping with other content on the website.

 

Please note that if a feature equivalent to one in this website addon becomes officially available on the website, that feature will be removed from the addon to avoid conflicts.

Edited August 11 by gusdn1

[And_Ray]

Idea for new feature:
One thing that I often do when i watch a video, especially with the broadcasting, i like to watch the audio in one language, usually different than english, and have the english subtitles.
I usually download the file in the audio language and separately download the srt file and then merge them in VLC... 

Maybe this could be a nice feature to make.

[Dages]

29 minutes ago, And_Ray said:

Idea for new feature:
One thing that I often do when i watch a video, especially with the broadcasting, i like to watch the audio in one language, usually different than english, and have the english subtitles.
I usually download the file in the audio language and separately download the srt file and then merge them in VLC... 

Maybe this could be a nice feature to make.

https://jwcast.semdev.nl/#/fr this is what I use  

[And_Ray]

26 minutes ago, Dages said:

https://jwcast.semdev.nl/#/fr this is what I use  

Wonderful, thank you!
I never really bothered to search for something like that because it took me less than a minute to do it anyway.. but this is really helpful! 

And the code is hosted on github, which is superb