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New FireFox Extension - threatLevel

Posted By Scott Stroz October 26, 2004 12:30 AM Related Categories: ,
Comments: 23
Views: 2589
I have created my first FireFox extension, named threatLevel v. 0.2.

It displays the current Homeland Security Threat Level as a icon on the right side of the status bar.



If you are interested, you can get it by clicking here. If you install it, please leave some feed back on this blog entry.

You may need to allow www.boyzoid.com to install software on your computer.
 Thanx.


PS - If you don't know what FireFox is, check it out.

23 comments

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hi said...
nice idea, and works without problems!

you could use the tooltip to show the current 'motto' like "There's a high risk blah blah blah"

oh, and maybe not open that website so instantly but use a context menu instead?

anyway personally i think the color codes are pure bull and just to scare y'all .. and since i don't live in the states i uninstalled it .. thx anyway
10/26/04 6:04 PM
Scott Stroz said...
Thanx for the input!

I like your ideas, and will incorporate them into the next release.
10/26/04 9:23 PM
Doug Hughes said...
I have honestly not installed the extension.... mainly because as a non-sheep-american I agree with the first post. These threat levels are designed to scare people.

Oh well.

Any how, good work Mr. Zoid and keep it up!
10/26/04 9:43 PM
Zorg said...
The highest threat level indicates
"There will be elections soon, so please live in fear and vote for the current president".
Will say that this scale is crap since it often gets abused for other purposes.

Nice idea, though for those who differ in this opinion. Good job.
10/27/04 1:13 AM
Tony T said...
Great idea for an extension. I too believe this Homeland insecurity threat level scale is just another attempt at control through fear.
I like the fact that the little window is linked directly to the website, but as someone else suggested, a context menu would be cool too.
But, (there's always a but), the display window doesn't show the level color for me, it just say's "not available", but if I open another window it works???? Any ideas? Thanks
10/27/04 6:30 AM
Scott Stroz said...
Please, don't get me wrong....I think it is a load of crap, too.

However, I have worked in environments where one could not ignore the threat level (even though we may all have wanted to). I spent 14 years as a paramedic in NJ (close enough to NYC to have been involved in resuce work at 'Ground Zero').

Agencies and companies reponsible for public safety really can't ignore any changes to the 'threat level' regardless of how arbitraryily it changes.

This is geared more towards those agencies...and the overly paranoid ;-)
10/27/04 7:41 AM
me said...
Thanks for that - funniest thing I've seen in a long while! Keep up the good work!
11/4/04 5:12 PM
Julian said...
i have no use for this security threat thing.. not like i can do anything aobut osmeone going to bomb my state anyway. but as an extension it's nice. very neat compact. although i have to question the shading a bit. I think i would like a solid color block better. .but i understand how the shadow effect minimzes it's .. attention grabbing ability. you want to be able to see it but you don't want it to distract you all the time. maybe if you put the shadow box in the lower right corner instead of the upper left. darkening the end of the word instead of the beinning
11/5/04 10:29 AM
Hugo said...
Any chance you could share the source code as well?
11/5/04 3:24 PM
Scott Stroz said...
Hugo-

You already have teh source code.

Download the extension by right-clicking and choosing 'Save link as'.

If you have WinZip, just change the file extension to .zip (or set winzip to open .xpi files).

The code will be there for you to see.
11/5/04 3:36 PM
Hugo said...
Thanks!
11/5/04 3:40 PM
Scott Stroz said...
BTW - That trick will work with any extension.
11/5/04 3:42 PM
Chad Cloman said...
When I open up my browser (FF 0.10.1), I get a "NOT AVAIL" icon instead of the threat level. If I open a new window, however, I get the correct icon. If I open a new tab, I still get "NOT AVAIL". Any suggestions on what might be wrong.

btw, this is a *great* extension. I was practically rotfl.
11/6/04 12:20 PM
Chad Cloman said...
Okay... now it's getting the correct icon after a short pause. So never mind.
11/6/04 12:30 PM
Manawolf said...
Ngahahaha. Even if this extension was meant seriously, I couldn't possibly take it as such.

I think of it as my "Threat to civil liberties" icon. Kudos for stirring up controversey.

FYI - nice tidy extension, no problems installing.
11/6/04 5:38 PM
President Bush said...
Excellent work my dear sheep
11/7/04 1:36 PM
threatened guy said...
This is what I have waited for, thank you!
11/7/04 3:07 PM
no thanks said...
I do a government web site, and this is handy information to have around. There are other sources for this information, but why not have an alert right nearby to stay on top of things. If your alert changes, I can go to some official sites to verify, and can then update our page quicker. Thanks.
11/8/04 3:42 PM
Tim said...
Nice extension. I am not even american, but enjoy how some people can so easily be scared.

nice extension, with the exception, it only works if i open a new windows from the original.

when i first open firefox, i get the Not Available, but if i open a new window, everything works fine after.
11/9/04 11:50 AM
Scott Stroz said...
Tim-

Thanx.

I have had that happen to me as well, but I have not been able to reproduce it consistently to track down the reason why.

The extension does refresh the icon every 20 minutes. If you keep your browser open long enough, it should eventually refresh to the appropriate icon.
11/9/04 12:01 PM
S Hough said...
It wouldn't install on Firefox 0.9.3, running Windows XP... said that the extension only works for 0.7 to 1.0. FYI.
11/9/04 9:17 PM
Emergency Manager said...
Very good program, now I dont agree with any of the conspiracy crap but its always good to stay constantly on top of whats going on, especially in high risk areas like DC. I like it how it is now just fine, but it would be nice if you could add on to this extention or make a whole new one with something that covers active disasters and declared emergencies, like say if you right click on the threat level icon, something like FEMA's active disasters map on their homepage would come up. I work in the Emergency Management field and its always good to have to have the condensed DHS public threat report right there in front of you. It doesnt cover everything but its a good general guideline.

Also, are you planning on implementing the new FEMA Digital Emergency Alert System into a program like this when it gets rolled out?
11/11/04 2:55 AM
KB2TQU said...
Boyzoid,

Nice little extension! I have never had the opportunity to write any code or create any extensions but I wish I could. I have an idea for two nice little extensions for Firefox but do not have the knowledge or time to learn how to write them. I did a little research on the topic and was able to unzip your extension and look at the code. Nice code! I wish I could do that! If your are interested in my ideas, they are really pretty simple, I'm sure. Feel free to e-mail me at the provided e-mail address and I would be glad to discuss it with you further. I won't take up any more of your blog forum for further communication about this.

Thanks for the great little extension and I hope you contact me.

KB2TQU: The name is Anthony but everyone calls me T.J.
11/13/04 7:59 PM
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