So I did a “thing” this morning that I’m quite proud of and pleased with. I used ChatGPT to create an extension for Chrome to help me search multiple sites for books. My initial prompt was very basic and general: “i want to build a chrome extension that searches selectable book store websites for books by book title, author, or a combination of both”. After a few questions and clarifications ChatGPT produced a downloadable zip file and instructions for installing the extension on my Chrome browser. I followed the instructions and it worled like a charm.
Features
- Opens searches at selected bookstores in individual background tabs.
- Catalog preview via Open Library’s public search endpoint (no API key required). Results are bibliographic records, not live store inventory, prices, or guaranteed exact editions.
- Each preview match can be searched at selected bookstores.
- Stores can be added/removed and selections are saved locally.
- Highlight text on a web page and right-click Search BookFinder to populate the search popup (fallback to a new extension tab if popup opening is unavailable).
This is probably elementry stuff for most people but I’m not very adept at all these new technology tools and coding. So I’m quite pleased with myself and the result.
