Sync styles

[JasonBarnabe]

From stylish-userstyles/stylish#94

http://forum.userstyles.org/discussion/33477/sync-userstyles-between-chrome-instances#Item_4

[etodd]

+1

[ivysrono]

+1

[danijar]

+1

[stasleo]

+1

[Baegus]

+1

[tophf]

Seems easy. @hideheader, what do you say?
100kB overall sync data limit with max 8kB/item might be too small for many styles, so we'll have to use some zip lib.

[PushkaCom]

Since this is Chrome sync - and the user needs to be logged into a Google account to sync Chrome - couldn't the extension access the user's Google Drive storage to place settings data in there? or can Chrome extensions not ask the user for permission? or Stylish doesn't want to branch out too much just for the chrome version?

[tophf]

@PushkaCom, that would look verrrry strange. Are there any extensions or addons that use it instead of the browser's built-in sync abilities?

[AKPWebDesign]

Instead of syncing the styles themselves, is it possible to sync URLs to access the styles?

[PxlBuzzard]

@AKPWebDesign That wouldn't sync styles created locally, but it's a good idea. Any thoughts on how to handle local?

[AKPWebDesign]

Perhaps a GitHub Gist could be used. When the local style is ready to be synced, create a Gist, and use the direct URL. And to save more space, you could even shorten the URLs with goo.gl or something similar.

[PxlBuzzard]

That's not a small feature request or a great user experience. You would have to create a private gist (it is a local stylesheet after all, the assumption would be to maintain privacy) which would require people setting up a new personal access token, saving a new gist, and saving that gist ID along with their token into Stylish.

I still think saving a list of links is a good idea on the surface, but whatever the outcome it should be a simple solution for both developers to create/maintain/debug and users to use.

[AKPWebDesign]

You don't need to create a personal access token. Saving a new gist is as simple as a POST request to https://api.github.com/gists with the proper data, and the gists created are private by default.

I'm currently using gists for some features in a Node.JS program, and can provide example code, if it would help.

[marlun]

Would be nice to have som statistics on how much styles people have. Maybe the default sync storage is enough for most users and only power users need more where a more advanced (complex) feature could be added?

[michaelmior]

If a first version of this feature only synced the URLs to public styles, I think that would still be a welcome addition and not too complex to implement. Some solution for private styles could be bolted on later.

[marlun]

I only use private styles since I use Stylus to make a couple of sites I use more readable by changing the font to what I like but I guess I could publish them to be able to sync them.

[digitalfiz]

I second using Drive for the sync. A few apps do this already. No reason one more can't. Could even make it save them as plain css files so they can be edited in drive with a normal editor :P

[marlun]

I'm not sure if this has been brought up somewhere else (tried to search) or if it's not possible, but what about the possibility to provide a path where the styles are loaded from and saved to? That would let you handle the syncing yourself with something like Bittorrent Sync/Dropbox?

[tophf]

So:

• Built-in Chrome sync: chrome.storage API using LZMA-JS compressor in order not to exceed strict sync quotas: 100kB for everything which roughly corresponds to 500kB of uncompressed text (or considerably less if lots of base64-encoded images are used).

  Your extension's content scripts can directly access user data without the need for a background page.

  Great! Stylish could apply styles immediately on Chrome startup when it starts with previously opened pages, whereas currently the original unstyled page is shown for 1-3 seconds.

• Text-based: a textarea with import/export using JSON format to get/update/replace the entire list of styles

• Drag'n'drop CSS files onto Manage styles page to install/update them

• Connect to Drive/Dropbox/... account - afaik it doesn't require any passwords, just be logged on to the service and confirm app access. Implementation-wise it might require registering an application ID for Stylish.

• webkitPersistentStorage:

  • stays in the browser unless the app or the user removes it, but the user must grant you permission before you can use it. In contrast, temporary storage is automatically granted without any user permission, but it can be expunged by the browser at any time.
  • stored under <Chrome profile directory>/File System
  • file and dir names are obfuscated (but content in files is unchanged).

  So just add this folder to dropbox/drive/whatever or symlink/ntfs-junction it into the sync folder.

• Full filesystem access. This requires a permission in manifest so when users install the extension some/many of them might think twice whether to allow the extension FULL ACCESS TO YOUR LOCAL FILE SYSTEM... While it's expected for download managers but I doubt it's okay for Stylish.

[ghost]

Any news on this?

[LouCypher]

@tophf wrote:

• Text-based: a textarea with import/export using JSON format to get/update/replace the entire list of styles

I prefer this one.

[ghost]

Can you at least create an option to dump json(sql)/import dump back?

[tophf]

Yes, we can!

[ghost]

@tophf thanks a lot!

[sobh]

The chrome.storage option seem like the most elegant solution. As for the 100KB quota limit:

• The average user might not even need half of it.
• Power users could upload their styles to userstyles.org and just sync the URL.

@AKPWebDesign
There are some problems with Gists:

• Gists aren't private (including Secret Gists).
• Need a GitHub account.
• Anonymous Gists are kind of immutable, thus not suitable for syncing.

[ryanbuening]

+1

[PushkaCom]

Note that if you use a website like greasy fork to host styles, you can use tampermonkey for chrome to sync styles ~

[cmei84]

+1

[danijar]

Manual export/import really is no solution to this problem since users would have to go through the process of copy/upload/download/paste on every small change.

Personally, I'd be okay with Drive sync if I can define the folder containing the styles. But I can also see that it would be a large investment for users who are not using Google Drive already. Also, I think it is more work than using gists.

As long as Github is cool with that, I don't see a problem creating a new secret gist on every change. Also, I agree with @sobh and @Nojevah on the size limit of Chrome settings not being a problem for most of the users.

[lichtscheu]

Any new on this?

[Splike]

+1

[smiller171]

Guys, there are built in reactions now. Please don't leave a +1 comment with nothing else to add.

[danijar]

@PushkaCom Do you know how Tampermonkey syncs scripts?

[ivysrono]

ViolentMonkey can auto sync scripts by onedrive/dropbox, even between chrome and opera.

[danijar]

@renyouguo I'd prefer Chrome sync because it doesn't force users to use one of a set of supported cloud storages. For me, Google Drive would be fine but for someone else it would be Dropbox or nothing at all. Even though cross-browser sync is quite cool indeed.

[Slivo-fr]

+1

[leotm]

ib4 3-yr anniversary.
+1

[sourcedelica]

One drawback with using cloud storage is that a lot of companies (like the one I work for now) block them. The native Chrome sync would be the best in that regard.

[festum]

+1

[smiller171]

Seriously...this issue has been open for nearly 3 years and has more comments and thumbs up than any other issue in your backlog, open or closed. Please throw us a bone here @JasonBarnabe

[tophf]

Jason Barnabe doesn't use sync, and evidently, obviously not interested in implementing it. As for me, I don't use sync as well. The only reason I've contributed is to have the features I needed, mostly UI-related, a couple of performance enhancements. Actually, this was the only reason I've learnt programming many years ago in the first place: to be able to modify/enhance the apps I use. So my point (and obviously Jason's) is that anyone is free to [learn programming and] implement sync functionality.

[fiatjaf]

This is a complex feature. I think some people may be afraid that if they implement it in the way they think they should @JasonBarnabe will not accept their PR. I know I do that. Perhaps Jason could just delineate how he would like the feature to be implemented people would take a second look at the idea of implementing it.

[w1ndy]

It has been 3 years and the sync feature is still missing? Could we implement a basic version first, like sync small stylesheets directly but ignore large ones? I believe it would benefit many users.

[coman4]

+1

[hell-racer]

+1

[austin-guevara]

Anything new on this? 😄

[TheGamesmenDev]

proposed solution: #205

[Nojevah]

Still not worth uBlock/uMatrix sync system.

[lichtscheu]

i am crazy? does stylish now support sync by default? installed new chrome version and opened a site at work where i have a style active only on my machine at home, but the style was there, opened stylish and there are many styles i absolutley did not install at work?

[jlous]

Were those your own local styles or referenced ones?

[jlous]

Tamper Monkey provides a choice between browser sync and google drive

[livejamie]

Commenting in 2018, would still love this

[jareddyck]

Yeah would love to have this feature...

[leotm]

I'm guessing it no longer matters since Google pulled out Stylish from the Chrome Web Store.

[livejamie]

I'm guessing it no longer matters since Google pulled out Stylish from the Chrome Web Store.

I switched to Stylus

[jkupczak]

Happy 2022 everyone.