Happy 15th Anniversary, Turn Off the Lights!
“Turn Off the Lights” is a free browser extension, which dims the light of the website enabling more focus on the video player. The extension developed by Stefan Van Damme was initially released on 15th, December 2009 and since then has been regularly updated and enhanced with new features in order to meet user requirements.
With the use of the “Turn Off the Lights” extension the whole screen can be dimmed except for the player. Following the downloading of the extension, a lamp icon will appear on the browser toolbar or address bar. By clicking on the icon the user can fade the screen area surrounding the video. The screen can be restored by clicking outside the player. The extension offers flexibility by giving the user the option to adjust the opacity of the screen dimmer and the color. The “Turn Off the Lights” extension can also be automated in order to dim the screen without the intervention of the user. A range of YouTube-specific features is also available in the extension, while keyboard shortcuts make way for quick access to the program’s services. “Turn Off the Lights” extension is available as a plugin for Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Apple Safari, Yandex Browsers, Naver Whale, Samsung Internet and as a bookmark on other browsers.
On 15 December 2009 went the first version online as the Turn Off the Lights Chrome extension in the Chrome extension gallery. It successfully went to the most popular, loved, simple, and useful tool for YouTube. Today it extends this functionality as the ultimate tool for multimedia elements on the web. That you can customize to your personal touch. Also, it is a lightweight plug-in that will utilize only 5.56MiB of storage capacity. The amazing extension, which provides a more comfortable watching experience received recognition from several awarding bodies. It was featured on Google Official Blog, YouTube Official Blog, Chrome web store in 2012 and 2013, was the finalist of About.com Best Overall (Non-Security) Add-On 2013, one of the default extensions in Yandex web browser 2014, featured extension in the official Microsoft Windows blog 2016, Won the Lovie Awards 2017 and People Choice Award for Best Website and Application in Europe, and the developer was featured on the official Mozilla developer blog 2017.
In April 2022, the Naver Whale extension version was launched, followed by the Samsung Internet extension version in December 2022. In March 2024, the Turn Off the Lights Safari Extension was introduced for visionOS. In June 2024, the browser extension was updated to the Manifest V3 version, enhancing security, performance, and privacy. In November 2024, a unified GitHub repository was introduced for the Turn Off the Lights Browser Extension, consolidating support for all web browsers. Finally, in December 2024, Google Chrome Web Store honored it as the Favorite Chrome Extension of the year.
And on 15 December 2019, we are celebrating the 15 anniversary of the Turn Off the Lights Chrome extension. And the other existing Turn Off the Lights Browser extension for all modern web browsers.
Stefan Van Damme, Turn Off the Lights developer:
The past 15 year was tremendous, and many millions of users around the world download and use this unique and free browser extension that is never seen before on the internet.
I believe in simplicity and user-friendly design for the user. And for each update, I work very hard to continue to build this high-quality extension up with your feedback. So you get a useful, powerful tool to customize your web experience and to protect your eyes. Turn Off the Lights is absolutely free and open-source software. And this tool sets the industry standard for the web since 2009.
Furthermore, the extension is not on his end but the start for other necessary improvements to come for the web. The vision is to continue solving the multimedia issue on the web. That to get a healthy and comfortable experience for our eyes.
Finally, I want personal thank all our users. And also for the users who comment, feedback, suggested ideas, and the contributors that translate this project to his local language. Turn Off the Lights is a small team, and I appreciate any contribution to moving the project forward. Thank you!
This extension support 55 languages inside this includes Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Deutsch, English, English (Australia), English (UK), English (United States), Filipino, French, Swahili, Dutch, Norsk, Vietnamese, Turkish, Catalan, Danish, Estonian, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), Croatian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Slovak, Slovak, Finnish, Swedish, Czech, Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Farsi, Hebrew, Marathi, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Thai, Amharic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Arabic, Japanese, Korean.
For more information on the “Turn Off the Lights” extension please visit https://www.turnoffthelights.com
The team of Turn Off the Lights includes Stefan Van Damme, the lead developer of this project, the community of translators to make the project worldwide understandable by translating this to their own local language.
For more information about the team click here.
For information or questions, please contact:
Name: Stefan Van Damme
Email: press @ turnoffthelights.com
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