Turn Off the Lights - browser Archives

The Biggest Turn Off the Lights Update to Safari App Extension

Posted on September 19, 2017February 10, 2018 by Stefan Van Damme

Today we got exciting news for Safari 10 users (for macOS Sierra and High Sierra)! The Turn Off the Lights Safari extension is now available in the Apple App Store:
Download Now Turn Off the Lights for Safari

Apple asks indirect to his Safari extension developers to transits to his own macOS platform. We quoted the message from on the ‘Safari Extensions Development Guide’ page:

Important: As of Safari 10.0 on macOS 10.11.5, Safari extensions are created as app extensions in Xcode. New extensions are wrapped in a containing macOS app and are distributed and sold on the App Store. If you have created an extension with the methods described in this document, consider transitioning to the new extensions model. To start developing Safari app extensions, see Safari App Extension Programming Guide.

Safari App Extension Development

We converted everything within 2 months to the Safari App Extension platform. And still keeping our main JavaScript files and HTML options page. It was a hard work to get same great experience in the Safari web browser. There are some good benefits in this platform, but there also some bad ones. Here the comparison for users and developers:

+ In the Apple Store you can see the screenshots of what our extension can do in your Safari web browser. And the App Store installs automatically the latest version.
+ You get a better performance in the Safari web browser.
+ You as user know that Apple as reviewed our Safari extension, before publishing it on the App Store. And that there is no security or privacy issues.

+ As developers, we can write our code in the Swift language, that is almost the same style as JavaScript.
– As developers, we lost many times on how to convert the “background.js” to the Swift app extension handler. And many existing functions must be reengineered, so the Safari extension can communicate well from the Options page to the background and to lamp button.

Vimeo video with Turn Off the Lights Safari App Extension — Vimeo video with the Atmosphere Lighting feature

In the new Turn Off the Lights Safari App Extension you get the same Options page as in the regular browser extension version. And to access the Turn Off the Lights Options page is by opening the ‘Turn Off the Lights for Safari’ app from your Launchpad.

Browser Extension Standard

However, we believe in a standard for developing a browser extension. Google Chrome, Opera, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge got this standard. As we hope that other companies will follow later also this standard.

If you are just reading this new blog post and you like our project. Please do not forget to donate us. Whether it is $1 or $100, your support is immensely appreciated!

About The Author

Stefan Van Damme

Stefan Van Damme is the lead Developer of the Turn Off the Lights Browser Extension for Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox, Maxthon, Yandex, Vivaldi, Brave, and Microsoft Edge.

Tired Eyes from Screen-Gazing? 5 Tips That Will Help

Posted on August 21, 2017January 10, 2022 by Stefan Van Damme

If you work in front of a computer all day, you know exactly what we’re talking about. Tired, strained eyes can absolutely ruin a viewing experience.

Have you been looking forward to a new show all day and now your eyes are too tired to get through it?

Relax. We’ve got 5 tips to help you deal with your tired eyes.

Tips for Tired Eyes

The Classic Cold Water Splash

Splashing cold water on your face isn’t just invigorating. The cold water reduces blood flow to your eyes, hence reducing inflammation.

If you’re at home and relaxing, then splashing cold water on your tired eyes might not seem appealing. A cool, damp wash cloth or even a bag of frozen peas can still accomplish the same thing.

You’ll be back to your YouTube video in no time.

The 20×3 Method

Every twenty minutes, look twenty feet away for twenty seconds. This is the 20-20-20 method of temporary eye-strain relief. If needed, set an alarm to remind yourself to do this until you can get into a habit.

Staring at a screen all day, you probably aren’t blinking as often as you should You focus for too long on one small screen that’s only 1-2 feet in front of you. It takes your eyes approximately 20 seconds to relax.

Doing this three times an hour throughout the day should be enough to keep your eyes moist and will also help strengthen them.

Lighting

Lighting creates stimulation of our minds and bodies. That’s why it exists. You sleep at night and when the sun comes up, so do you.

This is why our office buildings and computer screens stay lit up during use. You walk by a store and if the lights are off, they’re closed. Right?

Lights. Awake/on/open/here. No lights. Sleep/off/closed/go away.

We’ve been programmed to think this way since birth. The difference is that we are staying awake longer, getting less sleep, and spending more time in front of LED screens.

To combat this, reduce lighting in rooms when you can. When it’s time to sleep make sure all of the LED lights in your room are off or covered. You can reduce the blue light levels on your computer screen and dim the lights as well.

Breaks

We realize you don’t need any extra reasons to take a break. However, getting up a couple of times an hour to walk around will help with more than your eyes.

Boost your creativity and get a few minutes of exercise by breaking up your day. A break will also reduce stress and lower potential for a job-related accident.

Workout

Ever heard of eye yoga? These exercises can help tired eyes by strengthening the muscles around your eyes.

Instructors claim that eye yoga has similar benefits as regular yoga, such as a calmer mind and improved concentration.

Wrapping it Up

At Turn Off the Lights, we know your eyes need a break.

That’s why we created a completely free product that dims the lighting of your phone, desktop, or browser to give your tired eyes the best possible YouTube experience.

If you haven’t tried our service, you’re truly missing out. While this product is free, we do accept donations to continue providing an awesome and free service to anyone who’s interested.

About The Author

Stefan Van Damme

Stefan Van Damme is the lead Developer of the Turn Off the Lights Browser Extension for Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox, Maxthon, Yandex, Vivaldi, Brave, and Microsoft Edge.

Sneak Peek: Firefox Dark Theme enable in One Click

Posted on August 8, 2017January 10, 2022 by Stefan Van Damme

One of the most requested features is to have the option to dims also the web browser theme, which includes the web browser toolbars. But that option was not possible with the current published Chrome, Firefox, and Opera extension API. Now in Firefox version 55 (and higher) you got the option to dims also the browser theme. So you get the best experience to see conformable a YouTube video or read a newspaper in the dark theme. When you click again on the lamp button, it goes back to your default lighter theme.

Firefox Dark Theme

One-click on the gray lamp button and it will dim the web page but also the browser toolbar. However, this feature is default disabled on the Turn Off the Lights Options page. To enable this feature in your Firefox web browser, open the Turn Off the Lights Options page, and click on the “Advanced Options” tab. When that tab is open, scroll down until you see the topic “Bulb”. Here you see right of the 5 lamp icons an extra checkbox to activate the dark theme.

The Firefox Dark Theme is an 80% opacity of the black color and that matches with the Turn Off the Lights dark layer when you click on the lamp button. Try it yourself today in the Firefox web browser version 55, and let us hear your feedback.

Turn Off the Lights Firefox extension v3.4.25.0 and higher:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/turn-off-the-lights/

We are here for you!

We take all the feedback we received in our support form and personal review very seriously. We analyze this review and try to simulate it on our computers. We do all this work do for free, and that for all our users. So please do not forget to support our work by making a small donation, as we continue to distribute our Turn Off the Lights Browser extension as 100% free. So you get the best web experience. This is something only the Turn Off the Lights Team can do for you.

About The Author

Stefan Van Damme

Stefan Van Damme is the lead Developer of the Turn Off the Lights Browser Extension for Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox, Maxthon, Yandex, Vivaldi, Brave, and Microsoft Edge.