Made a Firefox extension to convert units

[svenito]

I'm a metric person, and most texts or recipes online are in imperial, and I got bored of jumping to a converter on the phone or web to figure out exactly what the conversion is. So I wrote a small extension that converts the units in the context menu.

You can download BrewConvert here https://is.gd/KmhJdj

Open the addons page in Firefox, click the cog at the top and select "Install Add-ons From File" and select the file you downloaded. When it's more mature I can add it to the add-ons repo if needed.

All you then need to do is highlight the unit you want to convert and right click on the page. There should be an entry in the menu that shows the conversion. Make sure you also select the units (eg select 24 C not just 24, as the addon parses the units to figure out what to convert from and to. Right now it supports:

lbs <-> kg
oz <-> g
l <-> gal (US)
C <-> F

These are the units I need converting most often. Any others needed?

Consider this an alpha release and very "work in progress". It's the first addon I've ever written also. Just posting here so I can get people to feedback to me.

Let me know what works and what doesn't and if you find it useful.

I'm planning to add a submenu that will show when you select just a number, that contains conversions for all units.

Thanks!

 

[svenito]

Now available from the firefox add-on site too. Updated from the above

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/brewconvert/

 

[Drunkula]

Excellent. Not only good for brewing but for cooking, too.

I spent ages trying to work out how to convert litre degrees per kilogram (L°/kg) to points per gallon (ppg) the other day - you just divide by 8.3454 but it took ages to find that. Don't know if anyone would be interested in that as an addition as it's not like something you'll be desperate for every day.

I wanted to add Muntons extra dark spraymalt to BeerSmith and it only listed the potential as 315 L°/kg. I know it wasn't hitting the 1.044 that BeerSmith has in for most DME. 315 -> 1.0377.

Now if only you could write something to stop recipes having bloody cups as the units.

Thanks again.

 

[AdeDunn]

For folks who like me don't use Firefox (boo, hiss! Opera all the way. :P). The calculator on Windows 10 has a unit conversion function built in...

 

[BeerCat]

Installed, many thanks. :)

 

[svenito]

For folks who like me don't use Firefox (boo, hiss! Opera all the way. :p). The calculator on Windows 10 has a unit conversion function built in...

Might see about porting it to chrome and opera at some stage then :)

 

[AdeDunn]

Might see about porting it to chrome and opera at some stage then :)

Would certainly be useful for sure, as I had a look and couldn't find anything similar. :thumb1:

 

[GhostShip]

Installed! Great work - many thanks.

 

[svenito]

Updated the Firefox extension to V 0.3. Just added an icon basically. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/brewconvert/

Have also uploaded a Chrome version https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/brew-convert/jcdkojonmmoljmglhlbampboocmemhfc

The Opera version is currently being reviewed, so once they've done that, it will also be on the Opera extensions store. I'll post with an updated link when it's available.

 

[Gerryjo]

Now if only you could write something to stop recipes having bloody cups as the units.

Now you're looking a miracle there.
https://www.errenskitchen.com/cooking-conversions/cups-to-grams-and-oz/

 

[svenito]

Now you're looking a miracle there.
https://www.errenskitchen.com/cooking-conversions/cups-to-grams-and-oz/

Yeah, converting volumes to weight isn't so straightforward :)

 

[jceg316]

Great plugin and something I can really see myself using on a regular basis.

Installed on Chrome and found this bug:



I'm using Chrome version 63.0.3239.132 with Windows 10. Let me know if you need any other system details. Taken from this website: http://homebrewacademy.com/citra-pale-ale/.

 

[svenito]

Thanks for telling me about it. I thought I had fixed that, but clearly not.I'll update soon!

EDIT: Uploaded new versions to Chrome and Firefox stores

 

[svenito]

Having looked into the Opera extension review process, it could take weeks or months to get through. So here's a nex file which you can download and double click. It should then open it with Opera and appear installable via the extensions manager

https://wurstbrewery.co.uk/files/brewconvert_opera.nex

 

[AdeDunn]

Thanks bud.

I feel your pain. I've gone through the Facebook app review process before now, long and painful... All just folks could log in to a forum using their Facebook login... lol

 

[svenito]

No problem. Yeah, I only had to do the Facebook thing once, and back then it was pretty painless.

Just a shame to be able to push out FF and Chrome versions and have to wait so long for Opera. Ah well. The source is available on Github if anyone is interested

https://github.com/Svenito/brewconvert

 

[svenito]

Updated recently to add EBC and Lovibond conversions.

Planning an update to add config options to only show conversions from metric->imperial or vice versa.

Any other suggestions?

 

[jceg316]

I've been using the plugin, it's been great so far. If you are still looking for suggestions what would be great is if it could work when highlighting ranges. For example in this article https://byo.com/article/brewing-with-honey/ it talks about temperature ranges for a mash (155-162*F). What would be good is to highlight that range and it displays the range in C.

 

[svenito]

Good idea. Seems to be quite a few ranges in recipes. I'll add it to the list.

Been updating the FF and Chrome plugins recently.

Still no sign of Opera reviewing the plugin though, but it will load the chrome plugin if you download it.

 

[svenito]

I've pushed out V1.1 to Firefox and Chrome which adds support for value ranges. Should be live soon.

Let me know if there are any issues.

Cheers!