About burnSYMBOL

Built by someone who actually uses the web

burnSYMBOL is an indie software brand focused on browser extensions and tools that make everyday web browsing feel less broken — built by a developer who got tired of waiting for someone else to fix the annoying parts.

The story

Started with frustration, shipped as tools

Every extension here started the same way — a real annoyance on a real website. The dark mode button that vanished every time a page reloaded. The video PiP control buried four clicks deep. The browser feature that existed but was nearly impossible to reach.

The solution was always the same: write a userscript, polish it into an extension, then actually ship it for every browser instead of letting it sit in a local scripts folder forever.

burnSYMBOL exists to give those tools a proper home — product pages, version numbers, documented changelogs, real support — so they feel like software rather than hacks.

2
Extensions shipped
Dark Reader Button and PiP Button, both targeting Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera.
5
Browsers targeted
Every extension is written for the full cross-browser set, not just Chromium.
0
Tracking scripts
Privacy is treated as a product feature. No analytics, no telemetry, no behavioral data collection by default.

What drives the work

Six things every project is held to

These aren't aspirational statements — they're the actual constraints that shape every design and code decision.

🎯

One job, done well

Every extension solves a single focused problem. Feature creep is the fastest way to make a tool feel bloated and unreliable.

🔒

Privacy by default

No analytics, no tracking, no data brokerage. If a tool doesn't need to collect data to work, it doesn't collect data.

🌐

Real cross-browser support

Extensions aren't done when they work in Chrome. Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Opera get tested against the same behavior expectations.

⚙️

Survive the real web

Shadow DOM, dynamic rendering, SPA navigation, and media API differences all get handled — not ignored because most pages don't use them.

📄

Documented and versioned

Every extension ships with a changelog, version number, and product page so users always know what version they have and what changed.

💬

Real support

There's a support page, an FAQ, and a contact form because software without support is just abandoned software with a nice UI.

History

How this got here

From scattered userscripts to a proper multi-browser extension brand with product pages, legal docs, and version history.

Origins

Userscript era

Tools like PiP Button and Dark Reader Button began as Tampermonkey / Greasemonkey userscripts solving real personal annoyances on specific sites.

Conversion

Extension architecture

Scripts were refactored into proper browser extension packages with manifest files, content scripts, and browser-specific API handling.

Expansion

Safari and multi-browser

Safari extension support was added using Xcode and the Safari Web Extension Converter, bringing the tools to a browser that had previously been harder to target.

Now

burnSYMBOL as a brand

The extensions now have a dedicated product site with full documentation, privacy and legal pages, support, and version-tracked changelogs.

Stack

What gets used to build

JavaScript

Extension content scripts, DOM logic, and all browser API integrations

🦁

Swift / Xcode

Safari Web Extension packaging and native macOS/iOS wrapper builds

🐘

PHP

Server-side backend work, forum plugins, and web tooling

🎨

HTML / CSS

All product pages, documentation, and UI built by hand without frameworks

🌊

Web APIs

Picture-in-Picture, Shadow DOM, IntersectionObserver, MutationObserver, ResizeObserver

🐙

GitHub

Version control, release tags, and open source hosting where applicable

🧩

Browser APIs

Chrome Extension APIs, Firefox WebExtensions, Safari App Extensions

🖥️

macOS + Windows

Daily development environment across both platforms for cross-browser testing

Want to try the extensions?

Both Dark Reader Button and PiP Button are available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera with no account required.