[Update Nov 15 2011] : Chrome Nanny is now Nanny for Google Chrome. It also has a new home. The link to Google Chrome extension gallery ishttps://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cljcgchbnolheggdgaeclffeagnnmhno . Please spread the word !
Leech Block is one of my favorite Firefox extensions. When I made the switch to Google Chrome, the lack of Leech Block like Chrome extension was annoying. In one of my old blog post Two Chrome Extensions I wish Chrome had !! , I had mentioned that the two extensions I miss were Leech Block and one which can track my browsing habits.
I waited for quite some time for some one to make a Chrome extension and then decided to write it myself. Google has a good API documentation and tutorial – so coding was not that hard. In the process, I learned lot of interesting stuff – and my admiration for Chrome has only increased.
What Is Chrome Nanny
Chrome Nanny is a Leech Block like extension for Chrome. It allows you to say don’t allow me to go to a particular site during the time you specify. You can also limit the maximum time that you spend on a site. This means, that you can say you do not want to be allowed to go to facebook.com from 9-5. Even better, you can say don’t allow me to spend more than 1 hour during the time facebook is not blocked (12 AM -9AM, 5 PM – 12 AM). This is probably , the most common way Chrome Nanny will be used. Also you will also not be allowed to edit or delete a blocked URL during the time it is blocked.
If you want to check out the extension, please try it out at Chrome Nanny‘s Google extension gallery. If you want to read the instructions and its features, check out Instructions at Chrome Nanny – A Leech Block like extension for Chrome.
If you try to access a site during the time when it is blocked or after your daily quota is over, you will not be allowed to visit it. By default, Chrome Nanny will close the tab. If you like, you can also redirect the tab to go to some motivational site. For eg, I make my Chrome Nanny redirect to ocw.mit.edu. Whenever I see that ocean of knowledge, I get a guilty feeling and start to work again 
I also added a feature to track the time I spend on some sites I commonly visit – digg, nytimes, hacker news etc. These are the sites, which I do not want to block , but I want to know how much time I spend on them. In Chrome Nanny, these sites are called White Listed Sites. You can add a site and the system will silently start tracking the time you spent on those sites.
Tags are another of my favorite feature. You can create tags to group URLs. For eg facebook and myspace may be in social networks, google reader and technorati in blogs etc. A tag contain multiple URLs and a URL can have multiple tags. Tags are most useful when you chart the time spent on each broad activity (like blogs, news, work etc ).
Chrome Nanny also has a basic charting system. It can provide three charts : Blocked Urls, White Listed Urls and Tags. Each of these can be drawn as a bar or pie chart.
Chrome does not have any easy way to determine if the Chrome tab/window is minimized. This means that it is hard to know that the user is not at the desk. For that, I have an maximum inactive time in General Options. For eg , if it is set to 5 minutes , and there is no activity in Chrome for 5 minutes, then Chrome Nanny stops tracking. In fact , it even gives back the 5 minutes !
If you want to know how much time left in your quota , you can always click on the Chrome Nanny’s icon to see the URLs blocked and allowed now. If an URL is allowed , then it also shows how much time left today too !
Comparison with Stay Focusd and Rescue Time
I noticed that there are two extensions that have functionality similar to Chrome Nanny. One is Stay Focusd and other is Rescue Time. Both are fine extensions. You may want to select the most appropriate extension based on your needs.
Stay Focusd has a single block time for a whole day and all the blocked URLs share this limit. In Chrome Nanny , each blocked URL has individual block time and max limits. In Leech Block parlance, all the Stay Focusd URLs form a single block set while in Chrome Nanny each URL is its own block set.
Chrome Nanny can do the job of Rescue Time partly too ! If you add the urls you want to track in White Listed URLs, then Chrome Nanny will count how much time you spent on each of them. Rescue Time on the other hand tries to track and analyze any url that you visit.
Acknowledgements
I had used jqplot for charting. It is an excellent charting system and was very flexible. The icon for Chrome Nanny is obtained from the icon set of Smashing Magazine .
Also a special shout out to Suresh, Lokesh, Ashok (who also suggested the name !), Kripa, Divya and Arvi who helped me to test the extension and gave useful suggestions. Thanks a lot guys !
Do check out Chrome Nanny and tell me your opinion !
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Hi Saravanan, are you able to see pdf in chrome. I am unable to. Both in ubuntu 9.04 and 10.04. With this problem and Nanny not working I have gone back to firefox
Any suggestions?
suresh
Hello Suresh,
Yes I am not able to view PDF within Chrome even after lot of effort on part. I am not sure what is the issue but none of the instructions and plugins work well. I download the pdf now in to a temp folder and view it using local viewer.
Wrt Chrome Nanny, I tested with a fresh 10.04 installation today. I did not face any issues. Can you give some sample scenarios in which it did not work? I also pushed out some code of Chrome Nanny today to add some more features.
Hi Saravanan,
What is your email address. I will send you my screen dumps. OK?
suresh
Hello Suresh,
I have sent you an email to suresh.a****@gmail.com
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@All, I have pushed the code which contains block set feature. Now you can group urls to block and apply same block settings to them – This feature is similar to leechblock , except that you can add arbitrary number of blocksets. A new chart for block set statistics is also added.
For the existing Chrome Nanny users, it does a migration of your existing urls. Each URL becomes a block set.
I have tested for various scenarios and Chrome Nanny seems to work fine. If there is any bugs, please post it here and I will fix it ASAP.
Hey saravanan,
I read thru about ur Chrome nanny, its interesting. But i wanted to know something about this. How do you store the data ? means the browsing data ? All i wanted to do is , i wanted to privately log all the new urls that this system is being used up for ! I do not want to look into the history bcoz it can be easily cleared isnt it ? Can u plz help me ?
Joe,
I did not fully understand your question – Do you want the code snippet to do it or figure out how to use Chrome Nanny to do the same. If it is the later, it is a bit tricky with Chrome Nanny. I suggest you take a look at time tracker extension at https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mokmnbikneoaenmckfmgjgjimphfojkd .
Hey Saravanan,
Does Chrome Nanny use a specific Time Zone?
I live in germany and entered 1500-1800 and it just started blocking from 11:30 which is a great problem!
@Thiemo,
Chrome Nanny uses the local time zone. I am not sure what exactly the issue is. But there are couple of ways to check : (1) in the options menu, try to edit the block set for the url. if it is blocked, then it might indicate an issue. (2) You can go to the Wrench->tools->extensions and click on background.html , it will show the logs.
If you find this cumbersome, you can take a snapshot of your blocksets and email it to me. I will test it locally by changing my computer’s timezone.
Hi, Saravanan
it seems Chrome Nanny doesn’t really work on mine. I set the max time for Youtube for 60mins and 5mins for Facebook. However, after the time is exceeded for Facebook, CN doesn’t block me at all. But, on the other hand, I haven’t event gone on Youtube yet, and CN blocks me from Youtube.
Hi Laura,
Sorry that CN does not work immediately for you. Would it be possible to send a snapshot of the blocked url page to saravanan DOT thirumuruganathan AT gmail DOT com ? I can take a look at the issue by simulating it in my system.
I have multiple browser profiles, as well as home and work machines. Is it possible to export and import configuration? Even better, would it be possible to synchronize between them? I wouldn’t want to be able to go over threshold because I’ve got everything distributed between three browsers…
Anonymous,
I will look into the feature of export/importing configuration. On first thought, syncing across profiles seems to be not possible, but I will anyway look into it. One thing I can suggest is to do extension sync using Chrome’s sync functionality over all 3 profiles and see if that gets the common settings.
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Can you add an option where we can customize the message displayed with also an option to redirect to another site after a few seconds. I do like it to redirect to say work website or school website after seeing that message, so I can get back to work. lol
I think it should be possible to that in current system. Options ->General Options and enter the redirect url with the text you want. Additionally, in the html file, add an meta option to redirect in few seconds. Let me know if this is what you want .
Is there a way to have a time limit for a website on weekdays but not weekends. I have the blocks set up to block during certain hours M-F but it is now a weekend and the popup is still counting down the minutes I have left.
Hello,
You can use the field ‘Apply On Days’ to contain only the weekdays. This way the blocking only happens Mon-Fri.