Not Just Black — Chrome Theme

A sleek, minimalist dark theme for Chrome with pure black backgrounds and crisp white text. Built in a single night during finals season when my go-to theme got pulled from the Web Store and the default one was giving me a headache.

Closed my notes at 8pm. Live on the Web Store by 2am.

🔗 Install: theme.samarthbhatia.dev
💻 Source: github.com/darthrevan030/not-just-black

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Stats

• 20,000+ impressions on the Chrome Web Store
• 239 peak weekly active users
• Organic growth — no promotion

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Features

• Pure black window frames and backgrounds for a truly dark experience
• High-contrast white text for excellent readability
• Custom New Tab Page background
• Optimised for both regular and incognito modes
• Clean, distraction-free design that's easy on the eyes

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Color Reference

{
  "frame": [0, 0, 0],                  // Window border — pure black
  "toolbar": [34, 34, 34],             // Main toolbar — dark gray
  "tab_text": [255, 255, 255],         // All text — white
  "ntp_background": [0, 0, 0],         // New tab background — black
  "omnibox_background": [34, 34, 34]   // Address bar — dark gray
}

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Installation

From the Chrome Web Store (Recommended)

Visit theme.samarthbhatia.dev, click Add to Chrome.

Developer Installation (For Testing)

1. Clone the repo
2. Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions/
3. Enable Developer mode (top right)
4. Click Load unpacked
5. Select the not-just-black/ folder (not the root)

Built Package Installation

# Build the CRX file
make package

Then drag and drop built/not-just-black.crx onto chrome://extensions/.

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Development

Prerequisites

• Windows: Make + Git for Windows (includes OpenSSL + Git Bash) — use Git Bash for all make commands
• Mac/Linux: Make and OpenSSL (usually pre-installed)

Build Commands

make zip          # Create ZIP for Chrome Web Store upload → built/
make build        # Build signed CRX file → built/
make package      # Build both ZIP and CRX → built/
make new-key      # Generate new signing key
make clean        # Remove all generated files including built/
make install-dev  # Show developer installation instructions
make verify       # Verify project structure and dependencies
make help         # Show all available commands

Build Output

built/
├── not-just-black.crx    # Signed extension — direct install/testing
└── not-just-black.zip    # Chrome Web Store upload

Project Structure

Not-Just-Black/
├── built/                          # Build output (gitignored)
├── makefiles/
│   ├── general_makefile            # Reusable generic Makefile
│   └── Makefile.backup
├── not-just-black/                 # Theme source
│   ├── icon/
│   │   ├── icon.png                # 128x128 icon
│   │   └── icon.svg                # Vector source
│   ├── img/
│   │   └── theme_ntp_background.png
│   └── manifest.json               # Theme configuration
├── img-dump/                       # Screenshots and promotional images
├── .gitignore
├── crxmake.sh                      # CRX packaging script
├── MAKEFILE
└── README.md

Customisation

• Colors: Edit the colors section in not-just-black/manifest.json
• Background: Replace not-just-black/img/theme_ntp_background.png
• Icon: Update files in not-just-black/icon/
• Rebuild: Run make package after any changes

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Publishing Updates

1. Bump the version in not-just-black/manifest.json
2. Run make package
3. Upload built/not-just-black.zip to the Chrome Web Store Developer Dashboard
4. Submit for review

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Technical Details

• Manifest Version: 3 (latest Chrome extension format)
• Compatibility: Chrome 88+
• Release: v1.0.0 — Tree of Wanaka (Sep 2025)

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Security Notes

• key.pem is excluded from version control — never commit it
• Back it up securely — you need it to publish future updates
• Run make clean to remove all generated files including built/

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
make not found (Windows)	Install Git for Windows, use Git Bash
OpenSSL errors (Windows)	Ensure Git for Windows is installed
PowerShell issues	Switch to Git Bash
Build failures	Run make verify to check dependencies
Permission errors	Check write access to project directory

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License

GPL 3.0