Browser helpers

Over the years, a number of people have developed various "helpers" to conveniently access a comic's explanation on this wiki when browsing a comic on xkcd.com. They typically come in three main forms: browser extensions, userscripts, and bookmarklets.

Browser extensions

These browser extensions usually inject elements/code into the xkcd.com comic page's DOM – often inserting a button or link directly into the xkcd.com comic page itself, to take you to that comic's explanation page. None of these have been tested here.

Chrome Web Store

Extension	Author	Released	Users	Description
xkcd explainer	Avadonia314	April 2019	55	Adds an "Explanation" button to the comic page, which loads the content of the comic's explanation directly into the page.
xkcd Enhancer	Tom White	February 2019	25	Adds an explanation link to the comic page; also adds keyboard shortcuts, displays the title text, etc.
XKCD Explainer	contact.chilikkal	October 2018	25	Adds a "Huh?" button to the comic page.
Explain xkcd Linker	Martin Petkov	February 2017	20	Adds an explanation link to the comic page.
xkcd-companion	Sean Yeh	August 2018	15	Adds an explanation link to the comic page; also displays the title text.
xkcd Explainer	Simon Zou	June 2014	5	Adds an "I don't get it..." button to the comic page.
embetter xkcd	Matt Sugihara	May 2020	5	Press 'E' to navigate to the explanation; also adds other keyboard shortcuts and displays the title text.
xkcd Explanifier	TheUltimateGuide	August 2020	1	Adds a browser extension button that pops up another button that navigates to the explanation.

Firefox Add-ons

Extension	Author	Released	Users	Description
XKCD Explainer	Yechiel K	October 2018	65	Adds a "Huh?" button to the comic page.
xkcd Companion	Sean Yeh	July 2018	15	Adds an explanation link to the comic page; also displays the title text.
Explain XKCD	Newt	July 2019	25	Adds an address bar button.
XKCD Enhancer	AstroRP	March 2019	1	Adds an explanation button to the comic page; also redirects to m.xkcd.com on mobile devices.
ExplainXKCD Button	David Hickey	March 2019	1	Replaces the store link (or other link) on the comic page with a link to the explanation.
xkcd Explanifier	TheUltimateGuide	August 2020	1	Adds a browser extension button that pops up another button that navigates to the explanation.

Edge Add-ons

Extension	Author	Released	Users	Description
xkcd Explanifier	TheUltimateGuide	August 2020	50	Adds a browser extension button that pops up another button that navigates to the explanation.

Userscripts

Userscripts provide basically the same functions as the browser extensions above, manipulating xkcd.com's DOM to insert buttons/links or otherwise alter the page. The difference is that you can view/edit the code of these userscripts; however, they require a userscript manager such as Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey to run. None of these userscripts have been tested here.

Userscript managers

• For Firefox (Firefox Browser Add-ons): Greasemonkey, Tampermonkey or Violentmonkey
• For Chrome (Chrome Web Store): Tampermonkey or Violentmonkey
• For Edge (Edge Add-ons): Tampermonkey or Violentmonkey
• For Opera (Opera addons): Tampermonkey
• For Safari (Apple App Store): Tampermonkey (paid download) or Userscripts (free download)

Userscripts

Mostly from Greasy Fork and OpenUserJS, with a few from GitHub repositories or Gists:

Userscript	Author	Source	Released	Description
xkcd+	LouCypher	Greasy Fork	March 2014	Adds a "?" button to the comic page; also adds an "i" button for the official transcript, and social media sharing buttons.
xkcd Title and Explain	Doodles	Greasy Fork	July 2014	Adds an "Explanation" button to the comic page; also displays the title text.
xkcd buttons Alt+Transcript+Explainxkcd	SammaySarkar	Greasy Fork	December 2014	Adds an "Explain" button to the comic page; also adds buttons to display the title text and official transcript, and keyboard shortcuts.
XKCD enhancements	JonnyRobbie	Greasy Fork	March 2015	Converts the comic name into an "ExplainXKCD" link when hovering your mouse pointer over it; also displays the title text by clicking the comic.
explain_xkcd.js	magazov	GitHub Gist	April 2015	Adds an "Explain" button to the comic page.
XKCD tooltip	Lorentz83	Greasy Fork	April 2016	Adds an explanation link; also displays the title text.
xkcd: Add explainxkcd.com links to comics	Daniel del Zorro Multicolor (Foxical Paradox)	Greasy Fork	August 2016	Adds an explanation link.
Explain XKCD Button	obskyr	OpenUserJS	February 2017	Adds an explanation link.
xkcd title text	Tilwa Qendov	Greasy Fork	January 2018	Adds an explanation link; also displays the title text, and adds links to signed prints in the xkcd store.
xkcd Tweaks	MitalAshok	Greasy Fork	February 2018	Adds an "Explain!" link; also displays the title text, adds keyboard shortcuts, and various other modifications.
Explain XKCD Button	BigTSDMB	OpenUserJS	April 2018	Adds an explanation link.
ExplainXKCD-Button Userscript	David-Hickey	GitHub	January 2019	Replaces the store link (or other link) on the comic page with a link to the explanation.
ExplainXKCD button	Mr_FJ	OpenUserJS	July 2019	Adds an explanation button.
explain_xkcd.user.js	lastsecondsave	GitHub Gist	December 2019	Adds an explanation button.
XKCD Explain Button	saamirt	Greasy Fork	March 2020	Adds an "Explanation" button to the comic page.

Bookmarklets

Instead of a browser add-on/extension, you can create a bookmarklet to take you from an xkcd.com comic page to the corresponding explainxkcd.com explanation page. A bookmarklet is a browser bookmark/favorite, except instead of containing a URL to a webpage, it contains custom JavaScript code to perform the desired operation. The easiest way to create a bookmarklet in your browser is to first create a normal bookmark/favorite for any webpage, then edit that new bookmark to paste in the JavaScript code as the new "location"/"URL"/"address" of the bookmark. General instructions for creating and editing bookmarks in various web browsers are as follows:

• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Apple Safari

Select one of the JavaScript code snippets below to copy/paste as the bookmarklet's URL/location. To use it, browse to an xkcd.com comic webpage, then while on that page, invoke the bookmark/favorite.

These have been tested in Firefox 80, Chrome 85, Edge 85, Opera 71, and Safari 13.

Concise

These "concise" bookmarklets are shorter and easier to read one-liners, and should mostly work OK, but might produce errors if used on webpages other than xkcd comics.

Same tab:

javascript:location.hostname='explainxkcd.com'

New tab/window:

javascript:void open(location.href.replace('xkcd.com','explainxkcd.com'))

Verbose

These "verbose" bookmarklets are longer and harder to read (as they also validate that you are, in fact, on an xkcd.com comic page before attempting to load the corresponding explanation page), but they are technically more "correct". Note that each of these is a single line of code, despite any word-wrapping.

Same tab:

javascript:(function() { "use strict"; const isXkcdDotCom = (window.location.hostname === "xkcd.com"); const isComicPage = (new RegExp(/^\/$|^\/\d+\/$/).test(window.location.pathname)); if (isXkcdDotCom && isComicPage) { window.location.hostname = "explainxkcd.com"; } else { window.alert("The current page does not appear to be an xkcd comic page."); } }());

New tab/window:

javascript:(function() { "use strict"; const isXkcdDotCom = (window.location.hostname === "xkcd.com"); const isComicPage = (new RegExp(/^\/$|^\/\d+\/$/).test(window.location.pathname)); if (isXkcdDotCom && isComicPage) { const newLocation = new URL(window.location.href); newLocation.hostname = "explainxkcd.com"; window.open(newLocation.href, "_blank"); } else { window.alert("The current page does not appear to be an xkcd comic page."); } }());

Code explanation:

javascript:

// As a best practice, encapsulate everything within a self-invoking function,
// to not interfere with the global namespace of the current page.
(function() {
  "use strict";
  // Develop in "strict" mode, to be more picky.

  // Check if we're at exactly the root domain of xkcd.com,
  // no "www" (which redirects to the root domain anyway), and no subdomains.
  // Also no need to worry about the protocol,
  // as both xkcd.com and explainxkcd.com redirect from HTTP to HTTPS.
  const isXkcdDotCom = (window.location.hostname === "xkcd.com");

  // Check if we're on a comic page.
  // The path for a comic will be either the root of the site ("/") for the current comic,
  // or a numbered page ("/123/").
  const isComicPage = (new RegExp(/^\/$|^\/\d+\/$/).test(window.location.pathname));

  // The above regular expression is explained as follows:
  // / = begin regex.
  //     ^  = match the beginning of the string (i.e. require it to be the first thing in the path).
  //     \/ = match a forward-slash (must be escaped with a back-slash).
  //     $  = match the end of the string (i.e. require it to be the last thing in the path).
  //   | = match EITHER the regex above (i.e. the root path), OR the regex below (i.e. a comic number).
  //     ^  = match the beginning of the string (i.e. require it to be the first thing in the path).
  //     \/ = match a forward-slash (must be escaped with a back-slash).
  //     \d = match a decimal digit.
  //     +  = match ONE OR MORE of the preceding item (i.e. one or more decimal digits).
  //     \/ = match a forward-slash (must be escaped with a back-slash).
  //     $  = match the end of the string (i.e. require it to be the last thing in the path).
  // / = end regex.

  if (isXkcdDotCom && isComicPage) {
    // Yes, we're on a valid comic page at xkcd.com,
    // so navigate to the corresponding page at explainxkcd.com.

    // Get a copy of the current URL, ...
    const newLocation = new URL(window.location.href);

    // ...set its domain to explainxkcd.com...
    newLocation.hostname = "explainxkcd.com";

    // ...and open it in a new tab/window by specifying the target as "_blank".
    window.open(newLocation.href, "_blank");

    // For the xkcd.com site root (which is the most recent comic),
    // this will take us to the main page at explainxkcd.com,
    // which also has the explanation for the most recent comic.

    // For numbered comic pages, this will navigate to explainxkcd.com/<number>/,
    // which redirects to the correct page for that comic number.

  } else {
    // We're not on a comic page at xkcd.com,
    // so show an error message instead of navigating to explainxkcd.com.
    window.alert("The current page does not appear to be an xkcd comic page.");
  }
}());

Tap, tap, PERL!

Inspired by the following suggestions:

• gist.github.com/jeffalexander/xkcd-show-image-title-bookmarklet.js (March 2013)
• gist.github.com/sheabunge/explainxkcd.js (July 2013)
• explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#Bookmarklet for jumping to explainxkcd.com from xkcd.com, from Mattflaschen (August 2013)
• github.com/kAbhi/explainxkcd (December 2014)
• explain xkcd:Community portal/Miscellaneous#Bookmarklet, from 108.162.229.100 (January 2015)
• gist.github.com/ClarSco/explainXkcdBookmarklet.js (July 2017)
• Talk:Main Page#Bookmark, from 172.68.47.84 (December 2018)
• explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Add bookmark, from Kwonunn (May 2019)