EyeBrowse

Browser extension that activates links and other clickable elements when the mouse cursor dwells on them for a configurable amount of time.

Designed for people who use eye trackers (Tobii, Windows Eye Control, etc.) that move the system mouse pointer to the gaze location.

This project is still in an early stage of development; therefore, bugs are to be expected.

Features

• Dwell-to-click – Hold the cursor over a clickable element for the configured time → it is activated.
• Broad clickable detection – Not limited to <a> tags. Detects:
  • Links, buttons, inputs, selects, textareas, summary
  • Text fields get focus (not only a synthetic click), including ARIA textbox / searchbox / combobox
  • Elements with ARIA roles (button, link, menuitem, …)
  • Elements with onclick handlers
  • Focusable elements (tabindex ≥ 0)
  • Elements with cursor: pointer
• Visual feedback – Progress ring at the cursor + highlight outline on the target.
• Configurable – Dwell time, cooldown, minimum size, colors, enable/disable.
• Site filter – Blacklist or whitelist sites by hostname (subdomains match automatically). Manage from Options or the popup on the current page.
• Works in iframes (content script runs in all frames).
• Dynamic DOM support – MutationObserver detects when the current target or the feedback overlays are removed (common in SPAs) and resets / recreates them automatically.

Installation (Chrome / Edge / Brave)

1. Open chrome://extensions (or edge://extensions).
2. Enable Developer mode.
3. Click Load unpacked.
4. Select the 'EyeBrowse' folder.

Usage

1. Make sure your eye tracker is moving the system mouse cursor.
2. Click the extension icon → toggle Enabled and adjust dwell time if needed.
3. Look at a link or button and hold your gaze (cursor) steady until the progress ring completes.
4. Open the full Options page for more settings.

Default settings

Setting	Default
Enabled	true
Dwell time	1000 ms
Show progress	true
Min element size	8 px
Click cooldown	600 ms
Site filter mode	off
Site list	(empty)
Tobii WebSocket	disabled
Tobii WS URL	ws://localhost:8887

Tobii WebSocket setup

Tobii does not expose browser APIs directly. Use a local WebSocket bridge that talks to the Tobii SDK / EyeX / Interaction API and streams gaze points:

1. Install and run a bridge, for example:
   • Tobii EyeX Web Socket Server (default ws://localhost:8887, optional port arg e.g. 8886)
   • Other Pro SDK bridges that emit JSON gaze messages
2. Make sure the Tobii EyeX / Interaction engine is running and tracking before starting the bridge.
3. In EyeBrowse Options → Tobii WebSocket, enable the bridge and set the URL (default ws://localhost:8887).
4. When the badge shows ON and Options shows live gaze coordinates, dwell uses those points (screen space converted to the page viewport).

EyeX bridge details

EyeBrowse speaks the rezreal protocol:

• Connects with the Tobii.Interaction WebSocket subprotocol (falls back to a plain socket for other bridges)
• Sends startGazePoint on connect
• Parses { "type": "gazePoint", "data": { "X": …, "Y": … } } (screen pixels)

Also accepted: { x, y }, { gazePoint: { X, Y } }, and averaged left/right eye points.

If the socket connects but links never activate

1. Reload the extension on chrome://extensions after updating, then refresh the page.
2. In Options, confirm status shows gaze streaming with changing (x, y) — connected without samples means the tracker or startGazePoint subscription is not live.
3. Keep Prefer Tobii gaze over mouse enabled when the eye tracker does not move the system cursor.
4. If the progress ring appears offset from where you look, move the mouse once on the page (calibrates screen→viewport) or check Windows display scaling / multi-monitor layout.

Limitations & future ideas

• Pure JavaScript addEventListener('click') handlers that are not reflected in the DOM are not always detectable (this is a browser limitation). The heuristics catch the majority of real-world interactive elements.
• Direct hardware eye-tracker APIs (Tobii Pro SDK, WebGazer, etc.) can be added later as an alternative input source instead of relying on the system mouse.
• Extremely aggressive DOM thrashing (thousands of mutations per second) can still impact performance; the observer is limited to childList + subtree for this reason.

File structure

EyeBrowse/
├── manifest.json
├── background.js
├── content.js
├── content.css
├── popup.html / popup.js
├── options.html / options.js
├── icons/
└── README.md

License

MIT – free to use, modify, and distribute.