Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

Post by kibwen » Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 5:23 PM UTC

falcolas wrote: post #73

bad_user wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've developed extensions. Chrome and the WebExtensions API is by far the easiest way to do it.

They may be easier to write but they aren't as powerful. There are a number of examples of addons in sibling comments which won't exist any more because Mozilla wanted to make it "easier". Even PG has remarked in an essay that success isn't easy - the people who will really succeed are the ones who put in the effort to do the hard things.

Post by kibwen » Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 5:27 PM UTC

temgo wrote: post #82

oblio wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can Chrome do this: https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/tab-center/ ?

That add-on won't run on ff57, either.

Post by weaksauce » Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 5:32 PM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #72

bastawhiz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> has better addons The add-ons might be better, but XUL-based Firefox add-ons are not better. They essentially give full control of your computer to the developer of the add-on. There's no permission model. The "APIs" are mostly the internals of Firefox itself, and when Firefox updates, lots of add-ons break. Most add-ons can be ported to webextensions. The ones that can't probably shouldn't have ever been add-ons t…

>XUL-based Firefox add-ons are not better. They essentially give full control of your computer to the developer of the add-on XUL does open up more attack surface than a web extension. However, web extensions open up enough that you're already in the business of trusting the creator of the extension. A web extension is fully capable of stealing my online banking credentials, for example.

Post by VoxPelli » Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 5:35 PM UTC

JohnTHaller wrote: post #95

cosarara97 wrote: post #2

IMO Firefox has just 2 things to beat Chrome: better add-ons (like treestyle tabs) and politics (made by Mozilla instead of an ads company). They are burning the first one.

Only about 250,000 users use the tab modification extensions that people keep claiming is Firefox's only advantage out of 10s of millions of Firefox users. Addons that greatly alter Firefox's behavior are the main reason for crashes. And maintaining XUL is hampering Firefox future development.

Post by sirn » Sat, Feb 18, 2017, 5:38 PM UTC

hammerandtongs wrote: post #100

sirn wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a very different experience. Some of us who use Vimperator use it not only because of the key binding, but also for the command-line, ability to modify the UI (e.g. :set gui=none), ability to put .vimperatorrc in .dotfiles and use it across multiple systems, and such. As far as I know, VimFX still not capable of all these functionalities (some due to difference in mission, e.g. not modifying the UI.) That said,…

I use this all day long on Chromium - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cvim/ihlenndgcmojh... I also use this in Chromium - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wasavi/dgogifpkoil... Note that they do very different things from each other AND that they are running Chromium which is a SUBSET of the plugin features that will be available in Firefox (if all goes well).