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Extensions in Firefox 59

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#11

Post by wlesieutre »

neuland wrote: post #8

> ... one of the most requested features has been the ability to hide tabs with the WebExtensions API. It was a key element of some very popular legacy add-ons ... It's weird that they are not mentioning Tree Style Tabs by name. But, at least they're listening the the user requests. I don't use the plugin myself, but I heard that one of the gripes of the new WebExtensions version is that it still shows the normal hor…

Seems reasonable to not mention a specific one by name so as not to play favorites going forward if someone else wants to make a competitor. Or maybe a Grid Style Tabs, or who knows what.

I imagine it's the same tone they use for discussion of adblocker related features, "we need this for content blocking addons" rather than "we need this to support uBlock Origin."

Hiding the top tabs can be done in current versions but you have to go digging through settings folders and set up a css file with some rules. There's also a built-in header on the sidebar than can be hidden by similar means. Hopefully they'll also let us hide that header (it lets you switch to other sidebar views like Bookmarks and History that I don't want to use in the sidebar) so I can avoid the css setup in the future.

https://i.imgur.com/mMlrU1n.png

Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#12

Post by nextos »

kzrdude wrote: post #6
shmerl wrote: post #5

Mozilla should fix no exit confirmation for Ctrl+Q. It's just too easy to close the browser this way, and extensions that offered this feature aren't working anymore. It's really a problem in general, there is no way to make an extension that customizes browser behavior itself (rather than page behavior), since WebExtensions can't do that.

I thought the gaining philosophy here was to make "destructive" operations easy to undo, rather than having warnings and confirmations before carrying them out? Quitting Firefox and then starting again and restoring all tabs fits well with easy to undo.

Something that drives me nuts is how stateful about:config options are. If you set them once, either through about:config or using a user.js, they will stay like that forever unless you explicitly unset them.

Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#13

Post by pfraze »

npongratz wrote: post #3

I find this pretty exciting for (hopefully; someday) wider adoption of alternative protocols: Starting with Firefox 59, several protocols that support decentralized architectures are available for use by extensions. The white-listed protocols are: + Dat Project (dat://) + IPFS (dweb:// ipfs:// ipns://) + Secure Scuttlebutt (ssb://)

Yeah this is pretty great. AFAIK it's limited to only redirecting to a handler website, but that's a big step forward for using these protocols in links and etc.

We're still hoping to get full protocol-handling with an API similar to https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/v1.8.2-beta.3/docs...

Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#14

Post by msbarnett »

nextos wrote: post #12
kzrdude wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the gaining philosophy here was to make "destructive" operations easy to undo, rather than having warnings and confirmations before carrying them out? Quitting Firefox and then starting again and restoring all tabs fits well with easy to undo.

Something that drives me nuts is how stateful about:config options are. If you set them once, either through about:config or using a user.js, they will stay like that forever unless you explicitly unset them.

Wow, totally disagree. Instant-persistent-on is a much better and more intuitive experience than old "Cancel, Apply, Ok" settings paradigms.

Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#15

Post by gogoengie »

neuland wrote: post #8

> ... one of the most requested features has been the ability to hide tabs with the WebExtensions API. It was a key element of some very popular legacy add-ons ... It's weird that they are not mentioning Tree Style Tabs by name. But, at least they're listening the the user requests. I don't use the plugin myself, but I heard that one of the gripes of the new WebExtensions version is that it still shows the normal hor…

They are referring to hiding individual tabs, not hiding the horizontal tab bar.

The legacy extension they are referring to is Tab Groups [0]. It allowed you to separate the tabs of a single session into groups. Selecting the active group would hide the other tabs.

[0] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-groups-pa...

Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#16

Post by neuland »

wlesieutre wrote: post #11
neuland wrote: post #8

> ... one of the most requested features has been the ability to hide tabs with the WebExtensions API. It was a key element of some very popular legacy add-ons ... It's weird that they are not mentioning Tree Style Tabs by name. But, at least they're listening the the user requests. I don't use the plugin myself, but I heard that one of the gripes of the new WebExtensions version is that it still shows the normal hor…

Seems reasonable to not mention a specific one by name so as not to play favorites going forward if someone else wants to make a competitor. Or maybe a Grid Style Tabs, or who knows what. I imagine it's the same tone they use for discussion of adblocker related features, "we need this for content blocking addons" rather than "we need this to support uBlock Origin." Hiding the top tabs can be done in current versions…

Definitely reasonable. Just struck me as odd. Maybe there are some other extensions that they have in mind, too.

If someone was looking back at this post, they'd be missing part of the story.

Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#17

Post by labster »

wlesieutre wrote: post #11
neuland wrote: post #8

> ... one of the most requested features has been the ability to hide tabs with the WebExtensions API. It was a key element of some very popular legacy add-ons ... It's weird that they are not mentioning Tree Style Tabs by name. But, at least they're listening the the user requests. I don't use the plugin myself, but I heard that one of the gripes of the new WebExtensions version is that it still shows the normal hor…

Seems reasonable to not mention a specific one by name so as not to play favorites going forward if someone else wants to make a competitor. Or maybe a Grid Style Tabs, or who knows what. I imagine it's the same tone they use for discussion of adblocker related features, "we need this for content blocking addons" rather than "we need this to support uBlock Origin." Hiding the top tabs can be done in current versions…

> Or maybe a Grid Style Tabs, or who knows what.

Gangnam Style Tabs. I'd install it.

But yeah, no need to make an extension seem "official" to Firefox by mentioning it by name. Unless it's Pocket, obviously.

Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#18

Post by neuland »

gogoengie wrote: post #15
neuland wrote: post #8

> ... one of the most requested features has been the ability to hide tabs with the WebExtensions API. It was a key element of some very popular legacy add-ons ... It's weird that they are not mentioning Tree Style Tabs by name. But, at least they're listening the the user requests. I don't use the plugin myself, but I heard that one of the gripes of the new WebExtensions version is that it still shows the normal hor…

They are referring to hiding individual tabs, not hiding the horizontal tab bar. The legacy extension they are referring to is Tab Groups [0]. It allowed you to separate the tabs of a single session into groups. Selecting the active group would hide the other tabs. [0] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-groups-pa...

Oh! Ok. I've actually used this extension a bunch, but it was several years ago.

Wasn't it part of Firefox at one point? Or, am I misremembering.

Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#19

Post by kzrdude »

shmerl wrote: post #7
kzrdude wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the gaining philosophy here was to make "destructive" operations easy to undo, rather than having warnings and confirmations before carrying them out? Quitting Firefox and then starting again and restoring all tabs fits well with easy to undo.

I don't see how it can undo everything, if you'll lose data in the process. Not every open page is static and some can have user input and what not. Exiting the browser will wipe it all out, and restarting it isn't going to help. So confirmation for Ctrl+Q is a must, there is no question about it. And if you don't want it - they can make an option that can turn it off.

If the page you're on would show a warning on close tab, it will show the same one if you hit Quit.

HN doesn't use those warnings. This reply was first written, then I quit and restored, and now I'll hit Send.

Re: Extensions in Firefox 59

#20

Post by [deleted] »

neuland wrote: post #8

> ... one of the most requested features has been the ability to hide tabs with the WebExtensions API. It was a key element of some very popular legacy add-ons ... It's weird that they are not mentioning Tree Style Tabs by name. But, at least they're listening the the user requests. I don't use the plugin myself, but I heard that one of the gripes of the new WebExtensions version is that it still shows the normal hor…

[deleted]
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