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I cannot continue working on my add-ons

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Re: I cannot continue working on my add-ons

#41

Post by a3n »

jimmyswimmy wrote: post #29

I am not familiar with Web Extensions, but I am familiar with the fairly common event in which application vendors severely change functionality, with significant downstream effects. Such behavior seems more common amongst open-source products. Consider Python 3. Asterisk's scripting language. Perl 6. Incompatible version changes drive away users and developers. The uncertainty that comes along with a planned update…

I don't think Perl 6 is (yet) considered "the way forward," to the extent that Python 3 is.

Re: I cannot continue working on my add-ons

#42

Post by syshum »

a3n wrote: post #39
syshum wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>I am not familiar with Web Extensions, Chrome.... Mozilla is turning Firefox into just another Chrome Browser... Firefox 57 will like see me stop using FireFox it will be no different than chrome so I might as well just use chrome >>and sometimes you have to break stuff to make it better It is yet to be seen if it will be better, so far everything they are doing in firefox to make it more like chrome I am 1000000%…

> Firefox 57 will like see me stop using FireFox it will be no different than chrome so I might as well just use chrome Firefox probably won't phone google.

Yea that is not a concern for me... I am logged in to Google services all the time anyway and I have a Android Phone sitting 3 ins from my computer.

I use Firefox for a few Productivity Extensions that will likely stop working in 57, as such there is no reason for me to continue to use FireFox.

Re: I cannot continue working on my add-ons

#43

Post by roylez »

williamscales wrote: post #32

This is going to kill pentadactyl, which is currently the only reason I'm using Firefox. For those who aren't familiar, pentadactyl is a Firefox extension that transforms the user interface to make it more minimal and vim-like. You get to use standard vim bindings to navigate the web and it even gives you a vim-like command line interface to the browser's functionality.

After discovering cvim for Chrome, I switched and never looked back. Vimium, on the other hand, is a bit different from pentadactyl/vimperator experience.

Re: I cannot continue working on my add-ons

#45

Post by Animats »

Firefox has three APIs: XUL, Jetpack, and WebExtensions. XUL has been on the way out for years, and never worked in mobile Firefox anyway. (Almost nobody runs mobile Firefox, so that turned out not to matter much.)

Jetpack was introduced in 2013, and by 2014, it was actually usable. It's not clear when and whether Jetpack add-ons will stop working. Mozilla's developer documentation is so confused that you can't tell. WebExtensions and Jetpack are essentially the same functionality with different names.[1]

The trouble with Firefox chasing Google Chrome compatibility is that, once they get there, Google will probably change something so some Google service is essential to an add-on. Like Google did with Android. Then compatible add-ons stop working on Firefox. Nobody runs add-ons on Chrome much, anyway; I have the same add-on on both platforms and its 50:1 Firefox over Chrome. But usage is declining, along with Firefox.

[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Co...

Re: I cannot continue working on my add-ons

#47

Post by jmiserez »

williamscales wrote: post #32

This is going to kill pentadactyl, which is currently the only reason I'm using Firefox. For those who aren't familiar, pentadactyl is a Firefox extension that transforms the user interface to make it more minimal and vim-like. You get to use standard vim bindings to navigate the web and it even gives you a vim-like command line interface to the browser's functionality.

And it's going to kill TabGroups too. And a lot of other addons from other authors will probably suffer the same fate.

Re: I cannot continue working on my add-ons

#48

Post by brianpgordon »

guelo wrote: post #20
DashRattlesnake wrote: post #8

Just curious will the new Web Extensions style allow add-ons like Classic Theme Restorer [1] and Tree-style Tab [2] that change the Firefox UI? [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemer... [2] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-ta...

The Classic Theme Restorer page says "CTR will stop working on Firefox 57 (release) when Mozilla drops support for XUL / XPCOM / legacy add-ons, but it will still work on Firefox 52 ESR until Firefox 59 ESR replaces it in 2018 (~Q2)."

Chrome it is then. I hate every single change to the Firefox UI since Firefox 2. The only reason I can still stomach using Firefox is Classic Theme Restorer, oldbar, etc which make it look and behave like it used to.

Re: I cannot continue working on my add-ons

#49

Post by notatoad »

mnarayan01 wrote: post #17
DashRattlesnake wrote: post #8

Just curious will the new Web Extensions style allow add-ons like Classic Theme Restorer [1] and Tree-style Tab [2] that change the Firefox UI? [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemer... [2] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-ta...

Previously the WebExtensions wiki mentioned that they were planning to support functionality for TreeStyle tabs. As of https://wiki.mozilla.org/index.php?title=WebExtensions&diff=... it no longer does; no idea how much to read into that though.

the webextensions/future[1] page tracks the new APIs needed to support existing "interesting addons"

[1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/Future

Re: I cannot continue working on my add-ons

#50

Post by gukov »

a3n wrote: post #39
syshum wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>I am not familiar with Web Extensions, Chrome.... Mozilla is turning Firefox into just another Chrome Browser... Firefox 57 will like see me stop using FireFox it will be no different than chrome so I might as well just use chrome >>and sometimes you have to break stuff to make it better It is yet to be seen if it will be better, so far everything they are doing in firefox to make it more like chrome I am 1000000%…

> Firefox 57 will like see me stop using FireFox it will be no different than chrome so I might as well just use chrome Firefox probably won't phone google.

1. Moz://a is paid millions by Google so that they're the default search engine in Firefox

2. Firefox just became a little bit more like Chrome, at least as far as some of its users here are concerned

Google has been slowly consuming Firefox, so don't be surprised if any phoning home is happening.

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