Comments on: Improving the add-on install experience

By: Oxymoronical » Blog Archive » Progress on notifying users about third-party add-ons

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:32:27 +0000

[...] readers of my blog will probably spot that this is very similar to an idea I had a couple of months ago. What we’ll probably try to do is integrate both new third-party [...]

By: Silent Install Firefox Plugin Backfires on Microsoft « Aftirmative

Silent Install Firefox Plugin Backfires on Microsoft « Aftirmative — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:18:33 +0000

[...] the new extension is not disabled by default until you permit it (Mozilla are working on a proposal for this). External programs on the computer can install extensions into Firefox with nothing more [...]

By: Kelly Brookman

Kelly Brookman — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:55:02 +0000

The real problem with session restore is that firefox still does not allow delays tab opening. Currently if one is researchign somethign and has say 3 dozen tabs open, with maybe 10 or so to a single site this will cause a problem. Example just now I was researching somethign with about 46 tabs open. I found an addon to firefox that would make my life easier in this research. However I am loathe to restart right now as 14 tabs go to a single site. After a restart because FF chooses to open all tabs at once this causes undue processing problems, and in some cases can be seen by automated protections as an attack on a site. I have on some occasions been blocked from a site due to this very failing.

By: travelgirl

travelgirl — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:19:52 +0000

is there a way to remove this dialog completely? i’m not your average user; i know my add-ons, and having this extra window appear all the time is annoying at best… if i had a config switch/value whereby i could bypass this dialog, i’d use it in a heartbeat

thanks!

By: Mossop

Mossop — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:30:34 +0000

Right now it is likely that Jetpack is going to be the solution for the restart requirement for those add-ons that can run there. The problem is that there is no way remove all running code from the runtime that isn’t in some kind of sandbox which makes upgrades or uninstalls without restarts effectively impossible. Allowing installs without restart is easier, but it is barely half a solution and when we have session restore to solve much of the burden of restart there are more pressing matters to work on.

By: Jake Munson

Jake Munson — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:04:48 +0000

Yes, I’ve seen JetPack, and I like the idea. Do you know if Mozilla has long term plans to remove the restart requirement? Sometimes even big changes are ultimately necessary, and I hope Mozilla is not avoiding this problem just because it’s a big change.

By: Mossop

Mossop — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:28:36 +0000

Yes Jake, that is the source of many discussions, even some on this very blog. It’s a pretty big change to do well (particularly when you consider complex add-ons and allowing for updates). For the time being have you seen the new Jetpack concept? It allows for simple add-ons to be installed and uninstalled without any restarts.

By: Jake Munson

Jake Munson — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:55:38 +0000

Has anybody discussed or considered the annoyance of making Firefox restart to install addons in the first place? I think Mozilla should be looking at ways to install addons without a restart. I realize that is probably a huge change (coding wise), but I know of other applications I use that support addons but do not require a restart. Especially if the user has multiple tabs and/or website sessions open, it’s very inconvenient to have to restart.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:23:40 +0000

I like the idea, it would certainly solve the first-run issues and being a constant, uniform reaction to installing new add-ons. I particularly like the idea of a box where the add-on can feature its own first-run introduction/requirements/options.

By: johnjbarton

johnjbarton — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:31:32 +0000

Maintaining and testing this extra XUL content is tedious. Please no preference button, and allow the install.rdf to just have an optional link we can use to point to HTML content.
jjb