One of the best reasons to use Firefox is with thousands of add-ons available to customize it, you can turn it into exactly the browser you want. To make it easier for you to find and use add-ons, members of the Firefox team and community have been working to redesign the add-ons manager for Firefox 4.0. The new add-ons manager will be easier to use, sleeker, and faster than ever before.
Here are a few highlights of the new design:
Add-ons update automatically
No more warnings when your add-ons are out of date; Firefox will now update them automatically. This should happen without you even noticing, keeping add-ons safe and fast while eliminating the hassle of updating.
Make changes to add-ons without restarting
Restarting your browser is a pain. Developers can now build their add-ons for Firefox 4 such that no restart is required; add-ons built using the Add-on SDK get this for free. Restartless add-ons can be installed, modified, and removed without a single restart needed! More and more restartless add-ons are being created and made available on addons.mozilla.org every day.
Add-on manager in a tab, not a window
Instead of managing your add-ons in a small, separate window, the add-ons manager now loads in a tab. This means it won’t be so small and easily lost among other windows, and you can interact with it identically to other tabs, including resizing and moving.
New Get Add-ons pane
Justin Scott has been leading a project to create a new section in the add-ons manager we call the Get Add-ons pane. In the old add-ons manager, we displayed five featured add-ons that could be installed. This was done to show you some examples of add-ons – much like buying a picture frame with a stock photo already inside. Justin’s done a thorough revamp of Get Add-ons, building a page which introduces you to the concept of add-ons, highlights particular add-ons that are editorially selected, and helps you explore and discover other add-ons that match your interests. Justin’s currently working on a new feature for this pane which makes personal recommendations of add-ons you might enjoy based on which add-ons you already have installed.
Quickly find any add-on
If you want to make a change to an add-on but don’t know which category it’s in, you can now simply search for it in the new global search box. The add-ons manager can quickly locate an installed add-on or find you some matching add-ons that are available to install.
If you’re using Firefox’s nightly builds, you can already see many of the above changes in action. Blair McBride has recently put a lot of work into the new theme change, so now we’re working on the final few bugs and polish. If you’ve already used the new add-on manager, please share your thoughts by commenting or leaving a message on Firefox 4.0’s feedback page!
Is posible configure Fx4.0b7 to make accesible the website webpage by righ clicking them in the addons list and not inside of each addons more info?
If you need go to a only one webpage is fine but over two is a bother
I have terrible trouble with the terminology of add-ons. According to the UI, “add-ons” include both “extensions” and “plug-ins”. But everyone seems to say “add-ons” when they really mean “extensions”.
“Add-ons update automatically”
This is not a feature but an anti-feature. 3 problems come to mind:
extensions that turn into liteware, crippleware
extensions that became payware
extensions with a low quality release
Automatic update doesn’t address any of this situations. The review system doesn’t address any of this situations.
Disabling automatic update individually requires a cumbersome process that demands too much clicking and is undiscoverable.
Even the “disable automatic update for all add-ons” is difficult to discover.
The add-on page says “automatic update default” but don’t say which value is the default. I would advise to remove the “default” button because it doesn’t provide any useful information and is confusing.
The place for each add-on occupies at least 3 times more space while offering less information than the previous design.
About the only thing that I like about the new design is that the it’s now a tab and not a window.
The general problem with the new design is space wasting. Too much white is used that could be used to provide useful information.
I also dislike the use of scrolling bars in this type of interface.
I hope that you pay attention to my comment despite is overall negative tone. My intention is a better interface and system in the future and not put you and any of the other developers down.
Thank for your attention.
Can I translate this blog post into French for publication on my own blog (with your screenshots)?
@Mozinet Sure!
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i love, love the new designe!!!!!!
These are all huge improvements, excellent work! Hope FF4 is released as soon as possible.
Cheers.
when a new version of Firefox is released-before I download and install it, you should tell me which, if any, of my addins will not work. I have had the experience of installing the update and being told a favorite addin will not work. Give me the choice of a more secure browser or an existing browser that is fine tuned to my needs.
Thank you very much 😉
I don’t like the almost completely mouse-driven functionality (I can’t hit ‘X’ on my keyboard to go to Xmarks). I realize this may not be a UI issue, but the new add-ons manager is slower. Search is nice though.
I’d like to be able to turn on add ons when I need them. Right now all the add ons are running all the time, which makes firefox a huge resource hog…my firefox takes up like 1.3gb of memory
I dont’ see why they don’t allow you to run the non-compatible addons…the difference should be miniscule enough so that they run the same…why should I be forced to wait for the developer to get around to hit the checkbox that yes…this version runs under the new version
Thank you nice article