Mozilla tests new Get Add-ons page in Firefox

[Batu69]

If you are running Firefox's Developer Edition you may have noticed the new Get Add-ons page already that Mozilla rolled out with the latest update.

Add-ons are one of the core selling points of the Firefox web browser. While Mozilla stated recently that 40% of Firefox users don't run a single add-on, it does mean that the other 60% run at least one.

 

Anyway, add-on discovery is limited for the most part to Mozilla's official AMO website and third-party websites like mine.

Side note: Why AMO? Because of addons.mozilla.org.

Get Add-ons experiment

 

Get Add-ons is one of the pages on about:addons. Simply load about:addons in Firefox's address bar and select the Get Add-ons option when it opens.

It is used by Mozilla to highlight featured add-ons currently, provide explanation about add-ons, and link to themes, up and coming add-ons, and other customization options.

 

The new page changes that significantly. A selection of themes and add-ons is displayed when it is loaded.

Each add-on and theme is listed with its name, logo or preview image, and a user review quote.

 

Themes are applied as previews when you hover over them on the Get Add-ons page. Since they are all light themes, formerly known as Personas, they only change the background image of Firefox's interface.

 

 

Still, the preview option is handy as it allows you to make a decision based on how the theme looks like on your version of Firefox. This is especially important if your Firefox interface is modded lightly or heavily.

 

Add-ons are installed directly from the interface by flipping the switch next to the add-on. The installation process happens in the background. Firefox displays a prompt that the add-on is ready for use once the installation completes.

 

 

There is also a see more add-ons option listed at the bottom of the page, and it loads the main Firefox add-ons repository when clicked on.

Four add-ons and three lightweight themes are displayed on the page all in all.

 

The new Get Add-ons page is only available in Dev or Nightly versions of Firefox currently. It may change before it is released to stable versions, or may even be pulled completely.

Verdict

 

Installation of add-ons or themes on the new page is straightforward. The installation requires no user interaction at all, which is different from how add-ons are installed on the old page.

One downside is that fewer options are highlighted on the page. What weights more however is that Mozilla decided to highlight the purpose of add-ons instead of the add-on's name on the page.

 

There is little information about add-ons displayed as well. While it is easy enough to understand that "Block ads with Adblock Plus" is about ad-blocking, additional information would be helpful.

The user quotes may look like a good idea, but they hold little value. First, you don't know these users and cannot weight whether "The best. Very easy to use" is an appropriate description of the add-on.

 

Second, the quotes provide little information about the add-on in question. In my opinion, it would be better to display a one or two sentence summary of the add-on on the page instead.

Last but not least, there is lots of whitespace on the page. Only two themes and three add-ons are displayed on a 1920x1080 resolution with Firefox taking up all space on the monitor.

 

Article source

[Jordan]

Firefox 48 comes with new Get Add-ons page

 

Firefox is getting a new Get Add-ons page. With version 48, the browser comes with a different add-ons page which is more clear at introducing what themes and extensions are. It also has a live preview with videos.

 

As of this writing, Firefox 48 is in the beta stage. To get it running alongside the currently installed Firefox version, you might want to refer to the following article:

Run different Firefox versions simultaneously

 

Here is how the Get Add-ons page looks like in Firefox 47, the current stable release:

 

 

And this one is from Firefox 48:

 

 

The new page currently features an introduction video which demonstrates the benefits of the updated user interface.

 

 

The primary goal of the refined Get Add-ons page is to provide a comfortable yet solid experience to the user. With this new page, you can install a theme or an extension in one click. When you hover over a theme featured on the new Get Add-ons page, the browser shows a live preview:

 

 

 

To apply the theme, all you need to do is turn on the switch under the theme:

 

 

Add-ons can be installed the same way. Featured add-ons can be installed with one click. If an addon requires a restart of the browser, a notification will be shown.

 

 

The following video shows the new Get Add-ons page in action:

SOURCE

[Kalju]

Unfortunately cannot understand, why it is good, because there is only some extensions. Mostly useless, excluding Adblock Plus. Currently only four and three header images.