Batu69 Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 A little more than a year ago we started talking about where add-ons were headed, and what the future would look like. It’s been busy, and we wanted to give everyone an update as well as provide guidance on what to expect in 2017. Over the last year, we’ve focused as a community on foundational work building out WebExtensions support in Firefox and addons.mozilla.org (AMO), reducing the time it takes for listed add-ons to be reviewed while maintaining the standards we apply to them, and getting Add-ons ready for e10s. We’ve made a number of changes to our process and products to make it easier to submit, distribute, and discover add-ons through initiatives like the signing API and a revamped Discovery Pane in the add-ons manager. Finally, we’ve continued to focus on communicating changes to the developer community via direct outreach, mailing lists, email campaigns, wikis, and the add-ons blog. As we’ve mentioned, WebExtensions are the future of add-ons for Firefox, and will continue to be where we concentrate efforts in 2017. WebExtensions are decoupled from the platform, so the changes we’ll make to Firefox in the coming year and beyond won’t affect them. They’re easier to develop, and you won’t have to learn about Firefox internals to get up and running. It’ll be easier to move your add-ons over to and from other browsers with minimal changes, as we’re making the APIs compatible – where it makes sense – with products like Opera, Chrome, and Edge. By the end of 2017, and with the release of Firefox 57, we’ll move to WebExtensions exclusively, and will stop loading any other extension types on desktop. To help ensure any new extensions work beyond the end of 2017, we’ll stop accepting new extensions that are not WebExtensions in Firefox 53. Throughout the year we’ll expand the set of APIs available, add capabilities to Firefox that don’t yet exist in other browsers, and put more WebExtensions in front of users. There’s a lot of moving parts, and we’ll be tracking more detailed information – including a timeline and roadmap – on the WebExtensions section of the Mozilla Wiki. If you’re interested in getting involved with the add-on community and WebExtensions, we have a few ways you can do that. We’re looking forward to the next year, and will continue to post updates and additional information here on the Add-ons blog. Article source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vissha Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 Firefox Will Only Support WebExtensions By The End Of 2017 Mozilla plans to cut support of all extension technologies but the rather new WebExtensions when Firefox 57 Stable is released. Mozilla announced a far reaching change coming to the organization's Firefox web browser in late 2017. The organization plans to cut support of all extension technologies but the rather new WebExtensions when Firefox 57 Stable is released. Support for WebExtensions was introduced in Firefox 48 Stable, and new capabilities were added in newer releases. According to the announcement, Firefox 57 will block the loading of any non-WebExtensions add-on automatically. Quote By the end of 2017, and with the release of Firefox 57, we’ll move to WebExtensions exclusively, and will stop loading any other extension types on desktop. This means that any add-on not converted to WebExtensions by that time will no longer be available regardless of whether it is already installed in Firefox or discovered on Mozilla's add-ons repository. Firefox will only support WebExtensions by the end of 2017 Firefox 57 will only load the following add-on types: Signed WebExtensions. Signed bootstrapped system add-ons. Language packs. Dictionaries. OpenSearch plugins. Lightweight themes. You may notice that complete themes are not listed, as are not any legacy add-ons that make the bulk of Firefox's extension offering. Mozilla appears to be working on a theming API however that provides more options to customize Firefox than lightweight themes. It is still too early to tell what it will be capable of, and how it compares to the existing full theme functionality in Firefox that will be deprecated in Firefox 57. Mozilla plans to stop accepting new extensions that are not WebExtensions in Firefox 53. AMO (Add-ons Mozilla Org) won't sign new SDK, XUL or XPCOM extensions for Firefox desktop with the release of Firefox 53. This has no affect on existing add-ons at this point in time, and won't affect Firefox on Android, Thunderbird, or SeaMonkey extensions. Firefox 53 is scheduled for release on April 18, 2017, and Firefox 57 for a release on November 28, 2017. New APIs and capabilities will be introduced throughout the year according to Mozilla to add missing capabilities to the WebExtensions system of Firefox. Quote Throughout the year we’ll expand the set of APIs available, add capabilities to Firefox that don’t yet exist in other browsers, and put more WebExtensions in front of users. Consequences Firefox users who have legacy add-ons installed in the browser won't be able to use them anymore when Firefox 57 is released. Firefox ESR will run legacy add-ons as the change won't affect the extended support release version right away (the version is at 52.5 at the time of the release of Firefox 57. The earliest option for ESR is when Firefox ESR 59 is released in 2018). Part of the add-ons that are currently available for Firefox will be ported to WebExtensions by their developers. Another part won't. This does not only include add-ons that are no longer in active development, but also add-ons that cannot be ported because of missing functionality. Many Chrome extensions will work directly in Firefox however or can be ported relatively easily by their developers. The core advantage of WebExtensions is that the technology does not depend on the browser. This means that any new change to Firefox's core functionality won't affect WebExtensions add-ons. Closing Words The decision marks a major cut that makes the Australis redesign or decisions such as putting Pocket or Hello in Firefox look like minor issues. This move affects the add-ons that made Firefox. Sure, there are other parts of the browser that appeal to users, but for many, it was Firefox's add-on system that won them over. While many popular add-ons will be ported to remain available, this cannot be said for all of them let alone the bulk of add-ons that are not popular enough. Some Firefox users who rely on certain add-ons may migrate away from Firefox to Pale Moon or another third-party browser that shares code with Firefox. Others might switch to Chrome directly, considering that the one major feature that distinguishes Firefox from Chrome and other browsers is no longer there for the most part. It is too early to ring the Doomsday bell but if this move tanks, it could very well have disastrous consequences for Mozilla. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manju Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 so.... will this mean that the "dead" of add-ons like DTA by Nils and team or FT DeepDark by Steva can't be used any more? that ain't good news... those are some of the addon's i like (and use) more ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manju Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 Quote " (...) it was Firefox's add-on system that won them over (...)" this line here says it all.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronY-Man Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 1 hour ago, manju said: so.... will this mean that the "dead" of add-ons like DTA by Nils and team or FT DeepDark by Steva can't be used any more? that ain't good news... those are some of the addon's i like (and use) more ... I use them too but I suppose firefox will still be atleast not trading off the features and power from users by stripping off the ability to modify the look n feel of it...and if it does happen, then there's no way that the heap of users that mostly use fox coz of these features will continue & will eventually move to fox alternatives..like Im already on Waterfox for its ability to let the unsigned addons continue as fox dont allow them ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pc71520 Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 Also, Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmySvert Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 7 hours ago, manju said: so.... will this mean that the "dead" of add-ons like DTA by Nils and team or FT DeepDark by Steva can't be used any more? that ain't good news... those are some of the addon's i like (and use) more ... Most probably those will be converted to WebExtensions too. Webextensions is for addons what html5 is for videos. Just one more step to get closer to the universal approach of IoT (Internet of Things). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefa Posted November 25, 2016 Share Posted November 25, 2016 Threads merged... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator DKT27 Posted November 25, 2016 Administrator Share Posted November 25, 2016 16 hours ago, JimmySvert said: Webextensions is for addons what html5 is for videos. This sums all of it. Cannot insist enough on how the Firefox addon's are the reason keeping it back. I just wish that before Mozilla stops all the current addons from working, they should provide some sort of automatic tool which converts them to the new ones. Easier said than done, but migration to the new addons has to be easier for everyone I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmySvert Posted November 25, 2016 Share Posted November 25, 2016 1 hour ago, DKT27 said: This sums all of it. Cannot insist enough on how the Firefox addon's are the reason keeping it back. I just wish that before Mozilla stops all the current addons from working, they should provide some sort of automatic tool which converts them to the new ones. Easier said than done, but migration to the new addons has to be easier for everyone I think. I don't think that Firefox addon's are the reason. Imo, the most important reason is that Mozilla was too late to implement any multicore/ multithreaded architecture. As for an AiO migration solution, i wish that too, but i'm not convinced that any of this will happen. Most probably will be the same ("shame") way they did with addon- signing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 On undefined at 8:27 AM, manju said: so.... will this mean that the "dead" of add-ons like DTA by Nils and team or FT DeepDark by Steva can't be used any more? that ain't good news... those are some of the addon's i like (and use) more ... you can always use SeaMonkey and install Sea Fox witch makes it like Firefox and get you a theme it still works for old addons :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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