Proposal to force extensions to not clutter the Firefox menu
supernova_00
bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=583386 and
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=461697) show that
extensions are allowed to place menu entries in this menu at the
bottom. I think this will allow extensions to needlessly clutter this
menu that was created with the most used menu entries from all the
menus.
Install a few extensions and check out the tools menu; the menu is
cluttered with probably every single one of those installed extensions
menu entries. The menu entries were pretty much added long ago when
the add-ons manager wasn't friendly and the options for these
extensions wasn't discoverable (right-clicking on the extension then
selecting options) to the end-users. Since then, most extension have
felt the need to add a menu entry in the tools menu when there has
been absolutely no need to. I can't name one extension that has much
use, if any, for a menu entry to toggle their options. If the
extension needs one, a toolbar button is usually created.
My other argument for doing this is because "Exit" should be at the
bottom of the menu instead of "Developer" and then a whole bunch of
extensions that are just going to stretch this clean un-everything
plus the kitchen sink menu.
I really hope that some decision can be made to create a policy that
forces extensions authors to place their menu entries (if they really
think they deserve one) into the sub-menu of the Add-ons menu within
the Firefox button. What I mean by policy is that an extension will
be denied review if the author adds a menu entry related directly to
their extension to the main menu. Please don't confuse this with an
extension that will add specific menu entries that toggle Firefox
features like a 'Work Offline' entry.
supernova_00
still in the beta phase and I don't think any extension had added
anything to this menu YET.
Alex Faaborg
the past haven't provided much guidance to extension authors of where they
should extend the Firefox UI, and due to this the user's experience of
adding several extensions can quickly become inconsistent and pretty
chaotic.
For Firefox 4 we are exploring two recommended areas for extensions to add
controls:
1) The status bar (which we will likely rename the "extension bar" once all
Firefox UI has been removed from it)
2) An extension area at the bottom of the Firefox menu (for platforms or
customizations that use a traditional menu bar, these commands will appear
in the tools menu)
The extension area of the Firefox menu is designed to handle its own
overflow, so that a large number of extensions can't cause commonly used
commands (like New Tab) to appear off screen.
I really hope that some decision can be made to create a policy that
> forces extensions authors to place their menu entries (if they really
> think they deserve one) into the sub-menu of the Add-ons menu within
> the Firefox button.
>
Extension authors would likely feel that we hiding their UI away in a
sub-menu of the Firefox menu (third level UI), and subsequently simply
wouldn't follow the recommendation. I think the best chance we have to keep
things organized is to provide two recommended, empty, and valuable areas
for extensions to place themselves. One in primary UI (extension bar), and
one in secondary UI (firefox menu / tools menu).
-Alex
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Jason Tan Wei Lin
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> > And this is the perfect time to start enforcing such policy as we are
> > still in the beta phase and I don't think any extension had added
> > anything to this menu YET.
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Wouldn't it be possible if we create an Extension Sub-menu just for
those add-on menu entries? Putting them together in a sub-menu make
them look more organized and tidy, although at a price of small
inconvenience.