Considering to rewrite and separate into several addons

[PikachuEXE]

Due to Issue #10

I found that TabKit is now too big to understand and maintain
Especially for those fundamental functions like opening new tabs for bookmark, search and address bar

Mozilla has published addon SDK for developing addons
And it enforces "strict mode" for Javascript
It is good for coding practices, but also breaks many existing functions for TabKit
I cannot think of a quick fix or workaround for it
So that bug cannot be fixed (at least for FireFox 17 and later, FireFox 16 or below is fine)


Now I start considering rewriting the whole TabKit
And I have noticed that Ruby on Rails are now separating itself into different gems (they are going to release 4.0 at the end of this month)
So that people can only use only part of its goodies, without the rest of it (too fat)

I think TabKit has the same problem of being too fat (has too many features bundled in one addon)
And should be separated into several addons and let users choose to install only the features they want

Examples:

1. Highighting unread, current and locked tabs (named "Tab Lighter")
2. Open links inside selected text & links (named "Text link opener") (not even tab related :o)
3. Tab searching (I rarely use it)
4. Open new tab for bookmark, search bar and address bar
5. Replace close other tabs to close tabs before, close tabs after
6. The core of TabKit: Tab Grouping and Coloring and maybe Sorting (who use Sorting BTW?)


I need response mainly on how this separation look
Should there be more separation or some of it should still be bundled together

Also which feature set you want most (to be rewritten first)
But I will still choose the easiest to rewrite first :P


I will just try to finish #13 and release 0.9.9.9
Then I will start studying and rewriting those addons

[Larry Simms]

While I’m very content with TabKit as is, I consider it such an essential tool that if breaking it into modules increases the likelihood you’ll be able to maintain it promptly & well, I’d support the change.

 

Please try not to lose features.   I’m especially concerned about some you didn’t mention, e.g. bookmarking groups;  this is vital for my work.  Duplicating tabs is something I use every day.  Protecting tabs—often.  And while I rarely use tab search…it was a lifesaver twice in the past week.

 

Suggest that if you do split up, each module retain some TabKit identity [“TabKit Part 1”] so people will understand they work together.

 

Thanks—Larry Simms

[PikachuEXE]

Tab protection should be included into Tab highlighter, since it highlights the tab -o-
Or I could make it a separate addon again

Group bookmarking is something dependent on group
So I will include it in core or extension of new TabKit (like FireBug)

I will name each extension with "TabKit - something" so that it's like a series


Now I got to learn to write restartless addon from start T_T

worksong於 2012年12月15日星期六UTC+8下午11時07分33秒寫道：

[Larry Simms]

Understood & thanks.

 

I’ll be happy to kick in $10 or $20 when you’re ready to receive support.

[PikachuEXE]

I think I need manpower (helper) more than anything else :S

worksong於 2012年12月17日星期一UTC+8下午9時34分39秒寫道：

[Larry Simms]

Wish I knew how…

 

Hope it helps to know how much your work is used & appreciated!

[Alkarnur]

PLEASE don't break it up into multiple addons. Or at least, if you do, make absolutely sure it retains perfect integration among the many splinters.
TabKit is not an add-on, it's a whole Firefox edition for power users. It is essential.

[PikachuEXE]

Things like highlighting the current tab and unread tab are quite separate from other functions
Opening text link also

So I think I would extract those at least, just to make the code file less HUGE
(Now it is huge. go find and read tabkit.js at Github)

Alkarnur於 2012年12月19日星期三UTC+8上午5時08分58秒寫道：

[totalz]

PikachuEXE,

Great addon of all time.  Tabkit is the only reason I can keep 300+ tabs (left side) in order, and with the new firefox version above 12, restart firefox will keep the tabs but not loading them unless the tab is clicked, much less memory is used in my case.  Long story short, I uses search tabs a lot.  Protect tab is also a great feature  : )

The only problem I'm having with firefox v15 and above is opening new tab on link will not spawn the new tab as child.  And if I exist firefox with search on, other tabs that is not in the result before closing will be lost.

I think sorting would be quite useful if the childs stick to the parent (the opener).  I should spend time experimenting the new grouping features.

Thank you.
Cheers.

[gra...@gmail.com]

My 2 cents.

I customise tabkit with:
- highlight current tab and unread tabs
- indent = 7 px

Features I use all the time:
collapse/expand
close group
close tabs below

Features I use sometimes:
bookmark group
pin tab

Feature I want:
set tab height ( I have seen the "Customizing TabKit 2nd Edition" thread, I'll try changing the css)

Idea if you need to slim down the code:
Maybe take mouse-gestures out?

Thank you so much for the great work, it makes using FF so much more effortless. Thanks gain.

[PikachuEXE]

If you have feature suggestion you can post to Github
I don'[t want keep track of requests here z_z

mouse-gestures is extracted (most of them)

gra...@gmail.com於 2013年6月4日星期二UTC+8上午9時57分31秒寫道：

[Łukasz Polowczyk]

Ability to disable coloring cards and the ability to group as it does by default in Firefox, but still be able to collapse the group.

[PikachuEXE]

 I think you are asking for another extension
(with no modification to tab grouping but only tab collapsing)

Tab group coloring can be disabled on options

[Schmurtz Alex]

Hi,

I use Tabkit since many years. I follow with tabkit 2. Splitting tabkit can be a good idea if it consumes less processor power and memory.
Sometimes it's true : I have extensions which do some functionalities that tabkit already done.

For me major Tabkit functionalities are (in order of importance)

1. mouse scrolling between tabs
2. colored tabs (by parent tab)
3. multi row & treeview.

1. Highighting unread, current and locked tabs

I think that these 4 things MUST be integrated in the core of tabkit. It is really difficult to use tabkit if these are not here at the same time.

Other things are cool but not essential for me.

What can be added to the core to be better :

• a keyboard shortcut to go to last selected tab (very useful to switch between the last 2 tabs that you have look at)
  
• a tabs counter (wich displays total of tabs in the current windows) I use this one but it should be native in tabkit.
  
• native panorama from firefox (grouped by colors of tabkit or something like that). I like this functionnality but in reality it is not used so often.

I write this message for two reasons :

I would like to thank you for your work (everybody around me use it since I showed it to them).

I'm horrified by the version 0.10.0 : my current tab is impossible to find and my mouse tab scrolling don't work (so it is really difficult to find the current tab).

Please it must be in the core !!!

[Schmurtz Alex]

I forget 2 functionalities that I use  everyday :

• close group (by the way the shortcut is hard to use because shift + alt is the keyboard language shortcut in windows)
• collapse group

[PikachuEXE]

Already split into
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-kit-tab-highlighter/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-kit-mouse-gestures/

They are not quite "core" as they can be used without tab grouping or with other tab grouping extensions
I split them so that changes and fixes for in those area can be released faster (small extension require less time to be reviewed)


Schmurtz Alex於 2013年7月29日星期一UTC+8上午1時55分46秒寫道：