DinkumOil wrote:
I created some buttons and checkboxes by myself to toggle browser features or start external programs. That's only possible because of PrefBar's capabilities to easily create these UI controls. I would really, really miss that feature.
This already only is possible for "Pro users". The PrefBar builtin help system does not provide enough information to create own buttons. But if someone already understands how the Mozilla API works, it would be better if he directly creates his idea as new Addon to publish it to addons.mozilla.org.
Also PrefBar displays its toolbar in a very compact maner so I can integrate the most used buttons/checkboxes/menulists in a way that they are accessible very quickly. Controls that doesn't fit into the window are automatically put in a menulist, a very comfortable behaviour too. I'm afraid that both of these can not be achieved after dividing PrefBar into a set of independent addons.
Works. Just place some buttons in a Firefox toolbar and reduce the window width and you'll see that Firefox has a builtin feature to group buttons, that don't fit on the toolbar, to some "overflow menu".
Please simply continue your very good work in the way you did in the past years. Don't try to modernize things that are already perfect. Of course there is some modernization required by newly introduced or abandoned technologies in Firefox but please don't change the basic concept of PrefBar.
It won't work in the same way. For example there will be no longer something like a "Preferences system". All preferences will be managed using dedicated API functions for each setting.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/FAQ has some info about access to preferences and about:config.
The new WebExtension API will most probably also contain some "privileges system". So each Addon will have to request the permissions, it needs, to do its work. I'm almost 100% sure that something like PrefBar, which would basically need all possible permissions to work, will a) not attract many users (why do you need all those permissions??) and b) most probably will not pass any review.
My current idea is to provide something like a "Preferences menu" which covers the settings, available to Addons. As I think that this API will be quite limited, I'll just cover 100% of all possible settings. So there will be no need for users to add own items. This will be to get somewhat quick access to some not-so-often needed settings. For more often needed settings, a dedicated Addon would be the better idea to get a new toolbarbutton for this specific setting.
As far as I see all this is pretty far in the future. The API does still miss many things and even the rules behind it may change until that. I just wanted all users to know that there will be changes in future and that I need feedback so I can decide how to create alternatives for required features.