[Ext] Firefox Showcase 0.9.1 : 1-16-2007

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mariolanza
Posts: 1
Joined: October 30th, 2006, 6:17 am

Post by mariolanza »

Hi all,

I just installed the extension 0.8.0.4 (had no previous versions), I'm on a fresh upgraded Firefox 2.0, Win XP SP1... that's about all details I can think of.

All in all it looks great and the Tab works fine. I have problems though with the Showcase _window_. Namely, as soon as the setting 'close showcase window if focus is lost' is checked, ANY mouse click, be it left, middle or right, will close the showcase window and not do anything else: won't open the tab or pop the contextual menu or whatever it was supposed to do.

Is it a bug or am I understanding that setting wrong?

Thanks a lot,
Mario
Old joseprio
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old joseprio »

Hi Mario,

yes, that option is broken in the current version... I already solved that bug, and it will be working well again from next version. I still want to add some stuff, and then I'll send it for translation, so it should be out in the next few weeks.

If you're interested in using that development version, just send me your email by private message and I'll send it to you.

Best regards,
Josep del Rio
jzip
Posts: 1
Joined: November 14th, 2006, 9:12 am

Post by jzip »

joseprio wrote:Probably, the most "obvious" use of Showcase is to see the tabs of the current window

Well, not for me ;-) If find the current behavior exactly what I want, i.e. seeing everything (or possibly only the current tab of each window). Tabs of the current window can already be found and accessed quickly from the tab bar. Actually, I think it depends on how you organize your browser windows and tabs.

So I would prefer if it stays the same (or at least have an option to revert to it, because I don't want to install KeyConfig just to change the F12 shortcut mapping).

Jacques

P.S. : Thanks for the great extension, which has saved me thousands of alt-Tab (which doesn't show thumbnails) ;-)
Old joseprio
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old joseprio »

jzip wrote:
joseprio wrote:Probably, the most "obvious" use of Showcase is to see the tabs of the current window

Well, not for me ;-) If find the current behavior exactly what I want, i.e. seeing everything (or possibly only the current tab of each window). Tabs of the current window can already be found and accessed quickly from the tab bar. Actually, I think it depends on how you organize your browser windows and tabs.

So I would prefer if it stays the same (or at least have an option to revert to it, because I don't want to install KeyConfig just to change the F12 shortcut mapping).

Jacques

P.S. : Thanks for the great extension, which has saved me thousands of alt-Tab (which doesn't show thumbnails) ;-)


Ok, I'll keep the key shortcuts the same as the previous version! :) I guess it will be less confusing for the current user base. Anyways, I'm changing the name of the buttons for sure (I'm sure most people don't mind).
Old joseprio
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old joseprio »

The new version is almost ready, and I already sent it to the translators :) So, it should be available in a week or two!
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JoshB
Posts: 29
Joined: September 26th, 2004, 8:57 am

Post by JoshB »

Hello joseprio and thank you for your work and commitment to the Firefox community.

I have two requests (right now) that I would like to submit:
  • Could you add an option that would allow one to open showcase without opening a tab, as does Viamatic foXpose?
  • If you add the above option, could you also add another option that would allow the showcased tabs to open in front of a transparent (but darkened) current browser window, as does Tab Catalog's most detailed display option?


I hope these things are not to much to ask for. Thank you for your time. Keep up the good work!
Old joseprio
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old joseprio »

joseprio wrote:The new version is almost ready, and I already sent it to the translators :) So, it should be available in a week or two!


It's taking more than I expected... There are only a couple of localizations to be updated, but I think I'll be able to release the new version next week.
Old joseprio
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old joseprio »

JoshB wrote:Hello joseprio and thank you for your work and commitment to the Firefox community.

I have two requests (right now) that I would like to submit:
  • Could you add an option that would allow one to open showcase without opening a tab, as does Viamatic foXpose?
  • If you add the above option, could you also add another option that would allow the showcased tabs to open in front of a transparent (but darkened) current browser window, as does Tab Catalog's most detailed display option?

I hope these things are not to much to ask for. Thank you for your time. Keep up the good work!


Currently, Showcase can be opened as a window, a tab, or a sidebar. The new version (which should be released next week) improves the window mode, by making it a lot more useful. For instance, the size and position of the window now are related to the browser content area. Also, I added an option (that is enabled by default), so focusing the browser window will close Showcase window automatically. Although it will not be as integrated and nice looking as Tab Catalog, it will look very nice.

I really like the "darkened window" Tab Catalog feature, but it cannot be added easily at this point. I would need to do some important changes in the code, so I'll leave that for a future release!
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JoshB
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Joined: September 26th, 2004, 8:57 am

Post by JoshB »

joseprio wrote:
JoshB wrote:Hello joseprio and thank you for your work and commitment to the Firefox community.

I have two requests (right now) that I would like to submit:
  • Could you add an option that would allow one to open showcase without opening a tab, as does Viamatic foXpose?
  • If you add the above option, could you also add another option that would allow the showcased tabs to open in front of a transparent (but darkened) current browser window, as does Tab Catalog's most detailed display option?

I hope these things are not to much to ask for. Thank you for your time. Keep up the good work!


Currently, Showcase can be opened as a window, a tab, or a sidebar. The new version (which should be released next week) improves the window mode, by making it a lot more useful. For instance, the size and position of the window now are related to the browser content area. Also, I added an option (that is enabled by default), so focusing the browser window will close Showcase window automatically. Although it will not be as integrated and nice looking as Tab Catalog, it will look very nice.

I really like the "darkened window" Tab Catalog feature, but it cannot be added easily at this point. I would need to do some important changes in the code, so I'll leave that for a future release!


:oops:

I'm sorry, I should have been more clear with the first request. I was trying to ask if there could be added an option to open showcase without a tab or window, or in the sidebar. I realize that I can configure the tab options to mimic that of the feature I request, but why not just add a separate option? Of course I am not the one coding, so I'm sure it's not as easy as it sounds :wink:. If this cannot be added there will be no hard feelings.

Good to here about the other request, I can't wait! Thanks again!

:)
Old joseprio
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old joseprio »

JoshB wrote:I'm sorry, I should have been more clear with the first request. I was trying to ask if there could be added an option to open showcase without a tab or window, or in the sidebar. I realize that I can configure the tab options to mimic that of the feature I request, but why not just add a separate option? Of course I am not the one coding, so I'm sure it's not as easy as it sounds :wink:. If this cannot be added there will be no hard feelings.


Well, the problem is that I've been developing Showcase assuming it has it's own "space" (a window, tab or sidebar). Tab Catalog is added directly to the browser, which allows better integration. I need to modify the base structure so it can also be added to the browser. This is not difficult, but it's long and tedious, and I'll need to ensure that everything works properly, so it's better to work on it after this version.

For now, you may check the window mode in the new version... I'm sure you'll like it more than the old one.
Old joseprio
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Re: [Ext] Firefox Showcase 0.9.0 : 12-20-2006

Post by Old joseprio »

joseprio wrote:Showcase provides a new way to manage your Firefox tabs and windows by showing them as thumbnails in a single window, tab or sidebar. Includes a find bar that will filter the thumbnails, and the capability to select the thumbnails in the same way you would select files in your system.
Description - Screenshots - Download

Changelog for this version:
  • The default showcase mode is "single window". "Showcase All Windows" mode is still available. Key shortcuts stay the same as in previous versions.
  • Changed the "in a box" thumbnail style completely, and now it is the default style.
  • Loaded images are rendered directly as a thumbnail (instead of a browser containing an image). This is specially useful for photo galleries.
  • Added several enhancements to the tab bar (enabled by default, can be deactivated in the "Advanced" settings tab):
    • "List all tabs" default action will show a Showcase instance. Right clicking on it will show a popup that lists all the window tabs.
    • The tab bar arrows now have a tooltip that report the number of tabs in that side.
    • Double click on the tab bar arrows will scroll to the beginning or the end of the tab bar.
    • Tab bar arrows have a contextual menu that will show a popup with the tabs on that side of the tab bar.
    • Tab menu items in the popups now have a tooltip with the URL of that tab.
  • Added the possibility in the settings panel to restore defaults, and import/export settings.
  • Revamped the icon set to match better the new Firefox 2 default theme.
  • The vertical scrollbar is now activated by default in all modes.
  • Scrollbar is now only shown when necessary, allowing bigger thumbnails.
  • The "+" and "-" keys will now zoom in or out all the thumbnails. Only works when scroll is activated.
  • Thumbnails are updated when their represented browser is scrolled.
  • New configuration option (in the advanced tab) to avoid closing a window when closing the last tab (will blank it instead).
  • New configuration option to set the window size and/or position respect inner content area.
  • Clicking on the thumbnail label will have the same effect as if you click on the thumbnail image.
  • Added 2 new window attributes: "Dependent" (Showcase window depends on the parent one) and "Title bar" (show or hide the window title bar).
  • Tweaked the default settings: size and position are now related to the content area, enabled some window attributes, thumbanails are bigger by default.
  • If tooltip title and url are activated, the tooltip will show them in separate lines. This is also now the default mode.
  • New thumbnail rendering modes available. Now it's possible to render thumbnails showing the top left of the tab page (without taking in account the current scroll position). Also, added another mode showing the top left position without scaling it down. This is configurable in the "Thumbnails" > "Appearance" settings tab.
  • Added different text for toolbar button tooltips.
  • Swapped the title statistics for global (all windows) mode. First number indicates total of tabs, and the second the number of windows.
  • Colorize the tab is now an option, and is disabled by default (didn't work properly in Firefox 2).
  • Added option to open a thumbnail on double click. Disabled by default.
  • Better handling of represented windows resize.
  • Blank thumbnails (about:blank) are rendered instantly.
  • Added configuration options to disable IE Tab, full-screen plugins, blank pages and images detection.
  • Full screen command in Showcase tab will activate full screen in it's window.
  • SeaMonkey Showcase will report that xSidebar is required to show the preferences dialog when necessary.
  • Improved the build process, generating a smaller file.
  • Find bar synchronization in Showcase tab wasn't working well with Firefox 2.
  • Solved conflict between special thumbnail detection and cached thumbnails.
  • Fixed crashing bug related to thumbnail cache in some special cases.
  • Re-added missing icons in SeaMonkey Showcase.
  • Corrected Showcase sidebar title.
  • Solved a small bug when refreshing the configuration.
  • Fixed crashing bug in Firefox 1.5 when not showing labels in thumbnails.
  • Fixed the options to close Showcase when the focus is lost.
  • Fixed the option to close a thumbnail with any mouse button other than the middle one.
  • Fixed a compatibility issue between Showcase Sidebar and All-in-One Sidebar.
  • Added Persian (fa-IR, by Bahram Maravandi) and Korean (ko-KR, by Jeong Seungwon) localizations. Simplified Chinese (zh-CN) updated by Mozine.cn .
Full Changelog


The new version has just been released. It has quite a lot of changes! Of course, feedback is always welcome.
Last edited by Old joseprio on June 1st, 2007, 4:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
tobz1000
Posts: 11
Joined: December 26th, 2006, 6:06 pm

Post by tobz1000 »

I've noticed that the 'close tab' buttons used are clones of the standard Winstripe 2.0 theme. I am a keen user of the 'Winestripe' theme (a replica of Winstripe for Fx 1.0), and as such the 'close tab' button clashes with my theme, or any theme other than the standard one for that matter. Would it be possible to use a button that simply takes the style of the one used by the current theme, rather than always copying that of the standard theme?

Sorry if that was a little unclear; I just think it will make the extension integrate more effectively with anyone's Firefox.
Old joseprio
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old joseprio »

tobz1000 wrote:I've noticed that the 'close tab' buttons used are clones of the standard Winstripe 2.0 theme. I am a keen user of the 'Winestripe' theme (a replica of Winstripe for Fx 1.0), and as such the 'close tab' button clashes with my theme, or any theme other than the standard one for that matter. Would it be possible to use a button that simply takes the style of the one used by the current theme, rather than always copying that of the standard theme?

Sorry if that was a little unclear; I just think it will make the extension integrate more effectively with anyone's Firefox.


The new default style for thumbnails ("In a box") uses a skinned box that does it best to match the new Firefox 2.0 tab's behavior. However, as you say, it will look "bad" in other themes. Although it would be possible to duplicate the active tab close button, it is not possible to duplicate the tab exact behavior, so I had to add it.

However, the old default style that looks well in any theme is still available ("Plain with close button"), and it will show the correct close button for the theme. To change the style, go to the extension options, "Thumbnails" tab, then "Appearance". It's the option that is under "Show thumbnail labels". Also, there are other possibilities, like changing the thumbnail style using "userChrome.css"...

In the other hand, support for Firefox Showcase could be added to any existing theme. It's up to the authors!
tobz1000
Posts: 11
Joined: December 26th, 2006, 6:06 pm

Post by tobz1000 »

Ah! I assumed the new button was universal, whether in a box or not. I have been using the plain option without a close button, but did not bother to check if the close button would be appropriate. Thanks for pointing this out to me; I prefer the plain view anyway.
tobz1000
Posts: 11
Joined: December 26th, 2006, 6:06 pm

Post by tobz1000 »

Purely a cosmetic point: would you consider changing the logo used on thumbnails of IE tabs to that of IE 7? With the release of IE Tabs 1.3, this is the the logo now used by the extension in the status bar, toolbar etc.
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