[Ext] Classic Theme Restorer

[Paul Allen]

Just installed Firefox 53 B1 and I am getting this on all but the first tab:



CTR 1.6.3beta4, Tab Mix Plus 0.5.0.2pre.170102a1

Is this something CTR can fix?

I will look into it.

Only happens with Tabs=>Appearance==>Curved tabs (alternative Aero) selected (don't remember why, it has been a while); any other Appearance option does not have the problem, so I will just use Curved Tabs (alternative).

[Aris]

...

1.

• security.insecure_field_warning.contextual.enabled - hides ugly warning message near password input field
• security.insecure_password.ui.enabled - disables insecure password warnings in page info popup of some pages

2. Pale moon, older version of firefox (both are on debian and ubuntu vm's) has the icons while newer version of firefox - does not. Screenshots:
http://i.imgur.com/AaoWY9E.png http://i.imgur.com/iMe0azY.png http://i.imgur.com/vyeyT1v.png
Menus on pale moon, previous firefox (debian and ubuntu vm)
http://i.imgur.com/3609lK1.png http://i.imgur.com/poty3Sv.png
Latest version of firefox (host pc), current and separate (all addons disabled) profiles

3. in pale moon it embeds default viewer using mozplugger. Installing it on my linux system it works, so sites wouldn't "think" that I don't have a plugin. Also pale moon doesn't have pdfjs thingy too. In old firefox it doesn't work unless mozplugger is installed. It loads in firefox internal pdf viewer. mozplugger disabled - page broken

1. I have to run some tests wether or not changing those settings within an add-on is allowed and won't cause any errors with add-on validator. Those boxed should be removable using css once those prefs get obsolete.

2. CTR changed those icons visibility to "visible" by default, because they were present independent of Firefox displaying them or not, but now they are gone. Add-ons like "CuteButtons" should still be able to add custom icons to menus.

3. Such issues have to be solved by Fx devs I guess. Nothing that can be done by an add-on. Opening a bug on Bugzilla might draw attention to this problem.

...

Only happens with Tabs=>Appearance==>Curved tabs (alternative Aero) selected (don't remember why, it has been a while); any other Appearance option does not have the problem, so I will just use Curved Tabs (alternative).

Next beta will fix this issue.

[GHM113]

Three bugs that will allow to implement part of CTR functionality using WebExtensions:

• hiding the default tab toolbar - https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1332447
  reimplementing tab toolbar using Toolbar API - https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215064
  styling individual tabs - https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1320585

[Aris]

If those features will be extended, we might go somewhere with this one day. It sounds like a start at least.
Let Firefox developers surprise us this year.

[JanH]

Aris I have a curious question for you. If Classic Theme Restorer does not work at all or even install on Firefix 57+ will you continue to maintain the add-on for users who stay on Firefox 56 and Firefox ESR ? If so for how long ?

I will try to keep my add-ons compatible with Fx 52 (esr) - 56 even after Fx 57 arrives, if Mozilla does not start blocking add-on uploads of legacy add-ons by then.

As long as it's actually feasible in practice [1], might that also include 57+ Nightly/Aurora? Supposedly, those will still be capable of running "legacy" bootstrapped add-ons [2] with only Beta/Release locked down.

[1] I've no idea how many and how severe breaking changes are actually coming in relation to the functionality used by CTR.
[2] Presumably so you have a chance to actually test proposed new Webextensions APIs and suchlike.

[Aris]

I believe Firefox 57 will not support legacy add-ons on any channel (Nightly, Dev/Aurora, beta, release).

[JanH]

Not necessarily. System add-ons for instance will continue being implemented as bootstrapped add-ons where necessary [1], so the infrastructure for loading "legacy" add-ons will still be there in any case - only on Beta/Release it'll sadly be restricted to add-ons signed with a special internal certificate. The only thing that's really going to be ripped out is the Add-on SDK, so any add-ons using that will (somewhat ironically) indeed definitively be broken on all channels going forward.

However I clearly remember seeing some remarks (probably mostly around the dev-addons list, possibly elsewhere as well) that you'd still be able to load bootstrapped extensions and poke around Firefox internals on Nightly and Aurora/Dev Edition. After searching a bit, I've been able to dig out this post, which seems to confirm my memory:

On Sat, Dec 17, 2016 at 8:32 PM, custom.firefox.lady <stayopenmenu at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Please explain the details of the plans for bootstrapped extensions and
> experiments. I've read bits saying they may both possibly be usable in
> Dev.Ed. (aurora) and Nightly. Could that be expanded to include ESR (as
> unsigned extensions were)? This link https://docs.google.com/
> presentation/d/1JBjM4q1E_7jiL5nnt8FeYYTUP-Axioaw9DzYxue-RXU/edit#slide=
> id.g19834a475d_0_41 (see slide 45) seems to suggest that experiments may
> possibly even run on release.
>

Hi, experiments are already usable on dev edition and nightly. And nothing
has been written down formally but informally the plan is to allow
bootstrapped addons and experiments to keep running in dev edition and
nightly even after 57.

[1] https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/fire ... 05044.html

[marty60]

@JanH, your post is confirmed from a more recent blog post here:

https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2017/02 ... n-firefox/

To quote:

"We also recognize that a property manifest won’t have all the capabilities of direct CSS manipulation, especially during the time we’re expanding coverage to cover the most common use cases. So, for theme authors who need additional capabilities (and are willing to bear the burden of supporting them), we’ll provide an “experimental” section of the manifest to continue to allow direct CSS manipulation of the Firefox UI. This is similar in spirit to WebExtension Experiments, and usage will also be restricted to pre-release versions of Firefox."

If the ability to customize the UI and use addons remain past v57 in the nightly and developer editions I wonder if there will be an about:config setting to use for the release? If not, someone will no doubt come up with a hack. Sad it has to come to that although I'm still convinced that since Mozilla is almost never on time their whole scheme will end up being delayed past 59 and 59esr.

[JanH]

Also just now confirmed for add-ons here:

I can confirm there will be no restrictions on Nightly and Aurora

[Aris]

Allowing "experiments on Dev/Nightly channels" does not equal "keeping compatibility with XUL based add-ons", it just means you can do more experimental stuff than allowed on beta/release channels. CTR still won't run in that case and even if it did, I have no interest in working on add-ons, that only run on Dev/Nightly channels.

[marty60]

The post by Andrew McKay seems to imply that addons will indeed continue to work post v57 in the nightlies. The question then is when those versions go beta/release do they rip out the code or just block it? If it's the latter then it can potentially be unblocked, including in 59esr.

That's good news if we can continue to use the addons that are still functioning at that point.

[Aris]

We will see.

[JanH]

The question then is when those versions go beta/release do they rip out the code or just block it? If it's the latter then it can potentially be unblocked, including in 59esr

My guess is on a build-time option just as for extension signing. No idea what that means for ESR, though.

Allowing "experiments on Dev/Nightly channels" does not equal "keeping compatibility with XUL based add-ons", it just means you can do more experimental stuff than allowed on beta/release channels. CTR still won't run in that case and even if it did, I have no interest in working on add-ons, that only run on Dev/Nightly channels.

It's not just experiments, but full add-ons as well, but yes,

• I've just realised that non-restartless add-ons are yet a different kettle of fish and I've no idea if and how it would be possible to keep those - with reasonable adaptations if necessary - working as well
• being limited to Nightly/Dev and no AMO access limits the usefulness of this rather severely

[RaveDave1]

Since i updated to 52esr as i am a Windows XP user, the font color on the popup menu for recent searches on the CTR old style search bar has now changed to grey from black, is there anyway to change this back?

Thanks

[max2]

Is this true?

starting with Firefox 53 (slated for release on April 18), non-WebExtensions add-ons will no longer be accepted for signing / display on Mozilla's add-on site

So how will CTR be updated or do updates not count ?