Addons Redesign

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hhh
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Addons Redesign

Post by hhh »

I was surprised to see that http://addons.mozilla.org launched yet another redesign today. Looks good, though I'm not sure what a chopper has to do with Mozilla. Trying to picture Asa on a chopper, I'm not sold.

Unfortunately, you still can't navigate forward or backward through extensions and themes more than one page at a time (1,2,3,4,5 instead of next page, previous page).
StormFX
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Post by StormFX »

I have to agree. The chopper is misplaced and that whole area is taking up way too much space. I also agree with the search navigation. Considering the number of extensions that are listed for each search, the least they could do is make it so we can skip pages.

What really needs to be done is to add a version filter to the advanced options. A "Favorites" option would be nice, too.
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the-edmeister
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Post by the-edmeister »

The new design seems to work better than the previous one, but it still sucks IMO. I agree with both of you about no being able to skip pages, that is an unforgivable omission. I addition to being able to be able to skip pages numerically I would like an alpha selector so you can skip from A to M, for instance.

I mourn the day that TEM stopped hosting extensions that are on AMO. Except for a couple of DDOS incidents, TEM had worked thru the thick and thin days at AMO (remembering the days right after 1.0 was released = AMO basically shut down to all incoming extensions about 10 days after that release and for almost 3 months).


Ed
A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Mine has wandered off and I'm out looking for it.
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RenegadeX
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Post by RenegadeX »

I don't like it.
  • 1. It's purely a visual, not functional change - when function is more important than visuals.
    You still can't browse all available extensions by name/letter, and you still can't find extensions properly (ex: search for 'Translation Panel' extension using the search word 'translation').
  • 2. Browsing listings pages no longer shows:
    • Extension/Theme Rating
    • 'Last Updated' date
    • # of downloads (both 'Last 7 Days' and 'Total') Screenshots: (NEW) / (OLD)
    These were useful - why remove them? Browsing the 'Highest Rated Extensions' (for example) is now a joke.
  • 3. Dictionaries for FF2.0 have been added, but they have not added 'Dictionaries' in the left-hand menu, so you'd not know they're there. (access via right-click in a text area and choose 'Languages->more dictionaries'). Note: There is a 'Dictionaries' section to the Extensions, as there should be for dictionary-related extensions, but dictionaries themselves aren't extensions. Hmm.. where should a user-made custom dictionary such as a technical dictionary go?? Perhaps a link to the Dictionaries extensions on the Dictionaries page and vice-versa is in order?!
  • 4. Dictionaries page is hardly as complete as the Thunderbird dictionaries page which is what they are, just repackaged for FF.
    45 TB dictionaries vs 26 Firefox dictionaries. The new AMO dictionaries page doesn't even have 'Canadian English'! The text in the table listing the available dictionaries is sloppy: 'danish' is small caps, there is 'English' and 'English' instead of 'English (Australian)' and 'English (American)', etc.
  • 5. On the Extensions & Themes pages, the headings 'New & Updated" and "Popular Extensions", etc no longer have RSS-links beside them. Screenshots: (NEW page) / (OLD page)
  • 6. The 'New & Updated' and 'Popular Extensions" pages are no longer RSS-enabled! (ie: no longer an RSS icon in the address bar)!!!
  • 7. Search Box should be on *every* page, at the top, and in the same location. *NEVER* at the bottom of a page - that's just stupid as it requires scrolling to access!
  • 8. On an extension or theme's actual page:
    • Version# and release date have been moved from under the Title (where it's relevant and important to be) down below the Description, which is poor design decision - and to boot, the font is too small.
    • the Rating is now buried part-way down the page near 'Comments'. It should be near the top-right, in plain view, without the need to scroll.
    • the 'Preview' image is no longer linked (/clickable) to 'More previews'. Screenshots: (NEW) / (OLD)
  • 9. Category searches still don't give you the current Category name at the top of the Results pages
  • 10. As others have said, still can't skip to Page-X of XX results.
  • 11. The bike sucks - it has 0 relevance to Firefox and addons
I'd say something nice if there was something nice to say.

This is the beginning of a complete AMO redesign, called 'Remora' - which is behind schedule (despite FF2.0 being way behind schedule itself) but for now, notch up another Mozilla 'improvement' than totally missed the mark.

We're going backwards here...
Hardly surprising, and quite amusing - as 'remora' is:
  • a fish that is known for: a) sucking; b) sliding backwards to increase the amount that it sucks
  • Latin for 'delay'
I kid you not! :lol:
Last edited by RenegadeX on October 25th, 2006, 11:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Racer
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Post by Racer »

Although I am not involved in the project, I believe that many of the changes of the new AMO are on the developer side. I do agree that end-user functionality has not changed significantly.
The Remora Wiki discusses what changes are in the works. They aren't done yet.

What I'd like to see is a minimalist amo (perhaps an alternate to the default "fancy" style) that would let you list lots of extensions on a single page and have concise descriptions (perhaps the first 20 words from the normal description).
The Ex Omega
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Post by The Ex Omega »

Meh, people complain too much.

Nothing but graphics has seemed to have changed. And they removed the search box at the top.

Besides the search box removal, all is fine.
old FatJohn
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Post by old FatJohn »

RenegadeX wrote:I'd say something nice if there was something nice to say. We're going backwards here...
[...]
Hardly surprising, and quite amusing - as 'remora' is:
  • a fish that is known for: a) sucking; b) sliding backwards to increase the amount that it sucks
  • Latin for 'delay'

"Me too!" Nice factlet about 'remora' didn't know that. :mrgreen:
Old Makondo
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Post by Old Makondo »

The search box is at the bottom now. It requires 2 clicks now to get to the 'advanced' search. Buh! Search results are a mess. Bike is there because .... they're takin' us all for a ride? I quit going there, waste of time.
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hhh
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Post by hhh »

The Mozilla site has been reworked too...

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
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mod_wastrel
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"Tastes great, less filling"

Post by mod_wastrel »

RenegadeX wrote:I don't like it. ...


I couldn't agree more. The point of the site is to find stuff, compare stuff, rate stuff... "the stuff" being the essential thing. It can be as "pretty" as you like, but form over function is not supposed to be the "Mozilla way". Usability was OK before; now it's broken.
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RenegadeX
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Post by RenegadeX »

hhh wrote:The Mozilla site has been reworked too...
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Here's a partial screencap of the new Firefox 'home':
Image

The 'man using computer' graphic is new.
Actually, upon close inspection, make that: 'man using web browser'.

WHICH web browser?
- Expected answer: Firefox
- Actual answer: I don't have a friggin' clue.

At least have the guy looking at a page with a Firefox logo on it or something!!
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johann_p
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Post by johann_p »

See why does UMO suck so much

The visual change: it is the usual pseudo-professional look with unrelated images and a degradation in readability.

Nearly none of the issues that existed have been addressed. The rank by rating option has been removed instead of fixed. Navigating through lists still sucks and does not have the most basic feature of jumping to a certain page. Still no way to get a specific version of the extension. Still no feature to group endless variations/flavors of the same theme.

Search is still totally idiotic: searching for "tab mix plus" among extensions results in first "Session Manager" then three others and then "Tab mix plus". Any two-semester computer student should be able to come up with something better.

But what we needed was an image of a chopper that senselessly uses up the space that could contain the search field, sure.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.”
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DonGato
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Post by DonGato »

Well, add to the issues that now you have to enter each addon/theme to know the exact time of update.
A true regression.
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BenBasson
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Post by BenBasson »

Who cares what Add-ons looks like? It's been a useless site since release and I literally despair at the lack of resources MoCo has thrown at it. A site that is the central distribution point for extensions (which are a non-trivial feature of Firefox) shouldn't have to make appeals to the community for developers. Nor should it require two rewrites.

The people working on it are good people and they're trying their best, but the simple fact is that it's under-resourced and wasn't conceptualised properly from the start. Until these things are addressed, I can't see it getting much better - silhouetted vehicles or not.
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RenegadeX
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Post by RenegadeX »

Most of what goes with Mozilla products is done by volunteers, but the Mozilla Foundation is also a company with directors and managers/project leaders who should be setting out the requirements & vision, approving major design decisions and putting their stamp of approval on the projects before they are launched/updated. If I were in charge, heads would be rolling.

I filed a Bug back in August, unaware that a redesign of AMO was underway. I was referred to the Remora Wiki - and my suggestions were acknowledged there. While revisions to AMO are not yet complete, one thing I said in my Bug thread bears repeating as it should be *the* priority of AMO:
RenegadeX in Bug 349430 wrote:Let's be honest, Firefox without extensions is pretty bland - extensions are what makes Firefox come to life, what 'sells' it to newcomers and what keeps long-time users enthused. Therefore, AMO should be a tip-top, easy-to-use, professional and polished 'showroom' in which to show off the many wonderful things that Firefox enables its users to do. And the key to this is providing a quick, easy to use Search.
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