[Ext] ThunderBrowse 3.3.5 for Thunderbird

Posted June 6th, 2007, 6:58 pm

ThunderBrowse 3.3.5

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Software: Thunderbird 1.5 to 3.1 and up, Postbox 1.0b13 and up, Spicebird 0.8 and up
Author: GameSpotting! Networks
Homepage: http://thunderbrowse.com/
AMO Listing/Download: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/5373
OS: Windows, Mac, Linux

Description:
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ThunderBrowse adds a browser to Thunderbird. Browse your links and RSS feeds within Thunderbird without having to load another browser! Just type in a url or click on a link to view it in Thunderbird.

Features:
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Allows you to right click a link and choose to "Visit in Browser" to visit it Firefox or IE

Tabs support

Works with GET and POST web forms

Allows you to login to most websites

Install extensions within Thunderbird

Browser history (for the Back and Forward button) and refresh abilities

Supports Javascript (check the options to see how to enable it)

Allows launching a custom browser rather than the OS default

Comes with Auto Suggest/Auto Complete

Full screen mode, so you don't have to just browse in that tiny area (customize the toolbar and add the window like icon).

External Window (browse in a popup window [press Control W]) and Message window browsing (browse in a mail message)

Collapsible bar (you might need to customize the toolbar and add the thunderbrowse logo)

Mouse click commands (left click depends, middle click opens up an external browser, right click context menu)

Contains search commands for popular websites [flickr, google, wikipedia, and yahoo] so you can search easily (documentation is in about:commands)

Create your own custom shortcuts and commands

Extension options featuring turning on and off of button labels, javascript, autocomplete, and the title grabber

Works with the following protocols: mailto:, whois:, chrome:, http:, mailbox:, file:, news:, snews:, pop:, source:, view-source:, https:, javascript:, addbook:, custombutton:, resource:, about:

All the various commands and features in the ThunderBrowse extension can be viewed by typing in "about:commands" [without quotes]

And much more!

Changelog:
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Type in tbit:changelog in the browser to see the latest changes

Donate:
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Donation information can be found at tbit:donate, if you like ThunderBrowse, please donate. Additionally, you can donate from here: http://thunderbrowse.com/donate.php

Awards:
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AMO featured addon
Featured Thunderbird extension on LifeHacker
Featured Freeware on Download.com

Screenshots:
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Browsing window:

Autosuggest:

Options:

Enjoy!

Report any bugs to: http://thunderbrowse.com/bugreport/

Posted June 7th, 2007, 1:06 pm

Hmm. Any reason why you are creating your urlbar with DOM methods instead of putting your UI directly in your overlay? Wouldn't that be simpler?

Phil

Posted June 7th, 2007, 3:13 pm

Philip Chee wrote:Hmm. Any reason why you are creating your urlbar with DOM methods instead of putting your UI directly in your overlay? Wouldn't that be simpler?

Phil

Because I want to place it in a certain location (right above the preview pane) and I want it before all the info headers and what not.

Posted June 7th, 2007, 4:45 pm

Version 2.5.6 is now public on AMO.

Posted June 7th, 2007, 6:32 pm

netMASA wrote:
Philip Chee wrote:Hmm. Any reason why you are creating your urlbar with DOM methods instead of putting your UI directly in your overlay? Wouldn't that be simpler?
Because I want to place it in a certain location (right above the preview pane) and I want it before all the info headers and what not.

Usually I use the insertbefore or insertafter attribute in my overlays. Doesn't this work for you?

Phil

Posted June 7th, 2007, 6:44 pm

Philip Chee wrote:
netMASA wrote:
Philip Chee wrote:Hmm. Any reason why you are creating your urlbar with DOM methods instead of putting your UI directly in your overlay? Wouldn't that be simpler?
Because I want to place it in a certain location (right above the preview pane) and I want it before all the info headers and what not.
Usually I use the insertbefore or insertafter attribute in my overlays. Doesn't this work for you?

Phil

I never have gotten that to work. It just ignores that attribute. So I did it via DOM. Is there a problem doing it the dom way?

Posted June 12th, 2007, 9:40 am

netMASA this is a great start. would it be simpler to embed, well, a Firefox (single tab to start) into the message pane? don't know if it lends itself to that, but you wouldn't have to recreate a lot of history stuff. and maybe all the great rendering/multimedia aspects of Fx could be available for mail/rss/news content.

Posted June 12th, 2007, 10:02 am

This is doable in SeaMonkey's MailNews, but I don't think Thunderbird builds with all the interfaces (e.g. session history) that the Firefox tabbrowser uses.

Phil

Posted June 12th, 2007, 5:37 pm

alta88 wrote:netMASA this is a great start. would it be simpler to embed, well, a Firefox (single tab to start) into the message pane? don't know if it lends itself to that, but you wouldn't have to recreate a lot of history stuff. and maybe all the great rendering/multimedia aspects of Fx could be available for mail/rss/news content.

This extension is not to replace a browser. It is however, to allow one to surf the web quickly or visit links. It isn't supposed to be a multi-tabular browser.

Also, Thunderbird doesn't understand or register the flash plugin files given to it. So scratch plugin compatibility. Putting firefox into Thunderbird is a crazy idea, and I wouldn't suggest it because of Memory issues and cause if you are going to be doing multi tab browsing, you should be doing it in firefox not Thunderbird. The history function works great right now, and yes I do have to build the history by scratch either way as Thunderbird only logs message changes, not preview pane changes. Besides, I like my history features.

As Phil said, if you want flash plugin support you might as well go with seamonkey (unless adobe, in a rare turn of events, makes the flash plugin have thunderbird support)

Posted June 13th, 2007, 9:01 am

netMASA wrote:As Phil said, if you want flash plugin support you might as well go with seamonkey (unless adobe, in a rare turn of events, makes the flash plugin have thunderbird support)

There are people who are running private builds of Thunderbird with plugin support enabled. These people have been asking me to make Flashblock compatible with Thunderbird (which I recently did). Apparently Flash in Thunderbird is even more obnoxious than Flash in Firefox. I suggest that you (alta88) really don't want Flash enabled in Thunderbird.

Phil

Posted June 13th, 2007, 3:10 pm

the Tb message pane is useless for handling anything more than html (and that barely) content. i was hoping this extension might address that, but if not, that's the way it is. i've never used seamonkey; its mail component may or may not fit my usage case, which is to have 3 pane power handling of rss feed content (not the occasional email with a link - for which this extension is somewhat adequate).

an example of excellent 3pane message handling can be found in the GreatNews reader, with link following and tabbed browsing.

scratch plugin compatibility

trunk thunderbird builds (Tb3) support plugins. the message pane should support flash blocking, script blocking, ad blocking extensions already in Fx. why not? it's *not* just a mail client if rss is advertised.

The history function works great right now

not really. any user you ask will tell you history means back and forward. also, if a new message is selected, you keep the last history of a prior message, which is by then out of context.

really don't want Flash enabled in Thunderbird.

Philip, one would want to handle flash the way it's done in Fx: if i want to see valid content a click will let me do it. not all flash is junk. in general, there has to be choice given for dynamic content in the message pane via a notification (like for images or html) as i filed in this bug.

Posted June 13th, 2007, 5:20 pm

trunk thunderbird builds (Tb3) support plugins. the message pane should support flash blocking, script blocking, ad blocking extensions already in Fx. why not? it's *not* just a mail client if rss is advertised.

What I meant by plugins is like windows media player and adobe reader and such. But I don't use trunk builds, however when Thunderbird 3 releases, then plugins will be supported.

not really. any user you ask will tell you history means back and forward. also, if a new message is selected, you keep the last history of a prior message, which is by then out of context.

Well no one has suggested a forward button. They only wanted a back button.

javascript.allow.mailnews

Oh wow, no wonder javascript never worked for me. I totally had no idea about that pref. Well I might make a pref dialog and add that in...Of course you just need noscript to do that whitelist thing for javascript for thunderbird and everything will be peachy keen or if I program the extension so it also has something like that.

Posted June 14th, 2007, 7:02 am

netMASA wrote:What I meant by plugins is like windows media player and adobe reader and such. But I don't use trunk builds, however when Thunderbird 3 releases, then plugins will be supported.

take a look at posts going back about a month for some interesting content possibilities in Tb (and SM) in the mozilla.test.multimedia newsgroup.. one is a YouTube video that runs embedded in SM (not Tb however til Tb3 if then).

Well no one has suggested a forward button. They only wanted a back button.

i think the closer it worked to the Fx (or other browser) history, the more comfortable it would be for people.

javascript.allow.mailnews

Oh wow, no wonder javascript never worked for me. I totally had no idea about that pref. Well I might make a pref dialog and add that in...Of course you just need noscript to do that whitelist thing for javascript for thunderbird and everything will be peachy keen or if I program the extension so it also has something like that.

i don't think NoScript works in Tb (although AdBlock Plus does). actually, the notifier for javascript rfe is best a separate extension/button, but really a one time permit js tool, and not a full whitelister like NoScript. Tb devs have really gone out of their way in the name of security in email to hide that pref and prevent anything interesting from working in the message pane. for me, email is about 20% of Tb usage vs. rss/newsgroups.

Posted June 14th, 2007, 4:13 pm

alta88 wrote:
Well no one has suggested a forward button. They only wanted a back button.

i think the closer it worked to the Fx (or other browser) history, the more comfortable it would be for people.

If you didn't see above, a forward button is in process, the code is in the extension, the image is there, the forward command function hasn't been programmed though

javascript.allow.mailnews

Oh wow, no wonder javascript never worked for me. I totally had no idea about that pref. Well I might make a pref dialog and add that in...Of course you just need noscript to do that whitelist thing for javascript for thunderbird and everything will be peachy keen or if I program the extension so it also has something like that.

i don't think NoScript works in Tb (although AdBlock Plus does). actually, the notifier for javascript rfe is best a separate extension/button, but really a one time permit js tool, and not a full whitelister like NoScript. Tb devs have really gone out of their way in the name of security in email to hide that pref and prevent anything interesting from working in the message pane. for me, email is about 20% of Tb usage vs. rss/newsgroups.

I guess I wasn't clear by "Of course you just need noscript to do that whitelist thing for javascript for thunderbird". Probably should have added a "would" by the just. And personally, TB is more mail for me than rss/newsgroups (I prefer RSSOwl over TB's RSS stuff).

Posted June 14th, 2007, 4:14 pm

ThunderBrowse 2.7 is now public on AMO

[Ext] ThunderBrowse 3.3.5 for Thunderbird

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