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Mozilla is Launching Curated Recommended Extensions Program This Summer (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the interesting-features dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: However much you love your chosen web browser, you have probably enhanced its capabilities through the use of add-ons. Finding decent, reliable add-ons can be tricky, and this is why Mozilla is launching the Recommended Extensions program. This editor-curated program will surface the very best vetted extensions for Firefox, and it is due to roll out in stages later this summer.

Mozilla says that any extensions it recommends through the program will be highlighted across its portfolio of websites and products, including addons.mozilla.org (AMO) and on Firefox's Get Add-Ons page. The company is already identifying extensions it likes the look of, and will soon be reaching out to developers. Changes should be seen on AMO around June.

33 comments

  1. Dear Leader by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Humanity seems to repel and then beg for the Dear Leader—the Great Curator, if you will.

    One of these days, we'll head back towards the green, unpolluted pastures of decentralization. See you there!

  2. The pattern never changes by TimothyHollins · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I predict using my superior logic that it will go exactly the same way as all other curated programmes in this space. It starts out as a great way to find top quality and vetted addons, then when the community starts to associate that little "recommended" tag with quality Mozilla gets swamped with addons that want to get recommended, and eventually they start to use the tag for financial purposes. The only positive side is that since Firefox isn't dominant on the market it will take longer before they reach the end stage.

    1. Re: The pattern never changes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's already here for users in China. China operates on its own free market schedule, and I for one would strongly advise China to continue to do so. After all, US custom doesn't even hold sway in the US much less in China where most restrictive development customs are ignored or forbidden.

    2. Re: The pattern never changes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what?

    3. Re:The pattern never changes by 0ld_d0g · · Score: 0

      Logical arguments are not necessarily the only means to reach the truth. The world, including people actions, are not solely governed by logic because our model is incomplete. Which is why we have Experimental Physics in addition to Theoretical Physics :)

    4. Re:The pattern never changes by omfglearntoplay · · Score: 2

      I'm fine with Mozilla making some recommendations. I found the Waze app before it became a google thing due to some recommendation.

      I mean, in general, yeah, I know what I want and need. But if I'm not looking for something, I am curious about any above average add-ons that might do something that I didn't know was even possible.

    5. Re: The pattern never changes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong article bud. You want the cryptocurrency article two slots up.

    6. Re:The pattern never changes by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      I'm wondering how they're going to do this. Since most of the best extensions are XUL, will it recommend Pale Moon or Waterfox instead of itself?

    7. Re:The pattern never changes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mozilla's just rubbing salt in the wound.

      It'll be a single page with about 5 WebExtensions. The rest of their available addons are adware clones of each other due to Mozilla's lack of APIs.

      I'm still waiting for that toolbar API.

  3. Classic Addon Archive by xack · · Score: 1

    Along with either Waterfox, Basilisk or Pale Moon. The quality of XUL addons are still superior to Webextentions. You can even Get Mypal and run them on Windows XP. Classic OSes deserve classic addons.

    1. Re:Classic Addon Archive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And classic malware

    2. Re:Classic Addon Archive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The quality of XUL extensions is exactly as shitty as it always was. Some people just don't mind, because they're willing to put up with the shit (and using a niche fork) to get some advanced features. If they really wanted the quality they're always claiming XUL extensions had, they would have already been working on porting them to experimental addons, which already work on unbranded Firefox builds (which are at least based on the same builds that get the CI and QA paces that Firefox does, unlike the forks).

  4. Recommended extension: NONE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Simply put you don't need browser extensions.

    Just more to break and waste your time.

  5. So the main question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is Pocket a curated extension, or still something they force-feed their users?

    1. Re: So the main question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is! And it's amazing. You must be talking about snake oil and tonic, which would be great by itself and its very safe. Water under the bridge. Bye!

  6. Well, Freedom of Speech requires it (Dissenter) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you want to be able to communicate unimpeded by someone's political agenda, you'll need something like Gab's Dissenter extension.

  7. "Curated" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Euphemism for someone else deciding exactly what you should watch..

  8. The first un-recommended add-ons are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Autoplay of video in web pages including the muted but still being played lameness including streamed GIFs and other hacks - (annoyance, bandwidth)
    2. Access to the microphone built into Firefox - an exploit waiting to happen - (privacy)
    3. Access to the camera built into Firefox - an exploit waiting to happen - (privacy)
    4. Inability to automatically clear history and cache on desktop and mobile - (privacy, performance, security)
    5. Inability to forget the last page you visited on mobile and not load it when starting Firefox (privacy, security, bandwidth, usability)
    6. Defaulting to autoupdate for the twice a month releases having no real new compelling features (bandwidth, breaking my machine)
    7. Sending my auto correct spelling, url fragments typed in to ??? recording service

    Usability is down for Firefox as they want to eat your bandwidth with autoplay videos (even muted ones), always remember history and the last page visited and worst of all, have a soon to be exploited access in the binary to the camera and microphone.

    Like trusting that the unused microphone in your smart thermostat will never ever ever be enabled by you, an automatic software update or remotely be interested parties.

     

    1. Re:The first un-recommended add-ons are by tepples · · Score: 1

      1. Autoplay of video in web pages including the muted but still being played lameness including streamed GIFs and other hacks - (annoyance, bandwidth)

      See for example demonstrations of some of these hacks. But how exactly would you propose to detect them and block block them, without breaking not only the JavaScript needed for web applications but also the CSS needed for even static HTML documents?

      2. Access to the microphone built into Firefox - an exploit waiting to happen - (privacy)

      Would you prefer having to use a native voice chat app? That runs the risk of "We're sorry! The voice chat application is not available for your platform."

      3. Access to the camera built into Firefox - an exploit waiting to happen - (privacy)

      Would you prefer having to use a native video chat app? That runs the risk of "We're sorry! The video chat application is not available for your platform."

    2. Re:The first un-recommended add-ons are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Would you prefer having to use a native video chat app? That runs the risk of "We're sorry! The video chat application is not available for your platform."

      Don't want it in the browser. A dedicated audio and video chat app is preferred.

      Blocking autoplay of content adhering to the WW3/ECMA standard as a first pass and then blocking the hacks one at a time.

      Phrasing questions of you can't block 100% when why have blocking at all is off kilter; block the vast majority of standards based autoplay content and then cut the rest a little at a time.

      By that logic, you should not use any computer since there is likely a 0.000000001% chance or higher of a security exploit waiting to be used in the OS.

    3. Re:The first un-recommended add-ons are by tepples · · Score: 1

      A dedicated audio and video chat app is preferred.

      If the person with whom you are attempting to communicate prefers a "dedicated audio and video chat app" exclusive to macOS and iOS, would you buy a Mac, an iPhone, or an iPad for the purpose of communicating with this person?

      Blocking autoplay of content adhering to the WW3/ECMA standard as a first pass and then blocking the hacks one at a time.

      CSS animations are a W3C standard, and JavaScript animations are the result of an ECMA standard (ECMAScript) interacting with W3C standards (HTML DOM and CSS).

  9. Nobody wants this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you listening Mozilla? Nobody wants this. Nobody.

    Stop listening to whoever is sucking your dick. They do not have the best interests of Mozilla at heart.

    1. Re:Nobody wants this. by JMJimmy · · Score: 1

      I want this... with XUL extensions

    2. Re:Nobody wants this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is that something you could build yourself, or a group of people independently of Mozilla? I can see some utility in that, given the abundance and variety of the old XUL extensions. Such a presentation could also encourage their maintenance.

  10. Apple ruined the word "curated." by Hillie · · Score: 1

    After Tim Cook's Stalinesque speech about how hate has no place on their platform. (ie. anything that disagrees with our political ideology or exposes corruption) the word "curated" leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So I will avoid anything that says it's curated.

    It's kinda like how baiscally "free" plugins that provide tons of value and don't charge you anything. I avoid those like the plague. Because basically the way that they are free is they track you and then sell your most personal details to the highest bidder.

    Honey? Nope. Grammarly? Nope. Facebook? F no.

    --
    - Alex
  11. Re:The usual Slippery Slope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Android Play Store apps could use some curation. I needed a simple QR code reader and there must be 1000 of them, all junk, and monetized, and apparently all ripped off form someone's free software project. How many fucking QR code readers do we need? Some Hindu chimps in Bombay sitting in his stinkhole hovel thinking he's a big time software developer because he put his own name and credentials on someone else's code.

  12. FIrefox Evolution Extension ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Every time you open the browser it randomly re-arranges the menu's, the locations of things, colour scheme's, square/round/concave/convex ness, random number of inches of wasted whitespace around everything, randomly turn misfeatures on and off, randomly turn on crap that you have deliberately disabled ...

    Oh, they have that one built-in already. But it is defective because it only re-randomizes everything wherever there is an update.

    1. Re:FIrefox Evolution Extension ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every time you open the browser it randomly re-arranges the menu's, the locations of things, colour scheme's, square/round/concave/convex ness, random number of inches of wasted whitespace around everything, randomly turn misfeatures on and off, randomly turn on crap that you have deliberately disabled ...

      Oh, they have that one built-in already. But it is defective because it only re-randomizes everything wherever there is an update.

      Sounds like (yet another) Windows problem. On my Linux systems I update Firefox through my package manager. It replaces the Firefox binaries/shared libraries/etc while never touching the .mozilla configuration directory in my home directory. In general, system package managers have no business touching anything under /home ever. So when I set any kind of settings, they stay set.

      I take it you have Firefox (and probably lots of other applications) updating itself in the background periodically? While your reported results are definitely Mozilla's fault (they probably come with default configs that Linux package managers ignore) it is definitely not everyone's experience.

  13. needs a reflow text option by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    needs a reflow text option to prevent having to Sideways scroll continually

  14. Tab Mix Plus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Should stick that up as one of the first curated extensi...oh wait, that's impossible to implement in Firefox now...

  15. Great idea! by DeVilla · · Score: 1

    This is a great idea, and I'm ready to contribute.

    If you do a lot of reading, paragrasp is excellent for highlighting the current paragragh, list entry, etc. This is a must have! The thought of following my RSS feed without is ... oh wait. Right. It doesn't work any more with firefox. *sigh*.

    No matter, I got really good at organizing tabs with the tab group feature that Mozilla build into the browser. Then Mozilla removed it, but the functionally was maintained and improved as an addon. It's not for everyone, but once you start creating groups for topics (the car, open pandora software and reading, software for controlling my guitar multi-effects processor) there's no replacement. Oh wait. That's stopped working too. And there really was no replacement.

    But still there are good addons to take advanage of. I've been using tabmix plus for about as long as there has been addon support in firefox. That's been one of the most popular addons I can think of. And ... oh, that's still being "ported".

    Well, there are still little things you can do with addons. For instance firefox has the nasty mis-feature of putting really useful key binding for things like switching tab or close the current tab right next to the "kill all my web browsers with fire and don't ask twice!" button. There used to be options to disable this or at least force a confirmation, but no more. Then comes an addon to the rescue! to disable Ctrl-Q so you never close the browser by accident. Genius! ... Well if you aren't on Linux. ... These kind of addons haven't worked on Linux since the addon API was "improved". But no worry! There is a bug report for it. It's been there for 2 years and the most recent comment from 9 months ago when further comments got locked because there was too much advocacy chatter in the bug report for them to be able to fix it. And they aren't sure if they want to fix it. Well, I didn't expect that. Depressing. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/s...

    Then there are the really nifty plugins that made firefox more powerful in all sorts of wonderful ways like Chatzilla, Poster, FireFTP ... oh. Those kind of things are all gone too I guess.

    Well. Perhaps I'm not the one to help with the curated collection of current addons. Still, firerfox is still good. They care about privacy. Well more than any of the other browser makers. And they support an open web. Well more than the others, only giving in and supporting DRM like EME when they "have no choice".

    Three cheers for the power, flexibility and principles of the community browser!