Unified add-ons UI improvements

[kremlinbot]

The current menu, although being Mv3-compatible, is very basic and simply shows all active add-ons without any option to anyhow customize it. Furthermore, this update removed an option to pin add-ons in the overflow menu, effectively making it useless, which obviously will not be welcomed by the users.

So, what can be done?

• Re-add an option to pin add-ons in the list; all the add-ons that were pinned in the overflow list before will be re-pinned in the add-ons list after the update. It'd be also nice to have an option to change their order, although I'm not sure how this can be implemented (perhaps strip the overflow menu completely and replace it with the new one in the "Customize..." page?)
• The "Add-ons" button will only show the pinned add-ons list first, and require an additional click to expand it to see the full list. If none of the add-ons are pinned, the button will only show the full list (like it does right now)
• If some add-on needs new permissions, or requires permission to run on website, it will be shown on the top of the list in both of the lists, except if it was pinned by user before. It will also feature additional outline to draw the user's attention.

So, what do you think?

[Jon]

Hey all,

Here with an exciting update…

Your idea has quickly received a great deal of votes (kudos) and support here in the Mozilla Connect community, so we are upgrading the status to “Trending idea.” This means it’s now one step closer to reaching our internal teams for review—learn more about The Idea Journey.

Please keep the conversation going (the more details, the better) and stay tuned for updates 😃

-The Community Team

[uws]

Hi.

What happened to the overflow menu? Has it been permanently removed? Because not even

extensions.unifiedExtensions.enabled to false

works now which is very annoying.

FF 111.0b1 (64-bit)

[kremlinbot]

@uws, IIRC there was a note this feature will be removed in a few releases, and it seems the key is now scrapped entirely, so probably it's gone now.

[leegregory4367]

I don't want the overflow tab at all. Period. I LIKE being able to see all of my extensions, because sometimes, just like icons on my desktop or phone, I forget which ones I have unless they are visible.
I put my most used app buttons on my pc taskbar so I can get to them more easily instead of leaving them in the start menu. 
That's another thing. I don't mind the look of having them all visible on the taskbar. I DO resent having to click yet ONE MORE button to get to where I wanna go. I already have to change settings on 20-30 items in 'settings' and 'about:config' to get it how I like it after a reset just to kill everything Mozilla keeps adding so their employees feel relevant. Make them sweep the floor or empty the garbage, but KEEP THE APPS AWAY FROM THEM, PLEASE!

[m4a4]

If only something less half baked like this wasn't rammed into the live build. Or if they didn't ignore "extensions.unifiedExtensions.enabled"...

[SenileOtaku]

Playing around with the sort/display order of the Extensions Button, pinning extensions there, etc still doesn't fix the problem that the menu is too big, fat and cluttered.  The Overflow Menu didn't have this problem.

[chris-vecchio]

I agree with @leegregory4367. I LIKE seeing all of my extension icons on the toolbar not hidden away in a menu. I understand you can add icons to the toolbar by right clicking in the new menu but Firefox keeps erasing my icon preferences after updates so all of the icons are back in the new menu. Thankfully I made a backup of the browser.uiCustomization.state about:config option or I would have to waste time re-adding all of the icons I want on the toolbar. If I remove icons from the new menu, please leave them on the toolbar.

I also agree with the main message of this post that we should be able to hide the unified menu if we want to. I'm a Firefox fan for life but taking away such a simple option from users makes me question development decisions. Want to make the unified menu a default for new installs? Fine. But let users remove it if they want. Preferably in toolbar options not in an about:config setting.

[Leonaru]

Amazing how Firefox allows you to remove the URL bar from your interface, but no, the extension button is too special to be even moved properly.

[BelFox]

@LeonaruYou can't remove the URL bar, at least not on Windows. Please tell me on which platform you can?

[Reader]

I don't know whether I missed Object Permanency class as an infant or what, but if I can't see my extensions, I forget I have them.  If I can see them, they're very useful.  I agree with everyone who would like to show their extensions in the overflow toolbar.