{"id":384,"date":"2011-01-31T17:04:05","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T06:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/?p=384"},"modified":"2011-01-31T17:31:03","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T06:31:03","slug":"removing-the-last-updated-text-from-firefox-4s-addon-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/2011\/01\/removing-the-last-updated-text-from-firefox-4s-addon-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Removing the \u2018last updated\u2019 text from Firefox 4\u2019s addon manager"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jen\u00adny Boriss writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The intend\u00aded pur\u00adpose of the add-on manager\u2019s list view is to give a brief overview of the users\u2019 add-ons and to pro\u00advide only the min\u00adi\u00admal, most used infor\u00adma\u00adtion and functionality.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t think a small chunk of text on each addon entry is caus\u00ading the man\u00adag\u00ader to be aes\u00adthet\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly busy. The absurd amount of white\u00adspace and con\u00adfus\u00ading visu\u00adal struc\u00adture is actu\u00adal\u00adly respon\u00adsi\u00adble for that.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Some addi\u00adtion\u00adal com\u00adments about the addon man\u00adag\u00ader inter\u00adface can be found in a pre\u00advi\u00adous post about the Fire\u00adfox 4 UI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Some advanced users use the last updat\u00aded date as a diag\u00adnos\u00adtic tool to iden\u00adti\u00adfy which add-on updates may be caus\u00ading a recent prob\u00adlem in Fire\u00adfox. How\u00adev\u00ader, the date makes a very poor diag\u00adnos\u00adtic tool. One rea\u00adson is that the date does not give any infor\u00adma\u00adtion about the size nor scope of the update, and thus can only be used for diag\u00adno\u00adsis by dis\u00adabling one add-on at a time to iso\u00adlate a prob\u00adlem. In many cas\u00ades, a prob\u00adlem in Fire\u00adfox caused by an add-on are instant\u00adly iden\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adable as being caused by a par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar add-on.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This has not been my expe\u00adri\u00adence. Dis\u00adabling the last updat\u00aded addon has been a suc\u00adcess\u00adful tech\u00adnique for me in at least two cas\u00ades. For exam\u00adple, towards the end of last year half of my tabs dis\u00adap\u00adpeared with one mid\u00addle-click. I have a few tab-relat\u00aded addons installed so a few were sus\u00adpect. Luck\u00adi\u00adly I remem\u00adbered which one had updat\u00aded last (around week pri\u00ador to the bug sur\u00adfac\u00ading so dra\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly) so I down\u00adgrad\u00aded the Tree-style Tabs<\/a> addon and things went back to nor\u00admal. This is a case where sort\u00ading by last update date is very use\u00adful. (Or maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m an advanced user who can tie his own shoelaces with\u00adout a video demon\u00adstra\u00adtion on Youtube<\/a>).<\/p>\n

What would be ide\u00adal for sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtions like this is for recent\u00adly-updat\u00aded addons to have a \u2018down\u00adgrade\u2019 or \u2018down-date\u2019 (for want of a bet\u00adter term) option avail\u00adable to the user should some\u00adthing appear wrong with the addon that can\u2019t be explained through error logs or crash reports. This fea\u00adture also com\u00adpen\u00adsates for users who update an addon (or have it updat\u00aded auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly) only to dis\u00adcov\u00ader a key fea\u00adture that they used has been changed or removed.<\/p>\n

\n

Even in the rare case where a prob\u00adlem sud\u00adden\u00adly appears in Fire\u00adfox, the chances of it being from an add-on update are not large. A prob\u00adlem could be caused by any num\u00adber of online events, which is why Fire\u00adfox pro\u00advides tools such as the Error Con\u00adsole and about:crashes to help diag\u00adnose them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The con\u00adsole out\u00adput and about:crashes would not have helped for the case above as it was a log\u00adic error in the addon, not a syn\u00adtax error.<\/p>\n

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And, even if we were to give fuller infor\u00adma\u00adtion about updates in the add-ons man\u00adag\u00ader and make it into a bet\u00adter diag\u00adnos\u00adtic tool, why should this tool be so far removed from oth\u00ader diag\u00adnos\u00adtic tools? How could a new user fig\u00adure out that, to access diag\u00adnos\u00adtic tools relat\u00aded to add-ons, they should go to the add-ons man\u00adag\u00ader rather than a more com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsive diag\u00adnos\u00adtic tool? It would be wild\u00adly inef\u00adfi\u00adcient to apply this else\u00adwhere in Fire\u00adfox by plac\u00ading diag\u00adnos\u00adtic tools only on the inter\u00adface ele\u00adments they relate to.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

No one asked for diag\u00adnos\u00adtic tools to be splayed through\u00adout the inter\u00adface, so I\u2019m not sure where that came from. I cer\u00adtain\u00adly don\u2019t want the dash\u00adboard of my car look like a 747 cock\u00adpit but I would like to be giv\u00aden a hint about the oil lev\u00adel since that changes over time while I\u2019m not look\u00ading<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If I was a user with a few addons that affect say, tabs, and the tab bar start\u00aded act\u00ading funky, I\u2019d think about what change could have caused it. Did I fid\u00addle with any set\u00adtings? No. Did the brows\u00ader update in the last week? No. Did those tab addons update? Hmm, I remem\u00adber see\u00ading some\u00adthing about that. How do I check stuff about addons? Oh, the addon man\u00adag\u00ader<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I think strip\u00adping out poten\u00adtial\u00adly use\u00adful diag\u00adnos\u00adtic infor\u00adma\u00adtion for pure\u00adly aes\u00adthet\u00adic rea\u00adsons is the wrong choice. Con\u00adsid\u00ader the dif\u00adfer\u00adence in time and com\u00adplex\u00adi\u00adty if I want to find the most recent\u00adly updat\u00aded addon for the sce\u00adnario above:<\/p>\n