Firefox:2.0 Customizable Toolbars

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Following a Blog Post Here there is one thing I realised that Firefox would do well to be prepared for, namely:

"I would just like to play devils advocate and warn that this could soon lead to a future where users get Firefox toolbars by MSN, Yahoo, AOL etc installed automatically when they download any of their software (such that currently happens with Yahoo and MSN already on IE) and users could end up with half a ton of annoying toolbars on firefox. This possibility should definitely be taken into consideration for Firefox 1.5 / 2.0"

Possibly have a dialog appear asking the user if they would like to install the toolbar when a setup program tries to register the Extension via its own Installer.

With many, many users using and downloading AIM, Yahoo, MSN - this inded is a problem that should not be ignored. Any thoughts?

Alfred's Comments

Besides having control over what gets installed (checkmarking required for each extension/toolbar), also more control disabling and uninstalling (completely) any toolbar (and extensions in general) should be offered. Disabling extensions is already easy, as well as toolbars (right click on toolbar and enable/disable any toolbar). But uninstalling is not complete, as it keeps the files around, and even the 'registry' (the rdf files) are not cleaned. This is something which is a must!

Dan's Comments

A toolbar should not be installed unless the user really wants it (i.e., it offers more than the search functionality that MyCroft does). A user should be warned if he/she already has a MyCroft plugin related to a toolbar and must confirm the request to install a toolbar.

Ivan's Comments

As far as I get it, extension system should check whether something is being installed to Firefox. So if Google/Yahoo installed something, they ask user to approve that. Sorry, I can't see any significance of asking for toolbars separatly. There are much worse things than toolbars and these are spyware/hijacking. Eventually, you can add additional warning in dialogue where user approves extension that it will add new toolbar.

Zeev's Comments

I had an idea for a feature that could solve some toolbar clutter. A tool that when activated, monitors how often you use each of the visible toolbar icons... And once in a while suggests to getrid of unused buttons.