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Calculus
Currently the UI for Extension Manager is trim, but rather random/limited. A reinvestigation of it is warranted.  
Topics in calculus
Fundamental theorem | Function | Limits of functions | Continuity | Calculus with polynomials | Mean value theorem | Vector calculus | Tensor calculus
Differentiation
Product rule | Quotient rule | Chain rule | Implicit differentiation | Taylor's theorem | Related rates
Integration
Integration by substitution | Integration by parts | Integration by trigonometric substitution | Solids of revolution | Integration by disks | Integration by cylindrical shells | Improper integrals | Lists of integrals
For other uses of the term calculus see calculus (disambiguation)
Calculus is a central branch of mathematics, developed from algebra and geometry, and built on two major complementary ideas.


One concept is differential calculus. It studies rates of change, which are usually illustrated by the slope of a line. Differential calculus is based on the problem of finding the instantaneous rate of change of one quantity relative to another. Examples of typical differential calculus problems are finding the following quantities:
==Problems==


The acceleration and speed of a free-falling body at a particular moment.
* action of "Update" button is not clearly defined
The loss in speed and trajectory of a fired projectile, such as an artillery shell or bullet.
* people are not finding individual "Options" panels for Extensions
Change in profitability over time of a growing business at a particular point in time.
* no easy way to enable/disable an item
The other key concept is integral calculus. It studies the accumulation of quantities, such as areas under a curve, linear distance traveled, or volume displaced. Examples of integral calculus problems include finding the following quantities:
* no easy way to find documentation on an item
* no easy way to restart the app after an indication that this is necessary
* enabling/disabling/upgrading/installing etc all require app restarts (2.0)
* often used items are sometimes at the end of a scrolling extension list
* user must scroll to find individual update buttons or read status text. (The important UI is hidden from view with no priority)


The amount of water pumped by a pump with a set power input but varying conditions of pumping losses and pressure.
==Some solutions==
The amount of money accumulated by a business under varying business conditions.
The amount of parking lot plowed by a snowplow of given power with varying rates of snowfall.
The two concepts, differentiation and integration, define inverse operations in a sense made precise by the fundamental theorem of calculus. In teaching calculus, either concept may be given priority. The usual educational approach is to introduce differential calculus first.


Contents [hide]
Many extensions have complex configuration options. We prefer authors include an optionsURL arc in their install.rdf specifying a chrome:// URI to display as their Options dialog, but many people don't seem to find Extension options due to their access from the Extensions window, rather than the Options window. One idea might be to fold the Extensions (and Themes) window back into the Options window:
1 History
2 Differential calculus
3 Integral calculus
4 Foundations
5 Fundamental theorem of calculus
6 Applications
7 See also
8 Further reading
9 External links


<pre>
+-----------------------------------------########---------+
|  @@@ +------------+@    @@@    @@@  ##@@@###  @@@    |
|  @@@ | Languages  |@    @@@    @@@  ##@@@###  @@@    |
| Genera| Plugins    |ent  Tabs Downloads #Addons#Advanced |
+-------| Themes    |--------------------########---------+
| Show: [ Extensions :^] [x] include disabled items        |
|                                                          |
| +--------------------------------+ For BugMeNot:        |
| |#@@#BugMeNot#5.4################| (( @ Options... ))    |
| |#@@#Bypass#compulsory#web#re...#|  ( @ Help & Docs... ) |
| | ------------------------------ |  ( @ Disable )        |
| | @@ GreaseMonkey 0.3.3          |  ( @ Uninstall )      |
| | @@ A User Script Manager fo... |  ( @ Find Update )    |
| | ------------------------------ |                      |
| | @@ Google Send to Phone 0.3    |  ( @ Home Page... )  |
| | @@ Send text messages to yo... |  ( @ About )          |
| | ------------------------------ |                      |
| | @@ Session Saver 0.2.1.028    | For all Extensions:  |
| | @@ Magically restores your ... |  ( @ Find Updates )  |
| |                                |                      |
| |                                |                      |
| | Get More Extensions ...        |                      |
| +--------------------------------+                      |
|                                                          |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
</pre>


[edit]
== Comment by [[User:NicoleTedesco|Nicole Tedesco]] ==
History
Main article: History of calculus


Though the origins of integral calculus are generally regarded as going no farther back than to the ancient Greeks, there is evidence that the ancient Egyptians may have harbored such knowledge as well. (See Moscow Mathematical Papyrus.) Eudoxus is generally credited with the method of exhaustion, which made it possible to compute the area and volume of regions and solids. Archimedes developed this method further, while also inventing heuristic methods which resemble modern day concepts. An Indian Mathematician, Bhaskara (1114-1185), gave an example of what is now called the "differential coefficient" and the basic idea of what is now known as "Rolle's theorem". The 14th century Indian mathematician Madhava along with other mathematicians of the Kerala school made major inroads into Calculus that were not repeated anywhere in the world until the 17th century by Newton and Leibniz. Leibniz and Newton are usually designated the inventors of calculus, mainly for their separate discoveries of the fundamental theorem of calculus and work on notation.
I really like the idea of providing a standard way of allowing extensions to register UI blocks into the appropriate Options category/categories. I also like the idea of also keeping the all-in-one-spot Options UI link from the extension itself. (In fact, if there is a standard way to add options in terms of blocks and categories, the all-in-one would get built automatically. See the [http://www.Eclipse.org/ Eclipse] project for interesting examples.)


There has been considerable debate about whether Newton or Leibniz was first to come up with the important concepts of calculus. The truth of the matter will likely never be known. Leibniz' greatest contribution to calculus was his notation; he often spent days trying to come up with the appropriate symbol to represent a mathematical idea. This controversy between Leibniz and Newton was unfortunate in that it divided English-speaking mathematicians from those in Europe for many years, setting back British analysis (i.e. calculus-based mathematics) for a very long time. Newton's terminology and notation was clearly less flexible than that of Leibniz, yet it was retained in British usage until the early 19th century, when the work of the Analytical Society successfully saw the introduction of Leibniz's notation in Great Britain. It is now thought that Newton had discovered several ideas related to calculus earlier than Leibniz had; however, Leibniz was the first to publish. Today, both Leibniz and Newton are considered to have discovered calculus independently.
== Comment by [[User:NicoleTedesco|Nicole Tedesco]] ==


Lesser credit for the development of calculus is given to Barrow, Descartes, de Fermat, Huygens, and Wallis. A Japanese mathematician, Kowa Seki, lived at the same time as Leibniz and Newton and also elaborated some of the fundamental principles of integral calculus, though this was not known in the West at the time, and he had no contact with Western scholars. [1]
Please, please, ''please,'' let the Extensions Manager run without starting the browser!  When dealing with a bad extension--perhaps one that crashes Firefox on every start--I would love to run just the Extension Manager to disable or uninstall unwanted features ''and then allow Firefox to start and run the new configuration.''


[edit]
== Comment by [[User:NicoleTedesco|Nicole Tedesco]] ==
Differential calculus
Main article: Derivative


The derivative measures the sensitivity of one variable to small changes in another variable. Consider the formula:
Extensions are categorized on the web site, so why can't that categorization follow into the UI?  Especially if a lot of extensions are loaded, and especially if I forgot which did what, a categorized list would be oh-so-helpful!


for an object moving at constant speed.
=== Reply by [[User:Dasch|Daniel Schierbeck]] ===
One's speed in a car describes the change in location relative to the change in time. However, the speed itself may be changing and the formula above cannot account for that. Calculus deals with this more complex but natural and familiar situation.


Differential calculus determines the instantaneous speed, at any given specific instant in time, not just average speed during an interval of time. The formula Speed = Distance/Time applied to a single instant is the meaningless quotient "zero divided by zero". This is avoided, however, because the quotient Distance/Time is not used for a single instant (as in a still photograph), but for intervals of time that are very short.
The problem with your suggestion is that many, if not most extensions have multiple categories. Should the extensions then also appear under more than one category, like they do on the Mozilla Update site? That would only serve to make the extension list longer and more complex.


The derivative answers the question: as the elapsed time approaches zero, what does the average speed computed by Distance/Time approach? In mathematical language, this is an example of "taking a limit."
It's basically a good idea, but we need to give it a lot more thought before it's ready to be implemented.


More formally, differential calculus defines the instantaneous rate of change (the derivative) of a mathematical function's value, with respect to changes of the variable. The derivative is defined as a limit of a difference quotient.
== Comment by [[User:Robert_Strong|Robert Strong]] ==


The derivative of a function gives information about small pieces of its graph. It is directly relevant to finding the maxima and minima of a function — because at those points the graph is flat (i.e. the slope of the graph is zero). Another application of differential calculus is Newton's method, an algorithm to find zeroes of a function by approximating the function by its tangent lines. Differential calculus has been applied to many questions that are not first formulated in the language of calculus.
Building on the select ui for selecting categories I think it would be appropriate to have additional categories for 'has updates', 'disabled', 'installing' etc. and allow opening the ui to a specific selection. If notification of updates is added back it would then be possible to open the ui and show all extensions and themes - or any other add-on that can in the future be updated - that have updates available. When the ui is opened for an install the only items shown would be the items being installed. This would solve the problem of where an item should be in the list as well as there being the original item and the new item being shown simultaneously during an install / upgrade.


The derivative lies at the heart of the physical sciences. Newton's law of motion, Force = Mass × Acceleration, has meaning in calculus because acceleration is a derivative. Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism and Einstein's theory of gravity (general relativity) are also expressed in the language of differential calculus, as is the basic theory of electrical circuits and much of engineering.
There could also be an option of 'For All Addons: Update All' similar to the commands listed after 'For All Extensions: Find Updates'. With this type of an approach it should be possible to either provide user defined categories or for an extension to do so (I prefer having an extension provide this) where items can be added to a view no matter what their type is. Since only specific actions are available for each type of item it should be possible to display different types of items in the same view as well. This would allow 'For All Addons: Find Updates', etc.


[edit]
== Comment by [[User:Goatsuckergeneral|Sam Maister]] ==
Integral calculus
Main article: Integral


The definite integral evaluates the cumulative effect of many small changes in a quantity. The simplest instance is the formula
Following on from what Robert said about updates, I think that the default action of the 'Check for Updates' option on the Help menu should be to check for updates for everything - Core, Extensions and Themes.  There should also be some notification for extension and theme updates in the same way that there is for new versions of the browser.  I know more than a few people who have extensions installed and who don't ever open the EM or TM to check for updates, so they are stuck with the old version of the extension until the old version breaks when the browser updates itself!


== Comment by [[User:Amal]] ==
for calculating the distance a car moves during a period of time when it is traveling at constant speed. The distance moved is the cumulative effect of the small distances moved in each of the many seconds the car is on the road. The calculus is able to deal with the natural situation in which the car moves with changing speed.


Integral calculus determines the exact distance traveled during an interval of time by creating a series of better and better approximations, called Riemann sums, that approach the exact distance.
Perhaps this would take some development time and excessive server load, but I think it would be cool to create an initial browser configuration on the web site. Before you initially download firefox, you would take a brief survey regarding your preferences for configuration. The site will then compile an installer package for you with the appropriate settings and extensions included. If you don't like it, you can change things around the old ways or perhaps retake the survey and have your firefox "updated".


More formally, we say that the definite integral of a function on an interval is a limit of Riemann sum approximations.
== Comment by [[User:Jgordon00|Josh Gordon]] ==


Applications of integral calculus arise whenever the problem is to compute a number that is in principle (approximately) equal to the sum of the solutions of many, many smaller problems.
It would be great to see a way to easily export all installed extensions (with their preferences) so that a user can easily have the same setup on different computers without having to locate and reinstall the extensions.


The classic geometric application is to area computations. In principle, the area of a region can be approximated by chopping it up into many very tiny squares and adding the areas of those squares. (If the region has a curved boundary, then omitting the squares overlapping the edge does not cause too great an error.) Surface areas and volumes can also be expressed as definite integrals.
== Comment by [[User:Korbo|Goulven Champenois]] ==


Many of the functions that are integrated are rates, such as a speed. An integral of a rate of change of a quantity on an interval of time tells how much that quantity changes during that time period. It makes sense that if one knows their speed at every instant in time for an hour (i.e. they have an equation that relates their speed and time), then they should be able to figure out how far they go during that hour. The definite integral of their speed presents a method for doing so.
Browser behaviour is set in one convenient place, the options menu. Extensions change the browser behaviour, and/or add functionalities to it. From a user's point of view, extensions extend options available for the browser, and any distinction between these two interaction points are irrelevant. My recommendation would be to
# add a tab to the options window, listing installed options.
# provide "hooks" for extensions in the regular options panel noticing the user when an installed extension combines with regular behaviour in the tab settings currently being viewed. (e.g. tab modifier, download manager, etc...)


Many of the functions that are integrated represent densities. If, for example, the pollution density along a river (tons per mile) is known in relation to the position, then the integral of that density can determine how much pollution there is in the whole length of the river.
(in response to problem #5: no easy way to restart the app after an indication that this is necessary).<br>
Addressing another issue: if restarting the browser is necessary to register changes in extension list, providing a way of doing so while preserving the browser window/s in their pre-reload state would be convenient and user-friendly. What would you think of, upon closing the extension/option menu window with unregistered changes, an alert box reading like so:<br>
''You need to restart the browser to take changes into account. Restore opened tabs and windows after reloading? (will not affect your starting page etc.)''<br>


Probability, the basis for statistics, provides one of the most important applications of integral calculus.


[edit]
== Comment by [[User:Dasch|Daniel Schierbeck]] ==
Foundations
The rigorous foundation of calculus is based on the notions of a function and of a limit; the latter has a theory ultimately depending on that of the real numbers as a continuum. Its tools include techniques associated with elementary algebra, and mathematical induction.


The modern study of the foundations of calculus is known as real analysis. This includes full definitions and proofs of the theorems of calculus. It also provides generalisations such as measure theory and distribution theory.
I think the easiest thing we could do to enhance the extension manager user interface is simply to move the buttons into the list.


[edit]
<pre>
Fundamental theorem of calculus
.------------------------------------------------------------.
The fundamental theorem of calculus states that differentiation and integration are, in a certain sense, inverse operations. More precisely, antiderivatives can be calculated with definite integrals, and vice versa.
|                        Extensions                        |
|============================================================|
| .--------------------------------------------------------. |
| | @@@ Mozilla XForms 0.4                                | |
| | @@@ XForms support for Mozilla                        | |
| |    [ Options ] [ Update ]            [ Uninstall ]  | |
| |--------------------------------------------------------| |
| | @@@ Google Safe Browsing 1.1                          | |
| | @@@ Warns you about fraudulent web pages              | |
| |--------------------------------------------------------| |
| | @@@ Talkback 1.5.0.1                                  | |
| | @@@ Submit a crash report to Mozilla.org              | |
| |--------------------------------------------------------| |
| | @@@ DOM Inspector 1.8.0.1                              | |
| | @@@ Inspect the DOM of HTML, XUL, and XML pages...     | |
| '--------------------------------------------------------' |
| [ Update all extensions ]                        [ Close ] |
'------------------------------------------------------------'
</pre>


This connection allows us to recover the total change in a function over some interval from its instantaneous rate of change, by integrating the latter.
==Comment by [[User:Foxxen2|Foxxen2]]==


This realization, made by both Newton and Leibniz, was key to the massive proliferation of analytic results after their work became known.
* I do think that the general update function should watch extension and theme updates too, because the less a user has to do of maintenance, the better in general. Especially:
** If a core update would break an extension or theme, by default shouldn't allow incompatible modules to run without a user override, and it should draw attention to the potential risks of override: "Only do this if you are sure, the author has not guaranteeed compatibility."
** Provide for advanced users, a list of updates found, with check boxes next to each. ("Autopatcher" [[:Image:Autopatcher screenshot.png|screenshot]] does this very neatly)


The fundamental theorem provides an algebraic method of computing many definite integrals --without performing limit processes--by finding formulas for antiderivatives. It is also a prototype solution of a differential equation. Differential equations relate an unknown function to its derivatives, and are ubiquitous in the sciences.
* I'd be happy to see options for individual extensions open up a general options box that controlled all options for all modules in FF. Only thing is, not to make it too confusing. One common option box would be a sensible idea -- extensions manager takes the user directly to the option box for that extension. Maybe under the "tools" menu there's "General Options..." and "Extension and theme options..."?


1st Fundamental Theorem of Calculus: If a function f is continuous on the interval [a, b] and F is an antiderivative of f on the interval [a, b], then
* Some other aspects of extension manager I commented on one of the forums, not sure whether to repost here or just link, but they are significant ones. Some relate to user security. [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=399361 link]


2nd Fundamental Theorem of Calculus: If f is continuous on an open interval I containing a, then, for every x in the interval,


==Comment by Muescha==
[edit]
Applications
The development and use of calculus has had wide reaching effects on nearly all areas of modern living. It underlies nearly all of the sciences, especially physics. Virtually all modern developments such as building techniques, aviation, and other technologies make fundamental use of calculus. Many algebraic formulas now used for ballistics, heating and cooling, and other practical sciences were worked out through the use of calculus. In a handbook, an algebraic formula based on calculus methods may be applied without knowing its origins.


The success of calculus has been extended over time to differential equations, vector calculus, calculus of variations, complex analysis, and differential topology.
it would be nice, if the extension manager let me install XPI-Files not only for FireFox but also Thunderbird (and other applications). so i can click and install a thunderbird extension with one-click (and not with rightclick, downloading, search the local file, run FB extensionmanager etc).
 
 
maybe after opening a XPI-File:
 
<pre>
|----------------------------------------------------|
| Extension Manager Install                          |
|----------------------------------------------------|
|                                                    |
|  Extension Name: ForecastFox                      |
|                                                    |
|----------------------------------------------------|
|                                                    |
|      install for: [X] FireFox      1.5.0.3        |
|                  [ ] Thunderbird  1.5            |
|                  --- Seamonkey  (not installed)  |
|                  --- Songbird    (not supported)  |
|                                                    |
|----------------------------------------------------|
</pre>

Latest revision as of 19:13, 13 November 2010

Currently the UI for Extension Manager is trim, but rather random/limited. A reinvestigation of it is warranted.

Problems

  • action of "Update" button is not clearly defined
  • people are not finding individual "Options" panels for Extensions
  • no easy way to enable/disable an item
  • no easy way to find documentation on an item
  • no easy way to restart the app after an indication that this is necessary
  • enabling/disabling/upgrading/installing etc all require app restarts (2.0)
  • often used items are sometimes at the end of a scrolling extension list
  • user must scroll to find individual update buttons or read status text. (The important UI is hidden from view with no priority)

Some solutions

Many extensions have complex configuration options. We prefer authors include an optionsURL arc in their install.rdf specifying a chrome:// URI to display as their Options dialog, but many people don't seem to find Extension options due to their access from the Extensions window, rather than the Options window. One idea might be to fold the Extensions (and Themes) window back into the Options window: 

+-----------------------------------------########---------+
|   @@@ +------------+@     @@@     @@@   ##@@@###  @@@    |
|   @@@ | Languages  |@     @@@     @@@   ##@@@###  @@@    |
| Genera| Plugins    |ent  Tabs Downloads #Addons#Advanced |
+-------| Themes     |--------------------########---------+
| Show: [ Extensions :^] [x] include disabled items        |
|                                                          |
| +--------------------------------+ For BugMeNot:         |
| |#@@#BugMeNot#5.4################| (( @ Options... ))    |
| |#@@#Bypass#compulsory#web#re...#|  ( @ Help & Docs... ) |
| | ------------------------------ |  ( @ Disable )        |
| | @@ GreaseMonkey 0.3.3          |  ( @ Uninstall )      |
| | @@ A User Script Manager fo... |  ( @ Find Update )    |
| | ------------------------------ |                       |
| | @@ Google Send to Phone 0.3    |  ( @ Home Page... )   |
| | @@ Send text messages to yo... |  ( @ About )          |
| | ------------------------------ |                       |
| | @@ Session Saver 0.2.1.028     | For all Extensions:   |
| | @@ Magically restores your ... |  ( @ Find Updates )   |
| |                                |                       |
| |                                |                       |
| | Get More Extensions ...        |                       |
| +--------------------------------+                       |
|                                                          |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Comment by Nicole Tedesco

I really like the idea of providing a standard way of allowing extensions to register UI blocks into the appropriate Options category/categories. I also like the idea of also keeping the all-in-one-spot Options UI link from the extension itself. (In fact, if there is a standard way to add options in terms of blocks and categories, the all-in-one would get built automatically. See the Eclipse project for interesting examples.)

Comment by Nicole Tedesco

Please, please, please, let the Extensions Manager run without starting the browser! When dealing with a bad extension--perhaps one that crashes Firefox on every start--I would love to run just the Extension Manager to disable or uninstall unwanted features and then allow Firefox to start and run the new configuration.

Comment by Nicole Tedesco

Extensions are categorized on the web site, so why can't that categorization follow into the UI? Especially if a lot of extensions are loaded, and especially if I forgot which did what, a categorized list would be oh-so-helpful!

Reply by Daniel Schierbeck

The problem with your suggestion is that many, if not most extensions have multiple categories. Should the extensions then also appear under more than one category, like they do on the Mozilla Update site? That would only serve to make the extension list longer and more complex.

It's basically a good idea, but we need to give it a lot more thought before it's ready to be implemented.

Comment by Robert Strong

Building on the select ui for selecting categories I think it would be appropriate to have additional categories for 'has updates', 'disabled', 'installing' etc. and allow opening the ui to a specific selection. If notification of updates is added back it would then be possible to open the ui and show all extensions and themes - or any other add-on that can in the future be updated - that have updates available. When the ui is opened for an install the only items shown would be the items being installed. This would solve the problem of where an item should be in the list as well as there being the original item and the new item being shown simultaneously during an install / upgrade.

There could also be an option of 'For All Addons: Update All' similar to the commands listed after 'For All Extensions: Find Updates'. With this type of an approach it should be possible to either provide user defined categories or for an extension to do so (I prefer having an extension provide this) where items can be added to a view no matter what their type is. Since only specific actions are available for each type of item it should be possible to display different types of items in the same view as well. This would allow 'For All Addons: Find Updates', etc.

Comment by Sam Maister

Following on from what Robert said about updates, I think that the default action of the 'Check for Updates' option on the Help menu should be to check for updates for everything - Core, Extensions and Themes. There should also be some notification for extension and theme updates in the same way that there is for new versions of the browser. I know more than a few people who have extensions installed and who don't ever open the EM or TM to check for updates, so they are stuck with the old version of the extension until the old version breaks when the browser updates itself!

Comment by User:Amal

Perhaps this would take some development time and excessive server load, but I think it would be cool to create an initial browser configuration on the web site. Before you initially download firefox, you would take a brief survey regarding your preferences for configuration. The site will then compile an installer package for you with the appropriate settings and extensions included. If you don't like it, you can change things around the old ways or perhaps retake the survey and have your firefox "updated".

Comment by Josh Gordon

It would be great to see a way to easily export all installed extensions (with their preferences) so that a user can easily have the same setup on different computers without having to locate and reinstall the extensions.

Comment by Goulven Champenois

Browser behaviour is set in one convenient place, the options menu. Extensions change the browser behaviour, and/or add functionalities to it. From a user's point of view, extensions extend options available for the browser, and any distinction between these two interaction points are irrelevant. My recommendation would be to

  1. add a tab to the options window, listing installed options.
  2. provide "hooks" for extensions in the regular options panel noticing the user when an installed extension combines with regular behaviour in the tab settings currently being viewed. (e.g. tab modifier, download manager, etc...)

(in response to problem #5: no easy way to restart the app after an indication that this is necessary).
Addressing another issue: if restarting the browser is necessary to register changes in extension list, providing a way of doing so while preserving the browser window/s in their pre-reload state would be convenient and user-friendly. What would you think of, upon closing the extension/option menu window with unregistered changes, an alert box reading like so:
You need to restart the browser to take changes into account. Restore opened tabs and windows after reloading? (will not affect your starting page etc.)


Comment by Daniel Schierbeck

I think the easiest thing we could do to enhance the extension manager user interface is simply to move the buttons into the list. 

.------------------------------------------------------------.
|                         Extensions                         |
|============================================================|
| .--------------------------------------------------------. |
| | @@@ Mozilla XForms 0.4                                 | |
| | @@@ XForms support for Mozilla                         | | 
| |     [ Options ]  [ Update ]             [ Uninstall ]  | |
| |--------------------------------------------------------| |
| | @@@ Google Safe Browsing 1.1                           | |
| | @@@ Warns you about fraudulent web pages               | |
| |--------------------------------------------------------| |
| | @@@ Talkback 1.5.0.1                                   | |
| | @@@ Submit a crash report to Mozilla.org               | |
| |--------------------------------------------------------| |
| | @@@ DOM Inspector 1.8.0.1                              | |
| | @@@ Inspect the DOM of HTML, XUL, and XML pages...     | |
| '--------------------------------------------------------' |
| [ Update all extensions ]                        [ Close ] |
'------------------------------------------------------------'

Comment by Foxxen2

  • I do think that the general update function should watch extension and theme updates too, because the less a user has to do of maintenance, the better in general. Especially:
    • If a core update would break an extension or theme, by default shouldn't allow incompatible modules to run without a user override, and it should draw attention to the potential risks of override: "Only do this if you are sure, the author has not guaranteeed compatibility."
    • Provide for advanced users, a list of updates found, with check boxes next to each. ("Autopatcher" screenshot does this very neatly)
  • I'd be happy to see options for individual extensions open up a general options box that controlled all options for all modules in FF. Only thing is, not to make it too confusing. One common option box would be a sensible idea -- extensions manager takes the user directly to the option box for that extension. Maybe under the "tools" menu there's "General Options..." and "Extension and theme options..."?
  • Some other aspects of extension manager I commented on one of the forums, not sure whether to repost here or just link, but they are significant ones. Some relate to user security. link


Comment by Muescha

it would be nice, if the extension manager let me install XPI-Files not only for FireFox but also Thunderbird (and other applications). so i can click and install a thunderbird extension with one-click (and not with rightclick, downloading, search the local file, run FB extensionmanager etc).


maybe after opening a XPI-File: 

|----------------------------------------------------|
| Extension Manager Install                          |
|----------------------------------------------------|
|                                                    |
|   Extension Name: ForecastFox                      |
|                                                    |
|----------------------------------------------------|
|                                                    |
|      install for: [X] FireFox      1.5.0.3         |
|                   [ ] Thunderbird  1.5             |
|                   --- Seamonkey   (not installed)  |
|                   --- Songbird    (not supported)  |
|                                                    |
|----------------------------------------------------|
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