Plugins:Roadmap

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	Plugin Interactions Roadmap
	Owner: Kev Needham	Updated: 2011-02-23
	With Firefox 3 and 4 we've raised user awareness of content plugins, and improved their interactions with them through the plugin check page and out-of-process plugins. We'll need to continue to raise awareness of plugins a user installs along with the positive and negative interactions they can have with Firefox and the browsing experience. We need to make it easy to install and update plugins, and we need to simplify the connections between plugin authors and our user base. We'll continue to expand and improve our relationships with plugin authors, and proactively work with them to ensure that the content consumption experience is the best it can be for our mutual users.

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Vision

Provide a simplified user experience for managing user plugins that is consistent with all other add-on types.

Roadmap

Firefox 5

• Add support for PFS2
• Add in-product links to the Plugin Check service from the Help menu and the Add-on Manager
• Localize the Plugin Check service (Note: not directly a Firefox 5 goal, but tied to including the links above)

Firefox 6

• Add plugin check functionality into to the Add-on manager
• Add ability to update plugins without restarting Firefox

Firefox 7

• Add native plugin support
• Add support to update plugins as part of the Firefox update process

Developer Relations & Partnering

During development of Firefox 4, we've made great strides in establishing and growing relationships with popular plugin developers including Adobe and Microsoft. We'll continue to develop those relationships to improve product interactions and quality assurance, and will work closer with those organizations that affect our user base. Additionally, we'll need to work closely with plugin vendors to improve the user experience for plugin installations, updates, and removals from Firefox.

• Plugin Summit (Josh) - get the plugin players involved, come in for a day and we'll make it worth your time.

In-Product Compatibility, Installation, and Updates

Currently, installed content plugins are listed on the add-on manager, and a user can enable or disable them from there, but there is no other functionality built into the add-on manager. Over the course of the next two-three releases we need to add the functionality of the plugincheck page to the add-on manager, and expand on the information available to the user through it. Ideally, we'll be able to add the ability to (kick off) plugin installation, updates, and removals through the add-on manager, and do so without the need to restart Firefox.

Plugin Directory

The plugin directory is a metadirectory of plugin information, and is intended to be used as a data source for services such as the Plugin Finder Service 2 and the Plugin Check page. Directory information is managed through a web application, and supports the notions of roles, which would allow both Mozilla and authorized 3rd parties to update and/or add information on plugins as they change.

Plugin Check

- integration with input (morgamic) - qualitative trending (morgamic) - plugin crash feedback loop (morgamic)

Related Bugs

bug 613305 Integrate Plugin Check with installed plugins in the add-ons manager