Add-on. Add-in. Plug-in. Extension. These are all words that describe third-party pieces of software added to a browser to enhance functionality. Different platforms call it different things. In the world of Mozilla, “add-on” is an umbrella term encompassing extensions, themes, dictionaries, language packs, plug-ins, and search providers. But is it the correct term?
Suppose we have a bicycle shed, and we want to add a new shelf to store some spare parts. It’s a fairly straight-forward task: we’ll just be adding something new onto the bike shed, so it makes sense for this new shelf project to be considered an add-on. Say, however, that the shed’s door opens into the shed, and we’d like for it to open out for more room. This sort of functionality change is a common task for extensions, but it’s not really adding anything onto the bikeshed. It’s just changing things around.
Extensions are extremely powerful and can do everything from turning the browser into a brand new kid-safe environment to synchronizing your bookmarks and other data across all of your devices. Not all of those activities fall under the label of “adding on” to the browser. That’s why, after much thought and research, we’ve decided to rename add-ons to change-arounds.
This first phase of this change is visible starting today, as we’ve renamed the Firefox Add-ons site to Firefox Change-arounds. The second major change will occur when the Add-ons Manager becomes the Change-around Manager in the upcoming release of Firefox 3.5.
These are exciting times for web browser extensibility, and this re-branding of add-ons as change-arounds is reflective of a renewed commitment to improving the Firefox ecosystem for add-on users and developers alike. We’ll be posting more information on our planned improvements in the coming months, so stay tuned to this blog.
Update: Please see our latest post regarding this issue.
2
wrote on
Ghodmode
wrote on
XOR
wrote on
klonos
wrote on
Alex Faaborg
wrote on
Tomer
wrote on
Frédéric Wenzel
wrote on
HK
wrote on
finny
wrote on
Bill Smith
wrote on
Mike-RaWare
wrote on
Lars
wrote on
Browser
wrote on
selio
wrote on
Andrew Maiman
wrote on
Srsly?
wrote on
Kurt
wrote on
max
wrote on
Justin Uthermann
wrote on
anomymous
wrote on
Bob
wrote on
Rosie
wrote on
Thomas Wyker
wrote on
david
wrote on
Robert Kaiser
wrote on
Gregory
wrote on
Ryan Garvin
wrote on
lvfirfox
wrote on
Jimmy P
wrote on
Vincent
wrote on
scott
wrote on
RJ
wrote on
Emperor MAR
wrote on
Ken Saunders
wrote on
Kenton
wrote on
Hater
wrote on
spencer
wrote on
ME
wrote on
SOMEONE
wrote on
Anand
wrote on
Ken Saunders
wrote on
max
wrote on
Ted Mielczarek
wrote on
Crogon
wrote on
Minh Nguyễn
wrote on
NettiCat
wrote on
P1h3r1e3d13
wrote on
sian
wrote on
Fallout
wrote on