Concern about WebExtensions exclusive strategy from add-on authors and users

[grahamperrin]

Diigo

@amyt

… we’ll reach out to the dev to see if we can help with the functionality loss

Great, thanks.

Session Manager

… might not be possible until after version 57, if at all. We’ll also be reaching out to them.

Bug 26384 – Not compatible with firefox 57+?
https://www.mozdev.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=26384

Showcase

… we’ll look into this

Thanks. I’m already working without it (incompatible with Firefox 55).

As a limited substitute there’s the Switch to tab feature of Firefox when using FAYT in the location bar.

Stylish

… currently blocked, will find out the details about this

Thanks.

I tried Stylus, which is WebExtensions compatible. As far as I recall the beta was not effective for things such as these:

• Move the menu button | Firefox Support Forum | Mozilla Support
• A close button on the left of each tab | Firefox Support Forum | Mozilla Support

– for those UI enhancements and others, I have styles that work with Stylish but not with Stylus. GitHub · Where software is built might include an explanation.

Tab Groups

… more work is being done on APIs here so we expect there to be more alternatives coming in the next few months

Development and Maintenance of TabGroupsManager extension – expect an update there about last month’s proposal, TabGroups Manager revived: rewrite for WebExtensions.

… best alternative for now is Tab Center Redux,

As far as I can tell there’s no group functionality. See below:

Vertical tabs

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/tab-center-redux/

– to the side; not a substitute for Tab Groups.

… expect more alternatives for vertical tabs coming up

For compatibility with Tab Groups, I chose Vertical Tabs Reloaded.

[Meta] Refactor to WebExtension add-on

I sometimes use the sidebar of Tab Center Redux alongside the sidebar of Vertical Tabs Reloaded, only because there’s no Showcase with 55 and the FAYT results in Tab Center Redux are more visually appealing than the Switch to tab feature of the location bar. Visually appealing but limited to one window.