Replace legacy add-on functionality.
The four add-ons I use in Firefox are all legacy, so Upgrading to Firefox 57 has really slown me down – I’m looking for replacement extensions, userchrome fixes, or workarounds to put things back to how I work with them.
The four extensions (With the description of the functionality I need replaced) in order of importance to me are:
Name: Classic Theme Restorer Use: to put Tabs directly above the webpage to minimise mouse movement, remove the close tab button from tabs, and to allow tabs to shrink to smaller size, rather than scroll. Pre 57 behaviour: http://www.digital-rogues.co.uk/open/TabsRight.png Post 57 behaviour: http://www.digital-rogues.co.uk/open/TabsWrong.png
Name Googlebar Lite Use: Put a google searchbar on the screen, with buttons next to it for direct Site, Image, Video, News, Earth, and Shopping search. Pre 57 behaviour: http://www.digital-rogues.co.uk/open/GoogleRight.png Post 57 behaviour: missing completely
Name: OpenDownload² Use: Adds Run button to file save dialogue. Pre57 behaviour: http://www.digital-rogues.co.uk/open/DownloadRight.png Post 57 behaviour: http://www.digital-rogues.co.uk/open/DownloadWrong.png
Name: Status-4-Evar Use: Adds status bar to the bottom showing page load progress, download progress, and current/hovered website Pre 57 behaviour: http://www.digital-rogues.co.uk/open/StatusRight.png Post 57 behaviour: missing completely
I’ve tried clicking Find a Replacement on the add-on menu, but it takes me to the generic Featured Add-ons list. I also tried the extension finder at https://mozilla.github.io/extension-finder which didn’t recommend anything
I’ve also looked at the help pages for each add-on, but they’re either abandoned, or not planning to update to 57 compatibility, for whatever reason.
Can you help me get this functionality back, and get back to work?
All Replies (14)
No, Look for replacements as others are doing. Google like have to to figure out replacements so , no. Firefox Support is not a Search Engine. Mozilla does not have anything to do with Developers Extensions other than approve them for use with Firefox and provide the Developer with a Web Page for Distribution.
Try and see if is being updated You will find the links at page bottom (no short link created for google doc so takes up 6 or more inches ) : https://www.howtogeek.com/333230/why-firefox-had-to-kill-your-favorite-extension/
If have not Recovered your information and URL's Then you have a short window here to figure out other ways of doing things.
uninstall Firefox. Then Delete the Mozilla Firefox Folders in C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files(x86) Then restart system. Then run Windows Disk Cleanup. Then run it again and click the button that says Cleanup System Files. Note: your Firefox Profile is saved. But you should make a back up before you do : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
Going back : unfortunately 56.0.2 is no longer safe to use for every day use do to secuity issues, but 52.5.0 ESR is. It will continue to get security updates until May 2018, and you can download and install it from this page: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/ Note : Legacy Extensions will be deleted or removed in any version update after May 2018.
Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.
For the modifications you want to use with CTR there should be a userChrome.css workaround possible.
Hi, Cor-el:
Thanks for the advice: Using that resource, I came up with the following userstyle.css that put the tabs at the bottom, removed the close button on the tabs, and allows them to shrink down to 20 pixels: That doesn't disable scrolling, but does allow 40 tabs before they scroll, which is good enough: Consider Classic Theme Restorer Replaced.
/* Tab bar below Navigation & Bookmarks Toolbars
For best results, show Title Bar or Menu Bar */ #nav-bar { /* main toolbar */ -moz-box-ordinal-group: 1 !important; border-top-width: 0 !important; } #PersonalToolbar { /* bookmarks toolbar */ -moz-box-ordinal-group: 2 !important; } #TabsToolbar { /* tab bar */ -moz-box-ordinal-group: 3 !important; }
.tabbrowser-tab .tab-close-button {
visibility: collapse !important; }
.tabbrowser-tab:not([pinned]) { min-width: 20px !important; }
Pkshadow:
I found your advice a little rambling, and not very helpful: I already know the extension model has changed and why, and I've already done a week of research looking for replacements, including checking the tracking spreadsheet you linked: they are all set to "Won't be ported", which is why I said they are either abandoned, or not planning to update to 57 compatibility,
The FAQ at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/frequently-asked-questions-firefox-addon specifically says "If you don’t find a suitable replacement, please head over to our forum to ask the community for suggestions", which I did to get an immediate "No, Look for replacements as others are doing", which is exactly what I'm trying to do.
Try this:
Users on Firefox Quantum, which normally only works with Web Extensions (a new type of plugin architecture), can enable support for legacy add-ins through about:config, search for extensions.legacy.enabled and set it to true.
Hi, WestEnd.
I tried flipping that value and restarting Firefox, but it didn't make a change: Add-ons were still disabled.
Researching that value, it looks from this documentation: https://www.ghacks.net/2017/08/12/how-to-enable-legacy-extensions-in-firefox-57/ https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Firefox57
It looks like only ever worked in Nightly, not standard/ESR Firefox - Is that the case, or is something else needed to enable it?
Either way, I'm guessing like switching to ESR, that would be a short term fix that will be removed shortly.
@J-Cutter I see well it was a effort to try to see if it would bring them back. Unless Chrome uses the same Addons that is the only other way to get them back. Not good that it breaks more then it helps and not all Addon writers update on the same pace as FF does that's the part that is missing-resulting in alot of compliants and headache for users that rely on them.
Still working on this;
Thanks to Cor-el, Classic Theme Restorer has been replaced with a custom userchrome.
Looks like Status-4-ever developer is willing to port, but can't until there's a Toolbar API (Sidenote: it seems really odd removing the old add-on system, when the new API's are still being written - Seems the toolbar API is a blocker for loads of legacy extension writers ready, but unable to update)
I think the easiest one to replace will be OpenDownload: Is there not an about:config setting that can add the run/Open button back regardless of content? (http://www.digital-rogues.co.uk/open/DownloadRight.png)
Finally, is there a way to hack the built in search bar to show separate entries for Google News, Google Maps, Google Image, and Google News? That would replace Googlebar lite for the moment.
I'm not sure about the search-bar, but I do know that more API's are being added to WebExtensions as time passes.
Still looking into this, but not getting anywhere. It's really annoying.
Isn't there any about:config settings to sort out the inability to open/run files directly?
anyone got any ways of putting google news/image/map search buttons on the menu?
Still no toolbar api, and the severity of the bug has been dropped; https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215064
Pretty disappointing, to be honest; looks like loads of extension developers are waiting on that.
Is there any thing that can be done to get the functionality of OpenDownload² addon, so that there is a "run" button on the download dialogue?
Thanks for those links, Cor-el. Unfortunately, most of that covers the look and feel of Firefox; I was using Classic Theme restorer for that, and I'd already fixed that with some custom CSS you helped me develop back in January.
You can try this for your tabs on bottom with multi tab rows:
/* Toolbars With Tabs On Bottom */ #main-window:not(#f) #PersonalToolbar { -moz-box-ordinal-group: 2 !important; } #main-window:not(#f) #nav-bar { -moz-box-ordinal-group: 3 !important; } #main-window:not(#f) #TabsToolbar { -moz-box-ordinal-group: 4 !important; } main-window:not(#f) .titlebar-placeholder { display: none !important; } #main-window:not(#f) #browser { border-top: 1px solid #9F9FA1 !important; margin-top: -1px !important; position: relative !important; z-index: 1 !important; } /* Tabs Multi Rows */ #main-window:not(#f) #TabsToolbar[movingtab] { padding-bottom: 0 !important; } #main-window:not(#f) #TabsToolbar[movingtab] > .tabbrowser-tabs { padding-bottom: 0 !important; margin-bottom: 0 !important; } #main-window:not(#f) #TabsToolbar[movingtab] + #nav-bar { margin-top: 0 !important; } #main-window:not(#f) .tabbrowser-tab:not([pinned]) { width: auto !important; } #main-window:not(#f) .tabbrowser-tab[pinned] { width: 94px !important; } #main-window:not(#f) #titlebar-buttonbox { display: block !important; } .tabbrowser-arrowscrollbox scrollbox > box { display: block !important; } #main-window:not(#f) .tabbrowser-tab { -moz-box-sizing: border-box !important; min-height: 33px !important; vertical-align: top !important; } #main-window:not(#f) #titlebar-buttonbox { vertical-align: top !important; } #main-window:not(#f) .tabbrowser-arrowscrollbox scrollbox { overflow: visible !important; } #main-window:not(#f) .tab-label-container[textoverflow]:not([pinned]) { mask-image: unset !important; } #main-window:not(#f) .scrollbutton-up, #main-window:not(#f) .scrollbutton-down { display: none !important; }
Novain'i Sonny t@
Thanks for the css, Sonny, but I've already sorted out replacing the bits of CTR I used with some css by Cor-el last month; I'm currently looking to replace the functionality of GoogleBar, OpenDownload, and Status4ever.
I may be onto something with googlebar; I can use Ready2search (http://ready.to/search/en/#) to build custom searches for Google Maps/Images/news, etc, and put them in the drop down search bar; the bit I haven't figured out is how to turn those searches into toolbar buttons: is there a way to do that?