Extension Manager:UI Update: Difference between revisions

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Extension Manager:UI Update (view source)

Revision as of 20:57, 27 January 2010

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This wiki will serve as a planning page for a redesign of the Add-ons Manager for Firefox 3.7.  
This wiki will serve as a planning page for a redesign of the Add-ons Manager for Firefox 3.7.  


The add-ons manager has been largely unchanged in Firefox, while the scope and functionality of add-ons has increased dramatically. Especially in light of new add-ons functionality and projects, such as Personas and Jetpack, the add-ons manager could be improved and redesigned in order to better assist users personalising their browsing experience.
== Past work  ==


== Past work ==
::''Main article: [[Extension_Manager:UI_Update_oldversion#Past_work|past work]]''


Madhava worked on redesigning the add-ons manager in 2007, and posted his work [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox:Add-ons_Manager_UI here]. He also [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox:Add-ons_Manager_UI_interim_rev2 designed much of the current add-ons manager] for Firefox 3, which is largely unchanged today.  
Madhava worked on redesigning the add-ons manager in 2007, and posted his work [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox:Add-ons_Manager_UI here]. He also [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox:Add-ons_Manager_UI_interim_rev2 designed much of the current add-ons manager] for Firefox 3, which is largely unchanged today.  
Madhava's goals for the project were similar to ours, with major goals including better integration with amo, greater task orientation, and increasing consistency in the design. His minor goals focused on information hierarchy and prominence of items, as well as giving the user more useful information about their add-ons and add-ons inventory.
Madhava's recommended design was a two-panel window which showed add-on inventory on the left, and detailed information about a selected item on the right. He simplified the category names of add-ons into more intuitive words: features, players, languages, search engines, and themes.


http://people.mozilla.com/~madhava/files/addons/manager/2007-08-21/am1.png  
http://people.mozilla.com/~madhava/files/addons/manager/2007-08-21/am1.png  


Madhava's wiki describes how add-ons would easily download from within the add-ons manager through controls in the right "expanded view" panel.  After installing an add-on and then restarting, the user would see the add-ons manager with the add-on they recently installed highlights, its options visible in the right panel for easy configuration.  
== Goals ==


== Prioritized Goals ==
::''Main article: [[Extension_Manager:UI_Update_oldversion#Prioritized_Goals|prioritized goals]]''


There are five main areas of the add-ons manager that this redesign will involve:  
There are five main areas of the add-ons manager that this redesign will involve:  


;1. Maintaining and Configuring
;1. Maintaining and Configuring
:*Allow users to quickly locate the add-on they want to inspect
:*Provide simple, usable controls for basic add-on operations such as disabling and uninstalling
:*Allow new forms of add-ons, such as jetpacks and personas, to be maintained and configured easily alongside traditional add-ons
:*(at best) Provide users with a consistent place to go for a particular add-on's preferences, or (at worst) provide users with a consistent place to go to launch a particular add-on's preferences
:*User questions addressed:
:**"What add-ons do I have installed?"
:**"Do I have Foxmarks installed?"
:**"How do I disable Flash?"
;2. Updating
;2. Updating
:*Indicate to the user that updates are available without blocking the startup of Firefox
:*Allow the user to choose silent updates if they prefer, and for those updates to happen without interfering with browsing
:*User questions addressed:
:**"What add-ons have an update available?"
:**"Is there an update available for Flash?"
:**"How do I keep my add-ons up-to-date automatically without getting notices?"
:**"Which add-on was updated recently and has stopped Firefox from working correctly?"
:**"What updates have been made to add-ons and what was in those updates?"
;3. Installing
;3. Installing
:*Streamlining the install process to as few steps as possible
:*Providing the user with a clear indication of the process and what actions are needed, especially in the face of possibly differing install experiences per add-on (restart required vs not)
:*User questions addressed:
:**"How do I install this add-on?"
:**"What is the next step to install this add-on?"
:**"Did my add-ons install successfully?"
;4. Discovering
;4. Discovering
:*Providing a compelling first run experience to new add-ons users, including showing what add-ons can do in a way that makes sense to non-technical users
:*Allowing users to search for add-ons from within the Add-ons manager, only requiring a visit to AMO when greater community involvement or information is sought
:*User questions addressed:
:**"What are add-ons?"
:**"Why would I want to install an add-on?"
:**"What add-ons can help me with my 5000 tabs?"
;5. Troubleshooting
;5. Troubleshooting
:*(possibly) Provide a way to rank add-ons by size, RAM, etc to see if disabling one would give a significant performance boost
:*(possibly) Use some heuristics to determine if a particular add-on is causing problems
:*Give clear communication and instructions if there is a security problem with an add-on
:*User questions addressed:
:**"Is an add-on causing Firefox to crash?"
:**"Are there any security vulnerabilities in my installed add-ons?"
While a cohesive redesign will likely touch all of these areas, the first iteration of the add-ons manager redesign will consider tiers of importance in where to direct efforts and design.


{| class="fullwidth-table"
{| class="fullwidth-table"
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| 5. Troubleshooting
| 5. Troubleshooting
|}
|}
The goal of this project is to substantially improve the basic functionality of the Add-ons Manager (tier one), turn current "interruption" areas into integrated parts of the browser (tier two), and provided added functionality that will benefit add-ons users (tier three).
A successful but less ambitious redesign in the first stage would substantially improve basic functionality and fix current problems, but would leave added feature enhancements to future versions.
The minimum level of success would be to substantially improve the basic functionality of the Add-ons Manager, while developing a plan of action for fixing current problems and adding new features.


== Current Add-ons Manager  ==
== Current Add-ons Manager  ==
Jboriss
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