Mozilla launches redesigned Firefox Add-ons website

Mozilla launched a redesign of the official Firefox Add-ons website recently which changed the look and feel, and some functionality of the site.

Firefox Add-ons, or Mozilla AMO, is the central repository for Firefox add-ons. While it is still possible to offer add-ons elsewhere, the vast majority of add-ons is offered on Mozilla's official site.

The first thing you will notice is that the layout and visuals of the site have changed. The "explorer" page, the first that is opened when you open the Add-ons website, lists individual add-ons, topics, and themes.

You find uBlock and YouTube High Definition listed there, and topics such as password managers, bookmarks, or watching videos.

The extensions page has been updated as well. It lists a tag cloud at the top, and below that featured, top rated and trending extensions.

There is no direct option anymore on the page to list the newest or most recently updated extensions. These sorting options have not been removed entirely however, so that Firefox's Add-ons website is still more useful in this regard than Google's abysmal Chrome store which feeds users only the extensions that Google wants them to be exposed to.

You need to click on a "see more" link next to an extension listing, or use the search to display a search results page with additional options.

The "sort by" menu that is on those pages lets you sort by recently updated. While that mixes new and recently updated extensions, it is good enough to go through the list of new add-ons quickly.

You may sort by add-on type or operating system as well on the page.

Here is a list of all available URL parameters:

• sort=updated, relevance, users, rating, hotness
• type=extension, persona
• platform=windows, mac, linux
• featured=true

Some examples:

• Display recently updated add-ons (extensions and themes) for all platforms: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?sort=updated
• Display top rated themes for all operating systems: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?sort=rating&type=persona
• List trending extensions that are compatible with the Firefox for Windows version: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?platform=windows&sort=hotness&type=extension

The add-on profile pages shine in a new design as well. Most information is still on the page, but you may notice that user reviews have been moved to a secondary page. While you get the overall rating and number of reviews on the main page, you have to click on the reviews link to read any of them.

It is still possible to display all versions and release notes. This page has not been updated yet however.

The redesign of the add-ons website does not filter out legacy add-ons for the Firefox web browser yet. This means that users are still exposed to these add-ons when they open the website, and may still download and install them in Firefox.

The main issue with this approach is that Stable and Beta channel users will have those add-ons disabled for them automatically when the browser is updated to version 57.

Closing Words

The redesigned pages have a lot of whitespace; some users may like that, others may dislike that. I don't mind it that much provided that the functionality is retained, and it appears that this is the case.

Now You: What's your take on the redesign?