Add-ons we would like to see

B2G OS Foxfooding
#1

Hello,

I’m opening this wiki post to gather add-ons we would like to see on Firefox OS.

Feel free to reply here so we can edit this message with the list and if anyone is already working on them. A good place for getting ideas is the Firefox OS Feature request list where some should be in the add-on territory first.

Wish list

  • Hide details on lockscreen notifications (feature bug - add-on on Marketplace) :white_check_mark:
  • Open application list vertically (feature bug)
  • Skip current song next-previous holding volumen up or down (no need to unlock the phone)
  • Notifications for current apps (Twitter, Facebook)
  • Show Twitter images directly in the app feed.
  • Ad-blocker.
  • Paste GPS location + map link
  • Subtitle support for video player.
  • Use built-in buttons on headphones to play / pause music and increase or decrease volume.
  • Colour the keyboard according to the app/site theme colour
2 Likes
#2

A most wanted add-on for me would be one that would show the images from the Twitter app in your feed, just like the Twitter app does on Android or like Macaw does.

Right now Twitter shows only links to images, and not the image itself.

#3

I have been trying to create a Firefox OS app that will let me change the headers of just the pages I load while within that app. I could never get this done. I posted for help on Stackoverflow and got some complex ideas - well the idea didn’t make sense to me. It would be real cool to see this. I want to get into FirefoxOS addon dev too.

The reason I want to make this, is because the website textnow.com offers some features to desktop/windowsMobile. If it detects that you are mobile, it tells you to go download their mobile app. Well Firefox OS browser is detected as mobile, but there is no app for it. So I need to spoof the headers so it thinks I’m Windows mobile, or maybe desktop.

These guys here want an ad-blocker, but I’m sure someone will make that - https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/t/removing-ads/5545 - AdBlock Plus will eventually get there I’m sure.

#4

This is very easy to do. You just need to:

Open WebIDE
Go to: Runtime -> Device Preferences
Add a new String prefrence called general.useragent.override.textnow.com with a value of
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/45.0 (or any other UA which should makes textnow.com work)

If the user agent I used doesn’t work, use the user agent from the broswer you are sure that works!

1 Like
#5

I’ve published a first addon with an approach for this

https://marketplace.firefox.com/addon/hide-lockscreen-notification-detail

#6

I don’t know if it can be done via an addon, but…
Send your geolocation by SMS.
Example: “Where are you?”
“I’m here” + add geolocation (GPS coordinates + map).

#7

The ability to play the subtitle on the video. Just like VLC. So we can just put the .srt file with the same name with the video file on the same folder.

#8

Ability to use built-in buttons on headphones to play / pause music and increase or decrease volume. That’s great on iphone and I know that other headphone manufacturer include these buttons.
Not sure if the phones have all the needed connectors to allow that, though.

#9

Can I make an application that changes the device preference, while it is in use? Thanks a lot for this!

Another idea

Another addon idea would be, to plug your phone into your desktop computer, via USB, and use the phone as webcam/mic (i dont have a webcam/mic so this would be real useful - something i wanted to make)

#10

Following a call on social networks, here’s a quick list of really missing applications for Firefox OS, from
users’ point of view. (listed on my own blog http://genma.free.fr/?Firefox-OS-which-applications-are-most-missing, I copy/paste it).

Security :
SMS / MMS encryption
Tor ability
GPG in mail application
OpenVPN

client Sync :
CardDAV native support (with self-signed TLS certificates)
ownCloud application (with all OC services)

Misc :
SSH client

It might be difficult to create those applications using only HTML5/CSS3, so a low layer integration (Gaia/Gonk) might be necessary. To Firefox OS developers and Mozilla : please listen to the community
needs ;-). Thanks a lot !

1 Like
#11

In general FxOS suffers from lack of apps, or, to be more precise, from lack of quality apps. I would welcome any add-on improving popular existent-but-little-supported apps like Facebook and Google+, for example providing notifiations or speeding them up.

#12

Thanks, but I guess that would be for another topic just about apps. In any case note that creating apps is no longer a P1 for the foxfoding program in favor of add-ons and gaia improvements.

#13

I don’t think an add-on can do anything about hardware support for things like buttons. Add-ons work at the gecko (rendering engine) level so can affect web and app content; hardware interaction is at a lower level (called gonk)

#14

I wait so much for CardDav support…
I tried to code my own add-on, it only add dashes on phone number in a contact details from the Contact App. It is simple but I had fun with it. Anyone knows how to publicate an add-on?

eviljeff -> You mean, at the Gaia level? :wink:

#15

Not really, I tend to think of Gaia as the UI layer that Gecko renders - though I admit others may (perhaps correctly) disagree with my architectural distinctions.

#16

That’s what I understand too about Gaia and Gecko, but Add-ons allows to modify the UI by adding buttons, changing the behavior of the app, or its look. Then isn’t it the Gaia layer that is affected?

#17

I’d like an add-on which colours the keyboard according to the app/site theme colour (the one used on the header). To mantain keys’ legibility, the characters on the keyboard should be black or white depending on which one is more visible against the background colour.

1 Like
#18

I would love an addon that allows me to reply to my texts from my Firefox on desktop. And even answer calls on Firefox for desktop. Even make calls from desktop. :slight_smile:

Basically notifications that are showing on my Firefox OS should show on my desktop. And I should be able to control the Firefox OS from desktop. Total sweetness!

2 Likes
#19

That seems more like an app maybe?

#20

Ah you’re right yeah. THanks for quick reply. :slight_smile: