Hi folks,
When using the add-on for the first time - is it allowed to show the user an offer to install some Windows software?
Thanks,
Larry
On first startup, you have to show an opt-in. I know, in this case it’s just opt-in to see a one time link. So on startup you would show “This is your first use of this addon with update XXX. Would you like to opt-in to see an offer?”.
Then you would show them that offer.
You can’t splash them an ad even on first time run. Users wouldn’t be too happy about that.
You can splash them a “First time use” page IF it is totally relavent to your addon. Like a thank you page.
I do know that thank you pages sometimes have ads on them. So I guess you can be sneaky and put that offer on this thank you page.
Thank you noitidart for your answer. I use to show my users a welcome page holding instructions of how to use the add-on properly. Can I add 3 banner ads to these instructions?
It’s a sneaky thing to do. We would have to wait for official word from one of the admins on this matter. Is your thank you page a website? Or a built in from the addon? If its built in, then for sure no, not without opt in. If it’s a website, you can probably get away with it. An admin decision though for sure.
The best thing is to offer users the choice. Perhaps show them a dialog with choices about how to configure the addon. One choice might be to go to a page with full instructions. Then it would hardly be inappropriate for a web page the user chose to visit to contain a banner ad or two. Just throwing open without asking a tab containing advertising, and almost inevitably some tracking, is getting very close to the line, possibly crossing it (although we should be aware of the irony that Mozilla itself is paid for sending every new user to Google without the user being asked).
Responses from addon reviewers can vary, even be contradictory with eachother, but a good guideline is “no surprises”. If you keep your users aware of what they are getting into, always offering appropriate optins and choices, then you should be OK. Users shouldn’t be surprised to see a banner ad on a web page (or not if they take appropriate steps to block them), but would be surprised to be directed to an external web page without permission, certainly if it happens repeatedly. Personally I find addons that open new tabs for anything but the most integrated and necessary features to be intensely irritating. You could do something like bundle a “landing page” with the addon that offers links out to more detailed documentation.
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