[β] BPIP Extension: user info & extra features add-on/extension, Firefox/Chrome

[Timelord2067]

I just installed Tor under your suggestion @suchmoon only to find that it's a mozilla/firefox product.

The Tor browser is based on Firefox, but it's created by The Tor Project, Inc..

So, although the Tor Browser sounds interesting, why should I install a different version of mozilla/firefox if it won't accept an extension (BPIP) that isn't "recommended"?

The way I read suchmoon's post is that the official Firefox doesn't allow the extension anymore, but the Tor browser still allows it.

Hi and thanks for the clarification.  As I said, I've installed it and like anything new am trying it out.  If I shut the browser down and restart, my log-in site changes, so that's going to be useful.  Perhaps the Thread should be changed to read:

Code:

[BETA] BPIP Extension User info add-on/extension for TOR (preferred) Firefox, Chrome, et al

or above...

[1714166158]

1714166158

[suchmoon]

The way I read suchmoon's post is that the official Firefox doesn't allow the extension anymore, but the Tor browser still allows it.

Yes. Tor Browser is based on an older version of Firefox (v68; the one the breaks extensions is v79) so it will likely support the extensions for some time until they decide to force an upgrade.

[Timelord2067]

The way I read suchmoon's post is that the official Firefox doesn't allow the extension anymore, but the Tor browser still allows it.

Yes. Tor Browser is based on an older version of Firefox (v68; the one the breaks extensions is v79) so it will likely support the extensions for some time until they decide to force an upgrade.

So far so good.  It's been interesting seeing the various exotic destinations that I've been logged in from.  Thanks for the suggestion.

[NotATether]

The way I read suchmoon's post is that the official Firefox doesn't allow the extension anymore, but the Tor browser still allows it.

Yes. Tor Browser is based on an older version of Firefox (v68; the one the breaks extensions is v79) so it will likely support the extensions for some time until they decide to force an upgrade.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't v57, the Quantum update, the one that broke legacy Firefox extensions? There's nothing in Firefox 79's changelog that indicates they broke the newer kind of extensions (WebExtensions). Even BPIP addon history on Mozilla's site shows it only installs on v57 or above.

And by the way, Tor Browser is always based on an Firefox ESR version, eventually they are going to rebase from 68 ESR to 78 ESR so even if 79 has breaking changes I'm not aware of, Tor Browser should still be fine.

[suchmoon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't v57, the Quantum update, the one that broke legacy Firefox extensions? There's nothing in Firefox 79's changelog that indicates they broke the newer kind of extensions (WebExtensions). Even BPIP addon history on Mozilla's site shows it only installs on v57 or above.

And by the way, Tor Browser is always based on an Firefox ESR version, eventually they are going to rebase from 68 ESR to 78 ESR so even if 79 has breaking changes I'm not aware of, Tor Browser should still be fine.

TBH I'm not entirely certain if 78 or 79 breaks it, or if it's even in the Firefox "core" code or just some stupid feature specific to the mobile version. But it's not an API issue (I could deal with that), it's the fact that the browser allows only (a subset of?) "recommended" extensions to be installed:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/find-and-install-add-ons-firefox-android

You can install a limited number of extensions from the Recommended Extensions program to add features to Firefox for Android. This article explains how to find, install and manage these extensions.

It's basically a "walled garden" type of setup and a niche extension like BPIP has no chance of getting in there.

[Timelord2067]

I think I might go back to using Netscape Navigator 4.78 for a while and see how I go.

⚓

😎

[NotATether]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't v57, the Quantum update, the one that broke legacy Firefox extensions? There's nothing in Firefox 79's changelog that indicates they broke the newer kind of extensions (WebExtensions). Even BPIP addon history on Mozilla's site shows it only installs on v57 or above.

And by the way, Tor Browser is always based on an Firefox ESR version, eventually they are going to rebase from 68 ESR to 78 ESR so even if 79 has breaking changes I'm not aware of, Tor Browser should still be fine.

TBH I'm not entirely certain if 78 or 79 breaks it, or if it's even in the Firefox "core" code or just some stupid feature specific to the mobile version. But it's not an API issue (I could deal with that), it's the fact that the browser allows only (a subset of?) "recommended" extensions to be installed:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/find-and-install-add-ons-firefox-android

You can install a limited number of extensions from the Recommended Extensions program to add features to Firefox for Android. This article explains how to find, install and manage these extensions.

It's basically a "walled garden" type of setup and a niche extension like BPIP has no chance of getting in there.

I believe it's only in Firefox for Android codename Fenix. I found an article, that's not from Mozilla as they're weirdly secretive about the details, about it: https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-firefox-fenix-android.html

In iOS Firefox must use Webkit engine so it's not affected by this. Desktop uses Gecko engine and not the Geckoview engine they recently created for android that locks to recommended extensions. So this seems to be an Android-specific feature.

The list of supported extensions has been dramatically cut from 8300 to 9. All extensions, other than the nine supported ones, are disabled when you upgrade to Fenix.
...
Mozilla has prepared no documentation, and there is no process that extension developers can follow to make their extensions available to Fenix users.

It's a shitty situation overall, but at least Nightly's getting a switch to load any arbitrary addon.

Can I run an arbitrary extension on a pre-release build of Firefox for Android?

We’re working on building a pref for Nightly to allow persistent loading of an arbitrary extension. Once we have more details, we’ll post updates to the Add-ons Blog.

[suchmoon]

It's a shitty situation overall, but at least Nightly's getting a switch to load any arbitrary addon.

Hopefully, but they have bigger problems than just extensions...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.firefox&hl=en_US&showAllReviews=true

If you sort by "newest", it's a shitshow of epic proportions.

[suchmoon]

I'm wrapping up development for the next version of the extension, which has taken me a lot longer than I expected - will blame the pandemic for that but I digress. Here is a list of coming features as well as a list of features that didn't quite make it: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5224821.msg53812982#msg53812982

If you have any comments please make it known within the next few days before I start final testing. And of course if for some reason you don't want the new version now is a good time to disable automatic updates.

Minimum required browser versions will be bumped up to 63 for Firefox and 66 for Chrome, which shouldn't be a problem - both are in the 80s and you should be staying up to date. Tor Browser's stable version is based on Firefox 68 so should be ok too.

[Timelord2067]

Thank you for the update information, I have a new suggestion for the Firefox/Chrome add-on:

Above or below the trust feedback scores (which are shown as the users' DT settings) a second set of scores which are the scores if no modifications had been made.

Thanks for reading.

[LoyceV]

Unlikely to make it into the next release but still on TODO list:

• Links to LoyceV's site. Depends on LoyceV having a landing page for each user.

I know you've sent me a long PM with how to do this, but I don't have the time to go far out of my comfort zone.
What if I make a static landing page for each user? That shouldn't take me very long, can you link to for instance https://loyce.club/user/45/459836.html for mine? Directory "45" has to be taken from my userID? I've seen another extention that uses something similar.

[suchmoon]

Unlikely to make it into the next release but still on TODO list:

• Links to LoyceV's site. Depends on LoyceV having a landing page for each user.

I know you've sent me a long PM with how to do this, but I don't have the time to go far out of my comfort zone.
What if I make a static landing page for each user? That shouldn't take me very long, can you link to for instance https://loyce.club/user/45/459836.html for mine? Directory "45" has to be taken from my userID? I've seen another extention that uses something similar.

That would work. Anything that can be determined statically (without contacting any servers such as to find out the link for the trust lists etc) is fine. Then the only other thing I would need is a 16x16 image to use for the link (like the blue circled "i" we use for BPIP), or styled HTML of similar size.

[LoyceV]

That would work.

How's this? https://loyce.club/profiles/23/234771.html
It's work in progress and this definitely needs a better design. I've only created a few profiles to make testing faster.

Then the only other thing I would need is a 16x16 image to use for the link (like the blue circled "i" we use for BPIP)

I'm hoping someone will design something that suits loyce.club. I'm not an artist.

BPIP is very slow today.

[suchmoon]

I'm hoping someone will design something that suits loyce.club. I'm not an artist.

Me neither. I think I'll just put a fat red    L   in there until we get something better.

[LoyceV]

I think I'll just put a fat red    L   in there until we get something better.

I like it!

I expected you'd write AI

[suchmoon]

This is how it would look like in Firefox. I think the "L" sits a pixel higher in Chrome for some reason but maybe that's just a different font being used. Perhaps I should make it an image instead of trying to muck around with CSS.


Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

[ibminer]

How's this?

https://bpip.org/images/favicon-loycev.ico

[LoyceV]

How's this?

I like it, this one is even better!

Update:

How's this? https://loyce.club/profiles/23/234771.html

I'm currently creating profiles for all users. This will take a few hours to complete, all profiles with a custom Trust list are ready already.

It's work in progress and this definitely needs a better design. I've only created a few profiles to make testing faster.

I'm still looking for a design, I think these landing pages should be my first priority in getting loyce.club to look a bit less like the 1800s.

When done, I'll create:

• weekly updates after each Trust list update
• daily updates for new users
• weekly updates for users who make or get their first Merit transaction
• daily updates for users who create their first post (and thus get their first unedited post archived)
• full updates if I ever get a cool design

It's not nearly as cool as real-time updates, but I can get this to work

[suchmoon]

I have updated the second post of the thread with the final list of features included in the new version - well, I did that about a week ago but I digress - and we're finalizing some icons with ibminer and some CSS glitches but otherwise I think we're done with our testing and should be soon-ish putting it out for a public test if there is interest.

Some screenshots of what's coming:



Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

In addition to the usual "i" button linking to BPIP, we now have a link to loyce.club and options to include or exclude the user in your trust list (more on that below). There is also "Earned Merit" (as opposed to total merit including airdrop) and BPIP recognition rank. This screenshot also shows one of new themes created by ibminer (I believe this one is called "neutral").



Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

When you click the person+ or person- button on user profile it opens your trust list, adds the new entry to it, shows a message explaining what's going on, but doesn't automatically save it - you would need to review and save the change yourself. If a conflicting entry is found (for example you're trying to exclude a person whom you're currently including) the extension will not add the new entry and will show a message explaining the issue.



Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

As you would expect, user information in threads will include the same stuff like in the user profile screenshot. Different theme ("dark silver") in this screenshot and it shows some additional merit info in the mouse-over.



Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

Merit column in thread list - total number of merits earned by posts in each thread.



Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

Merit totals on each user's merit page. The nice thing about this is that it doesn't request any data from the server - it just adds up the numbers on the page.



Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

This does exactly what it says... copies BBCode into clipboard from a locked thread.



Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

Another BBCode-to-clipboard feature - for trust ratings (see the button on the right side). The result looks like this:

smartcontracts100

2020-09-15

Reference

scammer part of Lauda gang

And some extra links under the MORE menu that I wish were available to everyone. I realize that an extension used by a few dozen people doesn't really solve this problem but maybe someone will find this useful and it's not like you're paying extra for it


Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

[dkbit98]

Looking forward for this nice updates, but this looks like a nice tutorial on How to exclude suchmoon from your trust list  

How about uniting forces with TryNinja and working together integrating his Ninjastic website?

I think someone proposed this few days ago.