Firefox has been my main browser now for a few years and add-ons are a big reason for this. I enjoy digging in the Add-ons site, just to find interesting and new extensions or see what other Firefox users have set up on their browser. I remember the Firefox Add-ons site being the same for quite a while, so I was glad today to see it finally updated.
The interface is definitely more clear and the search has been made bigger. Firefox now show three recommended add-ons every day, and the right of the page is composed of another list of recommended add-ons and the most popular ones. Pages for each extension are much more clear and you have a proper download button, instead of a simple link in the old design, which wasn’t always very visible. I also like how Mozilla have added a quick rating feature, although it could have been a bit more precise. Reviews have always been an important part of the Firefox Add-ons site, and I never install an extension without checking out what people think about it. Mozilla have improved this too and it’s now much easier to quickly type in your review. For a longer review though you’ll have to be logged in with your own Add-ons user account. A drop down tab on the top right also gives you quick access to other Mozilla programs, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey and SunBird.
The only real issue I had with it had to do with the rendering of pages. It seems to freeze up really frequently on me and can take time some time loading up. I remember the old Mozilla Add-ons site being much faster at loading and displaying pages.
Overall, this is a welcome improvement to the Firefox Add-ons page and it seems Mozilla have made an effort to make it easy to navigate through. I find that it’s easier to search for programs and see what other people recommend. Leaving comments is also simpler. If you use Firefox on a daily basis, I suggest taking a look around. Add-ons are really what makes the Mozilla browser special and let you tailor your web experience to your own needs.
