Monthly update: May 2023

Here's a short update on what's happening for the month of May!

Work is progressing on the next version of Clippings and Clippings for Thunderbird. I've eliminated the remaining calls in the extension pages (e.g. Clippings Manager) to get the background script, replacing them with message passing. I've also fixed a bug where formatted date placeholders were always populated in English even on non-English locales; this will definitely be a welcome fix for international users.

I've also started work on the next version of Read Next, and have implemented a new option to automatically close the reading list sidebar when clicking on a link in the reading list. Read Next 1.1 will also have the ability to add multiple selected tabs to the reading list, as well as rename a link. The new version is planned for release in June of this year.

Monthly update: April 2023

Since my last update, I changed my mind on the release plans for Clippings and Clippings for Thunderbird. There will be a new version released later this year to coincide with the next Firefox ESR version. I felt that it was better to spread out the changes to Clippings over two release cycles so that users don't have to wait too long to receive improvements and bug fixes.

With that, I've started working on improvements to the back end of Clippings, with more work planned over the next few months. The scope of the back end improvements is limited to refactoring the background script; migration to Manifest V3 is deferred to the next release.

I'm also planning on starting work on a new minor version of Read Next, which will come with small improvements. More on this will be announced soon.

Clippings 6.4.5 released!

Another minor update to Clippings 6.4 has been released, and is now available from Firefox Add-ons and the AE Creations website. Clippings 6.4 requires Firefox 91 or newer.

If you already have Clippings installed, it will be updated for you if automatic extension updates are enabled. Otherwise, open Add-ons Manager (Tools → Add-ons), click on the entry for Clippings in the list of installed extensions, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Check for Updates.

What's New

• Minor fixes and improvements
  

Things You Should Know About

• Thunderbird Users: This version of Clippings is designed for Firefox and is not compatible with Thunderbird. Get Clippings for Thunderbird, compatible with Thunderbird versions 91 and 102.
• Some features may not be available when Firefox is in Private Browsing mode, or if the browser privacy settings are too restrictive.
• If you want to use Sync Clippings, download and install the Sync Clippings helper app. More information and download links can be found on the Sync Clippings page on the AE Creations website.

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Clippings should be posted to the AE Creations Help and Support forums, now hosted on Groups.io.

Clippings for Thunderbird 6.2.5 released!

Another minor update to Clippings for Thunderbird 6.2 has been released, and is now available from Add-ons for Thunderbird and the AE Creations website. Clippings for Thunderbird 6.2 requires Thunderbird versions 91 or 102.

If you already have an older version of Clippings for Thunderbird installed, it will be updated for you if automatic extension updates are enabled. Otherwise, open Add-ons Manager (from the Thunderbird menu, click Add-ons), click on the entry for Clippings for Thunderbird in the list of installed extensions, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Check for Updates.

What's New

• Minor fixes and improvements
  

Things You Should Know About

• If you want to use Sync Clippings, download and install the Sync Clippings helper app. More information and download links can be found on the Sync Clippings page on the AE Creations website. 

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Clippings for Thunderbird should be posted to the AE Creations Help and Support forums, now hosted on Groups.io.

Monthly update: March 2023

Here is a short update on what's happening in March!

A minor release of Read Next is out with minor bug fixes and improvements.

I began work on the next version of Panic Button, and completed the first milestone where it was migrated to Manifest V3. The first alpha release is now available from GitHub; if you want to try it out, be aware that the XPI redistributable file isn't signed, so you'll need Firefox Developer Edition to install. There's more work planned for Panic Button 5.0, including a feature enhancement to restore the browser session if the "Close All Windows" option is set as the Panic Button action.

This month, I'll be starting work on the next version of Clippings. The initial work will involve improvements behind the scenes, including refactoring the background script and migrating to Manifest V3. As for a target release date, that has yet to be decided. I've usually timed the releases of new versions of Clippings to match the Firefox Extended Support Release version, but it's possible that I may skip this year's ESR. In the meantime, maintenance updates for the current release version will continue to be rolled out.

Read Next 1.0.2 released!

An update to Read Next has been released, and is now available from Firefox Add-ons and the AE Creations website.

If you already have an older version of Read Next installed, it will be updated for you if automatic extension updates are enabled. Otherwise, open Add-ons Manager (Tools → Add-ons), click on the entry for Read Next in the list of installed extensions, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Check for Updates.

What's New

• Bug fix: Search results in reading list sidebar aren't updated when adding or deleting a link (issue #43)
• Minor fixes for the extension preferences page
  

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Read Next should be posted to the AE Creations Help and Support forums, now hosted on Groups.io.

Monthly update: February 2023

The dust has settled after the scramble to move the AE Creations Help and Support forums to a new host, following a breakage in Google Groups that prevented posting to the forums through the web interface, a severe issue that received no attention from Google. The forums are now hosted on Groups.io, and like Google Groups, you can post and read messages through the web interface or via your favorite email client.

I also stumbled upon a bug with the uninstallation shell script for Sync Clippings Helper for macOS. The shell script, located in the folder path /Library/SyncClippings/1.2.0, didn't properly clean up installation info due to an error. The missed cleanup step isn't serious, but fixing this bug required me to release a new macOS installer package for both Intel and Apple Silicon-based Macs. I came to the realization that uninstalling Sync Clippings on macOS is ridiculously convoluted in an OS where users normally uninstall an application simply by clicking on its icon and dragging it to the Trash. Sync Clippings Helper doesn't have an app icon to interact with, because it is launched by Firefox (not by a human user) and it runs silently in the background. So I'm now contemplating writing an uninstallation app for macOS as an alternative to running a shell script, which is something ordinary Mac users aren't used to doing.

I've experimented with creating a Manifest V3 (MV3) extension for Firefox, and have a functioning demo published in this GitHub repository (licensed under the Mozilla Public License version 2). New extension manifest keys were introduced, adding menu items to the browser context menu is performed from a new API, and event handling code defined in the background script, such as for clicking on the extension's browser toolbar button ("browser action" in WebExtension jargon), needs to be able to reload extension state when the background script restarts. While I can see the benefit of reducing memory usage by not having extension background scripts constantly running when they're not needed, I'm not thrilled about the drawback of not being able to cache data such as extension settings, since the data would be lost when the background script is killed and would need to be read again from local storage when the script is restarted.

With this knowledge, I'm ready to begin porting Panic Button to MV3, which was the plan I shared in my last update. Panic Button is the first extension chosen for this work, as it is fairly simple and it is in need of an update anyway.

Read Next 1.0.1 released!

An update to Read Next has been released, and is now available from Firefox Add-ons and the AE Creations website.

If you already have an older version of Read Next installed, it will be updated for you if automatic extension updates are enabled. Otherwise, open Add-ons Manager (Tools → Add-ons), click on the entry for Read Next in the list of installed extensions, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Check for Updates.

What's New

• Bug fix: In the extension preferences page, the "Reconnect to Dropbox" message bar isn't dismissed when Dropbox is successfully reconnected (issue #65)
• Other fixes and improvements
  

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Read Next should be posted to the AE Creations Help and Support forums, now hosted on Groups.io.

Panic Button 4.4.4 released!

An update to Panic Button 4.4 has been released, and is now available from Firefox Add-ons and the AE Creations website.

If you already have an older version of Panic Button installed, it will be updated for you if automatic extension updates are enabled. Otherwise, open Add-ons Manager (Tools → Add-ons), click on the entry for Panic Button in the list of installed extensions, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Check for Updates.

What's New

•  Bug fix: Panic Button toolbar button doesn't appear in the browser toolbar by default on Firefox 109 (issue #82)

Things You Should Know About

• The Hide and Replace action won't work if Firefox is set to "Never remember history" in Privacy & Security settings.

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Panic Button should be posted to the AE Creations Help and Support forums, now hosted on Groups.io.

Clippings 6.4.4.1 released!

A follow-up revision to the recently-released Clippings 6.4.4 has been released, and is now available from Firefox Add-ons and the AE Creations website. Clippings 6.4 requires Firefox 91 or newer.

If you already have Clippings installed, it will be updated for you if automatic extension updates are enabled. Otherwise, open Add-ons Manager (Tools → Add-ons), click on the entry for Clippings in the list of installed extensions, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Check for Updates.

What's New

•  Updated a third-party software library

Things You Should Know About

• Thunderbird Users: This version of Clippings is designed for Firefox and is not compatible with Thunderbird. Get Clippings for Thunderbird, compatible with Thunderbird versions 91 and 102.
• Some features may not be available when Firefox is in Private Browsing mode, or if the browser privacy settings are too restrictive.
• If you want to use Sync Clippings, download and install the Sync Clippings helper app. More information and download links can be found on the Sync Clippings page on the AE Creations website.

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Clippings should be posted to the AE Creations Help and Support forums, now hosted on Groups.io.

AE Creations Help and Support Forums moved to Groups.io

The AE Creations Help and Support Forums has moved to a new forum host. It is now hosted on Groups.io, and can be found at this web address:
https://groups.io/g/aecreations-help.

Anyone can browse the forum posts, but to create a new post or reply to existing posts, you must subscribe to the forum.

To get started, send an email to the subscribe email address listed in the forum home page. If you prefer to post to the forum through the web interface, you'll need to register for a Groups.io account.

Once your membership to the forum is approved, you'll receive a welcome email with instructions on how to post to the forum, change your email subscription options, set forum preferences, and more.

The old Google Groups forum is now read-only; no new posts can be created. The old forum will remain online for browsing messages prior to January 2023.

Again, apologies for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience.

Updated 12 January 2023 - Improved instructions on how to get started in the new forums, and clarified that registering with Groups.io is needed if the web interface is preferred.

Clippings for Thunderbird 6.2.4.1 released!

Another minor update to Clippings for Thunderbird 6.2 has been released, and is now available from Add-ons for Thunderbird and the AE Creations website. Clippings for Thunderbird 6.2 requires Thunderbird versions 91 or 102.

If you already have an older version of Clippings for Thunderbird installed, it will be updated for you if automatic extension updates are enabled. Otherwise, open Add-ons Manager (from the Thunderbird menu, click Add-ons), click on the entry for Clippings for Thunderbird in the list of installed extensions, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Check for Updates.

What's New

•  Added Spanish localization

Things You Should Know About

• If you want to use Sync Clippings, download and install the Sync Clippings helper app. More information and download links can be found on the Sync Clippings page on the AE Creations website.

Help and Support

Due to an issue with posting to Google Groups, it's currently not possible to post to the AE Creations Help and Support forums. But older posts are still available for browsing, so try searching the forums to see if your question has already been answered. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Crowdin contributors Juanma, Francisco, Adrian Henestrosa Ontiveros, Gotzon, Rafael Aiquel, and Raúl Cantora for adding the Spanish localization of Clippings for Thunderbird!

If you're fluent in English and another world language and would like to help update or add a new translation, consider contributing a translation in Crowdin. Localizations in other languages are always welcome, and will be added in future releases.

Unable to post to the AE Creations Help and Support Forums

There is currently an issue with Google Groups, the forum host for the AE Creations Help and Support forums. Attempting to post a message to the forum causes an error, and is confirmed to be happening on Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari.

Older posts can still be browsed, but since posting isn't currently possible, the forums are basically in read-only mode.

This broken functionality is a symptom of neglect of the Google Groups forum software, and it's prompted me to revisit the idea of moving the forums to a different host.

Updates will be shared here when I have them. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Clippings 6.4.4 released!

Another minor update to Clippings 6.4 has been released, and is now available from Firefox Add-ons and the AE Creations website. Clippings 6.4 requires Firefox 91 or newer.

If you already have Clippings installed, it will be updated for you if automatic extension updates are enabled. Otherwise, open Add-ons Manager (Tools → Add-ons), click on the entry for Clippings in the list of installed extensions, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Check for Updates.

What's New

• Updated Spanish localization
• Bug fix: Critical error instead of warning appears when trying to turn on Sync Clippings without first installing Sync Clippings Helper (issue #416)
  

Things You Should Know About

• Thunderbird Users: This version of Clippings is designed for Firefox and is not compatible with Thunderbird. Get Clippings for Thunderbird, compatible with Thunderbird versions 91 and 102.
• Some features may not be available when Firefox is in Private Browsing mode, or if the browser privacy settings are too restrictive.
• If you want to use Sync Clippings, download and install the Sync Clippings helper app. More information and download links can be found on the Sync Clippings page on the AE Creations website.

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Clippings should be posted to the AE Creations Help and Support forums, hosted on Google Groups.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Crowdin contributors Adrian Henestrosa Ontiveros, Gotzon, Rafael Aiquel, and Raúl Cantora for updating the Spanish localization of Clippings!

If you're fluent in English and another world language and would like to help update or add a new translation, consider contributing a translation in Crowdin. Localizations in other languages are always welcome, and will be added in future releases. 

Monthly update: January 2023

Happy New Year! With 2022 now history, it's time to look ahead to my goals for 2023. Here's what I have in mind:

1. Experiment with Manifest Version 3 (MV3) extensions for Firefox. The knowledge gained from this research will inform the strategy for porting the AE Creations extensions to MV3.
2. Panic Button will be the first candidate for porting to MV3. Clippings will follow, though I expect that will be a larger effort, given the complexity of that Firefox extension.
3. Further enhancements to Read Next, the new reading list extension for Firefox. I also have ideas for making it more than just a simple reading list, though I'm still contemplating whether that should be an enhancement to Read Next, or if it should be spun off as its own browser extension.
   

Meanwhile, I've completed the switchover of the AE Creations website from SourceForge; the old SourceForge URLs are now being redirected to the new website. Updates to Clippings and Clippings for Thunderbird are in the works and will be released shortly, along with an update for Read Next which fixes a minor bug with reconnecting to Dropbox; look for those updates in the coming weeks.

Read Next: The reading list that syncs to the cloud

Read Next is the new Firefox extension from AE Creations that adds a reading list sidebar to your browser window. It's similar to the reading list found in other browsers such as Safari and Google Chrome, but with some unique features:

• Add new links for reading later with just one click of the address bar button.
• Reading list sidebar where you can browse or search for saved links to the web pages you want to resume reading. You can choose to filter out links that you've already visited, showing only unread links.
  
• Keep your reading list lean and organized with options such as automatically deleting saved links once you've clicked on them, and highlighting unread links in bold text.
• Synchronize your reading list to the cloud with Dropbox to make your reading list available on your other devices with Firefox and Read Next installed.

 

The Read Next reading list sidebar.

Version 1.0 Now Available!

Read Next 1.0 is now available for download and installation from Firefox Add-ons and the AE Creations website. Read Next requires Firefox 91 or newer.

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Read Next should be posted to the AE Creations Help and Support forums, hosted on Google Groups.

If you find a bug or have an idea for an enhancement, you may file a bug report on GitHub. Please search the issues list first to confirm that your issue has not already been reported.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the testers that participated in the beta testing phase! Your bug reports, enhancement suggestions and feedback have helped shape this new Firefox extension, and will inform plans for the future.