The Firefox add-ons manager is currently hidden deep in the web browser. It can only be accessed by clicking on Tools > Add-ons.
Update: you can load it directly in newer versions by loading about:addons in the address bar. Other things have changed as well. The add-ons manager opens in a browser tab now, and you may use it to manage extensions, plugins, dictionaries and other items.
The add-ons manager opens in a new window that gives you options to manage extensions, themes and plugins. Search engines on the other hand are not maintained in the add-ons manager which is not the most elegant solution as you need to open the search engines manager by loading about:preferences#search for that.
Redesign plans existed for some time but progress has only been made recently. A new – fairly incomplete – preview of the new add-ons manager has now been added to the latest Firefox Nightly builds.
Several blogs have already reported about the changes including Mozilla Links and Boriss’ Blog.
Overview of the changes in the new Firefox add-ons manager:
- Redesigned user interface.
- Languages, search engines, extensions, themes and plugins can all be managed from the add-ons manager.
- Add-ons manager is now displayed in a tab in the web browser, can be accessed via about:addons
- New extensions manager backend including api changes
- Ram and CPU usage information
The last feature has not been mentioned in the other blog posts. It is only visible in the preview screenshot shown below:
There is currently no button to launch the add-ons manager but users can enter about:addons in the address bar and bookmark the url for faster access.
What’s your opinion on the new add-ons manager?
Update: Mozilla has added another option to open the browser’s add-ons manager. Firefox users can enter the shortcut about:addons in the address bar of the browser to load the add-on manage in the active tab.
The add-on manager has been redesigned in the meantime. Take a look at the screenshot of the current version of the add-on manager.
The new add-on manager lists extensions, plugins, themes, user scripts and even an option to find and install add-ons right away. Search engines on the other hand are still not listed by it.
Some features highlighted by the early design are not included as well. This includes the cpu and ram information among other things.