Incredible Startpage 1.8 Released

Hello, fellow Incredible Startpagers!

The third extension that received an update! Version 1.8 is out now. If you're new to Incredible Startpage, this is a simple tutorial.  Or you can catch up on everything about this extension in these posts.

Just like the other extensions that were updated recently, little is changed visually, but under the hood, it's like we've given extension a whole new engine to run on, all to keep up with the latest Manifest V3.

What's Changed?

• Migrate to Manifest V3 (Not surprising, right?)
• Remove Chrome Apps tab (They no longer exist, right?)

Important Change on Notepad Storage

The content in the notepad is now synced using chrome.storage instead of relying on bookmarks as a workaround. This keeps the data within the extension's scope. However, it also means that if you uninstall the extension, the notepad content will be lost. This is different from the previous version, where the bookmarks were not removed when uninstalling the startpage.

A sidenote regarding syncing the notepad: if you have enabled this option, you also need to enable Chrome Sync for the extension (not bookmarks anymore). If you uninstall the extension on one machine, it will disappear on another machine with the same profile. This means that the notepad content will be deleted along with the extension. This is how syncing is intended to work, and we hope you understand this functionality before using it.

Recently Close tabs

In this version, the chrome.sessions API is used to bring back recently closed tabs, ensuring that both tabs and windows are restored with their history and positions from the start page.

Just a heads-up, though: you won't be able to clear them directly within the extension (because no such Chrome API is available to extension). So, I've added a handy toggle button to help you manage the visibility of your tabs in this area. If you need to clear your recently closed tabs, simply hop over to the history settings.

Problems after upgrade

I tried moving all settings to the new V3, but if something went awry. Here's what you can do:

Missing notepad content?

If you had notepad sync on, check the bookmark in "Extension settings > Incredible Startpage Notepad."

Lost other settings?

Right-click and inspect the startpage, then type "localStorage" in the console; your old settings should be there.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

FreshStart 1.7 is released!

Hey there, fellow FreshStarters!

Guess what? FreshStart just got a fresh update – version 1.7 is out now, and even I'm surprised, lol! If you're new to FreshStart, make sure to catch up on what you've missed with our previous posts.

What's New?

Visually, things haven't changed much, but under the hood, it's like we've given FreshStart a whole new engine to run on, all to keep up with the latest Manifest V3.

*Manifest V3 is a new requirement from Chrome web store if extensions want to stay on the store.

Patch 1.7.1 Updates: (RELEASED! 17th May)

Please make sure you have updated to the latest version. Thanks!

Hi, everyone, the comment section is not the official area to report bug, please email to contactus@visibotech.com.

Open Session Problems - Fixed

Import session issues - Fixed

Snapshots gone from 1.6 gone - won't fixed

For the snapshots, they were meant to be valid for a very short period of time and will be overwritten multiple times during a standard chrome session. So there is no need to restore them to the extension. 

Please note that due to Manifest V3, the live cycle of the background task of an extension will not persist, so the crash restore functions might be affected somehow. (Might be a bit erratic but that the new Chrome's way I guess.)  

TooManyTabs for Chrome

Oh, and speaking of Manifest V3, I've also upgraded TooManyTabs (TMT), another Chrome's relics extension. If you're into that sort of thing, be sure to check it out!

Enjoy!

TooManyTabs version 2.4 Release Notes

If you are new users, please visit this page for a simple tutorial.

Version 2.4 (2024-04)

• Migrate to use manifest v3
• Note if you remove the extension, the data are deleted. Backup the data in options page periodically.

NEW!! Restore Tabs from backup file

To restore your tabs, choose the backup file, and click "Import". Note this will overwrite your existing tabs if there is any.

For the import, you can use existing backup file from previous or current version of TMT.

NEW!! Export tabs for backup

Backup your tabs data to file directly, go to options page and click "Export for backup", save the file.

Version 2.3 and before users

Data of previous versions are stored in localstorage. If there is a problem in this upgrade, you might get a backup of those data with this tool.

Click on the "Export old data from LocalStorage" button, this is only visible if you have any data stored inside LocalStorage. These are data from previous version and will be out of sync when you start using the new version.

The bottom of the Options Page

Bug fix:

• A weird bug that stops the extension from working if an alert box is triggered inside the extension popup.

TooManyTabs version 2.3 Release Notes

If you are new users, please visit this page for a simple tutorial.

Release notes (2.3)

• Enhance extension permission requirement (to comply with Chrome policy)
• The permission to enable screen capture is now optional
• To enable tab preview in TMT, please enable it by
• Click on the "+" sign of the first tab inside TMT
• Or go to TMT options page, click the "Change" button to disable/enable preview
• ** Chrome will prompt a dialog to request the permission
• More details on "Tab Preview" below

• Storage Backup
• A new permission "Storage" is required so TMT can keep a second backup on the tabs data
• If something goes wrong, please go to the Import Page to see if you can restore TMT tabs data with the "Retrieve Auto Backup" function
• We still recommend you to use manually "Export" function to backup your data to a file, as this would be the most secure way 
• The backup is still local, meaning they will not sync across machines using the same profile
• 

• Discard Tab shown with less opacity
• If a tab is discarded by Chrome (to reduce resource consumption), the tab will have less opacity inside TMT tab view
• Pinned Tab visualization
• A pinned tab will be shown as pinned inside TMT (with a pin icon). You could only select it but not remove it inside TMT now
• Recently Closed Tabs 
• Only tabs closed inside TMT popup/window or TMT tabs removed from TMT columns are sent to "Recently Closed Tabs" column
• For the full list of recently closed tabs, please use the Chrome history function

More Details on Tab Preview

• A tab preview can only be captured when it is active and selected
• Previews are clear when chrome exits
• You might see many empty preview images inside TMT at the beginning when Chrome launchs, because previews are cached gradually (when selected)

TooManyTabs for Firefox 1.4.8 is released!

We have released TMT 1.4.8 for Firefox 47+. The folks at Mozilla told us they expect to obsolete support for traditional addons (Yes, that includes TMT) by the end of 2017, so they think it would be great that these traditional addons would continue to work until then. So here is the new version and enjoy!

I always wanted to say a few words on TMT. Here are some of my final thoughts as a developer.

TMT was first released in 2008 and is my first Browser addon. As a "traditional" addon TMT has always been on the verge of being "phased out" ever since Firefox began to "modernize" its addon system.  I am honored that despite all that TMT has lasted for 8 years long and there are so many of you who still find it useful.

Now onto some ranting. :)

TMT is small, but developing it has never been easy. First and foremost, developing "traditional" addons (technically and specifically XUL addons) requires going through a rather steep learning curve. Documentation for an ever changing browser is always limited and often outdated. I often had to check out the source code of Firefox to find the answers. Another difficulty of developing a "traditional" addon is to provide compatibility with other addons. From the user's perspective, an addon is expected to work with every popular addon on the market. To the developer, this is actually very demanding. It's like working with different people on the same software project without any direct form of communication. When you think about it it's amazing that every addon developer find a way to pull that off.

So why persist on developing the addon when it is difficult, not profitable, and never really gets widely appreciated? For your information, TMT has never been really popular or ever featured by the browser's maker (unlike its Chrome incarnation). In fact, there was a period when I was perplexed why TMT never gather a larger audience. Some reviewers had even commented that TMT is just a glorified bookmark system. I was shocked. For a tabaholic like me I have always too many tabs open. I use TMT everyday and I cannot imagine a Firefox without it. As time goes, however, I realize there has never been a lot of people like me (or you, if you cannot live without TMT). The users of TMT is a minority. TMT offers a niche function that could only be appreciated by few people who really needs it like I do. They would email me about how TMT had improved their productivity and how devastated they would be without it. On reflection I think that is why I had persisted to support TMT all these years, when development is difficulty, support from Mozilla platform minimal, and vast majority of Firefox users don't seem to care. I am proud that I have served the many minority of us whose need were not met by the "standard".

But everything would still come to an end. The Mozilla team has decided to obsolete traditional addons by the end of 2017. It seems all traditional addons have also become too niche to be worth supporting. In my opinion, the Internet and the Open Source movement has kind of lost its original ways. If my memory serves, the Internet promised a long tail. Everyone, supposedly, can find their niche on the Internet when there is none in the real world. The Internet now, however, is too becoming more and more tailored to the sole interest of the majority, where the popularity of your product/addon/app/idea/need/self is the sole criteria of survival. We are recommended the most popular apps on our mobile phones. We are shown most popular posts on our Facebook timelines. If you are a niche, like TMT, or other traditional addons, or like Google Reader, you will no longer get support. Maybe it's because it's not profitable. Or compared to the billions of other users on the Internet, that 0.1% of you aren't important.

I do not like the direction that we are heading.

If you are reading this little rant up to this point you must be one of the loyal users of TMT. Thank you for your long time support and farewell! It has been a great time.

Best regards,
Sandy

Important Notice: TooManyTabs for Firefox

*** Surprise!!! TMT 1.4.8 is available for FF47, check out this post for why? ***

The Mozilla team has announced that future Firefox will no longer support XUL and XPCOM based extensions (related post). Therefore, TooManyTabs, with its core functionality based on these two technologies, will cease to work. We have made a lot of effort to continue to support TMT since Firefox 3. It is a pity that it is no longer possible now.

Thank you for your support for all these years.


* Please note that your TMT tabs will remain in your bookmarks folder - Unsorted Bookmarks > TooManyTabs (Do Not Delete).

TooManyTabs for Firefox 1.4.6 is released!

*** Important: Users of Tree Style Tabs would have problems when using TMT 1.3.6, please update to latest version 1.3.7  ****

*** If you are using FF35 (stable channel) or FF36 (Beta Channel), 

please go to TMT options and uncheck "Mark TMT folder readonly". ****

Firefox 36 will arrive soon and this update includes several bug fixes which are necessary for TooManyTabs to work properly in FF36.

• Two options are removed
• Send tab by single/double click - Users have to double click the TMT arrow to send current tab TMT. If it is not responsive sometimes, please try clicking on the arrow directly or use the right click context menu instead
• Mark TMT folder as ready only - the TMT folder in Unsorted Folder will no longer be readonly, users can edit it via the Bookmarks manager anytime.

• The pin tab icon is shown again
• Multiple rows should now display properly even when positioned on the top of the browser

Enjoy!