BINSniper and Firefox 57 – Updated

As you may be aware, the Mozilla teams have decided to yet again re-engineer the Firefox add-on system.  The change was scheduled to occur in version 57 of Firefox released today.  You may see an update pending release.

Many users will not be moving to Firefox 57 due to the incompatibility with many popular add-ons. Many of the new WebExtensions can run under Firefox 56, so Mozilla’s rush to ban legacy add-ons was not really necessary. But they have other reasons.

You may also consider installing two versions of Firefox. You may also disable automatic updates.

This change to the WebExtensions system will cause a great many add-ons to stop working with no path forward for compatibility.  Some developers have even chosen to drop Firefox add-on development entirely as a result of the constant design direction changes for extensions at Firefox (the fourth in as many years).

The current 3.x versions of BINSniper will not be compatible with the new releases of Firefox due to the significant changes in the way Firefox handles add-ons and features that they chose not to support in WebExtensions.

Current versions of BINSniper will continue to work with older versions of Firefox from v39 – v56.

A new release, the BINSniper Sidebar add-on, is under final testing now.  The new version will be similar in features to previous versions.  The sidebar option is expected to be the same, but the streamer bottom bar option will no longer be available.

We are also in the process of developing a browser-agnostic web-based version of BINSniper that should work with most modern browsers and not require you to go thru the extension process. This version will support several modes, including a streamer mode (bottom panel) and a full page mode.

Viebuy.com is not affected by the Firefox changes, works with other major browsers, and provides similar features.

Watch this site for more information on the new releases.