Tuesday, January 20, 2009

NNL Update: Version 0.6.20090117

Update announcement: NASA Night Launch: the Inaugural Edition is now available. This update includes a couple of code changes for Firefox 3.1 betas, as well as theme-specific styling for the Sxipper, StumbleUpon, Tab Mix Plus and Quick Restart add-ons.

The latest release is January 20, 2009 (0.6.20090117). Now available from AMO.

New in this version:
  • For the add-on StumbleUpon, adds styling of the SU message notification and reply bar (which appears over a page sent to you by another user after you click the incoming message icon in the SU toolbar).
  • For the add-on Tab Mix Plus, restores the appearance of the "New Tab" button in the tab strip. This was broken in the previous NNL release by rules added to handle the Fx3.1beta2 new tab button.
  • For the add-on Sxipper, adds more rules to finish restoring usability to its Training dialog.
  • Extends restart button styling to the Quick Restart add-on. (Thanks NGamer for pointing that out.)
  • Adds styling to the Fx3.1 beta2 "certificate error" page.
Under the covers:
  • Updates notifications.css to assign icons in the info, warning and critical states. Adds file icons/error-16.png (by duplicating file icons/blacklisting_favicon.png) for use in notification bars. This handles the new-for-3.0.5 about:rights notification bar, which is type="info". This is basically a late catch-up with some Fx3 changes.
  • Adds (but doesn't yet use) global/icons/sslWarning.png
  • From netError.css, removes -moz-background-clip: padding from the main #errorPageContainer (because on Fx3.1b2, was a gap between background and border at the inside of corners).
  • In menulist.css, removes border coloring from .menulist-compact. This isn't used in Firefox, but Thunderbird uses it in the Compose window.
  • A couple sekrit undercover changes for Tbird 2 compatibility.

Special thanks to Clint Bell, Jon Connelly, Dean (NinjaTek), DMCrimson, Shingoshi and everyone else for bug reports and help with testing.

O Happy Day

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."

In case you slept late: we have a new president. At long last.

Inaugural Address

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Interview with an Adware Author

Money quote from Interview with an Adware Author, on Philosecurity:
It was funny. It really showed me the power of gradualism. It’s hard to get people to do something bad all in one big jump, but if you can cut it up into small enough pieces, you can get people to do almost anything.
Via Slashdot. Definitely worth a read. (And note the browser-friendly dark web design.)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

NNL Update: Version 0.6.20081231

Update announcement: just in time for the new year (and happy new years, everyone), there's an update of NASA Night Launch available. This update includes several new features for Firefox 3.1 betas, as well as theme-specific styling for the Sxipper, Mobile Barcoder, and DownThemAll add-ons.

The latest release is December 31, 2008 (0.6.20081231). Now available from AMO.

New in this version:
  • Several refinements for Firefox 3.1b2.
  • Adds support for the Sxipper add-on. Sxipper's Training dialog has a white background which requires special handling on dark themes.
  • Adds support for the Mobile Barcoder add-on. If barcodes are displayed on typical black popup background, it foils image recognition on certain mobile phones. Instead, we now display with a white background and thin border. This was only an issue in context menus over a link or over selected text -- and not in the statusbar popup for this add-on.
  • For the DownThemAll add-on, removes the theme-specific "Donate Now" image from the DownThemAll Manager (since they've upgraded to a version of the image that works great with dark themes).
  • For Mac/OS X menus, now handles the case of the bare document icon (a page with no favicon) in the history menu. This is in addition to previous Mac-specific styling of the bookmarks menu. Requires an updated Stylish stylesheet http://userstyles.org/styles/11097.
  • Under the covers, several code changes to improve maintainability.
Bug reports welcome - file them on the Mozillazine Forums NNL support thread. Keep in mind that when used with Firefox betas, NNL is a beta, too.

And, as always, thank you for flying NNL.