PWAsForFirefox 1.4.0

Added

• Support for bootstrapping manifest for GNU Guix (#88, thanks to @Kreyren):
  Users GNU Guix can now use native/manifest.scm to provide a temporary environment with the required dependencies to build the project.

• Support to build and install the project using cargo-make (#89, thanks to @Kreyren):
  Users can now just run makers install to automatically build and install the project.
  This is now a recommended way to install the project when building from the source.

• Keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+N) to open a default browser (#92):
  Users can now use a Ctrl+Shift+N shortcut (also available in the app menu) to open a preferred browser.
  Note: When using this shortcut for the first time, you may need to select your preferred browser using the displayed dialog.

• Support to open link in a new tab (#94):
  Added ability to force all links that should normally open in window or tab into a new tab.
  This can be useful in combination with close widget change (enabled by default) for a quicker page closing.

• Support to enable Wayland, XInput2 and XDG Portals (#101):
  Linux users can now enable Wayland, XInput2 and XDG Desktop Portals through the extension settings.

• Support for editing firefoxpwa.allowedDomains through settings page:
  Users can now edit firefoxpwa.allowedDomains through an input on the PWA settings page.

• Support for setting environment variables to the runtime:
  Custom environment variables for the Firefox runtime can now be passed using the variables key in the config file.

• Support for loading third-party UC scripts (#105):
  Loader of PWAsForFirefox UserChromeJS scripts will now attempt to load chrome/user/boot.jsm in the user profile.
  This can be used to load third-party UserChromeJS scripts and other modifications.

• Support for updating all installed PWAs (#107):
  Users can now trigger an update of all installed PWAs through the extension settings.
  This can also be used to automatically register all PWAs when transferring config from another device.

Changed

• Runtime and profile are now only patched when they need update (#53).
• Resume from crash functionality has been disabled by default (#86).
• Using close widget will now switch to the last tab with a scope URL if it exists (#94).
• Updated dependencies.

Fixed

• Incorrect site grouping on Wayland (#50).
• Incorrectly overwritten preferences.
• Broken widget icons.

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store.

PWAsForFirefox 1.3.2

Important

According to Firefox Add-on Policies, exchanging information with the native application is considered a collection of personal data and must be disclosed in a privacy policy. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of this specific policy so I didn't prepare any privacy policy for this addon.

This release adds the privacy policy to the license agreement during the installation process to comply with Firefox Add-on Policies. The whole privacy policy is also written below:

This extension exchanges personal data (current website and manifest URLs, as well as other PWA details) with the native program when the user initiates the PWA installation. This is necessary in order to correctly obtain and parse the Web Application Manifest and install the PWA. Data are stored on the computer as long as that PWA is installed. No personal data leave the computer or are sent to third parties.

As installed PWAs are running inside a Mozilla Firefox browser, you also need to agree to the Firefox Privacy Notice.

Fixed

• Added a privacy policy to comply with Firefox Add-on Policies.

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store.

PWAsForFirefox 1.3.1

Fixed

• Incorrect registry key in MSI installer that caused the native program to fail (#98).
• Incorrect name in the firefox-pwa AUR package that prevented it from building (report).

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store.

PWAsForFirefox 1.3.0

Important

This release has bugs (#98) that break the project on Windows and Arch-based Linux. This has been fixed in v1.3.1.

News

To avoid infringing Mozilla trademark policies and confusing users that this project is affiliated with Firefox and Mozilla, FirefoxPWA has been renamed to "Progressive Web Apps for Firefox" (shortly: "PWAsForFirefox" or "pwas-for-firefox"). Please use one of those names when referring to this project.

The project logo and all related icons have also been changed to use the CC0-licenced fox icon instead of the official Firefox logo.

The repository URL has been changed to https://github.com/filips123/PWAsForFirefox and the AMO URL has be changed to https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/pwas-for-firefox/. Existing packages and GitHub links will probably continue to work as GitHub provides automatic redirects from the old repository URL, but all links to AMO page need to be changed.

Note: Unfortunately, this is still not everything I planned for that bigger update. I will hopefully have time to release it this year...

Added

• Support for using this project on platforms without official Firefox support.
• Automatic pre-built DEB and RPM packages for Linux on ARM.

Changed

• Rebranded the project as Progressive Web Apps for Firefox (PWAsForFirefox).
• Improved the runtime installation step is reflect added support for additional platforms.

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store, now with a different URL!

FirefoxPWA 1.2.2

Fixed

• Obtaining Twitter manifest should now work correctly (#71).
• Opening settings page should no longer overwrite firefoxpwa.linksTarget preference (#95).
• Fish completions are now installed into the correct directory.

Note: Initially I wanted to release those fixes as part of a bigger update, but because some things took more time than I expected and some new bugs were found, I decided to split them into a separate release.

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store.

FirefoxPWA 1.2.1

Fixed

• Fix page info collection in the content script (#69):

  • Use document base URL instead of current location.
  • Fix wrong condition in Apple mask icon detection.

• Fix icon loading to generate fallback icon if needed (#69):

  • Generate fallback icon from the site name when something is wrong with the site icon.
  • This allows user to install sites with broken/unsupported icons.
  • This does not apply to macOS yet.

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store.

FirefoxPWA 1.2.0

Added

• Custom movable back & forward buttons.

Changed

• Site information widget is now movable.
• Site permissions widget is now movable.

Fixed

• Added missing step for Visual C++ Runtime installation in the winget instructions.

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store.

FirefoxPWA 1.1.1

Fixed

• Download URL for 32-bit Windows Firefox has changed. This release fixes it to correctly download Firefox runtime on 32-bit systems.

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store.

FirefoxPWA 1.1.0

Important

• Original Homebrew formula had a bug that prevented PWAs from launching on macOS after updating the formula. I reuploaded the formula with a fix. To install the fixed version, run:

  brew update # To update all taps
  brew reinstall firefoxpwa # To reinstall FirefoxPWA with a fix

  Then, edit/update all existing PWAs through extension or command-line program to apply the fix to PWAs. Alternatively, you can remove and reinstall your PWAs.

Added

• Support for reinstalling runtime from extension (#47):
  You can now reinstall/update the Firefox runtime from the settings page of the extension.

• Theme color-based transparent tabs (#48):
  Tabs are now slightly transparent/use a shade of theme color, so they should not look so bad with some PWAs.

• Customize option to disable the title bar (#49):
  You can now completely disable the title bar, including all icons. Instructions are in the repository wiki. This can be an unstable feature and is only meant for tiling window manager users!

Changed

• Display all contributors and sponsors in READMEs and download page.

Fixed

• Fix auto publishing scripts.
• Fix AUR binary install directory.

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store.

FirefoxPWA 1.0.0

Important

• Original Homebrew formula had a bug that prevented PWAs from launching on macOS. I reuploaded the formula with a fix. To install the fixed version, run:

  brew update # To update all taps
  brew reinstall firefoxpwa # To reinstall FirefoxPWA with a fix

  Then, edit/update all existing PWAs through extension or command-line program to apply the fix to PWAs. Alternatively, you can remove and reinstall your PWAs.

• Some antivirus programs (Microsoft Defender) incorrectly flagged the 32-bit Windows version as malicious. I will try to resolve this in the future. Prefer using the 64-bit version if possible. This has been resolved. Update your malware definitions in case the program is still detected as malware.

News

This is the first "stable" release of the FirefoxPWA project! 🎉

This means most features that I initially planned are implemented, and the project is ready for wider use and adoption. It does not mean the project is completely finished and bug-free; There are still some issues and limitations that I would like to fix eventually, but they will probably require more time and work.

Starting with this release, FirefoxPWA has been officially packaged for various package managers, such as Windows Package Manager, Chocolatey, Homebrew and others, as well as packagecloud.io-hosted repository for DEB and RPM packages. It is not required to use them, but they provide support for easier updating and installing.

If you want to package FirefoxPWA for your distribution or package manager, or have already packaged it, please let me know, so I can help with the packaging and list it in the installation instructions. If the packaging platform supports any auto-submission/uploading feature, please also let me know, as I might integrate it directly with GitHub Actions to make sure the packages are always up-to-date.

Feel free to also check the project on ProductHunt and leave a review there.

Added

• Support to disable autohide for mute widget:
  You can now disable autohiding for the mute widget to display it even if nothing is playing. You can do this in the Firefox customize page, similarly to the normal downloads widget.

• Support to generate missing icons from the site/shortcut names:
  If the site does not provide any valid icons, the icon will now be generated from the first letter of the site name. The same applies to site shortcuts. If you already have sites without icons, you need to update/edit them to apply the generated icon.

• Support to specify runtime arguments (#39):
  You can now specify arguments that are passed to the Firefox instance used by FirefoxPWA. To specify arguments for all sites, add the arguments key to the FirefoxPWA JSON config file with a list of arguments. To specify arguments when launching the site from the command line, provide them as console arguments after --. Check this comment for more info.

• Complete integration for macOS (#33):
  Installed sites on macOS will now properly be added to the macOS applications list, and have their own window with an icon. If you already have sites on macOS, you need to update/edit them to apply the system integration. However, there are still some limitations and problems with system integration, so keep that in mind when using PWAs.

• More distribution options and auto publishing:
  You can now install and update FirefoxPWA through various package managers and other distribution options. All supported options are listed in the extension install/update page, and in the README.

Changed

• Make popup card and footer sticky.
• Improve dark mode for setup pages.
• Reorganize XDG and Apple categories.

Fixed

• Broken browser widgets are now fixed.
• Close widget now works in multiple windows.
• Xfce now displays the correct PWA icon.
• Fresh profiles no longer overwrite initial page and have misplaced widgets.

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You can download the extension from the Firefox Addon Store.