Firefox Color

Get Started

1. Install Node 8.9.4+ (e.g. using node version manger)

2. Clone the repo, install dependencies, start the dev environment:

   git clone https://github.com/mozilla/FirefoxColor.git
   cd FirefoxColor
   npm install
   npm start
   

   This will start a webpack-dev-server instance at port 8080 and start a watcher that will rebuild the browser extension with every file change.

3. In Firefox 57 + open about:debugging and load the build/extension/manifest.json file.

4. Visit http://localhost:8080 to see the web-based theme editor - changes should be relayed through the temporarily installed add-on and alter the browser theme

Note: If you have problems seeing the editor at http://localhost:8080/ on your computer, it's possible that you already have some other service using port 8080. You can change the port that Firefox Color uses for local development:

• For Linux & OS X: PORT=9090 npm start
• For Windows: .\node_modules\.bin\cross-env PORT=9090 npm start

This example switches to port 9090, but you can supply a different port as needed.

Environment variables

There are a few environment variables used in building the site and extension that are handy to know about:

• PORT - (default: 8080) Port at which the webpack dev server will start up
• NODE_ENV - (default: production) setting to development will enable some features for development work
• SITE_URL - (default: http://localhost:8080) the URL where the web app is hosted
• SITE_ID - (default: empty string) the ID of the site for the extension - e.g. "", "local", "stage", "dev"
• DOWNLOAD_FIREFOX_UTM_SOURCE - host name used in metrics when the button to download Firefox is clicked
• LOADER_DELAY_PERIOD - (default: 2000) delay in ms used for web site loader, can be set to 0 during development to make the site appear faster but with visual glitches

Build & Release

Deploying a development release consists of pushing to the development branch on this repo. Production release process is TBD.

The script npm run release:dev in package.json takes care of the following:

• Set ADDON_URL and SITE_URL vars to point at mozilla.github.io/FirefoxColor

• Build the site

• Build & sign the add-on

• Copy the signed add-on into the site

• Deploy the site to Github Pages

Signing depends on WEB_EXT_API_KEY and WEB_EXT_API_SECRET environment variables being set for use by web-ext sign. Deployment depends on GH_TOKEN being set with a personal access token from GitHub. These are currently configured in CircleCI to support deployment after successful test runs.

Notes

• Further reading for themes
  • Other addons for managing & creating themes
    • https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/ntim/theming-extensions/
  • An example of a more complex dynamically changing theme
    • https://github.com/mdn/webextensions-examples/tree/master/dynamic-theme
  • Dynamic theme with colors based on favicon
    • https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vivaldifox/
  • Theme API
    • https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/theme
  • Hacks post on Theme API
    • https://hacks.mozilla.org/2017/12/using-the-new-theming-api-in-firefox/
  • theme.getCurrent()
    • Useful for other webextensions to match current theme colors with their own UIs
    • Maybe pre-load web page with current theme?
    • https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/theme/getCurrent