Recommended format for encouraging extension authors to dev for PM?

[paulri]

Is there a recommended format for an email to encourage an author of a FF extension that you like, to port it to PM?

Or should we just be diplomatic, and type away?

I love the Simple Bookmarks Menu https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/simple-bookmarks-menu/?src=collection&collection_id=1d9e240d-549b-4798-bd8f-eb786b5f86d5 extension, but even the older versions listed on AMO are too recent for the 27.x that PM represents. So I'd like to see the author port it to PM. This extension removes a lot of the crud that I never use, in my bookmarks menu. Compared to FF, it makes my PM bookmarks menu look cluttered.

Now that I think about it, is there at least a "how to" page, that I can link to, when I email this author--a page that gives an addon author some basic instructions, or simply a list of helpful links? That would be convenient, and probably more likely to get a positive response.

[Andrew Gilbertson]

Or should we just be diplomatic, and type away?

You should be diplomatic. Extension developers are people; being rude to them is likely to make them want to deliberately NOT support Pale Moon.

Now that I think about it, is there at least a "how to" page, that I can link to, when I email this author--a page that gives an addon author some basic instructions, or simply a list of helpful links?

There is:
http://developer.palemoon.org/Special:AllPages
http://xref.palemoon.org

[paulri]

Excellent. I will include those two links in an email I'll compose this weekend.

Thanks.

[paulri]

For anyone who is interested, here is the text of the message I sent the addon developer. Obviously, anyone who wants to send a similar email to another FF addon developer can use this as a template.

Dear ______,

I have been using Simple Bookmarks Menu for a year or two, and love how it cleans all the crud out of my bookmarks menu.

I am writing you to, to encourage you to port this addon over to be useable by the Pale Moon browser. I have started using Pale Moon, but was unable to install your addon when surfing the addons.mozilla.org site. For what it’s worth, the AMO site sees me as using a version of Firefox that is 27.x. Even in the “Complete Version History” section of your addon page, none were compatible with versions of Firefox earlier than 29.

Would you be interested in porting your addon over to be Pale Moon compatible? I am not a coder at all, but there are a couple of links that I can give you, that would be helpful if you wanted to do this.

http://developer.palemoon.org/Special:AllPages

http://xref.palemoon.org

Regardless of what you decide, thank you for making a great addon!

Respectfully,

[paulri]

While I'm at it, if anyone who is a lot closer to this project than I am, would like to chime in with what they feel is very helpful info that should be included in a letter like this, feel free.

[gracious1]

For anyone who is interested, here is the text of the message I sent the addon developer. Obviously, anyone who wants to send a similar email to another FF addon developer can use this as a template.

Thank you for this. I was struggling with how to pose a question to a developer to port her complete theme over the Pale Moon, and this was extremely helpful. (I had to make a few changes because it is a theme, and I was able to install it, and there were different issues, and the theme-porting page is under construction; still...it got me to actually finish the letter!)

[paulri]

Glad it was able to be of some use.

[Andrew Gilbertson]

May I suggest an edit? As follows, edited portion in bold:

Dear ______,

I have been using Simple Bookmarks Menu for a year or two, and love how it cleans all the crud out of my bookmarks menu.

I am writing you to, to encourage you to port this addon over to be useable by the Pale Moon browser. I have started using Pale Moon, but was unable to install your addon when surfing the addons.mozilla.org site. For what it’s worth, the AMO site sees me as using a version of Firefox that is 27.x. Even in the “Complete Version History” section of your addon page, none were compatible with versions of Firefox earlier than 29.

Would you be interested in porting your addon over to be Pale Moon compatible? Pale Moon was forked from Firefox, and supports the "classic" Firefox extension format, and there are contributors working on supporting JetPack-type extensions as well. Additionally, the team behind Pale Moon has committed to continuing support for classic extensions, rather than going the WebExtension-only route that Firefox is taking.

I am not a coder at all, but there are a couple of links that I can give you, that would be helpful if you wanted to do this.

http://developer.palemoon.org/Special:AllPages

http://xref.palemoon.org

Regardless of what you decide, thank you for making a great addon!

Respectfully,

[paulri]

Yes, Andrew, that change is helpful information for addon developers.