Abandoned ?

[Betsy25]

Since nosquint has been updated in over 2 years, and now making Firefox nightly crash, is there any chance there will be some development to make it current compatible ?

[keithxyxy88]

27 days and no reply. Sadly I fear that answers your question.

It is a sad. I found this add-on really useful.

In fact a couple of years ago I tried Google Chrome and switched back to Firefox because Google Chrome didn't have anything equivalent to NoSquint.

But

• Nobody responding to bugs.
• References to a 'status bar' that has not existed in over a year.
• Zoom reading in tool bar that is incorrect.
• Zoom settings erasing.

[jtackaberry]

Well, it's not officially abandoned. But it's true that I'm finding it extremely difficult to find enough time to dedicate to NoSquint to get it back to where it needs to be.

I suppose the reason I haven't just officially declared the project dead is because I still have some glimmer of hope that I might find time. I have a development branch (not committed to github because it's half baked and unusable) for some years that addresses most of the glaring problems with the design, but because I can only allocate time in small chunks separated sometimes by a month or two, by the time I get back around to hacking on it, I find myself spending the time I have to just fix regressions caused by new Firefox releases (whether subtle behavior changes or major new initiatives like Electrolysis), and not actually making real progress.

I periodically get offers for someone to either partner or buy out NoSquint for relatively nontrivial sums of money. But I know what this means: they want to install crapware and usage tracking into the addon. NoSquint is open source, so the only point of "buying" it is to acquire the userbase, not the code. I am not and never have been interested in making money from NoSquint -- especially at the expense of users' privacy. I'd rather let NoSquint die a protracted and whimpering death than do that. But it does make me wonder how many addon developers have quietly sold out.

So let me petition the community: is it better for me to let NoSquint bitrot (i.e. flag it as incompatible with new Firefox releases) in the hope that I may actually find a sufficiently large chunk of time to move the development branch toward a release, or is it better to rip the bandaid off and formally close off the project?

[keithxyxy88]

This is such a useful add-on. And its purpose -- accessibility -- is something so vital. It is a legacy -- your legacy -- and my preference would be to find a way for it to live on.

Maybe another developer with a proven track record of non-greed might take it over, on the firmly agreed basis of being allowed to solicit voluntary monetary donations via PayPal (passively at download and up to 4 times per year) and nothing more?

Or maybe you could retain control while a junior developer does the work for you in return for the work experience plus whatever voluntary donations come in?

Or maybe Mozilla would take it over and make it an integral part of Firefox?

As I said, this add-on is the reason why, a couple of years ago, I came back to Firefox after trying Chrome. It is an important feature of Firefox.

Nosquint is usually in their official "Featured" list. Instead we could lobby Mozilla somehow and convince them it should be built-in?

And thank you for creating Nosquint. It is a terrific add-on for those of use who would otherwise be taking off and putting on our computer and reading glasses even more times per day.

[g2p]

I'm testing e10s, and when this add-on breaks, the built-in per-site zoom stays disabled (because NoSquint had to interfere with it to give priority to its implementation). There's also some subtle breakage with the new interface. If NoSquint is installed the zoom level isn't displayed properly when updated from the Australis menu.

So, for anyone who notices breakage: Firefox's built-in zoom is quite okay, once configured with https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/default-fullzoom-level/ . It is per-site, text zoom or full zoom, and the default level can be changed. If both extensions are installed at the same time, NoSquint will ask if you're sure what you're doing, you can safely say yes.

[Garrett-R]

@jtackaberry, I admire your dedication to the user. It's inspiring to hear someone caring so much about user privacy and less about money.

I'd be really sad to see this addon die. It's the single most useful addon to me on Firefox.

Is there anyway to make a call out for help? You can't go this alone. I'll try posting on Hacker News, not sure if that'll help.

[rowper]

Your high ethical standard is to be commended. As a person who has used your software for years because it helps with eyestrain and vision problems I thank you very much. I truly hope you can find time and resources to continue this project because there is really nothing else like it. As for your question to the community... For me it is unusable at this point. It seems to make Firefox freeze up at points. I am on FF42. Thanks again and please try to keep this alive!