The document provides tips for add-on developers to minimize user frustration and maximize delight when building, marketing, and supporting their add-ons. For building, it recommends a clean first run experience, avoiding cluttered user interfaces, and earning user trust. For marketing, it suggests using descriptive names, attractive icons, and helpful screenshots. For listening to users, it advises providing support, monitoring reviews, and utilizing analytics and reporting tools. The overarching goal is to create high quality add-ons that enhance the browser experience for users.

1. _
Making Add-ons
People Will LOVE
Justin Scott
Mozilla Add-ons Workshop
London 2010

2. You can’t please
everyone, but...
• Great add-ons help the entire ecosystem
• Here are some tips & guidelines for:
• minimizing frustration
• maximizing delight
• acquiring and retaining happy users

3. Part I: building
Part II: marketing
Part III: Listening

4. 1 Clean First-Run
or·deal
n.
any extremely severe or trying test, experience, or trial.
an·noy·ance
n.
a cause of irritation or vexation; a nuisance.

5. 1 Clean First-Run
• Annoying first-run practices:
• require registration to do anything at all
• Modal dialogs and wizards
• Asking to change the user’s settings
• Annoying post-update practices:
• Showing the add-on’s homepage
• Showing a changelog (unless a major
change has been made)

8. 1 Clean First-Run
• Don’t let first-run be the last-run by
following these guidelines:
• Modal dialogs/wizards should be part of
the first-run page or triggered by user action
on the first-run page
• Limit of one first-run element. If you have a
first-run page, you shouldn’t need a wizard,
dialog, or sidebar open too.
• Don’t change user preferences

9. 2 Don’t Clutter UI
“Extensions [should] integrate with
the existing UI as if it were a feature
shipped with Firefox itself.”
Survey respondent on what practices all add-ons should adopt
“This is constantly reminding me that
it’s an extension, and not really part
of my browser.”
Survey respondent describing a disappointing add-on

10. 2 Don’t Clutter UI
• Only add UI that is truly needed
• Let the user choose what UI she wants

11. How many Delicious
logos can you spot?
Seven.

13. Eight.
Nine.

14. 3 Earn & Keep Trust
“I give add-on developers a huge amount of trust when I
install their extension. It is painful when they abuse it.”
“I read reviews and avoid any that
sound annoying (change homepage,
collect private info, nav, etc.)”
“Add-ons [should] do what they
claim to and not much else”

15. 3 Earn & Keep Trust
• There are add-ons that want to:
• change the user’s default search provider
without asking
• replace ads on websites with their own ads
• send all of the user’s search queries to a
third party when the add-on isn’t related to
searching
• bundle other add-ons or software the user
didn’t ask for

16. 3 Earn & Keep Trust
• No Surprises means that changing
default settings or otherwise surprising
the user requires:
• a clear, upfront description
• opt-in
• revert on uninstall
• inclusion from the start (not in a subsequent
update)

17. 3 Earn & Keep Trust
• Choose core functionality and stick
with it
Original photo by Flickr user AJC1
(CC licensed)

18. 3 Earn & Keep Trust
• Have a clear Privacy Policy
• Install the proper way
• No .exes or 3rd party bundling

19. 4 Stay Current
• Update compatibility before a Firefox
release
• Avoid conflicts with other add-ons
• Be on the lookout for new platform
features to take advantage of
• Restartless add-ons
• Larger icons
• Mobile

20. 5 Smooth Performance
• Add-ons should have zero performance
impact on Firefox start-up time
• We’re working on tools & ways to
surface performance data to help
developers and users understand the
impact of each add-on

21. 6 Be Delightful
“Finding things that I don't necessarily use but push the platform
is awesome too - the Strata theme and accompanying extension,
for example. It makes Firefox actually interesting again.”
Survey respondent describing delightful add-ons
“I really learn to appreciate the little things you forgot you
installed whenever I am browsing on a clean install or when using
another browser. Like Adblock (obviously) or even very little things
like double clicking a tab like crazy only to realize you need Double
Click To Reload Tabs installed for something to happen.”
Survey respondent describing delightful add-ons

22. 6 Be Delightful
• Find little ways to delight your users
• There’s no recipe for this. It’s specific to
your add-on.

23. Part I: building
Part II: marketing
Part III: Listening

24. 1 Descriptive Name
• An add-on’s functionality should be
obvious from its name
• Adblock Plus • WOT - Safe Browsing Tool
• Password Exporter • FEBE
• FireFTP • Yoono - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace,
YouTube, Flickr, AIM, MSN, GTalk...
• Video DownloadHelper • Cooliris
• Download Statusbar • Infoaxe : Full Text Web History Search synchronized
between Firefox, IE on multiple computers.
• Flashblock • Glubble
• User Agent Switcher • Glue - Recommendations for Books/Movies/Music

25. 2 Pretty Icon
• Icons are always shown, yet half of
extensions use default
• Icon is part of your add-on’s brand
• ... and they’re becoming more important
Large icons are coming to
Firefox 4 & AMO

26. 2 Pretty Icon
• We want add-ons to have great,
relevant icons
• So we’re expanding our defaults,
• creating a Design Help forum,
• ...and having a contest.

27. Add-on Icon Makeover Contest
Coming Soon!
Watch blog.mozilla.com/addons for details

28. 3 Helpful Screenshots
• Summaries are only 250 characters, but
a picture’s worth 1000 words
• Make sure to add screenshots of your
add-on and keep them updated

29. 4 Avoid EULAs
• We recently changed install buttons for
add-ons that have EULAs
Old New

30. 4 Avoid EULAs
• EULAs prior to download kill
conversions
View Details View Details
5%
44% EULA
61%
Download Download

31. Part I: building
Part II: marketing
Part III: Listening

32. 1 Provide Support
• Users get frustrated when they
encounter problems and can’t find any
support avenues
• Add-ons should provide at least one,
possibly including:
• Support E-mail
• Support Website
• Get Satisfaction

33. 2 Monitor User Reviews
• Users reviews are good, bad, and ugly
• They hint at problems users are facing
• Developers can reply to reviews to
provide support or address a
misconception
• (though we discourage bug reports and
support requests in user reviews)

34. 3 Utilize Tools
• AMO provides numerous tools to help
developers understand their add-on’s
usage and standing
• Statistics Dashboard
• Recent Activity Feed
• Compatibility Reports

35. 3 Utilize Tools
• Statistics Dashboard can help you
monitor key metrics, make product
decisions, and answer questions like:
• Should I continue supporting this platform,
application, version, or locale?
• Should I add support for this platform,
application, version, or locale?
• How quickly do users update to the latest
version of my add-on?

36. Stats Dashboard
revamp is coming
soon!

37. 3 Utilize Tools
• Recent Activity feed tells you what’s
new with your add-on

38. 3 Utilize Tools
• Compatibility Reporter users help you
test before the next big release

39. Summary
building marketing
1. Clean First-Run 1. Descriptive Name
2. Don’t Clutter UI 2. Pretty Icon
3. Earn & Keep Trust 3. Helpful Screenshots
4. Stay Current 4. Avoid EULAs
5. Smooth Performance
6. Be Delightful
Listening
1. Provide Support
2. Monitor User Reviews
3. Utilize Tools

40. “Overall, I love the community of developers
who continue to create stellar add-ons for the
benefit of the Firefox community.”
Survey respondent
Original illustration by Mozilla
Creative Collective member foxyboy
(CC licensed)

41. Thanks!
fligtar@mozilla.com
twitter.com/fligtar