14 DAY TRIAL // One of the big reasons preventing most users from upgrading their Firefox to a newer version is add-on compatibility. With each major launch, some add-ons get left behind, mostly because their authors aren't maintaining them anymore or haven't gotten around to updating them.
This is true for Firefox 4 as well, many users, knowing from previous experience, fear that their favorite add-ons won't work with the latest Firefox.
Add-ons provide a variety of useful features that users grow accustomed to or, in some cases, strictly require to get their work done. While it's very likely that some add-ons haven't been updated, it's probably not as bad as you'd expect.
The vast majority of popular add-ons are compatible with Firefox 4 and even most the niche one. And, since Firefox checks if all of your add-ons are compatible before updating, there's no risk in getting the latest version.
Not only aren't add-ons a reason to keep from upgrading to Firefox 4, they're a big reason to do so. The very latest version comes with a brand-new Add-on Manager that does a much better job at helping you find new add-ons and manage existing ones.
"Not only is Mozilla Firefox 4 fast, feature-rich, and secure, but it’s also the most customizable Firefox ever," Mozilla writes.
Whether you’re an add-on aficionado or just getting started with personalization, our brand new Add-ons Manager, restartless add-ons, and automatic updates make finding and using add-ons a breeze. And with hundreds of thousands of add-ons updated for this version, there’s no better time to make Firefox your own," it adds.
The updated add-on manager has been a long time coming. It began testing before Firefox 4 was even labeled as such and has been available to Firefox 4 beta users since.
Even bigger additions are restartless add-ons, built on Jetpack technology. These add-ons, as the name implies, don't require a browser restart, making the process a lot more seamless and less intrusive.
Already, there are quite a few restartless add-ons available. These add-ons start working within seconds of clicking on the Install button.
Another feature that should make add-on management a lot easier is automated updates. All add-ons are now updated by default as a soon as a new version is available. Of course, this can be customized using the Add-on Manager.