Mozilla Jetpack SDK 0.5 Is Here

Mozilla has released Jetpack SDK 0.5, the latest update to the upcoming extensions platform for Firefox. Jetpack promises a more flexible add-on platform for both developers and end users. For now, the Jetpack SDK 0.5 comes with several new APIs to make the lives of developers easier and extensions more powerful. Notable are the Localization API and the Tabs API, which enable extensions to access tab-related features.

New APIs in Jetpack SDK 0.5:

· Tabs API – Provides easy access to tabs and tab-related events.
· Request API – Lets you easily make network requests.
· Load/unload reasons – Add-ons can now find out when they are being loaded for the first time after being installed or enabled and unloaded because they are being uninstalled or disabled.

· Localization API – Provides simple localization functionality. It makes it possible to retrieve localized versions of the strings in your code. And it doesn’t require you to solicit localizations from localizers or bundle localizations with your code, as the module retrieves them automatically from a web service based on the strings your code is using.
· Selection API – Provides a means to get and set current text/HTML selections, as well as observe new selections.

Several APIs and features slated for Jetpack SDK 0.5 have now been deferred to future releases. This happens quite often at this point in the development schedule and is not something to be worried about.

The latest incarnation of the Jetpack project, the SDK was introduced a few months ago after almost a year of developing the Jetpack prototype. Mozilla plans to develop Jetpack as the default add-on platform for Firefox, perhaps as early as Firefox 4.0 if it can be managed.

Like Chrome’s extensions platform and the recently launched Safari extensions, Jetpacks are built using standard web technologies. They have the advantage of being easier to develop and easier for users to manage, for example by removing the need for a browser restart when a new extension has been installed.

Jetpack SDK 0.5 is available for download here on Softpedia.