1544525 - Change Fennec about:addons' AMO link title and URL

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

Description

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

1. Change Fennec's about:addons's AMO link title to say "Browse recommended Firefox Add-ons" instead of "Browse all Firefox Add-ons". We will need to localize this new link title.

2. Change Fennec's about:addons's AMO link to deep link to the list of featured Fennec extensions [1] instead of the generic AMO home page (which includes desktop extensions and themes that are not Fennec-compatible).

[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/android/search/?featured=true&type=extension

Comment 1

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Devin, this is another Fennec bug we'd like Softvision to prioritize.

1. The new AMO link title will need to be localized, so it might not be possible to uplift a fix to 67 Beta.

2. The AMO link, OTOH, does not need to be localized so we could conceivably uplift it to 67 Beta or even a 66.0.x dot release.

Comment 2

[Petru-Mugurel Lingurar[:petru]]

Attachment: Bug 1544525 - Update about:addons's AMO title

Comment 3

[Liz Henry (:lizzard) (use needinfo)]

Not likely for 66 release but maybe 67 is possible.

Comment 4

[Devin Reams (dreams)]

Discussed today: a potential product requirement (unclear of feasibility): add the new string (forcing the new string to be re-translated) but consider adding logic to "fall back" to the old translated string instead of the new one if non-English not available.

And please consider breaking the patch into two to get strings started on translation and landed first.

Comment 5

[Petru-Mugurel Lingurar[:petru]]

@Francesco In the event that the new string isn't yet fully localized is it possible to fallback to the old translated one instead of the new default english string? I don't see how I could do this in code.

Comment 6

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

(In reply to Petru-Mugurel Lingurar[:petru] from comment #5)

@Francesco In the event that the new string isn't yet fully localized is it possible to fallback to the old translated one instead of the new default english string? I don't see how I could do this in code.

Sorry, that's a technical question that I can't answer. Maybe existing Fennec developers have ideas.

Personally, I can't imagine a way to do that, given that the missing string will be available in the file (in English) to avoid breaking the build. The fallback is at build time, not at run-time.

Comment 7

[Devin Reams (dreams)]

Personally, I can't imagine a way to do that, given that the missing string will be available in the file (in English) to avoid breaking the build.

OK that makes sense. Thanks for the quick responses...

Then our best technique is still, as I understand it, land the string(s) as early as possible, even separate from the code changes.

Comment 8

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

(In reply to Devin Reams (dreams) from comment #7)

Then our best technique is still, as I understand it, land the string(s) as early as possible, even separate from the code changes.

Yes. Also knowing that we can't ship any updates to translation for 67 past May 1st.

Comment 9

[Andreas Bovens [:abovens]]

land the string(s) as early as possible, even separate from the code changes.

That sounds indeed like the best way forward.

Comment 10

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Petru, sorry for the late change request, but the AMO team has new suggestions for the AMO link title and URL. Can you please update your patch to use this new title and URL?

• Title = Browse Firefox's Recommended Extensions (instead of "Browse recommended Firefox Add-ons")
• URL = https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/collections/4757633/mob/

Comment 11

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

(In reply to Francesco Lodolo [:flod] from comment #6)

@Francesco In the event that the new string isn't yet fully localized is it possible to fallback to the old translated one instead of the new default english string? I don't see how I could do this in code.

@ Francesco, what is the process for changing an existing string's wording? How do translators get notified that they should re-translate a string?

If we reword the addons.browseAll string instead of deleting it and adding the new addons.browseAll2 string, then not-yet-retranslated locales would still have their original translated value addons.browseAll=Browse all Firefox Add-ons. That would be better than falling back to the new untranslated English string addons.browseAll2=Browse Firefox's Recommended Extensions.

Comment 12

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

(In reply to Chris Peterson [:cpeterson] from comment #11)

@ Francesco, what is the process for changing an existing string's wording? How do translators get notified that they should re-translate a string?

You change the string ID, making it a brand new string that needs to be localized from scratch.

If we reword the addons.browseAll string instead of deleting it and adding the new addons.browseAll2 string, then not-yet-retranslated locales would still have their original translated value addons.browseAll=Browse all Firefox Add-ons. That would be better than falling back to the new untranslated English string addons.browseAll2=Browse Firefox's Recommended Extensions.

They will never know the string changed. The source changed, but the string is still translated, no dashboard or tool will report it. New IDs is the only way to ensure a string is looked at and updated.

Comment 13

[Axel Hecht [:Pike]]

(In reply to Petru-Mugurel Lingurar[:petru] from comment #5)

@Francesco In the event that the new string isn't yet fully localized is it possible to fallback to the old translated one instead of the new default english string? I don't see how I could do this in code.

IIRC, we've managed to do that in the past with DTDs and weirdo hacks and relying on ordering of stuff.

In properties, you could do something like:

If string2 is not en-US, use string2
If string2 is en-US and string1 is en-US, use string2
Otherwise use string1

That requires to hard-code the en-US values for the old and the new string in the code, and to keep the old string around, so you can get it reliably.

Comment 14

[Petru-Mugurel Lingurar[:petru]]

Attachment: Bug 1544525 - Update about:addons's AMO title; r?Pike, JanH

And ensure we will always show a localized title, even if we have to fallback
to the old already localized one.

Comment 15

[Petru-Mugurel Lingurar[:petru]]

Attachment: Bug 1544525 - Update about:addons's AMO link; r?AndreiLazar

Depends on D27858

Comment 17

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/176a74bf9fe2
Update about:addons's AMO title; r=Pike,JanH
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/80d7bc088091
Update about:addons's AMO link; r=AndreiLazar

Comment 18

[Cosmin Sabou [:CosminS]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/176a74bf9fe2
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/80d7bc088091

Comment 19

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Petru, can you please request uplift for your AMO fixes to Fennec 67 Beta?

We will also want to uplift Andrei's AMO URL fix in bug 1545838. Your fixes will need to land on Beta before Andrei's.

Comment 20

[Petru-Mugurel Lingurar[:petru]]

Comment on attachment 9058875 [details]
Bug 1544525 - Update about:addons's AMO title; r?Pike, JanH

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: Outdated AMO experience in about:addons
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: Yes
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: Open about:addons
  Confirm the text for the AMO title is changed now to "Browse Firefox’s Recommended Extensions"
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): A string update covered by an updated test-case.
• String changes made/needed: This patch contains the string update.

Comment 21

[Petru-Mugurel Lingurar[:petru]]

Comment on attachment 9058881 [details]
Bug 1544525 - Update about:addons's AMO link; r?AndreiLazar

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: Outdated AMO experience in about:addons
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: No
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: Open about:addons
  Press "Browse Firefox’s Recommended Extensions"
  Confirm that the page opened is valid and the url is different than the old "https://addons.mozilla.org/%LOCALE%/android/"
  (Another uplift - bug 1545838 is requested which overwrites the url that this patch initially modified)
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): A single URL change.
• String changes made/needed: --

Comment 22

[Sorina Florean [:sflorean]]

Verified as fixed on latest Nightly build (68.0a1).
Devices:

• Google Pixel (Android 9)
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (Android 9)
• Xiaomi Mi4i (Android 5.0.2)

Comment 23

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

Comment on attachment 9058875 [details]
Bug 1544525 - Update about:addons's AMO title; r?Pike, JanH

Low risk and P1, uplift approved for 67 beta 14, thanks.

Comment 24

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

Comment on attachment 9058881 [details]
Bug 1544525 - Update about:addons's AMO link; r?AndreiLazar

Uplift approved for 67 beta 14, thanks.

Comment 25

[Sebastian Hengst [:aryx] (needinfo on intermittent or backout)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/ec55d1e895f9
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/d9dcd33ef48b

Comment 26

[Laurentiu Apahidean]

Hello,

I have verified the issue on Beta 67.0b14 using OnePlus A3000 (Android 6.0.1) and Samsung Galaxy S8+ (Android 8.0.0).

The text in the about:addons section is changed and redirects correctly.

Due to my findings, I'll mark this issue as verified in Firefox 67.