1576402 - "Find more themes" finds some extensions too

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1480174

(Thunderbird :: Add-Ons: General, defect)

Description

[Eric Moore]

I'm using Thunderbird 68.0 (build id 20190816191614), with its own profile, under windows 10. I went to Tools > Add-ons -> Themes and selected the "find more themes" search field. Note: I didn't enter the double quotes when searching.

1. Searching for "green" returns numerous greek spelling dictionaries plus (greyed out, incompatible) extensions such as highliter, TORPEDO - TOoltip-poweRed Phishing Email DetectiOn etc. If I search using a browser it returns go2, fresh green leaves, stylus green, a solid green success etc.

2. Searching for "marble" returns nothing. If I search using a browser it returns "pure white marble" and "a shimmering sparkle of light".

3. Searching for "airmail" returns the enigmail, mail merge, mail redirect, mailbox alert, gmail buttons etc. extensions. If I search using a browser it returns airmail and cherry hotmail skin

4. Searching for "glass" finds just incompatible/greyed out themes. If I search using a browser it returns GuardCom Thunderbird Mail Contents Filter (extension), glass - black, glass - blood, glass - milk etc.

addons.mozilla.org has at least one "green" theme, numerous "marble" themes", numerous "glass" themes, and a "airmail" theme. If Thunderbird is supposed to be able to use them its not obvious to a typical user what they should do.

I was under the impression that the light weight themes on thunderbird.net were going to be converted to webtextension themes (using a server side script) that Thunderbird 68.0 could use, to minimize the impact on users. That didn't seem to occur.

"find more themes" is returning extensions (especially dictionaries) instead of themes in several cases. Some extensions also seem to be incorrectly identified as themes on Thunderbird.net. I would have expected "find more themes" to have done some sanity checking of the search results.

I expect to find some greyed out/incompatible entries when I search using a browser. However, I thought they were supposed to be removed when using "find more themes" in Thunderbird as the goal was to insulate non-advanced users from that.

There isn't a easy way to explore what themes are available from tools -> add-ons -> themes (unless you search for one and then use the search results tab like its a browser without a back button etc.). My initial impression is that unless you want to use the default, dark or light theme its really slim pickings. It shouldn't be that bad.

Comment 1

[Andrei Hajdukewycz [:sancus]]

Yes, the search field on the themes tab has always searched for extensions, not themes. I don't know why the string on it changed to indicate it searches for themes. It's searching on the wrong URL to include themes. There was never any intention to change this, as far as I know.

There is no straightforward way to get to the Themes section of the site in 68. The discovery pane needs a redesign, but it's unclear whether or not we are continuing to use the remote discovery pane, or switching to the in-client one.

The easiest way to get to the themes part of the site is to search for something, and then click "Themes" in the top menu bar on ATN. From there you can search again, or just browse.

I was under the impression that the light weight themes on thunderbird.net were going to be converted to webtextension themes (using a server side script) that Thunderbird 68.0 could use, to minimize the impact on users. That didn't seem to occur.

The top 1000 of them were converted, yes. That's why ANY of the themes you can find at https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-Us/thunderbird/static-themes/ install at all.

The rest will not be converted, and will be deleted eventually. See https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/tb-planning/tT7SsFbS1Qc