427621 - Include the help viewer again.

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox Graveyard :: Help Documentation, defect)

Description

[Nils Maier [:nmaier]]

Bug #423486 removed the help viewer because Firefox will no longer provide "offline" help but link to SUMO.

However there are third party users, i.e. extensions using this functionality.
Our extension, DownThemAll!, for example.
m.d.extensions has a recent thread from another extension author wondering why "openHelp()" is gone now.

I'd like to ask to reevaluate the decision to remove the help viewer.

Comment 1

[Jeff Walden [:Waldo]]

Another option: package up all the help viewer gunk into a zip that can easily be merged into an existing extension's code, and then (perhaps with a few URL changes) use an extension-provided version rather than a built-in one.

Comment 2

[Nils Maier [:nmaier]]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Another option: package up all the help viewer gunk into a zip that can easily
> be merged into an existing extension's code, and then (perhaps with a few URL
> changes) use an extension-provided version rather than a built-in one.
> 

This would be an option, however there are some current issues with this.
Just a quick list what came into my mind:
 * Will there be official platform-dependend theming?
 * There is platform-dependend code, currently handled by the, uhm,  built-time pre-processor (#if). Extension authors might not want to ship platform specific xpi, or include multiple per-platform instances of the viewer (platform in chrome.manifest). Will it be possible to transform the built-time platform "branching" into runtime "branching"?
 * Who will then have to maintain/support this? Even a "simple" help viewer might contain hefty security issues... bug #425541 indicates that the viewer is considered obsolete/deprecated/abandoned from mozilla's point of view.

Comment 3

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

We are in the process of deprecating the help viewer.  We aren't going to update theming and maintain the code if we're not using it.  I understand this happened late, but there were a handful of consumers at best.

You do a fine job of explaining the overhead involved in maintaining the Help Viewer in comment 2, and ultimately, TANSTAAFL applies.  It wasn't worth the maintenance cost for us, and I don't think it will be for anyone else at this point, though SeaMonkey seems determined to stick with it.

Comment 4

[Philip Chee]

> It wasn't worth the
> maintenance cost for us, and I don't think it will be for anyone else at this
> point, though SeaMonkey seems determined to stick with it.

Actually we'll probably switch back to something based on the old XPFE suite help viewer which worked better (or at least was better maintained).

Comment 5

[Nils Maier [:nmaier]]

I see your points in favor of removing/deprecating the help viewer.
Although I feel the help viewer is part of the "platform" (it even was in toolkit) and in fact added value.
And in my opinion the decision to remove it at this point after such a short notice (or in fact after no notice at all) is the wrong decision.

What bothers me once again is a change of that order that late in the release circle that wasn't accounced or otherwise communicated to extension community although the change likely affects at least some extensions.
But OTOH calling out to the developers to get their extensions "ready for Fx3" before there was even beta4 released.