All Maxthon problems because of... Sidebar

I do not want to say that sidebar in Maxthon is something bad. It was a cool idea, but not without flaws. You can pin sidebar to desktop and use browser extensions without browser runing. Cool, but do you know cool extensions for sidebar? I do not. And look on sidebar in MX4 without this feature: this is sidebar from MX3 without ant changes! Remember sidebar in MX2. It was one of the best sidebar ever! Sidebar in MX4 better than sidebar in new Opera, but worse than old Opera, old Maxthon and Vivaldi. And sidebar has many problems and bugs...

1. "stopOnClose": false by default

What does it mean? It means that you cannot close small window in sidebar, only minimize. Not so bad if you use a few sidebar add-ons and close browser from time to time. But why? Why not "true"? Why "false"? Is there any reason for this? If I want to minimize window, I can click outside sidebar window. If I click "x" I wanna close this window! What are you thinking about?!

But maybe not all is so bad? Look on SDK for MX extensions. Last update is 1.2.7 (May 21th, 2015): update "stopOnClose". Really? Let's read! There are two reference about "stopOnClose": page 15 - "stopOnClose": true by default, but page 13 - "stopOnClose": false. A... Are you kidding us? What is this? How does it work? Let's check!

We need old extension. Very old... For example, Facebook (Social Network Sidebar), the oldest and most popular sidebar add-on for Facebook (but my Facebook is better!):

• Install and run it. Click any link to open other page. Press "x" to close add-on. 
• Open again: if you see start page "x" really works, but if you see the same page, "x" just minimizes window.

Conclusion: "stopOnClose" is still false by default.
But good new. All my extensions have "stopOnClose": true. It means that about 10% of available today extensions can really be closed. But what about another 90%?

2. Normal, Private and Session issues

You need two accounts on any website and sidebar add-on for this site to see what I mean. Facebook again? OK, why not? 

• Restart your browser. Open facebook in a new tab. Log in. Install this add-on (just for example). Click on Facebook icon in sidebar. Does it work? I think yes. OK.
• Click Menu → Session or Private. Open Facebook in a new tab and log in (another accaunt!).
• Click on Facebook icon in sidebar. It's broken! Does not work any more!

Sidebar use the same cookie as browser tabs. But if you start two sessions with one sidebar, your extensions will go crazy!

3. Leakage of cookies

I don't know how does it "work" and I'm not sure that this is because of cookies. It looks like but from previous point. If you use browser for a long time without restarting, addo-ns in sidebar just stop work. All what you can do is restart your browser. Very unpleasant!

4. How to hide some of sidebar buttons?

How often do you ask yourself about this? And every time you answer: "No can do".
You can only disable or remove extension. Logically but only if we talk about sidebar extensions. Look on New Tab Plus for example. This is alternative quick access, but NTB has icon in sidebar. And what this button do? Nothing. Why? Because this is very old extensions. NTP developer used "entryPoints": ["sidebar"], so you see useless icon in sidebar. This button does not work, but you cannot just disable or remove extension. Now developer can use "entryPoints": ["doc_start"] and extensions will work without useless buttons. But... What can you do with useless buttons in sidebar? Nothing. And what I want to see in MX5? Something like in toolbar: in toolbar you can just hide unnecessary buttons. Just add this feature in sidebar too!

5. How to add website on sidebar?

This is most popular question from new users. They see that sidebar is something conveniently and they want to use it for all their favorite website. But they can not fo it. Sidebar in Maxthon is just web panel like in other browsers, but you cannot just add website via link (like in Firefox or old Opera). You need extensions! I needed extension, but it did not exist. So I had to make it. And what do we have today? 10%...

Look on Vivaldi. Vivaldi's sidebar look like sidebar in old Opera, but you can add website by link and it will work not worse that in new Opera. But in Vivaldi you don't need any extensions for this! New sidebar in new MX5 must be some be something in between Vivaldi and MX2. Think about this...

That's all...
Share via AddThis of Shareaholic
Перевод на русский

• All publications in English
• All publications in Russian