Recent and upcoming changes to the Microsoft Edge Add-Ons store

[josh_bodner]

Hello Insider Community,  
 
We at Microsoft Edge team have revamped the product detail page on the Edge Add-ons website. From our research we gathered that users need more information to make a better decision about which extensions to install. We also learnt that developers want to offer more information by way of images and videos to help users appreciate the features that their products offer.  

Here is a summary of the revised changes and how they help users make a better choice!  

1. Understand the functionality that the extension provides:  

Images and Videos helps users to make right choices around the purpose of the product/ extension, connected to the available features. 

Extension’s compatibility indicator and language option helps users to make informed decisions, mapping to their own device compatibility and requirement. 
 

More information such as version number and last updated date has been nicely laid out on the right for inspection, along with a link to the privacy policy and more add-ons from the developer.  

2. Know more about the developer with their website Link: 

 
We have made it easier for users to discover the developer website link. The website link will show up only if the developer has provided this information while submitting the extension. We would soon be adding more information such as the Weekly Active user count for the extension.  
 

3. Discover new extensions: 

"View more extensions from this developer" and "People also like" section will help users discover more extensions from the store. 
 

 4. Give feedback to the extension developers: 

In the upcoming releases, we will also add the extension support contact information so that users can easily share feedback directly with the developers.  

 
Summary: 
 
We think that users will feel more confident about the decisions that they make with the improved layout of the product details page. We are constantly listening to developer and consumer feedback to improve the Microsoft Edge Add-ons website. Do let us know what you think of these improvements and any other feedback that you may have by leaving a comment below, or by sending feedback through the Microsoft Edge browser (Shift+Alt+I). 

If you are interested in learning more about recent changes to the extensions platform or porting your existing extension to Microsoft Edge Add-ons website, please register for the upcoming webinar on Wednesday, December 16, 8AM Pacific Standard Time PST.  We hope the updates will make it simpler for you to find the extensions you are looking for. 

[#2]

That's awesome!! It would be nice if extensions when downloaded are scanned for viruses as well. Hope you can figure out a way to make sure the owner is acutallly the real owner. Like the fake vpn extenstions that you verfify them.

[#3]

One of the biggest security issues lately is already trusted extensions selling to new developers that then use the installed base to install an updated extension with malicious code. See the Nano AdBlock as recent example which mainly affected if installed from Google Store.

A couple of ideas on how to improve security for this attack vector:

* Virus Scanning per @Deleted suggestion

* Code Scanning for any extension that seeks to detect F12 Developer Tools and flag it as suspicious. Add to AllowList if extension has provided reasonable explanation and make it a permission required for users to know/accept.

* Let users know if an extension is sold and hands off access to a 3rd party. Users can then research and decide if they want to continue with extension.

I think this is attack vector needs alot more discussion between Google, MS, and the community to find other ways to mitigate these issues. I don't think locking down extensions is the right answer. This is a trust issue to ensure users know about changes to an extension before or after they install it.

[#4]

Yes I do ageee with you. You can’t lock down a extenstion. Yeah should implant those ideas.

[#5]

Shouldn’t just scan when downloading but constantly. Like how windows defend dose it. Or every time there is a update, don’t know. Very tricky to keep the owners rights and stuff

[#6]

Things the Microsoft Addons store needs:
1. enable Dark theme
2. add a section for THEMES so people can publish themes for Microsoft Edge in there. there is currently one theme only and it's Wonder Woman. Available now
3. Add Extension library to Edge addons store for each user, just like Chrome extension store has. it shows the extensions user has installed in the past, and extensions that are currently installed.

it can show the history of previously installed and rated extensions.

also make the Addons store more visible in Edge UI, it's buried deep at the end of the
edge://extensions/

[#7]

@Deleted 

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@Deleted wrote:
Shouldn’t just scan when downloading but constantly. Like how windows defend dose it. Or every time there is a update, don’t know. Very tricky to keep the owners rights and stuff

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I agree after each update the extension should be scanned. maybe the developer plays a good role for the first month and then turns malicious and slowly starts doing bad things.

of course, there will be a prompt shown to the user whenever an extension asks for additional permissions but still the average users will just give the permission.

and the VPN extensions, there are a lot of duplicates in Edge addons store. VPNs with different names but same UI, same servers, exactly same process.

[#8]

Can we have a bug report feature in the store. I dont want to give bad reviews but feedback and bugs

[#9]

@Deleted 

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@Deleted wrote:
Can we have a bug report feature in the store. I dont want to give bad reviews but feedback and bugs

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that sounds really good and useful

Chrome webstore has it too

and I'm sure both users and developers will appreciate it since reviews won't be about bug reports and actually about the product itself.

[#10]

Yeah, lets send feedback on this. Since the reviews are about the app not about the bugs.

Didnt notice that support option before

[#11]

Sure,
the support option is an optional thing, develops can choose to offer it. not all extensions have it.

[#12]

@josh_bodner 

please add Microsoft Autofill extension to the Microsoft Addons store too, and let other Chromium based browsers use the extensions in there, if they are compatible.

[#13]

Thanks for the suggestions @HotCakeX - we are working on some of these improvements and we will share an update when these are available.  

[#14]

@Deleted Thanks for the feedback. This is a part of our backlog - will inform you once we start working on this. 

[#15]

You're welcome!! Also please make the edge store more modern astorend fluent like the chorme webstore. Since it dosent' just let you see more and more when you scroll. Also is new THemes on the table yet?

[#16]

@Deleted 

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@Deleted wrote:
 Also is new THemes on the table yet?

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Yeah, new themes are in the store

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/themes-now-available-in-edge-addons-store/m-p/1997355

[#17]

Nope not in stable,

[#18]

I installed themes from there on stable but sometimes it appears there, sometimes it doesn't, a new form of controlled feature rollout i suppose

[#19]

Are you talking about the wonderwoman theme?

[#20]

no, the new theme category, it's hidden to some users