I created my first Firefox Add-on! QuickInbox Generator.

**stickycarrots** · 17 April, 2010, 17:07 PM

Yesterday I decided that my site could really use a Firefox Add-on. I knew what I wanted, but I honestly had no idea how to do it. So, I went to the Firefox developer site and went to work...

Nearly 7 hours and over 50 revisions later I had the QuickInbox Generator add-on.

Overall, the development of the plugin was actually very fun. It took a lot of searching to figure out how exactly the overlays and stuff work in Firefox, but with only 1 day under my belt I think I have it primarily all figured out. I'm going to be developing a few more add-ons in the near future.

I would REALLY REALLY appreciate it if the NetBuilders community would take a look at my add-on and let me know what they think. Right now it's in what is called the "sandbox." I can nominate it to be released completely to the public (which has many many advantages) once I get a few reviews and downloads. Once that happens when I make new updates they'll be automatically installed on your Firefox and stuff like that.

I will be adding a page to QuickInbox later today or tomorrow that explains the plugin further and links to the page on Firefox's site.

(notice the site used in the screenshot?)

Take a look and let me know what you think

Thanks,
Luke

**Mr.Bill** · 17 April, 2010, 17:26 PM

Very innovative, nice addition for firefox and to help promote your own site.

**Aquarezz** · 17 April, 2010, 22:00 PM

Looks nice, is it hard to code these addons? Where have you found all information to do it?

Great idea & good luck with your website (and addon)!

**Kovich** · 17 April, 2010, 23:31 PM

So, basically a copy of this?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1813

**anantshri** · 18 April, 2010, 00:08 AM

Originally Posted by Kovich

So, basically a copy of this?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1813

I would not call it exact copy

at the very least he has changed the parent site from trashmail.net to quickinbox.

**stickycarrots** · 18 April, 2010, 01:17 AM

Originally Posted by Kovich

So, basically a copy of this?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1813

Originally Posted by anantshri

I would not call it exact copy

at the very least he has changed the parent site from trashmail.net to quickinbox.

Actually, it's a little different then that. It looks like TrashMail makes it so something@trashmail.net will forward to your actual e-mail address. QuickInbox creates a disposable 30 minute inbox so you never have to use your real e-mail.

They're two pretty different services. Thanks for pointing it out though, I'd never heard of TrashMail.

**Kovich** · 18 April, 2010, 01:20 AM

Yes, TrashMail allows you to create an e-mail address for any of the following:

@trashmail.net
@trash-mail.at
@trashmail.at
@trashmail.me
@kurzepost.de
@rcpt.at

You put in your real email address, how many letters you wanted forwarded, the life span of the forwarding, and whether or not you want anyone sending you a letter to fulfill a challenge-response system requirement.

That way, if I wanted to sign-up somewhere, I would just right click and have it embedded into the form, like what your plugin does. Then, while I'm checking my normal email inbox, I can just go ahead and verify my account or whatever is required from the site I signed up with.

**stickycarrots** · 18 April, 2010, 01:32 AM

Originally Posted by Kovich

Yes, TrashMail allows you to create an e-mail address for any of the following:

@trashmail.net
@trash-mail.at
@trashmail.at
@trashmail.me
@kurzepost.de
@rcpt.at

You put in your real email address, how many letters you wanted forwarded, the life span of the forwarding, and whether or not you want anyone sending you a letter to fulfill a challenge-response system requirement.

That way, if I wanted to sign-up somewhere, I would just right click and have it embedded into the form, like what your plugin does. Then, while I'm checking my normal email inbox, I can just go ahead and verify my account or whatever is required from the site I signed up with.

So, you can see why it's not a copy? lol.

@quickinbox.com has been used by thousands of people and is already starting to get blocked at some sites (DigitalPoint and Facebook for example). I am in the process of adding other e-mail addresses that forward to your QuickInbox.com inbox. I actually should have already had it setup, but I hit a few bumps with my host.

For example, you'll be able to send an e-mail to anything@quickinbox.info and it'll show up in your anything@quickinbox.com inbox.

Actually forwarding to a regular e-mail address would not be out of the question, but with having users actually go to quickinbox.com I am giving myself more of a chance to monetize the service.

Something I hope to add in the coming months is an API. I want to allow developers to create and use e-mail inboxes without having to even go to quickinbox. I have a few ideas of how I would use an API like this, but I am sure if the right developers find it they'll be able to come up with their own

**Kovich** · 18 April, 2010, 01:36 AM

Right. When I said it was 'basically a copy', I didn't mean an exact replica of the already existing service, but something extremely similar. If you're looking to takeover whatever market exists for this, I just thought it would be appropriate to inform you of something that has been around since 2002 and gets the same exact job done, even if it is in a slightly different manner.

Anyway, I am fond of the ideas you seem to be exploring. I hope you stick with it.

**stickycarrots** · 18 April, 2010, 01:46 AM

Originally Posted by Aquarezz

Looks nice, is it hard to code these addons? Where have you found all information to do it?

Great idea & good luck with your website (and addon)!

haha, sorry Aquarezz. I complete skipped over your reply until I just came back to the thread.

As I mentioned, it was A LOT of trial and error. This plugin helped a TON. There is some information on the addon developer site from Firefox, but I used a lot of different resources. If I found a tutorial I thought would be useful I added it to a bookmark folder I created. I just kept going back and forth, trial and error

Originally Posted by Kovich

Right. When I said it was 'basically a copy', I didn't mean an exact replica of the already existing service, but something extremely similar. If you're looking to takeover whatever market exists for this, I just thought it would be appropriate to inform you of something that has been around since 2002 and gets the same exact job done, even if it is in a slightly different manner.

Anyway, I am fond of the ideas you seem to be exploring. I hope you stick with it.

Thank you. I'm going to keep working on it and we'll see where it goes. Overall the best part of the experience was just learning the steps to develop these plugins. I think there's definitely a market for useful ones.