Mozilla pilots Contributions for Firefox Add-ons

The Mozilla Foundation has announced the launch of a pilot for a new Firefox Add-ons program called "Contributions". With the new program, extension developers can request that users make a donation to support their Firefox Add-ons. The contributions will be completely optional to users, allowing them to first evaluate whether or not they want to support an Add-on developer.

For the pilot, Mozilla is not earning a percentage of the contributions made by users and is working with PayPal to facilitate the payments. All contribution amounts will be specified in USD, however, PayPal can convert the amount to a users local currency. Mozilla also advises that, should a developer choose to use a micropayments fee structure, PayPal supports micropayments and reduces the transaction fees for payments under $12.

New and existing Add-on developers can set-up Contributions in the Developer Tools section for their Add-ons. Based on developer feedback, Mozilla has created multiple options for developers to present the "Contribute" button to Add-on users. In the Developer Tools section, Mozilla has also added new “About the Developer” pages that let developers "explain to prospective contributors the motivations for creating an add-on and its future road map".

More details about Contributions can be found in the original Mozilla Blog post and all feedback is welcome via the AMO newsgroup.

See also:

• Mozilla Add-on Collections for Firefox, a report from The H.
• Mozilla CEO: The browser has a long way to go, a feature from The H.
• What's new in Firefox 3.5, a feature from The H.

(crve)