Bret Schmerker

About me

Developer Information
Name Bret Schmerker
User since March 16, 2010
Number of add-ons developed 0 add-ons
Average rating of developer's add-ons Not yet rated

My Reviews

CipherFox

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

This Extension provides comprehensive information on the host Server cipher and certificates for any Web page through TLS 1.2; I haven't seen a miss to date as of January 2017. However, the Internet Engineering Task Force is altering the protocol for TLS 1.3b15 in such a way that the "Insecure Connection" alarm this Extension sounds false positives for TLS 1.3 only; e.g., a TLS_ECDHE_ECC_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 ciphersuite reports as TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 with the key exchange and certificate algorithms not reporting. (TLS 1.3 Elliptic Curve Certificates show correctly, as ECC_256_SHA256, ECC_256_SHA384, and/or ECC_384_SHA384.)

This review is for a previous version of the add-on (4.1.1). 

Classic Toolbar Buttons [Tb24-58] (discontinued)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I have been testing Beta Version 1.5.4b2 on two systems running, severally, Ubuntu® 16.04.1-LTS (LinUX Kernel Family 4.4.0-49-generic as of 21 November 2016) and Microsoft® Windows® 10 Build 1607 10.0.14393.447. All systems go for both so far. On previous versions I found the "restore forward button" feature to work properly on both rigs, and this would be of use for those needing a stable but compact complete URLbar on any OS Mozilla supports. All other functions this Extension work as advertised.

Update, 24 November 2016: In Beta Version 1.5.4b3, both "Navigation Toolbar Buttons: OSX" in Classic Style For... and "Restore hidden forward button" in Other Tweaks up and working as advertised.

This review is for a previous version of the add-on (1.5.3). 

Certificate Patrol

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

This Extension is useful for tracking SSL and TLS clearances on newly-visited Web pages, and the Preferences this Extension can locally allow and/or block individual Certificates, even mark a specific Certificate repository as untrusted when the need arises. The pop-up toolbar appears for first-time certificate presentations, with reject and view-details options.

This review is for a previous version of the add-on (2.0.10.1-signed.1-signed). 

Compact Strata-o-various

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Nicely done on this Theme. As of 20 November 2010, I am running this Theme, along with the Merci chao Extension Personal Menu 4.3.2, the patrickjdempsey Extension Combine Buttons 1.0b27, the WOT Extension WOT 20100908, the DW-dev Extension Print Edit, and the Kakkoii Extension Old Location Bar, under Ubuntu® 10.04-LTS, with the Navigation Toolbar set to:

Menuv Bookmarksv * Back/Forward { Stop { Reload Home * X [ * URLbar WOT Printv

Except for a possible bug in Combine Buttons 1.0b27 that made:
{ { Stop Reload Home
pop the Home button out rather than put it in for Reload on a new Tab with no URL (I expected Stop , Reload and Home to use the same spot), no unexpected behavior;
{ Stop { Reload Home
puts all three buttons in one spot.

Stratum Fusion

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

This Theme and its companion Extension give me options for a slimmer navigation bar suitable for teaming with the Merci_chao Extension Personal Menu (I use this Extension's Menu and Bookmarks buttons left of the composite URLbar), the WOT Services Extension WOT, and the Todd Long Extension Update Notifier (the latter two buttons I place right of the URLbar). The Usefulbar is a convenience for permitting access of history, including recently closed tabs, plus the Home function.

This review is for a previous version of the add-on (1.0). 

xultray for gecko 1.9.2

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

This Extension is a handy item for any system running Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or 7, as the Tray icon shows when the Firefox process is up; right-clicking that icon will bring up a context menu to restore/minimize or exit.

Fx4

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

This Theme and its companion Extension improve on certain design strengths of Strata40 and StrataBuddy 0.6.1; the inclusion of an auxiliary Page button and menu is a plus for accessing the most needed functions from the current Edit and View menus. Both have a Bookmarks button and menu that complement the stock Bookmarks Toolbar. The "Firefox" AppMenu button has a larger subset of routinely needed functions from the current File, Tools and Help menus than its Strata40 counterpart.

The integration of a History summary in the App Menu may take some getting used to (I'm used to the History button in Personal Menu), but it is a convenience. The only quasi-bug that I can see is the Tools breakout from the App Menu, which runs straight down, rather than the expected side offset, from "Tools"; that is fixable with a simple coding change, and the Tools breakout has no other unexpected behavior.

Fx4

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Nicely done mod. This combination of Theme and Extension further improves on some of Strata40's proven strengths---I am testing it with Bookmarks left of Back/Forward (on the left), and Page betwixt Location Bar and Universal Print/Update Notifier/Activity Indicator icons (on the right), with Search Bar pulled. The inclusion of Bookmarks, Page and auxiliary Tools buttons is a definite plus.

StrataBuddy 0.6.1 still has an advantage in its variety of faces for the App Button (I picture the Style 6 version from StrataBuddy, plus Bookmarks, History and Save at the left of the Titlebar for Firefox 4.0a1pre). However, Options for Fx4 provides a larger subset of the current Menu Bar than StrataBuddy 0.6.1's hard-coded setup.

Options Menu

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

This Extension is an excellent time-saver for Firefox up to 3.5.*, and dovetails beautifully with Personal Menu 4.2.1 (no bugs on Firefox 3.0.19 on Ubuntu 8.04.4 or 3.5.8 on MS-Windows 7.0.8001). Recommend update for compatibility with Firefox up to 3.7a3-pre for proper testing on Minefield.