Firefox to get global Web Notifications permission management option

Mozilla plans to launch better management options for Web Notifications permissions in Firefox 44 and 45 which will provide users with options to list all custom permissions in one central location, and to add or remove sites and applications from the permissions list.

The Notifications API provides web pages or applications with the means to display notifications outside of their own boundaries on a system level. Web applications can utilize this to send notifications to the user if Firefox is running in the background or if the application is idle.

Firefox gives users full control over Web Notifications by displaying prompts whenever a site or app requests the permissions.

It is furthermore possible to change the default for select sites using the Site Permissions interface, and to disable Web Notifications for all sites by setting the dom.webnotifications.enabled and dom.webnotifications.serviceworker.enabled preferences to false on the about:config page.

All Firefox versions before 44 have no option to display the full list of custom Web Notifications permissions for apps or sites which means that users have to use the site permissions dialog to modify custom permissions either temporarily or permanently.

Starting with Firefox 44, Firefox users will be able to access new Notifications permission controls in the Firefox options.

The options are listed under Content in Firefox 44 but will likely be moved to a new Permissions preference entry that provides access to all permission controls in Firefox 45.

A click on choose next to Notifications on the Content settings listing opens the Notification Permissions overlay on the screen listing all custom permissions currently set in the browser and their status.

You may remove one or all sites from the listing using the remove buttons, or add new sites to it and define their status as either allow or block.

Additional information and options to follow the development progress are accessible on Mozilla's bug tracking website under Bug 1201398.

Closing Words

The integration of a central permissions management interface is long overdue in Firefox. The plan to integrate it into the options of the browser makes sense as it improves the discoverability of the feature among other things.