ServerSpy update for Firefox 4

Published: November 7, 2010. Updated: April 28, 2024.

Server Spy is a little Firefox addon that displays the name of the server software serving the current page. The current version of Server Spy works with Firefox 3.6; it uses the status bar to display the server name.

Server Spy had to be adapted to Firefox 4 because the status bar is going away with the new release of Firefox. An “Add-on bar” is being introduced for extensions that desperately need a bar at the bottom of the window, but I don’t want to force my users to display it. Therefore the new version of Server Spy will feature a new UI, not using the “Add-on bar”.

In Firefox, the server-related information is at the beginning of the URL bar. There’s the favicon, and possibly the HTTPS server name. So Server Spy’s UI will be there too. By default, Server Spy displays an orange badge conveying basic server identification (A for Apache, I for IIS, G for Google’s software, etc.). When the user clicks on the field, the usual “server identity” dialog pops up, with an additional line containing all of the “Server” HTTP header. The orange badge (aka “icon”) may be disabled in the extension’s preference dialog, while retaining the information in the popup.

You may test the new version (at usual, at your own risks, without any kind of warranty): Server Spy 0.2.0 beta 1.

Note: it’s compatible with Firefox 3.6 too (supported versions are currently 3.6 through 4.0b8pre).

Any feedback will be appreciated!