title: What is the easiest way to develop Firefox extension?
body: <p>I'm planning to develop a simple Firefox extension that will shorten URL of a currently active tab, display a popup with the shortened URL, and place it into the clipboard.</p>
  
  <p>In Google Chrome, this would be pretty easy (according to <a href="http://developer.chrome.com/extensions/getstarted.html" rel="noreferrer">http://developer.chrome.com/extensions/getstarted.html</a>) -- pure JavaScript plus a few calls to JavaScript API-s of interacting with the browser's UI.</p>
  
  <p>However, after searching around for a good Firefox extensions tutorial, the most officially-looking links I found are:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Extensions" rel="noreferrer">https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Extensions</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Building_an_Extension" rel="noreferrer">https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Building_an_Extension</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24772/how-do-i-write-a-firefox-addon">How do I write a Firefox Addon?</a></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>According to them, it looks like I will have to learn the XUL language for even the simplest interactions with the browser's UI. On top of that, I will have to set up custom Firefox profile so as not to hose my default profile during development, create complicated directory structure, write manifest in obscure XML, figure out how to package and test whatever I implement, etc.</p>
  
  <p>It's 2013, isn't there an easier way of building Firefox extensions? </p>