The New Mozilla Firefox

Nick Kaufman

protector of human kind from spoilers
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 2, 2003
13,410
A Lost Time
Got upgraded last night. The layout seems cleaner and it's probably faster, but it's frustrating that most of the popular extensions work because they haven't upgraded to the new api.

The biggest problem for the time being is that I cannot save my session before I close the browser. Any suggestions?

From what I understand, firefox was facing a precipitous decline the past few years. Hopefully this update revives it. But what kept me using it besides habit was the extensions and ability to customize the interface. If they don't fix this soon, this might prove the death knell for them.
 

Nick Kaufman

protector of human kind from spoilers
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 2, 2003
13,410
A Lost Time
Btw, for a browser whose problem was memory leaks, right now I see 5 or 6 processes running with the first one using 6GB or so. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.
 

Brohamer of the Gods

Well-Known Member
Silver Supporter
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
3,947
Warwick, RI
It seemed really fast when I got it the other day for one usage. Then yesterday I had a Windows update and it seems back to about the same speed. Had a hard time loading after the update and I notice the multiple processes running.
 

Tony C

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Apr 13, 2000
13,694
Yeah, I want to support Firefox, but chrome and opera just seem to work better. Got this new update, too....we'll see.
 

charlieoscar

Member
Sep 28, 2014
1,339
Not sure this helps any...

I don't have the newest system available but with a few upgrades (64-bit Win 8.1, AMD 8-core at 3.4 GHz with 16 GB RAM, a solid state HD for the OS, and a video card with 2 GHz VRAM). Yet, when Mozilla recently decided its latest upgrade should migrate to a 64-bit version, I basically had to stop using FireFox until I learned how to get the 32-bit version of the upgrade. The update to the newest form of FF automatically was the 32-bit version and I haven't had any problems with it and I think it works better than the 32-bit versions of older FF's.

To make a long story short, I used FF and Chrome about the same amount, pre-32/64-bit change, with about equal performance (for my usage). But then I started having a lot of FF crashes and began using Chrome most of the time until I couldn't use FF at all (the switch to 64-bit). Now, with the new (32-bit) version of FF I don't find much difference between the two in speed.
 

Couperin47

Member
SoSH Member
Got upgraded last night. The layout seems cleaner and it's probably faster, but it's frustrating that most of the popular extensions DO NOT work because they haven't upgraded to the new api.

The biggest problem for the time being is that I cannot save my session before I close the browser. Any suggestions?

From what I understand, firefox was facing a precipitous decline the past few years. Hopefully this update revives it. But what kept me using it besides habit was the extensions and ability to customize the interface. If they don't fix this soon, this might prove the death knell for them.
Fixed your post. Firefox has been declining in use for years now since the misguided group that runs them decided to eviscerate the project by betraying it's reason to exist: to be a highly customable browser responsive to it's users needs. Instead, with funding coming largely from Google. it's become a slavish imitation of Chrome with virtually nothing that can be customized. The switch to the new API model ruins most of what was left of the independent community that made FF special and most of those projects will not be rewritten to return that functionality or literally cannot be duplicated since their goal is to prevent the browser from being anything but their dumbed down crappy Chrome clone. And after fighting and dismissing all attempts to create a 64 bit version (hence the forks of Waterfox and Palemoon years ago, among others) and sabotaging their own work on such a version (because it would have been a version of Firefox not the Chrome clone they wanted to produce) now suddenly they push everyone to a 64 bit version of their Chrome clone. Now Google has withdrawn most funding, as they have accomplished their goal: to destroy their competitor.

Palemoon can use virtually all old API FF extensions, either directly or with trivial modifications and already has versions of most. It has both 32 and 64 bit versions. Over the last 4 years it has forked to a new underlying engine and despite what the clowns at Mozilla say, it is no longer any 'old version' of Firefox. If you want the looks and feel and features of Firefox. investigate Pale Moon. For example check out the current state of Extensions and Addons for those you may not wish to give up here: https://addons.palemoon.org/extensions/
 

TallerThanPedroia

Civilly Disobedient
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
25,532
Boston
Can anyone solve this one?

On Android, before the update, when I opened a link in an app (like Twitter), it would open in Firefox. Now there's an intermediary step - kind of like an in-app reader, but it's clearly part of Firefox (it says "Powered by Firefox") and I hate it and I cannot figure out how to turn it off. I have to click a second time to "Open in Firefox" so the link actually gets a tab and I can decide if I want to read it now or later and go back to scrolling through tweets or whatever.
 

Nick Kaufman

protector of human kind from spoilers
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 2, 2003
13,410
A Lost Time
Fixed your post. Firefox has been declining in use for years now since the misguided group that runs them decided to eviscerate the project by betraying it's reason to exist: to be a highly customable browser responsive to it's users needs. Instead, with funding coming largely from Google. it's become a slavish imitation of Chrome with virtually nothing that can be customized. The switch to the new API model ruins most of what was left of the independent community that made FF special and most of those projects will not be rewritten to return that functionality or literally cannot be duplicated since their goal is to prevent the browser from being anything but their dumbed down crappy Chrome clone. And after fighting and dismissing all attempts to create a 64 bit version (hence the forks of Waterfox and Palemoon years ago, among others) and sabotaging their own work on such a version (because it would have been a version of Firefox not the Chrome clone they wanted to produce) now suddenly they push everyone to a 64 bit version of their Chrome clone. Now Google has withdrawn most funding, as they have accomplished their goal: to destroy their competitor.

Palemoon can use virtually all old API FF extensions, either directly or with trivial modifications and already has versions of most. It has both 32 and 64 bit versions. Over the last 4 years it has forked to a new underlying engine and despite what the clowns at Mozilla say, it is no longer any 'old version' of Firefox. If you want the looks and feel and features of Firefox. investigate Pale Moon. For example check out the current state of Extensions and Addons for those you may not wish to give up here: https://addons.palemoon.org/extensions/
Thanks for the info, I wasn't aware of the backroom politics and corporate strategies. I am not sure that's completely the reason firefox has fallen through. I suspect that technically profficient users who are adept at tinkering are few and far between while the majority of them want dumbed down versions and when they start out google chrome seems like a natural enough choice because of the google brand.

Personally, I don't need many extensions, really I just want an option to autocopy text, to save my sessions when I close the browser and tabmix plus which is awesome. Thankfully, I found an option on firefox settings which actually opens the browser with the tabs you had opened when you last closed him, so tab mix is the last big one.

It doesn't seem faster and the "screen shot" option recently added is no longer available.
Over the past few months, firefox had a tendency to drag when you had twitter left open on a tab and/or when you had websites using flash. After a while, it tended to crash. The solution to that was save and exit your session when you started feeling that the browser was dragging.

Yesterday was the first full day I used the new browser. For quite some time it was quite slow, probably because i had opened some websites with flash and since I couldn't figure out the browser's idiosyncrasies or close it, it was frustrating. But after I managed to exit and restart, it does seem reasonably snappy. We ll see.
 

MakeMineMoxie

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
722
The floor of Punter's Pub
Fixed your post. Firefox has been declining in use for years now since the misguided group that runs them decided to eviscerate the project by betraying it's reason to exist: to be a highly customable browser responsive to it's users needs. Instead, with funding coming largely from Google. it's become a slavish imitation of Chrome with virtually nothing that can be customized. The switch to the new API model ruins most of what was left of the independent community that made FF special and most of those projects will not be rewritten to return that functionality or literally cannot be duplicated since their goal is to prevent the browser from being anything but their dumbed down crappy Chrome clone. And after fighting and dismissing all attempts to create a 64 bit version (hence the forks of Waterfox and Palemoon years ago, among others) and sabotaging their own work on such a version (because it would have been a version of Firefox not the Chrome clone they wanted to produce) now suddenly they push everyone to a 64 bit version of their Chrome clone. Now Google has withdrawn most funding, as they have accomplished their goal: to destroy their competitor.

Palemoon can use virtually all old API FF extensions, either directly or with trivial modifications and already has versions of most. It has both 32 and 64 bit versions. Over the last 4 years it has forked to a new underlying engine and despite what the clowns at Mozilla say, it is no longer any 'old version' of Firefox. If you want the looks and feel and features of Firefox. investigate Pale Moon. For example check out the current state of Extensions and Addons for those you may not wish to give up here: https://addons.palemoon.org/extensions/
Thanks for the background. I updated the other day & I'm not impressed. I have a full bookmarks toolbar I use a lot and now instead of 3-4 bookmarks off the end, I have 24! Your post explains why LittleFox is no longer an available theme and the overall lack of customization now makes FF less appealing. I can't stand IE or anything Google so I guess I'll try Opera.
 

Couperin47

Member
SoSH Member
Thanks for the background. I updated the other day & I'm not impressed. I have a full bookmarks toolbar I use a lot and now instead of 3-4 bookmarks off the end, I have 24! Your post explains why LittleFox is no longer an available theme and the overall lack of customization now makes FF less appealing. I can't stand IE or anything Google so I guess I'll try Opera.
About Opera. It was a valid option if you wanted Chrome without Google spying and mining all your activity...until last year. I'm still using it as my Chrome clone, but the original developer sold it...to a Chinese company. Development moved from Norway to a crew in Poland and so far there is no evidence the Chinese government has turned it into a tool for their surveillance, but the community is very leery. Many are looking to Vivaldi, but it's development has been slower than expected. Pluses are, once you install a specific add-on it supports both all it's own add-ons and all Chrome add-ons and it has a built-in VPN mode which is actually fast enough to be of some use. OTOH, pretty much everyone agrees that the moment the development team is moved to China it signals it has become completely compromised. Any specific reason why you won't even consider trying Pale Moon ? The switch is virtually painless, it will import all your bookmarks and everything else without disturbing your existing FF install.
 

MakeMineMoxie

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
722
The floor of Punter's Pub
About Opera. It was a valid option if you wanted Chrome without Google spying and mining all your activity...until last year. I'm still using it as my Chrome clone, but the original developer sold it...to a Chinese company. Development moved from Norway to a crew in Poland and so far there is no evidence the Chinese government has turned it into a tool for their surveillance, but the community is very leery. Many are looking to Vivaldi, but it's development has been slower than expected. Pluses are, once you install a specific add-on it supports both all it's own add-ons and all Chrome add-ons and it has a built-in VPN mode which is actually fast enough to be of some use. OTOH, pretty much everyone agrees that the moment the development team is moved to China it signals it has become completely compromised. Any specific reason why you won't even consider trying Pale Moon ? The switch is virtually painless, it will import all your bookmarks and everything else without disturbing your existing FF install.
Well, I tried Opera last night & didn't like it either so out it went. I guess I'm just used to having more control over the appearance & style of the screen, as with earlier FF. As someone said up-thread, all the browsers are being stripped down in appearance like Chrome.

As far as Pale Moon, Vivaldi, and others, I really didn't even know they existed. I have used FF for so long, I never felt like I had to go looking at other options. I guess that time has now come.

Thanks for posting all this good background info, I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes.
 

Couperin47

Member
SoSH Member
Well, I tried Opera last night & didn't like it either so out it went. I guess I'm just used to having more control over the appearance & style of the screen, as with earlier FF. As someone said up-thread, all the browsers are being stripped down in appearance like Chrome.

As far as Pale Moon, Vivaldi, and others, I really didn't even know they existed. I have used FF for so long, I never felt like I had to go looking at other options. I guess that time has now come.

Thanks for posting all this good background info, I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes.
Pale Moon will look and feel almost exactly like FF pre-Ausralis interface. Whatever exact look you had or wanted, Pale Moon will allow

This is what my PM looks like:


Plus it still allows a Status bar at the bottom which I also use.
 

charlieoscar

Member
Sep 28, 2014
1,339
I have a full bookmarks toolbar I use a lot and now instead of 3-4 bookmarks off the end, I have 24!
Right-click on a bookmark/Edit/abbreviate the name to get more space. Also, you can make folders for subjects and add similar bookmarks to a folder. For example, I put all the news sources I read into folder named News and depending on the browser I either right-click on the folder and tell it to Open All or click on the folder and choose Open All. Different browser will give different options on how you want them opened: tabs/new windows/incognito window.
 

MakeMineMoxie

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
722
The floor of Punter's Pub
Right-click on a bookmark/Edit/abbreviate the name to get more space. Also, you can make folders for subjects and add similar bookmarks to a folder. For example, I put all the news sources I read into folder named News and depending on the browser I either right-click on the folder and tell it to Open All or click on the folder and choose Open All. Different browser will give different options on how you want them opened: tabs/new windows/incognito window.
CO, thanks for the folder tip. I already take out the names on the Bookmark Toolbar, just leaving the icon but the new FF spaces them out a lot more.

Per Couperin47, I'll give Pale Moon a try. His screen shot looks promising.
 

Couperin47

Member
SoSH Member
For those trying to deal with Firefox 57 (and beyond), someone has created an excellent spreadsheet that lists almost all the popular add-ons and includes status (ported, will be ported, abandoned) and excellent suggestions on alternatives and replacements. Even if an add-on you use is ported, in many cases it also suggests even better replacements or alternatives, which makes it useful to browse:


The link, if you want to bookmark this is below, just add https:// to make it active:

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TFcEXMcKrwoIAECIVyBU0GPoSmRqZ7A0VBvqeKYVSww/htmlview?sle=true#gid=0
 
Last edited:

MakeMineMoxie

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
722
The floor of Punter's Pub
Pale Moon will look and feel almost exactly like FF pre-Ausralis interface. Whatever exact look you had or wanted, Pale Moon will allow

This is what my PM looks like:


Plus it still allows a Status bar at the bottom which I also use.
I loaded up Pale Moon last night so far, I'm really liking it. As you say, much like the old FF. Thanks again for the tip and all the good info.
 

Kremlin Watcher

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 20, 2005
5,232
Orleans, MA
Installed it on my iPad Pro today. Seems faster than Chrome and Safari. Still getting used to the search function but so far I like it a lot.

Edit: Eh. Not so hot. Won’t play about half the gifs and videos posted on Reddit.
 
Last edited:

SumnerH

Malt Liquor Picker
Dope
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
31,885
Alexandria, VA
Firefox Quantum just added a new plug-in called Looking Glass, which is part of Mr. Robot's alternative reality game. It is not turned on but it was also discovered that unknown Mozilla developers can distribute add-ons to users without their permission and Mozilla developers can distribute add-ons to users without their knowledge.
"Discovered"? The moment you download a program* someone else wrote and run it under your user account, it can obviously do anything your user account can do. They could delete all your files, install random crapware, send phishing emails to all your contacts, whatever—just like the authors of any other program you download and run can.

At least with Mozilla and other open-source programs you or someone else can read the code and see what they're doing (hence why stories like this come out almost immediately).

*Notwithstanding unusual cases like sandboxes, etc.
 

charlieoscar

Member
Sep 28, 2014
1,339
"Discovered"? The moment you download a program* someone else wrote and run it under your user account, it can obviously do anything your user account can do. They could delete all your files, install random crapware, send phishing emails to all your contacts, whatever—just like the authors of any other program you download and run can.

At least with Mozilla and other open-source programs you or someone else can read the code and see what they're doing (hence why stories like this come out almost immediately).

*Notwithstanding unusual cases like sandboxes, etc.
Just reporting today's news: https://www.cnet.com/news/mozilla-backpedals-after-mr-robot-firefox-misstep/
 

Kremlin Watcher

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 20, 2005
5,232
Orleans, MA
I've seen browsers that have issues with some of the newer vid formats but never with animated gifs...can you post a few examples just so I can see if Palemoon can handle them ?
I don’t know how to do that. But about half the gifs I click on in Reddit in the new Firefox browser just don’t play (I use an iPad Pro). They either won’t play or are just blank pages.
 

Couperin47

Member
SoSH Member
as I suspected the gif shows up and plays perfectly in both Palemoon and FF 57.0.2 (x64) under Windows (7 x64). Your issues I suspect have something to do with variations in FF for iOS or something else you're running. There has not been a Mac version of Palemoon but one is under development and there is an 'unofficial' release of a late beta that has been acknowledged, you can try it here .
 

Kremlin Watcher

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 20, 2005
5,232
Orleans, MA
as I suspected the gif shows up and plays perfectly in both Palemoon and FF 57.0.2 (x64) under Windows (7 x64). Your issues I suspect have something to do with variations in FF for iOS or something else you're running. There has not been a Mac version of Palemoon but one is under development and there is an 'unofficial' release of a late beta that has been acknowledged, you can try it here .
Thanks. My browser needs are modest. I’ll stick with Safari for now as it works just fine. /ducks/
 

MikeM

Member
SoSH Member
May 27, 2010
3,049
Florida
Downloaded the new Firefox today after finally getting tired of the constant Chrome crashes.

Seems faster then the last time I checked in and I'd use it over Chome at this point, but meh on the new layout. Definitely going to be giving Palemoon a look.
 

Couperin47

Member
SoSH Member
For anyone trying Palemoon and wanting to seriously customize the layout remember:

Opposite click (Right click for most but I have an inordinate number of lefty friends who have trained me to say that as they all have their buttons reversed) in the header area and besides turning on extra bars, when you are in customize mode you can move things almost anywhere, expand items like the url and search windows, etc.

For those who want to save space try Compact Moon as an appearance option: it allows you to control the height of each bar so you can make them quite narrow so they can be quite dense with buttons and other items while actually taking up less real estate than any dumbed down Chrome clone layout. Particularly useful on laptop and pad screens.
 

cleanturtle

New Member
Feb 2, 2007
32
After a dozen years using Firefox, I've switched to Waterfox. So far it's doing pretty much everything the old Firefox was able to do. The 1Password manager wouldn't work with it, so I switched to LastPass. The only glitch I'm noticing now is that tweets won't load for me on SoSH.

Edit: The tweet thing seems to be due to Peerblock. Not sure why it wasn't a problem with Firefox, but in any case Waterfox is proving to be a helpful Firefox replacement.
 

Haiaran

New Member
Jun 1, 2017
4
About Opera. It was a valid option if you wanted Chrome without Google spying and mining all your activity...until last year. I'm still using it as my Chrome clone, but the original developer sold it...to a Chinese company. Development moved from Norway to a crew in Poland and so far there is no evidence the Chinese government has turned it into a tool for their surveillance, but the community is very leery. Many are looking to Vivaldi, but it's development has been slower than expected. Pluses are, once you install a specific add-on it supports both all it's own add-ons and all Chrome add-ons and it has a built-in VPN mode which is actually fast enough to be of some use. OTOH, pretty much everyone agrees that the moment the development team is moved to China it signals it has become completely compromised. Any specific reason why you won't even consider trying Pale Moon ? The switch is virtually painless, it will import all your bookmarks and everything else without disturbing your existing FF install.
Yaaah. It has VPN but it good for nothing. The speed is not speed but sluggishness. And the opera itself has long since reserved placed in the nursing home in the ward next to internet explorer. Use some plugins or software for chrome or PC that's it. This one, for example, is the bread of life for any home-grown anonymous best vpn for mac.