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Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

WattsvilleBlues posted:

I'd strongly recommend using a third party password manager, such as Bitwarden, instead.

This. Their initial stab at saying Firefox + Lockwise was now a real password manager with lots of try it now! launch hullabaloo was so god-awful that I'm pretty much ignoring it forever. It's a new coat of paint and totally fails at basic requirements for management of passwords. If it had been some stealth beta launch that was supposed to just be a taste of things to come it still would have sucked but I'd have an open mind about it in the future. But they claimed it was good for general use and went to the press to hype it.

If Lockwise is an example of their new "products!" strategy, their VPN is gonna be dial-up speed and firefox voice will have auditory dyslexia. You might think firefox is being mismanaged, but Lockwise is the sign that the org is being run by marketroids. Months later and I am still Mad On The Internet about it.

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Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
My mobile firefox got 'upgraded' the other night. It took me a few minutes to work through or simply filter the annoyances, but I'm still stunned that they released it in this sorry state.

The play store is just flooded with one star ratings, some of which have replies claiming that updates are coming in a few weeks, but if that's true then why not release it then?

SgtSteel91
Oct 21, 2010

Is there a way to see twitter previews on these forums when using Firefox mobile?

SgtSteel91 fucked around with this message at 18:11 on Aug 31, 2020

grillster
Dec 25, 2004

:chaostrump:

Bieeanshee posted:

My mobile firefox got 'upgraded' the other night. It took me a few minutes to work through or simply filter the annoyances, but I'm still stunned that they released it in this sorry state.

The play store is just flooded with one star ratings, some of which have replies claiming that updates are coming in a few weeks, but if that's true then why not release it then?

Does the Play Store allow downgrades? I have used the version selection feature on the F-Droid store to work around unwanted or unstable updates.

Geemer
Nov 4, 2010



grillster posted:

Does the Play Store allow downgrades? I have used the version selection feature on the F-Droid store to work around unwanted or unstable updates.

No. :(

E: Trip report on Samsung Internet Browser and Edge for Android:
Both have Adblock Plus support, which is a huge step down from uBlock Origin, but a larger step up from nothing.

Samsung Internet Browser: Pretty good, but has weird quirks in that it doesn't support the double tap > drag zoom gesture. It also doesn't support my password manager (Bitwarden) because it has whitelists for which managers it allows to use the Android autofill API. This alone made it unusable for me.

Edge for Android: Pretty decent. Though sometimes text is rendered at wonky too-large sizes. Try reading Leper's Colony on a phone screen in portrait mode and you'll get what I mean.
Will habitually forget ALL cookies every x days with no setting to change this behavior. Trying to google for it is also incredibly frustrating because it's all either about the desktop version or how to delete cookies, instead of preventing deletion.

Over all Edge wins out for me, but it'd be nice if they fixed some of the wonkiness before adding more crap like optional news rating services and honey coupons. At least they're disabled by default.

Geemer fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Aug 31, 2020

doctorfrog
Mar 14, 2007

Great.

This isn't Firefox-specific, but it's a helpful item to pair with other ad-blocking and other nonsense de-fuckifiers. It's a bookmarklet, that, when clicked, removes those header and footer bars that clutter up sites like Medium and nytimes.com.

https://dan.hersam.com/2019/09/06/cleaning-up-the-web/

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.

SgtSteel91 posted:

Is there a way to see twitter previews on these forums when using Firefox mobile?

You mean embedded Tweets while browsing the forums inside the browser (and not an app)? If so, it's the same as on desktop: turn off tracking protection for the forums (tap the shield icon in the address bar). Though I just tested it on the new version and they show up either way for me :shrug:

SgtSteel91
Oct 21, 2010

Mr.Radar posted:

You mean embedded Tweets while browsing the forums inside the browser (and not an app)? If so, it's the same as on desktop: turn off tracking protection for the forums (tap the shield icon in the address bar). Though I just tested it on the new version and they show up either way for me :shrug:

That did the trick! Thank you!

Powered Descent
Jul 13, 2008

We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

Klyith posted:

If Lockwise is an example of their new "products!" strategy, their VPN is gonna be dial-up speed

As far as I can tell, the VPN is literally just Mullvad but with Mozilla branding and fewer options in the client than the regular Mullvad VPN service.

NihilCredo
Jun 6, 2011

iram omni possibili modo preme:
plus una illa te diffamabit, quam multæ virtutes commendabunt

Powered Descent posted:

As far as I can tell, the VPN is literally just Mullvad but with Mozilla branding and fewer options in the client than the regular Mullvad VPN service.

Isn't Mullvad one of if not the best VPN provider from the point of view of privacy?

Like, they're the guys whose entire sign-up process is 'here's a random number, send us some money tagged with that number (an anonymous envelope full of cash is fine) and we'll enable that account until the credit runs out'.

That's... a surprisingly good choice by Mozilla if so.

gourdcaptain
Nov 16, 2012

NihilCredo posted:

Isn't Mullvad one of if not the best VPN provider from the point of view of privacy?

Like, they're the guys whose entire sign-up process is 'here's a random number, send us some money tagged with that number (an anonymous envelope full of cash is fine) and we'll enable that account until the credit runs out'.

That's... a surprisingly good choice by Mozilla if so.

On top of that, they're a really good performance VPN compared to the other ones I've tried. Also the only one who's Linux client both had a good graphical interface option and isn't hilariously broken and badly maintained.

grillster
Dec 25, 2004

:chaostrump:
I think I figured out why the select-all behavior of the blowup bar is screwing with me.
If the bar is in an unfocused state, and you click it, it takes a fraction of a second before the bar is in the ready state. First, the animation to expand is triggered, then after that, the selection (of the entire URL) is highlighted. The problem is this takes longer than a double click, and in the habit of double clicking to select all, it's like my eyes register that the first click doesn't highlight the line. I bet if they did the highlight code first, then their stupid blowup animation, then I would be not tripping over this so easy.

Powered Descent
Jul 13, 2008

We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

NihilCredo posted:

Isn't Mullvad one of if not the best VPN provider from the point of view of privacy?

Like, they're the guys whose entire sign-up process is 'here's a random number, send us some money tagged with that number (an anonymous envelope full of cash is fine) and we'll enable that account until the credit runs out'.

That's... a surprisingly good choice by Mozilla if so.

gourdcaptain posted:

On top of that, they're a really good performance VPN compared to the other ones I've tried. Also the only one who's Linux client both had a good graphical interface option and isn't hilariously broken and badly maintained.

Missed this from a few days ago but I agree on all points. I have nothing but good things to say about Mullvad, for both their performance and their dedication to the tinfoil-hat privacy ideal.

(Runner-up: ProtonVPN, from the same people that do the really good ProtonMail encrypted email service.)

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

grillster posted:

I think I figured out why the select-all behavior of the blowup bar is screwing with me.
If the bar is in an unfocused state, and you click it, it takes a fraction of a second before the bar is in the ready state. First, the animation to expand is triggered, then after that, the selection (of the entire URL) is highlighted. The problem is this takes longer than a double click, and in the habit of double clicking to select all, it's like my eyes register that the first click doesn't highlight the line. I bet if they did the highlight code first, then their stupid blowup animation, then I would be not tripping over this so easy.

Two options:

1. In about :config, ui.prefersReducedMotion disables that animation and many others. If you don't like animations in general that's the one to use.

2. Adding this to UserChrome.css disables the urlbar expansion animation:
code:
/* Disable urlbar expansion on focus */

#urlbar[breakout-extend]{top:calc((var(--urlbar-toolbar-height) - var(--urlbar-height)) / 2)!important;left:calc((var(--urlbar-toolbar-width) - var(--urlbar-width)) / 2)!important;width:100%!important}

#urlbar[breakout-extend] #urlbar-input-container{height:calc(var(--tab-min-height) - 3px)!important;padding:0px!important}

.urlbarView{margin:0px!important;width:100%!important}

.urlbarView-row{padding:0px!important}
That may make it more responsive so you don't double click as much.

Artelier
Jan 23, 2015


EDIT: INCREDIBLY WRONG THREAD

Artelier fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Sep 5, 2020

grillster
Dec 25, 2004

:chaostrump:
It may be a pipe dream but I wish they'd port the Mozilla Linux suite away from GTK.

Klyith posted:

Two options:

That may make it more responsive so you don't double click as much.

Thanks. I will have to try this soon.

gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy

NihilCredo posted:

Isn't Mullvad one of if not the best VPN provider from the point of view of privacy?

Like, they're the guys whose entire sign-up process is 'here's a random number, send us some money tagged with that number (an anonymous envelope full of cash is fine) and we'll enable that account until the credit runs out'.

That's... a surprisingly good choice by Mozilla if so.

Quoting this so I can switch VPNs later this month

Dyscrasia
Jun 23, 2003
Give Me Hamms Premium Draft or Give Me DEATH!!!!

Flipperwaldt posted:

I noticed on the mobile Firefox, you can long press the square thing with the number of tabs in it, and you get a menu with open new tab and close tab in it. This helps if you want the tab bar on top, because you can use the tab management view way less (which has things on the bottom of the screen that can't be moved up).

I'm still tapping the three dot menu a lot though, because that used to have open new tab in it.

Other than that, the new version works ok for me.

I'm using an add-on called user-agent switcher and manager to pretend I'm on a desktop browser, which for the sites I need is successful in always forcing a request for the desktop site. This heavily depends on how the site detects what to do though. Anyway, had to do this in the old version as well, so.

How did you install user-agent switcher and manager? I only can find the short list of approved add-ons for the new mobile version.

Flipperwaldt
Nov 11, 2011

Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?



Dyscrasia posted:

How did you install user-agent switcher and manager? I only can find the short list of approved add-ons for the new mobile version.
It just carried over from being installed on the old version of Firefox. Since it works and is configurable through the add-ons submenu, I had no reason to suspect it wasn't on the approved list. But now that you mentioned that, I took a look at the add-ons manager and it doesn't show up there. Which also means I couldn't uninstall it if I wanted to.

grillster
Dec 25, 2004

:chaostrump:
Anyone else have an issue opening file:// protocol links?
Just spins up a core to 100% and does nothing.
Latest Firefox on the Arch repo.

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

grillster posted:

Anyone else have an issue opening file:// protocol links?
Just spins up a core to 100% and does nothing.
Latest Firefox on the Arch repo.

Nope, working fine, but on Windows.

BlankSystemDaemon
Mar 13, 2009



Just tested with Firefox 80 on FreeBSD 12.1, where it's working as well.

Does Arch use Mozilla-supplied binaries, or do they build their own from sources? It might be worth trying the latter if they don't.

tjones
May 13, 2005
Firefox 80.0.1 on arch. A simple HTML file open working on my end.

grillster
Dec 25, 2004

:chaostrump:
Thanks for testing. Must be something on my configuration. Using the official repository build from about a week ago.

May be OS related... the process that spins a core up to 100% is named file:///

grillster fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Sep 7, 2020

Saukkis
May 16, 2003

Unless I'm on the inside curve pointing straight at oncoming traffic the high beams stay on and I laugh at your puny protest flashes.
I am Most Important Man. Most Important Man in the World.
This was an interesting read, good enough explanation for me.

Why Did Mozilla Remove XUL Add-ons?

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

Saukkis posted:

This was an interesting read, good enough explanation for me.

Why Did Mozilla Remove XUL Add-ons?

Everything about the technical reasons for removing old extension APIs was always 100% sane and reasonable.


Everything about the planning, communication, and management of it was awful. In particular this sentence:

quote:

In the end, Mozilla decided to introduce WebExtensions and finally make the jump towards e10s as part of the Quantum Project.
is skipping lightly over how it was only about 6 months between add-on devs doing big re-writes for e10s compatibility, and being told that all that work was trash and they needed to do complete re-writes for WebEx. The public revolt of add-on devs didn't happen until then.

The decision to drop xpcom, if they were having giant nightmares inside moz with it, should have been made sooner. And lacking that, the transition from xpcom+e10s to webex should have been made with some grovelling hara-kiri apologies to the community, that they'd hosed up and everything both moz and the community had been working on for the last year was no good. Rather than a cold, matter-of-fact, and totally inconsiderate email.

And following that period, the community was asking "webextensions can't do half of the things we want, how do we do UI mods?" and mozilla spent a lot of time saying that they'd make special firefox webex paths to do all the things that chrome wouldn't. For the diehard users stuff like CTR and tree-style tabs that could make deep changes to the browser UI were the reason they hadn't switched to chrome. Well, years later, how did those promises turn out?

quote:

I hope that all the power that add-on developers need can eventually be added to WebExtensions API but that’s something that takes engineering power, a critical resource that we’re sorely lacking.

astral
Apr 26, 2004

I doubt WebExtensions can yet have a native menu as their extension button popup, which was one of many features I liked from XUL addons, but I gave up following that a long, long time ago when it became clear they didn't really give a poo poo.

PerniciousKnid
Sep 13, 2006
Are there any good browsers for mobile or desktop?

Geemer
Nov 4, 2010



No.

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

:wrong: https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/lynx-portable




(firefox is good, it's just run by people who still imagine they are running a silicon valley corporation rather than an open source web browser foundation)

Fame Douglas
Nov 20, 2013

by Fluffdaddy
But also, Firefox is bad because of its terrible rendering engine.

nielsm
Jun 1, 2009



Fame Douglas posted:

But also, Firefox is bad because of its terrible rendering engine.

[Citation needed]

Are you sure whatever you're complaining of isn't just a case of Google just managing to redefine "correct" to be whatever Chrome does?

Fame Douglas
Nov 20, 2013

by Fluffdaddy
I'm saying that because it's noticeably slower and there are weird issues like the jumping around while loading on this very forum. They should give up their own rendering engine, use Blink and focus on making the interface better. All having their own rendering engine does is make Firefox way less useful at no benefit to the user.

Computer viking
May 30, 2011
Now with less breakage.

Having their own rendering engine is one of their main reasons for existing - it gives them some clout in designing web standards. Without it, we would be down to Google defining the web as "whatever Google programmers decided to do with Chrome this week". As is, they do at least have to pay some lip service to compatibility and open standards forums.

(Ok, Apple can also take WebKit in their own direction, though I don't know how far they want it to diverge.)

Qtotonibudinibudet
Nov 7, 2011



Omich poluyobok, skazhi ty narkoman? ya prosto tozhe gde to tam zhivu, mogli by vmeste uyobyvat' narkotiki

Computer viking posted:

(Ok, Apple can also take WebKit in their own direction, though I don't know how far they want it to diverge.)

Apple WebKit is fucken garbo bullshit tho

"this weird thing happens in Safari" in relation to a bunch of HTML5 stuff that works fine in other engines (video especially) was the bane of my existence when working in that space. Apple can't implement standards for poo poo cause their product development philosophy is to build everything bespoke within their walled garden according to their own whims, poorly, with little recourse to anyone outside the donut office

anyway, is there any way to edit awesome bar stuff en-masse? i feel like there's probably some way to edit a bunch of stuff even if it requires manual DB hackery. my changed a bunch of github repos from master to main in effort to put up posters because we can't end qualified immunity or w/e, but since the master branch still exists and doesn't redirect, all my history goes there even though it's now just old stuff from before the switch. i want to edit all of those at once to keep the old URL history, just with that part of the path changed so it goes to the new location. manually deleting all the old remembered master URLs is tedious af and makes it so that awesomebar has to re-learn the stuff that i use often

Nalin
Sep 29, 2007

Hair Elf

Fame Douglas posted:

I'm saying that because it's noticeably slower and there are weird issues like the jumping around while loading on this very forum. They should give up their own rendering engine, use Blink and focus on making the interface better. All having their own rendering engine does is make Firefox way less useful at no benefit to the user.

The jumping around while loading could be fixed if literally any mod with CSS access makes one change to the forum CSS. Of course, nobody has fixed it for years now.

Fame Douglas
Nov 20, 2013

by Fluffdaddy

Computer viking posted:

Having their own rendering engine is one of their main reasons for existing - it gives them some clout in designing web standards. Without it, we would be down to Google defining the web as "whatever Google programmers decided to do with Chrome this week". As is, they do at least have to pay some lip service to compatibility and open standards forums.

(Ok, Apple can also take WebKit in their own direction, though I don't know how far they want it to diverge.)

Why does Mozilla need any clout in designing web standards? I don't think that gives them anything, it's just a resource drain. Their own rendering engine is an net negative to the user and company, it's literally unnecessary. And with Firefox losing market share by the day, I don't think they have much clout anyways.

astral
Apr 26, 2004

Nalin posted:

The jumping around while loading could be fixed if literally any mod with CSS access makes one change to the forum CSS. Of course, nobody has fixed it for years now.

That specific bug was supposed to be fixed in 77: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1520581

I used their highlight-the-scroll-anchor setting to verify that it was finding one where it didn't before 77, so that seemed to be successful - the bigger problem might be the javascript embedding the imgur gifvs and tweets, and depending on your addons and forum-side settings there could be 1-2 other things trying to re-anchor your scroll position at various stages of the page loading process.

Computer viking
May 30, 2011
Now with less breakage.

At least from my perspective, shaping the future of the web and making sure Google doesn't have a tech monopoly is their reason to exist, and the browser wrapped around their tech is just the means to get there. Giving up the engine to make a better browser would be as counterproductive as green party giving up the environmental policies to get more voters - or peeing their pants to stay warm, as my dad would say.

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Fame Douglas
Nov 20, 2013

by Fluffdaddy
The engine literally doesn't matter to the question whether Google has any kind of monopoly or not. And the engine comes at the cost of reducing Mozilla's market share.

Apple is the only other player that matters.

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