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Firefox Quantum

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GeoffF100
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Firefox Quantum

#95716

Postby GeoffF100 » November 14th, 2017, 7:05 pm

Firefox Quantum, a new smaller faster version of Firefox has hit the streets:

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/mozilla- ... gle-chrome

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

Has anyone tried it?

robbelg
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#95718

Postby robbelg » November 14th, 2017, 7:13 pm

Yes - It seems fine and definitely faster.

At first look bookmarks are screwed up and I had to add Bookmarks menu to the toolbar to get back what I'm used to.

I haven't really played with it much but it seems more customisable.


Rob

tsr2
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96539

Postby tsr2 » November 17th, 2017, 4:41 pm

It breaks Tab Mix Plus and there don't seem to be any replacements.

Also broken are the Amazon Wishlist and Easyfundraising addons.

colin
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96556

Postby colin » November 17th, 2017, 5:51 pm

Can anyone get IBM Trusteer Rapport to work with this ?

JonE
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96655

Postby JonE » November 18th, 2017, 8:52 am

tsr2 wrote:It breaks Tab Mix Plus and there don't seem to be any replacements.

Also broken are the Amazon Wishlist and Easyfundraising addons.


I've seen comments on another browser's forum that Fx 57 breaks all manner of extensions plus the themes and scripts that a user might use to enhance add-ons. Shame, really, as I understand that FX doesn't insinuate itself into the OS in the way that Chrome/Blink based browsers do and that rather appeals to me.

Cheers!

jackdaww
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96658

Postby jackdaww » November 18th, 2017, 8:56 am

GeoffF100 wrote:Firefox Quantum, a new smaller faster version of Firefox has hit the streets:


Has anyone tried it?


========================

i did the usual firefox routine update , and quantum arrived .

there wasnt a choice .

mc2fool
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96736

Postby mc2fool » November 18th, 2017, 2:21 pm

Firefox Quantum = Firefox 57, or more precisely, Firefox 57.0 is the "first of several releases we’re calling Firefox Quantum" (link)

As noted by others, Firefox 57 breaks lots of add-ons etc. Mozilla have "transitioned to a new framework" for add-ons with the result that "only extensions built with this new technology will work in Firefox [Quantum/57]" (link)

If you are on Firefox 56 you can go to about:addons and it will highlight any add-ons that won't work with Firefox 57 as "LEGACY". In my case it's 9 out of the 14 add-ons I have installed. Some are inconsequential, others less so.

In particular is ReminderFox which is the best (for me at least) calendar I've seen, fitting exactly my needs including syncing across all my devices. However, the ReminderFox developers have said they're not going to update it for FF 57 and have recommended users look for other solutions, saying, "The codebase is quite complex and very UI dependent, so most of it would need to be rewritten entirely. As this is a passion project done in our spare time, we don't have the time currently to do a complete rewrite" (link) which I'm sure is the case for a lot of add-ons.

So, my recommendation to all Firefox users (assuming you are currently on FF 56) is to, firstly, switch off auto updating of Firefox (and add-ins), and then go to about:addons and note the ones marked as "LEGACY", and look into those to see if their developers will be providing a FF 57 compatible version. And if not make a decision as to whether you care or not.

If there are no-update add-ons that are important to you the options seem to be:

a) upgrade to Firefox 57 and use Legacy Extensions to try and find a compatible replacements (link), and just lump it if you can't.
b) keep auto-updating turned off and stick with Firefox 56 indefinitely (or at least until suitable replacements become available)
c) use Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) which is basically FF 52 but with all (and only) "high-risk/high-impact security vulnerabilities" fixes since, until June 2018 when it too will leapfrog to Quantum (link)
d) install Pale Moon, which is a lightweight and fast browser "forked off from Firefox/Mozilla code a number of years ago" and, importantly, runs Firefox add-ons.

I'm trying the latter, Pale Moon, and AFAICS it's identical to Firefox, is pretty zippy, and runs all of the add-ons I've installed so far ... all first impressions as I've only just started trying it ...

Infrasonic
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96738

Postby Infrasonic » November 18th, 2017, 2:31 pm

A recent comparison of the big four browsers inc. FF 57.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3213031 ... wsers.html

Let’s take a look at the four major (and modern) browsers to see how they stack up in the latter half of 2017. A few things have changed since we looked at the top browsers just a few short months ago. Microsoft released the Fall Creators Update in October, and in our tests it seemed to have a significant impact on browser results.

JohnB
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96741

Postby JohnB » November 18th, 2017, 2:43 pm

Mozilla abandoning their addon community may well sigh their death warrant, as they are already well behind Chrome. I rely on those older addons, and will switch to 'Waterfox' when the update appears. On Linux at least the transition was extremely painless, as Waterfox is a fork of Firefox that promises to support old addons.

wickham
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96745

Postby wickham » November 18th, 2017, 3:19 pm

Just updated to Firefox 57 and noticed that NoScript has disappeared and is now legacy add-on. I was about to look for an alternative when I noticed that Javascript is now permanently on and I can't see any place to disable it.

Is that true? NoScript was quite good because you could set it for each website and stop some irritating Javascript things happening.

Breelander
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96750

Postby Breelander » November 18th, 2017, 3:44 pm

wickham wrote:... I noticed that Javascript is now permanently on and I can't see any place to disable it...


Type about:config in the address bar ('Here be dragons!') and look for javascript.enabled. Change it from True to False.

wickham
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96755

Postby wickham » November 18th, 2017, 4:22 pm

Breelander wrote:
wickham wrote:... I noticed that Javascript is now permanently on and I can't see any place to disable it...


Type about:config in the address bar ('Here be dragons!') and look for javascript.enabled. Change it from True to False.

Yes, that works, but that method isn't designed for the average user, is it? There should be a menu option somewhere.

Infrasonic
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96756

Postby Infrasonic » November 18th, 2017, 4:29 pm

wickham wrote:
Breelander wrote:
wickham wrote:... I noticed that Javascript is now permanently on and I can't see any place to disable it...


Type about:config in the address bar ('Here be dragons!') and look for javascript.enabled. Change it from True to False.

Yes, that works, but that method isn't designed for the average user, is it? There should be a menu option somewhere.


I'm assuming it's because its a 'global' setting, which the unwary should be careful about enabling, lest they ' break' many websites?
Like you I prefer the granularity of being able to set up these restrictions on a site by site basis using extensions like uBlock Origin, Ghostery, NoScript et al.

wickham
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#96781

Postby wickham » November 18th, 2017, 5:56 pm

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... /noscript/
NoScript for Quantum by the end of the week (ie now)

Infrasonic
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#97263

Postby Infrasonic » November 20th, 2017, 4:39 pm

https://www.howtogeek.com/333393/why-i- ... x-quantum/

I’ve been using Firefox Quantum non-stop for more than a week now, starting from before its official release. For years, every Firefox release has felt slower than Chrome to me. But Firefox is now a real, speedy, modern option again. Enough so that I’m switching from Chrome back to Firefox.
Cont.

ten0rman
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#97657

Postby ten0rman » November 21st, 2017, 9:13 pm

Well, its driving me crazy! Why on earth do they have to break something that worked well!

Perhaps someone here can help me out.

In the previous version of FF, I could type anything in the address bar and whichever search engine (startpage was one I selected for its privacy) would then attempt to find whatever it was I wanted. I could then open a second tab, and repeat the exercise. And then a third tab... and a fourth tab etc.

Now, I can type, eg FindmyPast into the first tab address bar and it will attempt to find it for me. But, if I then attempt to say Ancestry into the second tab's address bar, for some reason it shows a load of search engines and a blank box under the address bar in the main area for the chosen one, eg Startpage. I then have to type Ancestry again into the Startpage blank box.

So, how the heck can I get back to what it used to be.

ten0rman

ps. It hasn't been helped by the fact that YouView has decided to update my (and other peoples as well) DVR and has set it so that it appears to be continuously accessing the internet, even when on standby. Ok, I know it's nowt to do with Firefox, but when I've been attempting to search for answers to the YouView problem with a recalcitrent Firefox, I'm about ready to blow my top at these absolutely crap programmers who apparently don't give a damn about the users!
I feel slightly, but only slightly, better now.

GeoffF100
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#97759

Postby GeoffF100 » November 22nd, 2017, 10:06 am

I have just realized that Firefox Quantum is Firefox 57.0. My old technology Lubuntu machine has already upgraded to that. I did not notice any difference, but I am not using anything fancy like extensions or exotic search engines. Performance and memory usage are OK, with a ten year old Pentium and 1 GB of RAM.

ten0rman
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#97822

Postby ten0rman » November 22nd, 2017, 1:58 pm

Like you Geoff, other than the problem outlined above with search bars, I haven't noticed any difference with FF17/Quantum. Also like you, I don;t have anything much in the way of add-ons other than Ghostery.

ten0rman

ten0rman
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#97940

Postby ten0rman » November 22nd, 2017, 8:32 pm

1nv35t,
I haven't been troubled that much with ads, in fact some of the sites have complained about my use of adblockers. All I have used was Ghostery and set FF privacy to prevent as much as possible, eg Never remember history; Always use tracking protection; Send a Do Not Track signal; Block popup windows etc etc.
I also used to prevent cookie storage, but I now notice that it is conspicuous by its absence.

ten0rman

gbjbaanb
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Re: Firefox Quantum

#98007

Postby gbjbaanb » November 23rd, 2017, 1:57 am

ten0rman wrote:Well, its driving me crazy! Why on earth do they have to break something that worked well!


Security mainly. The new system doesn't have all the same abilities the old one had, they say they will add in new APIs as they are needed, but obviously they've only just released it so many will take time.


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