4 ms·

The autoplay disabling isn't ready yet and that's why it's still behind an about:config flag.

maxxxxx 9y ago
I don't know the internals of Firefox but this should be relatively easy to do and have real benefit to the user. Squeezing out 30 percent from from JavaScript doesn't make that much of a difference in comparison.
- throwanem 9y ago
  Surfacing "disable autoplay until tab is focused" benefits those users who care about it. Improving Javascript performance by 30 percent benefits everyone.
  - maxxxxx 9y ago
    I think a lot of people care about ads autoplaying and making sound.
  - tolien 9y ago
    It's also unlikely to be worked on by the same group of developers, so this is of the "why don't you do x instead of y" class of comment, where x = {fix media playback,cure Ebola} and y={make JS run faster,send things into space}.
throwanem 9y ago
Unready in what way, if you don't mind my asking? I haven't seen it misbehave yet, although I grant that's n=1.
- cpeterso 9y ago
  Some buggy video players are broken when the browser doesn't autoplay "autoplay" video because the player's play/pause state doesn't match the browser's. Firefox developers are looking at workarounds like telling the player the video is playing, but not downloading the video. You can set about:config pref "media.autoplay.enabled" = false to test. YouTube used to be broken. I don't know if it still is.
  - throwanem 9y ago
    I think it still is - I had to re-enable autoplay to get YouTube playlists working properly again. I still have "don't autoplay until tab focused" enabled, though - it isn't a problem there.
    - cpeterso 9y ago
      I'm not sure why "don't autoplay until tab focused" works but "don't autoplay on current tab" does not. btw, I use the "YouTube High Definition" Firefox extension, which allows you to prevent autoplay and tweak other YouTube parameters such as disabling overlay messages and forcing a default video size: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-high-definition/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-high-...
      - throwanem 9y ago
        I suspect it's because the transition between one playlist video and the next triggers the autoplay-prevention code path. "Don't autoplay until focused" wouldn't, because if the tab hasn't been focused then the video's not playing at all, and if the tab has been focused, then autoplay is (I think) permitted without further restriction.

I don't know the internals of Firefox but this should be relatively easy to do and have real benefit to the user. Squeezing out 30 percent from from JavaScript doesn't make that much of a difference in comparison.

throwanem 9y ago
Surfacing "disable autoplay until tab is focused" benefits those users who care about it. Improving Javascript performance by 30 percent benefits everyone.
- maxxxxx 9y ago
  I think a lot of people care about ads autoplaying and making sound.
- tolien 9y ago
  It's also unlikely to be worked on by the same group of developers, so this is of the "why don't you do x instead of y" class of comment, where x = {fix media playback,cure Ebola} and y={make JS run faster,send things into space}.

throwanem 9y ago

Unready in what way, if you don't mind my asking? I haven't seen it misbehave yet, although I grant that's n=1.

cpeterso 9y ago
Some buggy video players are broken when the browser doesn't autoplay "autoplay" video because the player's play/pause state doesn't match the browser's. Firefox developers are looking at workarounds like telling the player the video is playing, but not downloading the video. You can set about:config pref "media.autoplay.enabled" = false to test. YouTube used to be broken. I don't know if it still is.
- throwanem 9y ago
  I think it still is - I had to re-enable autoplay to get YouTube playlists working properly again. I still have "don't autoplay until tab focused" enabled, though - it isn't a problem there.
  - cpeterso 9y ago
    I'm not sure why "don't autoplay until tab focused" works but "don't autoplay on current tab" does not. btw, I use the "YouTube High Definition" Firefox extension, which allows you to prevent autoplay and tweak other YouTube parameters such as disabling overlay messages and forcing a default video size: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-high-definition/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-high-...
    - throwanem 9y ago
      I suspect it's because the transition between one playlist video and the next triggers the autoplay-prevention code path. "Don't autoplay until focused" wouldn't, because if the tab hasn't been focused then the video's not playing at all, and if the tab has been focused, then autoplay is (I think) permitted without further restriction.