8 ms·

I'm so hyped by Firefox 57, haven't felt like that about a webbrowser since Firefox 1.5

dbcooper 9y ago
Don't set the UI density to "touch" then - tab closing animation is very clunky. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1407462 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1407462
DC-3 9y ago
I hope it picks up momentum among the broader public - while it can feel like the entirity of HN is on Firefox Nightly, there's a much larger leap to be made in overturning the broadly held 'common sense' view that Chrome is the superior browser. I don't doubt that such a sea change in public consensus is possible - it happened several years ago with the surge of Chrome in about 2010 [1]. Chrome was markedly quicker than the competition in its day, but I believe that Firefox 57 makes at least as big a performance leap in day-to-day usage over its rivals as Chrome did when it came to prominence. For much of the last ten years, Chrome has been the go-to browser for the tech-saavy user - Firefox is now as well placed as it could ever be to reclaim that crown. [1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Browser_usage_share,_2009%E2%80%932016,_StatCounter.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Browser_usage_share,...
- krisgenre 9y ago
  I primarily use Chrome just for the reason that it has better UI than Firefox on Linux. The developer tools on Firefox is too ugly, they definitely need a more compact design.
  - callahad 9y ago
    Firefox 57 has a new UI ("Photon") that you might like, and the DevTools are seeing significant UI/UX work during their rewrite from XUL to HTML (https://github.com/devtools-html/ https://github.com/devtools-html/). You can see some mockups on Victoria Wang's Twitter: https://twitter.com/violasong/status/926189788486557697 https://twitter.com/violasong/status/926189788486557697
    - nol13 9y ago
      Anyone got a rough ETA for when the CSD stuff will make it into main? (or any other hack to hide title bar in MATE/xfce once hidecaptiontitelbarplus addon breaks? sorry to beat dead-horse topic) http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/08/firefox-client-side-decoration-coming-soon http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/08/firefox-client-side-decor...
      - RedCrowbar 9y ago
        Looks like it's going to be available in Firefox 58 behind a pref: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1415481 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1415481
      - jhasse 9y ago
        Already in Firefox 57 on Fedora 27
        nol13 9y ago
        Tried installing the nightly CSD build from flatpak and made sure flags were on in about:config. Still a title bar in Ubuntu MATE 16.04 :/
  - bluejekyll 9y ago
    I actually much prefer the 57 UI options. I use the dark theme and it conserves more space than the tabs with chrome. The icon indicators also are really nice. At this point the only reason I use Chrome is b/c of Google Meet (which doesn’t support Firefox). The only thing I wish was better in the beta is battery life/usage. Safari is still king in terms of its effect on you battery. Edit: to be clear I use Firefox beta on Linux and macOS regularly.
  - kccqzy 9y ago
    Really? I find chrome’s developer tools very ugly though, with bright and garish colors. Firefox’s is much nicer in my opinion. But the nicest-looking devtools is still Safari’s, even though it is also the slowest, buggiest, and had the least features.
- giancarlostoro 9y ago
  I guess I was one of the Firefox holdouts for years now. After Chrome came out and the adblocker on it was more than useless (I used it since day 1 of public release) I ditched it for Firefox and never looked back. I only kept Chrome for web development to test across different browsers, or to open a new "session" in another browser. Now that Firefox has containers I really don't care for Chrome in that respect though. I'm glad Mozilla is doing things to put themselves back on the spotlight, they've done some great work over the years.
  - theandrewbailey 9y ago
    I thought I was the only person who never stopped using Firefox.
kevincox 9y ago
Why, with the ability to write powerful extensions removed it is basically a second Chrome now. I think WebExtensions were a good idea, but removing the raw access is removing what made Firefox great in the first place. Hopefully they will add an escape hatch in a future release but I'm not holding my breath. I wonder how long staying on nightly will allow "legacy" extensions. But sure, a bit of performance is nice I guess.
- kevingadd 9y ago
  I hate WebExtensions, but Mozilla has at least demonstrated a commitment to improve and expand that API instead of letting it rot like Google has. They seem to be adding essential features to it so I think most of the good extensions will be possible within a few releases. I still wish they hadn't crammed it down our throats before it was ready, though. Jetpack extensions worked fine.
  - Sylos 9y ago
    They unfortunately sort of had to rush it. They needed to deprecate legacy extensions, because the majority of those are multiprocess-incompatible and they needed multiprocess to stop the bleeding of users. It's really quite visible, multiprocess was rolled out in Firefox 48 on the 2nd August 2016: https://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=1&qpaf=&qpcustom=Firefox&qpcustomb=0&qpsp=202&qpnp=25&qptimeframe=M https://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=1&qpaf=&qpc...
- s_kilk 9y ago
  >> but removing the raw access is removing what made Firefox great in the first place. The raw access is also what made Firefox slow and cumbersome compared to Chrome. The recent performance improvements would have been impossible with the legacy extension apis. Honesty I think this is a good move.
  - kevincox 9y ago
    > The raw access is also what made Firefox slow and cumbersome compared to Chrome. The recent performance improvements would have been impossible with the legacy extension apis. This is simply not true as evidenced by the fact that Nightly still has the legacy extension API and the improved performance. That being said FF was slowing down to keep extensions compatible. This is why I think WebExtensions are a good idea. They should be the recomended path with promised future compatibility. Then FF can not worry as much about refactoring the internals as there are fewer extensions that would be broken and they "signed up" for it. I would rather have a faster FF and have to patch VimFX every couple of releases then have FF show down development for fear of breaking things. That being said loosing the extensions that gave FF it's magic is not a good tradeoff in my opinion.
pmoriarty 9y ago
Firefox 57 is the version that finally breaks Pentadactyl and many other extensions permanently.
pbhjpbhj 9y ago
Hmm, I've been using it since if was Phoenix(?), version 0.7 or so IIRC. I'm not convinced they're going in the right direction. Annoying dicking around adding new stuff as default that should be extensions (ones you can remove, and that you choose to add). Then in FF56 on Kubuntu I've noticed a slow down, a lot of lagging for me; but much worse most of [18/20] the add-ons I use are now "legacy" which gives a sense of foreboding that I'll be left choosing long established add-ons _xor_ bugfix/security updates. We'll see of course, perhaps I'm just getting a little too cynical having been browsing since the days Lynx, Mosaic and Netscape were new tech.
- alex_duf 9y ago
  I think they had to make the tough call of breaking compatibility in order to move faster. I understand that a lot of devs and power users are annoyed but hopefully we're not the only target audience, we just happen to be a quite vocal in places like HN.
Insanity 9y ago
I've just switched to the nightly after reading your comment. Really liking it so far, it's been years since I've used firefox.
DyslexicAtheist 9y ago
if you apply the mindset to the OS level you've essentially got QubesOS[0] I love what mozilla does here :) [0] Step-0 of https://iotdarwinaward.com/post/improve-your-privacy-in-age-of-mass-surveillance/ https://iotdarwinaward.com/post/improve-your-privacy-in-age-...
lukaa 9y ago
I like new Firefox but if Firefox is removing search bar than address bar should take over all functionality from search bar and it doesn't.In search bar there is easy way to add new search engine with + sign and in address bar there isn't.

Don't set the UI density to "touch" then - tab closing animation is very clunky. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1407462 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1407462

DC-3 9y ago

I hope it picks up momentum among the broader public - while it can feel like the entirity of HN is on Firefox Nightly, there's a much larger leap to be made in overturning the broadly held 'common sense' view that Chrome is the superior browser. I don't doubt that such a sea change in public consensus is possible - it happened several years ago with the surge of Chrome in about 2010 [1]. Chrome was markedly quicker than the competition in its day, but I believe that Firefox 57 makes at least as big a performance leap in day-to-day usage over its rivals as Chrome did when it came to prominence. For much of the last ten years, Chrome has been the go-to browser for the tech-saavy user - Firefox is now as well placed as it could ever be to reclaim that crown. [1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Browser_usage_share,_2009%E2%80%932016,_StatCounter.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Browser_usage_share,...

krisgenre 9y ago
I primarily use Chrome just for the reason that it has better UI than Firefox on Linux. The developer tools on Firefox is too ugly, they definitely need a more compact design.
- callahad 9y ago
  Firefox 57 has a new UI ("Photon") that you might like, and the DevTools are seeing significant UI/UX work during their rewrite from XUL to HTML (https://github.com/devtools-html/ https://github.com/devtools-html/). You can see some mockups on Victoria Wang's Twitter: https://twitter.com/violasong/status/926189788486557697 https://twitter.com/violasong/status/926189788486557697
  - nol13 9y ago
    Anyone got a rough ETA for when the CSD stuff will make it into main? (or any other hack to hide title bar in MATE/xfce once hidecaptiontitelbarplus addon breaks? sorry to beat dead-horse topic) http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/08/firefox-client-side-decoration-coming-soon http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/08/firefox-client-side-decor...
    - RedCrowbar 9y ago
      Looks like it's going to be available in Firefox 58 behind a pref: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1415481 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1415481
    - jhasse 9y ago
      Already in Firefox 57 on Fedora 27
      - nol13 9y ago
        Tried installing the nightly CSD build from flatpak and made sure flags were on in about:config. Still a title bar in Ubuntu MATE 16.04 :/
- bluejekyll 9y ago
  I actually much prefer the 57 UI options. I use the dark theme and it conserves more space than the tabs with chrome. The icon indicators also are really nice. At this point the only reason I use Chrome is b/c of Google Meet (which doesn’t support Firefox). The only thing I wish was better in the beta is battery life/usage. Safari is still king in terms of its effect on you battery. Edit: to be clear I use Firefox beta on Linux and macOS regularly.
- kccqzy 9y ago
  Really? I find chrome’s developer tools very ugly though, with bright and garish colors. Firefox’s is much nicer in my opinion. But the nicest-looking devtools is still Safari’s, even though it is also the slowest, buggiest, and had the least features.
giancarlostoro 9y ago
I guess I was one of the Firefox holdouts for years now. After Chrome came out and the adblocker on it was more than useless (I used it since day 1 of public release) I ditched it for Firefox and never looked back. I only kept Chrome for web development to test across different browsers, or to open a new "session" in another browser. Now that Firefox has containers I really don't care for Chrome in that respect though. I'm glad Mozilla is doing things to put themselves back on the spotlight, they've done some great work over the years.
- theandrewbailey 9y ago
  I thought I was the only person who never stopped using Firefox.

kevincox 9y ago

Why, with the ability to write powerful extensions removed it is basically a second Chrome now. I think WebExtensions were a good idea, but removing the raw access is removing what made Firefox great in the first place. Hopefully they will add an escape hatch in a future release but I'm not holding my breath. I wonder how long staying on nightly will allow "legacy" extensions. But sure, a bit of performance is nice I guess.

kevingadd 9y ago
I hate WebExtensions, but Mozilla has at least demonstrated a commitment to improve and expand that API instead of letting it rot like Google has. They seem to be adding essential features to it so I think most of the good extensions will be possible within a few releases. I still wish they hadn't crammed it down our throats before it was ready, though. Jetpack extensions worked fine.
- Sylos 9y ago
  They unfortunately sort of had to rush it. They needed to deprecate legacy extensions, because the majority of those are multiprocess-incompatible and they needed multiprocess to stop the bleeding of users. It's really quite visible, multiprocess was rolled out in Firefox 48 on the 2nd August 2016: https://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=1&qpaf=&qpcustom=Firefox&qpcustomb=0&qpsp=202&qpnp=25&qptimeframe=M https://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=1&qpaf=&qpc...
s_kilk 9y ago
>> but removing the raw access is removing what made Firefox great in the first place. The raw access is also what made Firefox slow and cumbersome compared to Chrome. The recent performance improvements would have been impossible with the legacy extension apis. Honesty I think this is a good move.
- kevincox 9y ago
  > The raw access is also what made Firefox slow and cumbersome compared to Chrome. The recent performance improvements would have been impossible with the legacy extension apis. This is simply not true as evidenced by the fact that Nightly still has the legacy extension API and the improved performance. That being said FF was slowing down to keep extensions compatible. This is why I think WebExtensions are a good idea. They should be the recomended path with promised future compatibility. Then FF can not worry as much about refactoring the internals as there are fewer extensions that would be broken and they "signed up" for it. I would rather have a faster FF and have to patch VimFX every couple of releases then have FF show down development for fear of breaking things. That being said loosing the extensions that gave FF it's magic is not a good tradeoff in my opinion.

pmoriarty 9y ago

Firefox 57 is the version that finally breaks Pentadactyl and many other extensions permanently.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago

Hmm, I've been using it since if was Phoenix(?), version 0.7 or so IIRC. I'm not convinced they're going in the right direction. Annoying dicking around adding new stuff as default that should be extensions (ones you can remove, and that you choose to add). Then in FF56 on Kubuntu I've noticed a slow down, a lot of lagging for me; but much worse most of [18/20] the add-ons I use are now "legacy" which gives a sense of foreboding that I'll be left choosing long established add-ons _xor_ bugfix/security updates. We'll see of course, perhaps I'm just getting a little too cynical having been browsing since the days Lynx, Mosaic and Netscape were new tech.

alex_duf 9y ago
I think they had to make the tough call of breaking compatibility in order to move faster. I understand that a lot of devs and power users are annoyed but hopefully we're not the only target audience, we just happen to be a quite vocal in places like HN.

Insanity 9y ago

I've just switched to the nightly after reading your comment. Really liking it so far, it's been years since I've used firefox.

DyslexicAtheist 9y ago

if you apply the mindset to the OS level you've essentially got QubesOS[0] I love what mozilla does here :) [0] Step-0 of https://iotdarwinaward.com/post/improve-your-privacy-in-age-of-mass-surveillance/ https://iotdarwinaward.com/post/improve-your-privacy-in-age-...

lukaa 9y ago

I like new Firefox but if Firefox is removing search bar than address bar should take over all functionality from search bar and it doesn't.In search bar there is easy way to add new search engine with + sign and in address bar there isn't.