4 ms·

Firefox 67: Dark Mode CSS, WebRender, and More

69 points by robin_reala 7y ago

cfant 7y ago
Perhaps this isn't the time or place, but has anyone been able to successfully run a Firefox sync server in totality? The state of affairs last year when I looked into this again didn't inspire a lot of hope. [1] And to this day, the documentation for doing so seems subpar. [2] [1] https://lobste.rs/s/q5zwlf/i_failed_install_firefox_accounts_server https://lobste.rs/s/q5zwlf/i_failed_install_firefox_accounts... [2] https://mozilla-services.readthedocs.io/en/latest/howtos/run-fxa.html https://mozilla-services.readthedocs.io/en/latest/howtos/run...
- CamJN 7y ago
  Firefox sync doesn't even work using Mozilla's servers in my experience.
- dblohm7 7y ago
  Apparently somebody put together a Docker image: https://github.com/michielbdejong/fxa-self-hosting https://github.com/michielbdejong/fxa-self-hosting
  - techntoke 7y ago
    That is over 4 years old. The fact that Mozilla obfuscates this process so much says a lot about how "trusthworthy" they actually are.
- jjdjr0odo7 7y ago
  Bleh they need to kill that and define a dir/file structure that nicely organizes history, bookmarks, preferences, and let me store it on an arbitrary location. For example, I can access Gdrive on my Mac, Linux box, and iPhone. Let me load that path. Oh look now I’m “synced” across devices. Mozilla sync always felt like a “me too” feature rather anyway.
drcongo 7y ago
I use Firefox Developer Edition as my dev browser these days (as part of degooglification) and the latest version - 68.0b2 - is excellent. The UI seems to finally be as fast, if not faster, than Safari.
- wlesieutre 7y ago
  How’s the battery impact feel? That’s the reason I’ve always come back to Safari on Mac. That and syncing with iOS’s default-Safari lock in.
  - TheAceOfHearts 7y ago
    Another Firefox Dev Edition user here; it's my daily driver. Battery life still takes a hit when compared to Safari. It's not a big deal for me because I'm usually close to a power source. If I'm out and I have to conserve energy then I'll just use Safari until I arrive home. You can use multiple browsers. I regularly use a mix of Chromium, Firefox Dev Edition, and Safari for varying purposes.
    - wlesieutre 7y ago
      I do use Firefox regularly on my computer at work and on my Wintendo where I'm not that concerned about bookmark syncing. Tree Style Tabs is a favorite feature (especially at work where I end up with a lot of tabs open), although I wish it didn't require poking around at Firefox's internal CSS to get rid of the window's normal tab bar. EDIT: Just installed 67 on my Mac. Initial impression - it's snappy, but the main reason I don't like it is down to the trackpad response. The rest of my OS has bouncy overscroll, and Firefox doesn't. This probably bugs me more than it reasonably should, but what can I say? I'm a consistency snob.
JadeNB 7y ago
Is there enough content in the link to justify the duplication of currently adjacent front-page story https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19969489 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19969489 ?
- techntoke 7y ago
  No, but it is Mozilla so HN is going to push it multiple times.
Narishma 7y ago
What version of OpenGL (assuming that's what it uses on Windows) does WebRender require?
- pcwalton 7y ago
  GL 3. There's an investigation going on as to how to support GLES 2, I believe. The sad reality of browser development is that there is about a 10-year delay between the introduction of a graphics feature and when we can actually use it everywhere...
  - Narishma 7y ago
    Indeed, some GPU vendors are pretty terrible at supporting new APIs even if their hardware is capable. I have a DX11 Intel GPU but it only supports OpenGL 2.1 on Windows for some reason.
    - pcwalton 7y ago
      Note that we use ANGLE on Windows to work around that specific problem.
techntoke 7y ago
Firefox still considers Linux as a second-class citizen. Chromium has true hardware acceleration enabled by default for Arch. No reason to use something that blocks hardware acceleration like Firefox.
- mey 7y ago
  Hardware acceleration in Arch is due to Arch patching it on. That's not Chromium's decision. Thread on the issue https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=463440 https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=463440 Edit: Arch https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1830639 https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1830639 https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chromium#Hardware_video_acceleration https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chromium#Hardware_video...
  - techntoke 7y ago
    This was reverted in the default package: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=244031&p=3 https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=244031&p=3

69 points by robin_reala 7y ago

Perhaps this isn't the time or place, but has anyone been able to successfully run a Firefox sync server in totality? The state of affairs last year when I looked into this again didn't inspire a lot of hope. [1] And to this day, the documentation for doing so seems subpar. [2] [1] https://lobste.rs/s/q5zwlf/i_failed_install_firefox_accounts_server https://lobste.rs/s/q5zwlf/i_failed_install_firefox_accounts... [2] https://mozilla-services.readthedocs.io/en/latest/howtos/run-fxa.html https://mozilla-services.readthedocs.io/en/latest/howtos/run...

CamJN 7y ago
Firefox sync doesn't even work using Mozilla's servers in my experience.
dblohm7 7y ago
Apparently somebody put together a Docker image: https://github.com/michielbdejong/fxa-self-hosting https://github.com/michielbdejong/fxa-self-hosting
- techntoke 7y ago
  That is over 4 years old. The fact that Mozilla obfuscates this process so much says a lot about how "trusthworthy" they actually are.
jjdjr0odo7 7y ago
Bleh they need to kill that and define a dir/file structure that nicely organizes history, bookmarks, preferences, and let me store it on an arbitrary location. For example, I can access Gdrive on my Mac, Linux box, and iPhone. Let me load that path. Oh look now I’m “synced” across devices. Mozilla sync always felt like a “me too” feature rather anyway.

drcongo 7y ago

I use Firefox Developer Edition as my dev browser these days (as part of degooglification) and the latest version - 68.0b2 - is excellent. The UI seems to finally be as fast, if not faster, than Safari.

wlesieutre 7y ago
How’s the battery impact feel? That’s the reason I’ve always come back to Safari on Mac. That and syncing with iOS’s default-Safari lock in.
- TheAceOfHearts 7y ago
  Another Firefox Dev Edition user here; it's my daily driver. Battery life still takes a hit when compared to Safari. It's not a big deal for me because I'm usually close to a power source. If I'm out and I have to conserve energy then I'll just use Safari until I arrive home. You can use multiple browsers. I regularly use a mix of Chromium, Firefox Dev Edition, and Safari for varying purposes.
  - wlesieutre 7y ago
    I do use Firefox regularly on my computer at work and on my Wintendo where I'm not that concerned about bookmark syncing. Tree Style Tabs is a favorite feature (especially at work where I end up with a lot of tabs open), although I wish it didn't require poking around at Firefox's internal CSS to get rid of the window's normal tab bar. EDIT: Just installed 67 on my Mac. Initial impression - it's snappy, but the main reason I don't like it is down to the trackpad response. The rest of my OS has bouncy overscroll, and Firefox doesn't. This probably bugs me more than it reasonably should, but what can I say? I'm a consistency snob.

JadeNB 7y ago

Is there enough content in the link to justify the duplication of currently adjacent front-page story https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19969489 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19969489 ?

techntoke 7y ago
No, but it is Mozilla so HN is going to push it multiple times.

Narishma 7y ago

What version of OpenGL (assuming that's what it uses on Windows) does WebRender require?

pcwalton 7y ago
GL 3. There's an investigation going on as to how to support GLES 2, I believe. The sad reality of browser development is that there is about a 10-year delay between the introduction of a graphics feature and when we can actually use it everywhere...
- Narishma 7y ago
  Indeed, some GPU vendors are pretty terrible at supporting new APIs even if their hardware is capable. I have a DX11 Intel GPU but it only supports OpenGL 2.1 on Windows for some reason.
  - pcwalton 7y ago
    Note that we use ANGLE on Windows to work around that specific problem.

techntoke 7y ago

Firefox still considers Linux as a second-class citizen. Chromium has true hardware acceleration enabled by default for Arch. No reason to use something that blocks hardware acceleration like Firefox.

mey 7y ago
Hardware acceleration in Arch is due to Arch patching it on. That's not Chromium's decision. Thread on the issue https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=463440 https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=463440 Edit: Arch https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1830639 https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1830639 https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chromium#Hardware_video_acceleration https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chromium#Hardware_video...
- techntoke 7y ago
  This was reverted in the default package: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=244031&p=3 https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=244031&p=3