Firefox Add-On Armageddon Arrives

Megalith

Megalith

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Firefox Quantum is now available, but remember, you’ll lose the ability to use any remaining XUL extensions if you do choose to upgrade. While many popular extensions have already been ported to the new framework, extra restrictions imposed by WebExtensions means that existing add-ons are unable to do what they once did.

For those still using Firefox 56 and earlier who would like to know what they are going to lose when they upgrade to 57, you are able to see what will disappear thanks to the Add-on Compatibility Reporter. After installing the add-on, head over to the about:addons page in your browser, and any extensions with a bright yellow Legacy label are sitting on death row.
 
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Sadly Firefox quantum fucked up Roboform both physically with v57 and in Roboform devs minds when they changed their add-on to be just like chrome's. Not even going back to Firefox v52 will fix that because Roboform dropped the older style toolbar :( There is a way to get the toolbar back in both Chrome and FF, but it works like a kludge rather than integrated like the old Roboform toolbar.

Operationally I really don't find the new firefox works any better than the old one.
 
Simple solution: Download and install FF 55.03 in a different folder than FF 57.0 (your extensions, bookmarks, etc should all be moved to it automatically), make sure you set it to "never check for updates", then uninstall FF 57.0
 
Aren't there plugins like tampermonkey or greasemonkey that largely get around these sorts of restrictions on running various scripts or addons?
 
noscript, adblock plus, ghostery, HoverHound, Lastpass, TCPIP utils is basically my baseline loadout. I won't switch if they don't work.
 
Teenyman45 said:
Aren't there plugins like tampermonkey or greasemonkey that largely get around these sorts of restrictions on running various scripts or addons?
Click to expand...

Greasemonkey looks to be in-progress.

My goto Stylish is abandoned, but someone made a 100% compatible successor, Stylus works just fine with all my userstyles.org stuff.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/styl-us/

I have no other needs. Bring on the new age, where plugins are no-longer easily exploitable executables.
 
I wish there was a better alternative for XUL add-ons. I had created a fairly basic toolbar at work for quick and easy access to a number of appliances (think series of dropdowns and a query box) that sped up my day-to-day quite nicely. With WebExtensions, there is currently no capabilities to create toolbars that I'm aware of.
 
I switched to Iridium. Still have Ghostery and Adblock Plus. Unfortunetly no No-Script. With my firewall setup to block ad/tracking/whatever IPs I feel its a decent trade off.

My laptop that runs Ubuntu MATE has an updated version of FF (I'd have to check which) and holy crap has it gotten slow.
 
Just waiting for noscript to be updated, then all my addons are compatible. Running Quantum without for now. Ublock Origin and Stylus are working fine.
 
Tampermonkey did the trick. I was hesitant to move to 57 because of a couple of Greasemonkey scripts I use for pan baidu and openload with IDM. Finally upgraded to 57, replaced Greasemonkey with Tampermonkey, installed the scripts again and they all work. Had to get used to the different look of 57, but all in all I like it. Browser feels snappier. An option now to either display the search bar or not to keep everyone happy. Personally I gotta have my search bar but some hate it. Glad they didn't remove it outright like Chrome. Now if only Pale Moon will get on the same track to be able to use scripts like Chrome and Firefox would be good. I still like and use Pale Moon even though they seem to be a bit stubborn to get up to speed.
 
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Yeah, last night's surfing was loaded with terrible ads that ruined the page, shifting the vertical scroll bar repeatedly, takeover ads, flashing videos that cover half the page no matter where you scroll. I miss noscript already.
 
We've known this is coming for a long time. Overall it isn't necessarily a bad thing, though annoying when an addon you like isn't ready/working. Some developers simply haven't gotten around to porting, other addons are basically abandoned etc... but the vast majority are either working on ports or replacements exist. Some things to keep in mind...

First, Want /need Legacy extensions on a standard version of Firefox? Use Firefox 52 ESR, or 55/56 w/o updating. Alternately, Waterfox and PaleMoon will continue to support legacy, though there may be some other trade-offs. Don't forget that using Firefox's Developer Edition, or certain testing variants like Aurora also have ways to enable Legacy, so lets not pretend like mozilla has done something horrid and just swept aside any way to use other addons.

Next, the only thing for which I personally feel that Mozilla deserves real blame - there are certain APIs not yet available to replicate certain low-level functionality in a WebExt compliant way. If you're missing a certain function/type addon entirely or the new version works radically differently, this may be why. Personally, I think they need to spend more time providing these APIs but they are working on it and there aren't that many addons I've found that are really left high and dry but it sucks for those that are.

If anyone has particular addons they are looking for or want to work, I'll try to suggest many best-of-breed, ideally open source alternatives. To get you started...

uBlock Origin - One of the best ad/tracker blockers. Fully Quantum compatible. Rejoice!
NoScript - They're working on an updated version. If you're comfortable with No Script, check out....
uMatrix - From the uBlock Origin devs comes a more active form, similar to NoScript. Can easily do NoScript level blocking, but like NoScript is not for tech-illiterate friends and relatives as it requires you to whitelist domains and whatnot.
Disconnect - An easy to use tracker blocker, fully Quantum compatible. In fact, Firefox's Private mode uses their lists for ad/tracker protection! You probably don't need both this and uBlock Origin as it can load the same blocklist if you wish, but they do coexist nicely.
Privacy Badger - Another tracker blocker, this time from the EFF and works not just on lists, but also heuristically if I recall. A good item, make sure you use the latest version. from their site.
HTTPS Everywhere - From the EFF comes another great addon for your privacy, basically enabling HTTPS whenever possible. Quantum compatible, make sure you're using an up to date version.
Decentraleyes - A neat addon that is Quantum ready, it locally loads certain assets that can be used for fingerprinting when gathered remotely every time.
Greasemonkey - Fully compliant if using Version 4.0 or greater. Note that 4.0 is a little more barebones, but they wanted full Quantum compatibility before adding additional features. Still should run your userscripts - does for me so far. Alternatively, you can use "Violentmonkey" (though I had some trouble with compatibility) or perhaps "Tampermonkey" (Which I don't prefer as it is not open source).
Stylus - This is a Quantum ready Stylish replacement for userstyles. You may need the Beta version; not sure. Better features than Stylish used to have on Firefox too.
FlashGot - a download manager and way to rip streaming media from the NoScript developer, they are working on an update for Quantum but it isn't ready yet. There are lots of alternatives here depending on exactly what features you need (ie more download-focused, more ccontent-ripping etc) so I can't suggest just a single replacement.
Cookie AutoDelete - a Quantum ready version that does the same thing as Self-Destructing Cookies which is no longer updated, giving granular permissions to let cookies stay, stay until you close browser, or purge when you clear a tab. Can be active for wildcards, individual domains, purge everything etc.. a good addon indeed!
User Agent Switcher - Need to set your browser's user agent to another OS or device? This is one of the few addons that still work and have reasonably new user agents too.

There are some addons that sadly, fall into the abyss of lacking API i mentioned from before - DownloadStatusBar, TheAddonBar Restored, Password Exporter, Privacy Manager, and a few others of mine.. hopefully they will be updated or the functionality will be added directly into Firefox.

Hope this helps!
 
uMatrix is starting to grow on me as a replacement for noscript I might not switch back.
 
I went from Firefox to Chrome in the past week Chrome has some really nice looking themes that make it look just good plus it's not sluggish at all. Quantum wrecked the themes you coudl use and the UI under setttings isn't great.
 
Give it a little for people to update themes for Firefox to Quantum and work the bugs out - it just happened a few days back after all. Firefox always had really nice built in theming and now many of those Chrome themes may actually work on Firefox too depending on how they're made thanks to Quantum. For Firefox, you need the "customize" button and check out in the bottom left corner - there are some easy to apply themes already available there and places to get new ones. They've set up a very nice, newly formatted Themes page on Firefox's extensions page and you can get there from both where I indicated before and if you go into the Addons tab's Themes submenu, there will be a "Looking to Personalize Your Browser? Choose from thousands of themes" link that will take you to the Firefox theme repository. From a cursory check, most of the most popular seem to work fine with Quantum.

Now sadly there are some frustrating elements in the lack of APIs for certain addons and features that will impact major theme options and addons like, such as not being able to generate new toolbars etc... that is something hopefully Mozilla will work on quickly as I am a fan of both Download Status Bar / DownloadManager S3 style addons and TheAddonBar - Restored, both of which require the ability to create new bars...but since these aren't WebExtension compliant features as of yet (on Chrome nor Firefox; Quantum is actually using much more limited, Chrome-like addons as WebExtensions are the same basis for both, allowing both browsers to use many addons ) there's nothing available. Hopefully soon.

Want userstyles to match your browser themes? Pick up the Stylus addon and head over to your favorite userstyles site.
 
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It's been a year coming, everyone has known about it, but most did nothing, now here's the bandaid ripping off. Plugins will adapt or die, give it a couple weeks and they'll sort it out.

Sure seems fast though...
 
You guys act like you HAVE to move over to Firefox Quantum. lmao. Really? Because, they said so? Whatever. It takes literally a few minutes to go and grab all the older addon versions your heart desires along with any version of Firefox you could ever possibly want.

I love Firefox but the new Quantum is really not that much faster. It actually slows down after you download a few plugins and use it over a few days. Or it could be my 7820x, 32GB of DDR4 quad channel along with the 500GB Samsung EVO NVMe ssd that is keeping my old skool version of Firefox super duper fast.

I'm just not going to give up my old trusted Firefox experience. You guys can move on to the latest and greatest but I'm of the mind set that if it works, don't fuck with it. And you young guys are screwed. If it's new and shiny and has big tits on it you guys will drop everything before you even have a chance to ask yourself ..."why?"

Yeah my old shit looks gooooooooooooood asf. Not interested. The only thing I care about is the new content my Google Fiber sucks into my box.

And before anyone wants to go on and on about "security" ... I will say bs and hogwash ... I boot into a fresh image every morning I get up which takes around 5 minutes. It's virtually impossible for me to expire a 30 day evaluation, harbor malware or a virus. OR, have them take away my old and trusted Firefox experience using all my favorite addons.

Any new game I play or old game I'm still playing is right there in a folder which has been made portable ( again, educate yourself, all of you can do this ) There is virtually no downside to any of this.
 
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I'm loving the new Firefox Quantum. I'm back from Chrome, this thing is so fast, much faster than even Chrome for me. Fastest Firefox ever.
 
So far, I have zero complaints about the desktop version.

But for the mobile version, Stylish install links keep pointing to Chrome, not Firefox, so I can't use UserStyles.org to install anything. That was botched.

I can't create a style manually through copy-paste because the theme import text box doesn't support PASTE. And I can't type them manually, it's way more typing than the benefits would be worth.

And the plug-in to force copy/paste on disabled dialogs on Firefox for Android? Incompatible with Quantum :(

I'm lucky I only do a little browsing on my phone. But it would be nice to have a dark Wikipedia style installed.
 
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