A fresh new Firefox is here

[ghostwich]

Firefox pushed its UI changes, called Proton, to their main release channel.

Previously teased (https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/new-firefox-coming-june-1/), the new changes are pretty much throughout the entire UI - the main toolbar and tab layout will be the most noticeable. Context and other menus were also redesigned.



https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/fresh-new-look-for-firefox/

 

[ghostwich]

For those who may not like the changes, you can sort of revert things-

In a new tab, go to about:config and search for the text "proton" and turn off a few things:

• browser.proton.enabled
• browser.proton.contextmenus.enabled
• browser.proton.doorhangers.enabled
• browser.proton.modals.enabled

 

[scojer]

New features won't bring me back, I've been using Brave for about 7 months, and it's just better.
They turned comments off on their video, probably so they don't have people like me saying that Brave is better.

 

[drop point]

That's a pretty conspicuous name choice.

 

[Grebuloner]

Ruined my forking tabs on bottom, again!

 

[ZeqOBpf6]

Biggest change I notice is they replaced words with icons. Regression.

 

[DPI]

I wonder if they're still defaulting the CTRL-TAB behavior to showing a preview pop-up rather than just going to the next tab, holy shit annoying.

 

[FSCDiablo]

Used FF for many years, but switched some time ago because I didn't like their mobile version. Won't go back to FF for their political activism. Done with Mozilla.

 

[DoubleTap]

Used FF for many years, but switched some time ago because I didn't like their mobile version. Won't go back to FF for their political activism. Done with Mozilla.

which browser is from the non activist company again?

 

[Deleted member 89018]

which browser is from the non activist company again?

Opera, maybe?

are people still using opera?

 

[AzixTGO]

I actually don't trust them to do good on this. They had made some silly changes in the past that made me think they don't really know what they are doing. Breaking things with major updates didn't help

 

[Ranulfo]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the new look. Its not super horrible but then it at least didn't change my whole layout this time, forcing me to go in and turn on various menu and toolbars back on.

 

[Bankie]

New features won't bring me back, I've been using Brave for about 7 months, and it's just better.
They turned comments off on their video, probably so they don't have people like me saying that Brave is better.

I tried Brave a month or so ago. Went back to Firefox as it's just better.

 

[OutOfPhase]

I have mixed feelings on the new UI. I don't use the light theme, but HOLY LORD is it a retina destroyer and has very indistinct controls / areas. I almost suspect nobody actually used / uses it.

But whatever. Still the best browser for the things I care about. The areas outside the document are secondary to what is in it.

 

[HAL_404]

yup. doggie stuff will pull folks in every time. If they charged $10 for a Hershey bar people would raise Cain but charge those same folks that price difference for doggie rawhide and they keep buying ... go figure

 

[The Mad Atheist]

I need to revert my mobile version to one that allowed me to use video downloaders.
Been using Palemoon in Windows and they even started to lose support for video downloaders.

 

[owkia]

Opera, maybe?

are people still using opera?

Opera is owned by a Chinese company. So say hi to the CCP if you use it.

 

[Axman]

Straw that broke the camel's back. Switched to Brave, deleted my FF account.

It's not as stable but it doesn't look like garbage and the privacy stuff seems solid.

 

[Halon]

For those who may not like the changes, you can sort of revert things-

In a new tab, go to about:config and search for the text "proton" and turn off a few things:

• browser.proton.enabled
• browser.proton.contextmenus.enabled
• browser.proton.doorhangers.enabled
• browser.proton.modals.enabled

Thank you, you're doing God's work. I don't understand why they're pushing an update that disrespects platform-specific window decorations and reduces visual contrast with no default ability to opt out.

 

[Deleted member 89018]

Opera is owned by a Chinese company. So say hi to the CCP if you use it.

well, maybe they’re not activists then?

idunno, I didn’t even know they were still around until you said that. I’d assumed they folded a while back when chrome took over the world.

 

[sharknice]

Opera, maybe?

are people still using opera?

Vivaldi is the spiritual successor to Opera. When Opera switched engines they never added all the features or customization they used to have. Vivaldi was formed by former Opera devs and has everything and pioneers new features that mainstream browsers get years later like what Opera did in it's glory days.

 

[Halon]

Opera is owned by a Chinese company. So say hi to the CCP if you use it.

The Chinese-ness isn't necessarily the objectionable part here, it's the fact that Opera's new parent company leveraged the brand name for a series of predatory loan scams in Africa and Asia in 2020. I don't know what they've been up to since, and I don't want to - Opera has nothing to offer that I want.

 

[Bowman15]

which browser is from the non activist company again?

I did the same when they went extra woke last year...reasons are reasons regardless of how much sense they make, or not.

 

[Viper16]

I don't get why some people feel the need to eff with something just to eff with it! I liked the current UI.

 

[chili dog]

Stupid Firefox. Every update all they do is break my userchrome with all their stupid UI bullshit which didn't need to be changed.

 

[Krenum]

 

[ManofGod]

Bad idea: Switched To Linux: Firefox Proton

Basically, it comes with DNS over HTTPS on by default, without any opt in or opt out at all. That function entirely bypasses all your network security so I would not touch it at all.

 

[GNUse_the_force]

if you like Firefox but are concerned about the telemetry, there is a fork called librewolf

https://librewolf-community.gitlab.io/

it has something like 500 tweaks to remove telemetry and tracking. It is also now available as a flatpak on linux via flathub (sandboxed application) which means it is in the mint software manager and the gnome software manager ( if you enable flatpak support) if you install the 'flatseal' flatpak app you can manage the permissions of each flapak and lock down the app even more.

For those who don't like the large tabs on Firefox 89 for now at least (as they haven't confirmed they will leave the option in) you can type 'about:config' in the url bar and then paste 'browser.compactmode.show' set it to true and then go to 'more tools' > 'customize toolbar' and select compact mode.

Bad idea: Switched To Linux: Firefox Proton

Basically, it comes with DNS over HTTPS on by default, without any opt in or opt out at all. That function entirely bypasses all your network security so I would not touch it at all.

Not only that but it resources to mozilla.cloudflare.com. At least putting in https://1.1.1.1/dns-query in the custom field makes it work properly.

https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/ssl/encrypted-sni/

You can test your DOH there but, im slightly skeptical that if it is not set to cloudflare it often returns a negative. HTTP-DNS is not a bad thing per say you just have to know what you are doing. If you are on Linux your hosts file will still block any domain you set and of course if you use ublock that is also filtering hosts (which librewolf has built in as default). If you use Linux Mint there is an application called 'webapps' it basically creates uniquie apps of your browser session so you can have many separate instances of firefox,chromium,brave running at the same time each with their own DNS settings / addons / themes. Meaning that you can set one browser with your DNS settings and one for your generic ISP DNS should you wish.

 

[RanceJustice]

I've not gotten a chance to play around with the UI changes yet - much of what I've seen in the past when accusation of Firefox RUINING UI elements were horribly overblown so I'm going in skeptical. As has been pointed out its with ease you can revert and that's not to say anything about addons, settings, or about:config changes which are also available. I'm curious to see about the "open picture in new tab" thing to see if it was just a change to the context menu to a default behavior, and (the possibly more serious) actual change to HOW it opens things (ie querying the server again to pull down the site in order to get the item) which would be less desirable.

Regarding DNS-over-HTTPS I think that for most people its a positive. You can easily opt out or turn off either completely or by specific policy conflicts last I checked on this when it was a "study" so if you're an advanced user with a self-spun DNSCrypt resolver setup or something that's fine, disable it. However, it will be a meaningful benefit to encryption/privacy by default on DNS queries for the multitude of users who do not even know what DNS is and just use default cleartext based settings. Railing against it as the worst thing in the world seems inaccurate; it may just not be for an enthusiast technical use case. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https

Lastly, while I've not been in favor of every choice Mozilla has made for Firefox, generally it still seems better than most alternatives and its presence is important. It is pretty much the only major browser engine manged and developed by a foundation vs a for-profit ad company and the browser package itself is advanced, noob-to-guru usable, extensible/configurable, cross platform, and FOSS. These days almost every other major browser and engine is either platform specific and/or proprietary (Safari) , or basically a reskin of Google's Chromium using Blink engine - Chrome/ium and all its direct forks, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, and even MS Edge . This gives Google a near defacto monopoly over web standards with nearly no one to contest their usage or designs - after all, if its made compatible for chrome/ium that's all that matters. Maintaining a web browser these days is so complex it isn't something a hobby project is going to be able to do while keeping it secure, up to date, and feature-parity with the "big guys" ; Mozilla is pretty much the last bastion . Advocate for changes you want to see in Firefox, if you must use whatever pre-tweaked fork you feel necessary from Icecat to Librewolf, but be wary of what it means to Firefox to lose marketshare to the point of irrelevance ; handing the web wholesale to Google for it to be designed for its needs (lets not forget how Chromium-based browsers required certain hacks and workarounds for more advanced filtering via uBlock Origin whereas they just worked on Firefox. Even though Chromium was FOSS, it was designed with the needs of a huge data mining and advertising corporation. It also seems like there is something of a double standard with judgements against Firefox coming much more easily despite FF and Mozilla operating on a relative shoestring budget compared to the massive nighh limitless and heavily controlled investment behind Chrome/ium and all related elements from Blink to Electron.

Even though it is not perfect, I've used Firefox for many years and have never run into an issue sufficient to make me wish to give it up , especially knowing the rest of the browser/engine landscape.

 

[ThreeDee]

I haven't used FF in years .. gave this update a go for poops and giggles and I must say .. initial impression is that it just "feels" snappier then Chrome. I only use the Ublock Origin add-on/plug in.

 

[M76]

deleted my FF account.

People actually made those?

 

[MaZa]

People actually made those?

Yeah, who the hell actualy made one? And what is this talk about FF political leanings and why it should matter for a browser that is free and highly customisable?

 

[MaZa]

And just now Firefox autoinstalled the new update and holy shit I hate it! Why on earth did they switch the open tabs to above the search bar!? Not only does it not make sense from use perspective it really messes up my ingrained habits. And my god the default theme is way too fricking white! Dark theme is okay but way too dark for my tastes, I want the default neutral grey back.

 

[sover]

Used FF for many years, but switched some time ago because I didn't like their mobile version. Won't go back to FF for their political activism. Done with Mozilla.

What activism are you talking about? Do you mean their privacy push?

 

[BlueLineSwinger]

Yeah, who the hell actualy made one? And what is this talk about FF political leanings and why it should matter for a browser that is free and highly customisable?

A FF account is actually quite useful if you're working with multiple systems. Virtually everything (settings, bookmarks, history, extensions, etc.) are synced.

 

[MaZa]

A FF account is actually quite useful if you're working with multiple systems. Virtually everything (settings, bookmarks, history, extensions, etc.) are synced.

Oh, I see. I never cared for the sync feature outside of my phone and tablet. I always kept my PC's (when I had multiples of them) as their separate entities with different uses.
Anyway, I just uninstalled Firefox and went Waterfox. Much more usable and configurable UI.

 

[GotNoRice]

So far I have not noticed anything about the new UI that I would consider an improvement. The new color choices are terrible.

Everything is basically white, which results in an annoying amount of extra brightness from the top of the screen, distracting my eyes whenever I'm reading anything, especially on a darker page like hardforum. Looks washed out. Nothing has any contrast, making it so that I have to take more time to visually search for things that my eye could previously have just snapped to instantly based on color difference.

I mean, do they actually research this stuff at all? Or did some random person on the UI team just decide that this looked pretty?

 

[ZeqOBpf6]

Firefox account is mandatory. Not having one is a rookie mistake
Jump between Linux, windows, phone, new work laptop, bam sign in and everything is exactly the same. It's just awesome.

 

[bigdogchris]

This is interesting - yesterday after disabling Proton, I noticed the UI theme stayed on light. Couldn't get System theme to work, but all other themes worked. This morning, system theme is working fine and now have the light gray back rather than white.

 

[sleepeeg3]

Opera is owned by a Chinese company. So say hi to the CCP if you use it.

I trust the CCP more with my data than the US government. What is the CCP going to do with it? When the SHTF, I'd rather China knows everything about me than Google/.gov.

Both browsers have problems now:
Brave/chromium is not 100% open source so no idea what it is doing with your data. I don't understand why a Google product gets so much attention.
I can't remember exactly, but in version 69, Firefox started forcibly syncing either browsing history(?) or UN/PW(?) with Mozilla. This was a former third party add-on called Xmarks that they integrated the core functionality.