Kitz Forum

Internet => Web Browsing & Email => Topic started by: broadstairs on October 23, 2017, 05:21:10 PM

Title: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: broadstairs on October 23, 2017, 05:21:10 PM
I wonder how many people here currently use Firefox and how many of those are aware that the vast majority of add-ons will cease working from V57 and onwards? How many of the current users will move to other browsers and if so which ones?

Currently I still use Firefox but for me it will be crippled by the changes from V57 onwards. I am trying other browsers on Linux but so far not impressed by any. I dont like Chromiums layout (or Chrome for that matter) as the bookmarks are not in a convenient place in my opinion. I have tried Vivaldi which is not bad and I've downloaded Midori but not yet tested it. I also dont like Konqueror or Opera at all. I guess my problems stem from my customisation of Firefox and although I could live without some of the add-ons I'd find it problematic to live without just a few which provide backup/restore and mouse gestures.

I do feel Mozilla have shot themselves in the foot with the new design.

Stuart
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: jelv on October 23, 2017, 06:10:19 PM
Simples: Options - Never check for updates (not recommended)

I wonder how many will do that?
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: Dray on October 23, 2017, 06:32:22 PM
Isn't it just a case of using addons that work with v57+ ?
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: Ronski on October 23, 2017, 06:35:26 PM
I'm aware but currently got my head stuck in the sand!

I don't use many customisations, I have 7 add-ons and 5 will be broken  :(

@Dray, yes and know, many developers are not going to write add-ons that are compatible with 57 onwards, it's far to much work, and so locked down that some could not be done anyway.

The biggest one I will miss is tab groups, but I think there may be some hope with that one.

PS. I don't seem to be able to turn updates off, the options are greyed out  :(
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: broadstairs on October 23, 2017, 09:06:56 PM
Two of my biggest issues are mouse gestures and one called FEBE, the latter will die, not sure about the mouse one yet.

Stuart
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: burakkucat on October 24, 2017, 12:02:30 AM
Have you checked the Pale Moon (https://www.palemoon.org/) web-browser? I know is Roseway's current browser of choice.
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: Chrysalis on October 24, 2017, 02:22:20 AM
For my alternative browser I use firefox Long Term Support version, which is based on pre v57, but that will of course eventually go end of life.

When that happens I will probably just stop updating it.  As crazy as it sounds, but there is many ways to lock down a system other than relying on vendor patches.
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: roseway on October 24, 2017, 07:07:55 AM
I do use Pale Moon, as b*cat suggested. It's derived from FF version 27.xxx and is regularly updated with necessary patches. The only issue I have with it is that BBC videos tend to lock it up. I'm not sure why, as I've never had this happen with any other site.
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: tbailey2 on October 24, 2017, 07:40:50 AM
Likewise. It also has the advantage that it seamlessly updates MDWS graphs when on auto refresh, at least under Windows 10.
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: broadstairs on October 24, 2017, 09:38:37 AM
I did try Palemoon but had issues with it, it is not stable enough in my view - or at least wasn't when I tried it probably over a year ago now.

Stuart
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: jelv on October 24, 2017, 11:25:27 AM
I've downloaded PaleMoon this morning - the second extension that I use in Firefox failed when I tried it - ChatZilla (Pseudo-Static in PaleMoon).
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: BigJ on October 24, 2017, 07:58:52 PM
I'm planning to switch to the ESR when the day comes and start evaluating alternatives in earnest. At the moment I use Palemoon (with a reduced number of addons) as a backup when an addon in Firefox interferes with a webiste. In my limited use of Palemoon I've found it to work well so far.

Took Vivaldi for a spin last year but it didn't make much of an impression on me. I think enough time has pasted to give it another try. I can see myself stick with ESR for a looong time.
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: broadstairs on October 25, 2017, 10:28:21 AM
I've recently been testing more with Vivaldi and I do quite like it. I gather it's based on Chrome but is infinitely more configurable and uses add-ons from chrome. So far the only major omission is the absence of an FTP client like FireFTP in Firefox but I guess I could live without that if I had to. Need to test some more but it is promising.

Stuart
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: jelv on October 25, 2017, 02:17:22 PM
For anyone on Windows http://www.coreftp.com/ (http://www.coreftp.com/) is pretty good (and free) if you currently use FireFTP and want a standalone FTP client after that stops working.

There must be similar on Linux.
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: broadstairs on October 25, 2017, 09:49:48 PM
There is no shortage of FTP clients on Linux, it's just FireFTP was so convenient.

Stuart
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: kitz on October 26, 2017, 11:02:46 PM
There's a few extensions I've not been able to get to work with PaleMoon.
- Those which use the jetpack/sdk extension
- There was some difficulty with GreaseMonkey.  I dont know if this has been fixed as I havent tried again recently.

In the end I tried searching for simillar/alternative add-ons, but there are still a couple of things I missing.

Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: broadstairs on October 26, 2017, 11:13:06 PM
I've found one more. Waterfox which seems quite good, only issue with it is that you cannot have Firefox open when starting Waterfox, otherwise it supports all the add-ons I need.

Stuart
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: Bowdon on November 14, 2017, 09:04:14 PM
Well both my computers updated the browser today. So far so good.

The legacy section took out 3 of my addons, but luckily the other addons I've got, mainly adblock, ublock and internet download manager are working good.

The browser speed quickened up a lot.

I noticed in the options before I updated it, there is an option to not download the updates. So I wonder if you do that, then it just won't move on to the newest version? Though I guess you risk being compromised.

I also wonder about how Tor will deal with this, seen as they seem to use firefox as a base of their browser.
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: 22over7 on November 14, 2017, 09:24:58 PM
Among Firefox add-ons, I'm utterly addicted to Sage (which keeps links to rss/atom feeds, tells you when there's new stuff, and shows previews of new posts).  It's a horrific cpu hog with the number of links I have.

Anyone know something osx/linux-friendly I could try instead?

Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: celso on November 14, 2017, 10:36:07 PM
Among Firefox add-ons, I'm utterly addicted to Sage (which keeps links to rss/atom feeds, tells you when there's new stuff, and shows previews of new posts).  It's a horrific cpu hog with the number of links I have.

Anyone know something osx/linux-friendly I could try instead?

Try Tiny Tiny RSS (https://tt-rss.org/) if you have a server. For macOS, Reeder or Leaf seem to be good apps but they are not free.

I don't have the time or patience to host something myself, so I use an online service. A few you can try: news blur (https://www.newsblur.com/), feedly (https://feedly.com/), the old reader (https://theoldreader.com/), digg reader (https://digg.com/reader).
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: jelv on November 15, 2017, 12:17:55 AM
On Windows 10 I use http://www.feeddemon.com/ (http://www.feeddemon.com/) - no longer supported but is that a problem when I've found no issues with it?
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: Ronski on November 19, 2017, 06:10:57 PM
Had Firefox 56 set not to update, Windows updated today and when I opened Firefox it had updated. Doubt it was anything to do with windows updating, just coincidence, but still not a happy bunny  :no: my Firefox is now just a huge mess, I used Tab Groups, which kept things nice and tidy, now I have god knows how many tabs all jumbled up.
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: Ronski on November 19, 2017, 07:02:00 PM
Normal service resumed, installed Firefox ESR, just one broken Add-on - New Tab Homepage
Title: Re: Firefox V57 and onwards
Post by: MartinGoose on November 19, 2017, 07:12:24 PM
Among Firefox add-ons, I'm utterly addicted to Sage (which keeps links to rss/atom feeds, tells you when there's new stuff, and shows previews of new posts).

.....

Anyone know something osx/linux-friendly I could try instead?

Same here. I have moved my feeds to Thunderbird meantime.