Firefox no more ... - by zombe
zombe on 26/8/2017 at 12:52
Updated FF today - and the search function broke (ctrl-F does nothing and the menu option for it is also grayed out). Somehow something inexplicably conflicts with it.
Still searching for what is causing it, however - a few observations:
* Using FF safe mode to check if search works (it does) i was horrified what the "default" firefox experience is like. There are no words to describe all of the horror. Let's just say that after googling for half-a hour i had to admit that i can not see/find any legitimate way to close Firefox besides killing it via task manager (trying to just close the window spawns the "close tabs yes/no prompt" which cancels closing the window if i say "no, of course not you imbecile" ... seriously, wtf!?).
* There are a lot of "Legacy" tags in extension list ... ALL of them to be exact (except "Token signing"). What the f* is this shit now ...
So, it appears that all extensions with "Legacy" will be obliterated by the end of this year (short story). Well, never mind being able to search, that looming nuclear winter is a bit more worrying :/
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I shudder to think of using other browsers, last time i tried Chrome i ran away screaming a few moments later. What else is there?
Ok, calm down, let's see what i have and what hope there is ...
Essential extensions (ie, stuff without which using FF as a browser is impossible):
* Classic Theme Restorer : no hope - porting not possible
* uBlock Origin : optimistic - it is in works
* Web Developer : unknown - not sure how it compares to Firebug which will be integrated
* Firefox PKCS11 loader : unknown - probably will be sorted out (it is for authenticating/authorizing with ID card), but requires Mozilla making it possible first
* Greasemonkey : optimistic - it seems to be worked on
* Flashblock : optimistic - if not ported then some alternative is likely to be developed
Must have extensions (ie, stuff that would make me insane after a few moments without, but technically FF would be usable as a browser till then.)
* Switch to Tab no more : unknown - probably not possible
* Menu Wizard : --||--
* New Tabs at the End : --||--
* DownThemAll : no hope - porting not possible
Low priority must have extensions
* NextVid Stopper for Youtube : optimistic - should be portable if the author is willing
* Youtube MP3 podcaster : cautious - it should be portable, except ... could lose functionality
* Download Youtube Videos as MP4 : --||--
* Youtube Zero Annotations : optimistic - Google is pretty good at malware creation, it is an ongoing fight. Ie. i already have to use user-css and other tricks to fight the stuff that gets past. Losing the extension, while inconvenient, i can expect to be able to work around. Also, pretty sure porting is possible.
Quality of life extensions:
* Add Bookmark Here : unknown - probably not possible
* New Tab Tools : unknown - probably not possible, maybe some time later
* Screengrab : no hope - it is dead Jim
The rest - not important enough to mention.
Well ... fuck ... back to panic i guess. Right after i find what is wrong with the search function.
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Anyone else worried about Firefox going to complete shit way faster than expected? Granted, Firefox IS shit - with all its malware-grade enhancements and constant degradation of existing features with every release - i did not expect there to be a time-plan for it to go belly-up in such a short time. Well, there is still time, but so far it seems to be shorter time than extensions and about:config can cope.
PS. i actually agree with Mozilla about the necessity of the underlying changes - the problem is with the unnecessary lockout policies enforced with it and ... well ... evidently time as none of the extensions i need are ready for it or just plain cannot ever be without amendments from Mozilla.
edit:
PS2: the offending extension was "Menu Wizard" - balls. All the menus are filled with utter shit interleaved with a few useful commands in wrong order. x_x
edit2:
Nevermind - it now just takes a little longer for the search function to stop working.
edit3:
Disabling Greasemonkey also seemed to help. So, re-enabled "Menu Wizard" (Yay!) AND "Greasemonkey" and cleaned up the userscripts in hope that userscripts can fuck with FF itself and were the cause. I was right.
Search works again - BUT breaks the moment i visit a page that needs Greasemonkey injections (ex: google for injecting the "nfpr" demoronizer hidden input field).
This sucks monkeyballs.
edit4:
Call it placebo effect or whatever, but finding out what is causing the problem has turned out more difficult than expected. Leaving the previous edits for my own amusement.
Current state: the sole cause seems to be "New Tab Tools", which explains why the other two seemed to be the culprits. "New Tab Tools" gets invoked depending on my extension set biased test pattern - who knew: strong correlation does not mean there is a causal link.
Nameless Voice on 26/8/2017 at 17:41
Only just heard about that now? It's been on the horizon for a long time, about two years I think?
It's kind of sad. Firefox had finally become the most popular browser, then suddenly Chrome appeared, and somehow Google managed to trick all the dumb users into using it instead, since it's easier to use (aka has far fewer features.)
Then, Mozilla (and also, Opera Software, but that's another story) looked at the popularity of Chrome and decided that clearly the reason people weren't using Firefox (and Opera) as much was because it was too complex, and that making it a poor Chrome clone would surely be the best way to keep their existing user base.
Either way, Firefox is open source. That means that when they finally break it, we can all just move to a different port. I believe Pale Moon is the most popular one, and is well-regarded, so I'll probably switch to that when Firefox stops being usable.
I hadn't actually noticed that they've added little LEGACY icons to all of the extensions before - yup, most of mine have it too.
I can't imagine using Firefox without my stack of "essential extensions", or why anyone would want to use Firefox anymore if it ceases to be truly customisable.
It's kind of funny that the main feature they advertise about the new framework is that each tab will run its own separate process, so that if one tab crashes, it won't bring the browser down with it. As if anyone cares about that over actually having a customisable browser.
(I know, it's also about security, but I seem to recall the tab-crash thing being something that they used to try to sell people on the change when it was first announced - I may be wrong.)
zombe on 26/8/2017 at 18:29
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
Only just heard about that now? It's been on the horizon for a long time, about two years I think?
Yeah, ~2Y sounds about right, noticed that when googling. Apparently never paid any attention to murmurs about FF future till now. Hard to not notice the Legacy "wallpaper" tho x_x.
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
Either way, Firefox is open source. That means that when they finally break it, we can all just move to a different port. I believe Pale Moon is the most popular one, and is well-regarded, so I'll probably switch to that when Firefox stops being usable.
Noticed PM being recommended too in response to similar griefs. Have not investigated further, but when the time comes and there still is a nuclear winter in regards to essential extensions - might have to try it out.
Azaran on 26/8/2017 at 23:50
I love everything about Firefox except how slow it has become. I'm forced to use Chrome for a lot more and more because of that
Nameless Voice on 27/8/2017 at 00:41
I have never understood the people who say Firefox is slow.
How is it slow? The only thing that takes a while is starting it up when it's not running?
Azaran on 27/8/2017 at 05:04
Loading pages, scrolling through them, sometimes there's even a delay when opening a new tab
Sulphur on 27/8/2017 at 06:00
Doesn't do that for me, plus it uses less RAM than Chrome. Check your extensions, I suppose.
Harvester on 27/8/2017 at 11:54
Yeah I mean I have an ancient Core2Duo 2.4 GHz with just 4GB of RAM and Firefox is plenty fast for me. With 4GB of RAM I'm better off staying with Firefox than going with the memory hog that is Chrome.
dj_ivocha on 27/8/2017 at 15:45
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
It's kind of funny that the main feature they advertise about the new framework is that each tab will run its own separate process, so that if one tab crashes, it won't bring the browser down with it.
While I absolutely agree on the rest, separate process per tab is THE feature I've wished for since Firefox 2.0. If only they'd added that to say FF4 and then kept their filthy paws off the UI and other security irrelevant stuff... :mad:
Nameless Voice on 27/8/2017 at 18:22
But at the cost of all existing extensions and limiting the power of future ones?