Firefox 57: an overview of what's new (with resources)

I have what I use everyday, thats not busy (I think). Having the Menu bar is very convenient for me. Everyday I use the Tools>Downloads to open Downloads as a browser tab. I do that function many times a day. I dont like what Firefox has done to modernize Downloads with the icon in the UI or opening Downloads as a separate window. Just like the Bookmarks sidebar, I like the old fashion way of following the process while downloading something.

I don't keep open many tabs. So, using the History>Recently closed tabs is pretty convenient. I use that function also many times a day. I also use the Edit>Find function every day. So, displaying the Menu bar is important for me.

Too busy or crowded UI? to me, is having a bookmark toolbar or having icons that you dont constantly use. But every button you see in my UI, I use every day and get rid of buttons I don't use.

Bo

 

Yes Bo, and as I said, each to their own. No point discussing this any further me thinks.

Enjoy!

 

Does anyone know how to get rid of the >> (More tools) on the right hand side of FF 57? I have no use for that / them.

Thanks.

 

Solved! It was related to an extension I have installed and had pinned to the sidebar.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/zoom-page-we/

 

Does FF 57 still default with separate search box (I have this)?

If one removes it (how?) and uses the address bar for searches, can one still specify different search engines, as one can in the search box? If not, I would want to keep the search box for that option.

 

Hi Paul, if you mean this? Yes, it is available. As soon as you start typing, the rest of search engines appear.


You can make the Start page/New tab completely blank, You see the options on what you can do with the Start page by clicking the button to the right, below the Address bar. The Address bar uses whatever search engine you choose in Options.

Bo

 

57 working fine here without needing a new profile. Still getting used to the new look, but it's definitely better than the old new look, I've always used CTR with Status-4-Evar in the past.
Only thing I'm really missing is an easy way to view downloads progress without having to open a separate tab or window. Download Statusbar and later Download Manager S3 were perfect for that. I haven't found a replacement yet. Does anyone know if it is even possible for addons to achieve something like that now?


NoScript is delayed by a couple of days:

https://hackademix.net/2017/11/14/double-noscript/

 

Actually I meant the search box in the main toolbar.

But your info was very helpful, and I saw you can remove the search box in Options>Search.

 

@paulderdash

You can set it up like this in settings:



You can change search engine while typing:

 

Thanks @Minimalist. Done.

 

Yes good point. Like I said before, the faster engine and much less RAM usage (multi-process) is exciting to me. But without the features that I mentioned it's unusable for me.

 

Yeah, but it can still make sense to clean up the profile if some legacy add-ons had modified about:config or other configuration files in a way that it is no longer compatible and/or slows down FF 57. So it might be a good idea to export the settings of your add-ons in a file (where applicable - this is the case, e.g., for uB0, uMatrix, Cookie Autodelete, ViolentMonkey to name a few), go to about:support, click the Refresh Firefox button (which removes your add-ons and customizations and restores the settings to their defaults), restart FF, re-install your add-ons and import their settings from the files above. This takes only a couple of minutes and makes sure that there are no incompatible/unwanted remnants. (Note that this should no longer be necessary in future versions as add-ons can no longer change such browser settings - this is one advantage of webextensions.)

Hm, but the download button in the toolbar also shows the downloads progress. If it's not there you can right-click the tool bar and drag the download symbol whereever you want.

 

for those who are interested in solutions instead crying rivers:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/

almost any question had come up, you onyl need to read - or search:
https://www.google.de/search?q=searchterm site:forums.mozillazine.org

 

No solution for Download Status Bar add-on for FF 57 found. Is it time to download Google Chrome after 10 years Firefox?

 

I think that button is annoying, is the first thing to go. I like the old fashion way of opening Downloads as a tab.

Bo

 

But it doesn't show remaining time or speed, and if you download multiple files at once you don't see individual progress. Download Statusbar was perfect for this, always the information in view without having to click somewhere.

 

It does for me - but, yes, you have to click the downlaod symbol.

 

Yes, at all costs! This feature is definitely the most significant ever and certainly justifies switching to another browser. Everything else is simply negligible.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist temptation )

 

I will never forget it, time to install Chrome now.

 

https://www.howtogeek.com/333110/ho...-remove-the-white-space-around-the-title-bar/

 

Yes, but that's the problem, not having it in view all the time without clicking. Also even when not downloading anything at the moment, the already downloaded files served as a sort of to-do list for me.

Same here, but I won't be switching to Chrome, still to many cons for me.

 

It's still working with Firefox ESR.

 

To me it's disappointing that they didn't add certain features out of the box. No options to customize tab behavior and no ability to put the tab-bar on bottom, makes it just as bad as Chrome when you think of it. They also didn't bother to make the bookmark manager more user friendly. The good news is that old FF versions still work just fine.

 

Rasheed, I figured out how to put tabs on the bottom in Firefox 57 by using this.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=UserChrome.css

I ll show you how to do it if you want. Take a look at the pictures I posted yesterday, the one I like better so far is the one I am linking below. As of now, I haven't yet installed Firefox 57 in my real system, I am testing it installed in a sandbox, usually Firefox colors, lines, etc, look better when is installed outside the sandbox so all should look refined once I do the update outside the sandbox and then run Firefox sandboxed.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thr...-version-released.361562/page-72#post-2719703

Bo

 

To the more knowledgeable here, two questions about about updating Firefox, and profiles.

1. I had set my 'legacy' profile to 'Never check for updates (not recommended)', but when I updated to FF 57 in another profile, legacy add-ons were removed from the 'legacy' profile. So updating Firefox is across all profiles?

2. If I change about:config settings in one profile, it does not change that setting in another profile. So about:config changes are per profile?