Firefox and DjVu Files

[Vitesse]

I thought I'd put this here, given the disabling of NPAPI plugins, including Caminova's DjVu one. There is a Chrome extension, which allegedly opens DjVu files in the browser, but it's in beta only and hasn't apparently been updated since July 2016. I certainly couldn't get it to work and it only has one and a half stars on PlayStore; there are occasional 5-star reviews, but mostly 1-star (you can't give it none!) The Caminova IE plugin apparently still works - but probably not in Edge!

The solution I've hit upon - not ideal, but seemingly the best option - is to download DjVu Libre from Sourceforge:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/djvu/? ... p_redirect

It no longer installs a plugin into Firefox, so the first time you encounter a DjVu file you will need to tell Firefox what to do with it - click on 'Open in DjView' and tick 'Use this application from now on.' That will both open the file in the external viewer and re-insert the DjVu file option, removed along with the old plugin, in Options>Applications and from there you can then select whether to continue opening in the external viewer, ask every time or save.

WinDjView and MacDjView are also still available and would - I guess - work in the same way, but the Windows version hasn't apparently been updated in over two years. The date on the Mac version is 2006!

https://sourceforge.net/projects/windjview/files/

Sumatra PDF will also open DjVu files, but I don't have it installed on this machine as I use another PDF reader. So a similar sequence to the above may work.

[therube]

Isn't this going to be the same basic sequence for any (what would have been) "Plugin" in the past?
IOW, use the external "reader" to open what used to be opened internally with the embedded "reader".

Only difference here, is that (presumably) "Caminova" is a "Plugin" designed specifically for FF, so "back-end" outside of FF, so in this case you need to find a new back-end, for which DjVu Libre suits the purpose.

[Vitesse]

Indeed. But there are going to be lots of people out there who - like me - have been using the plugin for years and are used to having DjVu files opening seamlessly in Firefox; it's used extensively in academic circles and for scanned newspaper files, especially in Eastern and Central Europe. It's the default reader for - for example - the Czech National Library, Warsaw University Library and many more.

Caminova/Cuminas's website no longer gives any option for how to use Firefox for DjVu and just points people towards IE or the Chrome extension. I'm not sure the Windows plugin even works with W10 - according to the download page it only goes up to 8.1.

So all I'm trying to do here is put down a marker for people who google for Firefox + DjVu and give them a solution ...

[DIEL]

I have the very same problem.
It is blinking, it is unusable...

I was able to "update" the plugin, but it didn't helped with the problem.
External viewr is really far from ideal solution, for I need to work with digitalised newspapers.
I need to brows individual pages and issues... this was made in the web interface, while DjVu plugin showed the actuall page.

It all started, when I upgraded my Firefox from 37 (I still mourn the loss of well behaved browser) and installed 48.
It went downhill since then... and it is less than 24 hours.

I need to work with digitalised newspapers on a daily basis and now I have nothing to work with.

[DIEL]

By the way... it didn't helped me.
Firefox didn't offer me anything like "open with" it is still trying to open it by itself and it fails to do so.

[Vitesse]

As the NPAPI plugin is no longer supported by either Firefox or Cuminas I suspect any 'update' you found broke it. Have a look in Options>Applications. You'll probably find that it still points to the plugin; you can change it manually to use the external viewer.

Like you, I find it annoying to have to use an external viewer, but there doesn't seem to be any alternative. And in the long run, I suspect it may die as a format, killed off by PDF. But none of the browser makers appear to want to incorporate it in their PDF viewers.

[Vitesse]

A further thought. Using Firefox 48 - or even Firefox 52 ESR - you should be able to install the Sumatra PDF plugin, which ought to be able to open DjVu files within the browser.

However, if you have another PDF reader installed on the system that might cause other problems. Adobe - especially - doesn't play well with other PDF readers. You'd certainly be well-advised to remove any other PDF plugins from Firefox before attempting to install Sumatra - from previous experience with it I know that it will keep making itself the default PDF reader in Firefox every time you start the browser.