Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Discussion of general topics about Mozilla Firefox
GridLox
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Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by GridLox »

This is a gentle rant, a soft tirade against the loss of what was a great public benefit … Firefox/Mozilla.

I started using Firefox because I had found Apple/Mac's inbuilt browser, Safari, to be clunky in the extreme and its proprietors singularly unresponsive - not just to me, but quite evidently, to the plethora of people who had similar beefs about Safari. Besides, I liked the name "Firefox". Firefox wasn't perfect - I've never found anything that is - but it was flexible, stable and easily configured to my idiosyncracies … a pretty good combination. Of course everynow and then something went wrong, but it was easy to get onto the Mozilla people, they were responsive, and problems got fixed pretty quickly. No more! Finally, in the manner of the-straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back, I've had enough. Sometime, not that long ago Mozilla (presumably) made changes which included changing the page that was presented when one opened a second or more Tabs. No longer did the Start Page/Home Page (or whatever it is called) appear. Instead, a completely new layout appeared - not so difficult to learn to use … but why?! Why change? And, if change, why not tell users 'why' … and preferably give them a chance to retain their old layout? Still, thinking I would encounter the old, helpful and easily approached Mozilla I asked for help. Trouble is, all the solutions offered did not correspond to what I found on my screen when I went looking. Of course, I could take the suggested route or installing a suggested 'extension' (I hope that's the correct term) that would, it is suggested, remedy the situation. But I'm not going to. I've down this path before. First one introduces another piece of code to an already unresponsive set-up, then finds that it doesn't work as suggested - much the same as the recommended "about:config" route I have already attempted. What then? Hours spent writing and responding to well-meaning, would be rescuers … only to find it really is a take-it or leave-it situation … accept the unwanted changes that one has railed against, OR go somewhere else. To which browser shall I turn? Even if I find one that works for me, going on experience to date, it wont last.

And so adieu. Off into the mucky morass of online searching and communication where, as in much of human life, people have not learnt to leave well-enough alone, nor to ask users what they want, before imposing that which is thought to be good upon them. Actually, Safari, with its failure to provide the elementary capacity to automatically sort bookmarks doesn't seem so bad. And at least, local Government software has finally learnt to play nicely with Safari … most of the time.
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malliz
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by malliz »

Whatever
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c627627
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by c627627 »

It's too early to give up on Firefox. We still have (at least) 9 months to go.
If a newer version of Firefox broke your setup and you don't want to tinker with it, then install Firefox ESR:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/o ... ish%20(US)
which is Fx52 with no new features which break your setup, but with security updates going until middle of 2018.
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LIMPET235
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by LIMPET235 »

As this does not require any kind of support, it's being moved to Firefox General.
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Brummelchen
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by Brummelchen »

why cant people go silent off the stage? the forum is full with requests and issues - but the millions where firefox is proper functional are not present.
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Reflective
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by Reflective »

c627627 wrote:It's too early to give up on Firefox. We still have (at least) 9 months to go.
If a newer version of Firefox broke your setup and you don't want to tinker with it, then install Firefox ESR:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/o ... ish%20(US)
which is Fx52 with no new features which break your setup, but with security updates going until middle of 2018.
The OP can't downgrade to ESR because he's already installed FF55: https://www.ghacks.net/2017/08/02/you-c ... -profiles/
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Frank Lion
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by Frank Lion »

Reflective wrote:The OP can't downgrade to ESR because he's already installed FF55: https://www.ghacks.net/2017/08/02/you-c ... -profiles/
Bunch of drama queens.

Of course the OP can downgrade - http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p14765039
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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allande
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by allande »

Webextensions extensions can be installed without a reboot and can be enabled or disabled with a few clicks. It sounds like the main complaint you are currently coming forward with is that the new tab page is not showing what you want it to. This extension, compatible with webextensions so it should work for a long time https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... src=search says it will let you customize the new tab page and set it to be a page of your choice. No restart is needed and if it gives you any problem you can click disable to stop it.
Fearing extensions may have made sense in the old days when they were powerful and could conflict with each other, but the new webextensions are unlikely to give those problems.
Angelpie
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by Angelpie »

I'm not a drama queen, and I've been with FF since v.1.0, before some of your youngsters had even heard of the internet. I went through the HORRENDOUS v.5 (stayed on v.4 for MONTHS), and every up and down since, but ever since v.53, I've had so many problems, I've just stopped using it for most things.

Some of the problems I've had in the last week:

1) Freezes my computer entirely for no good reason and I have to do a push-button hard-shutdown (not good for my machine) to get access back
2) Can't close it with the X button, and when I try, it goes into an endless loop and freezes the machine.
3) Pages load blank, and I have to reload to see them.
4) Freezes during streaming videos, and I have to reload the video and wait for it to re-buffer before I can finish watching it
5) Add-ons that aren't even deprecated yet don't work properly
6) Can't sign in to some websites, and some won't even render at all - had to go to Chrome to check my local county hurricane preparedness site and to check the balance at my bank

That's all I can remember so far in the last three days. Many of these have been ongoing. I've done everything EXCEPT refresh and reinstall, which I refuse to do, because I've done it too many times in the past. I shouldn't have to go to those extremes to get a browser to work properly.

And I'm sick to death of having my problems blamed on everything but the fact that this is now a crappy browser; no -- it's my profile, or I'm doing something wrong. I'm NOT. Like I said, I've been using this browser since v.1.0, so I know how to work it.

So now I'm using Chrome and having no problems doing the exact same things that FF will no longer do. So sad. I miss only having one browser, but such is life.
Vitesse
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by Vitesse »

And in your other thread you have mentioned using CCleaner, which doesn't play well with Firefox - as many users have found to their cost.
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c627627
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by c627627 »

Angelpie wrote:...ever since v.53, I've had so many problems.
You have a quick and perfect solution option in using Firefox 52 ESR for 9 more months at least. It will be continuously updated with security updates until mid 2018 and all your problems introduced with v53 would be gone. So if your goal is a functionality fix, it is easily achievable.
If the goal is to point out problems with extensions breaking, yes we know, most will break in Fx57 anyway, but that's no reason to give up on Firefox just yet because of still stable Firefox 52 ESR.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by DanRaisch »

And I'm sick to death of having my problems blamed on everything but the fact that this is now a crappy browser; no -- it's my profile, or I'm doing something wrong. I'm NOT. Like I said, I've been using this browser since v.1.0, so I know how to work it.
And yet you haven't mentioned anything that suggests that you've done anything to try to resolve the issues you are reporting. Did you try Mozilla Safe Mode? Did you try a new profile. Have you confirmed that every extension you have installed has been updated to the latest version and that that version has been released by the author within the past couple of months?
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Frank Lion
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by Frank Lion »

Angelpie wrote:I'm not a drama queen
Who said you were, unless you work at gHacks? The clue was in the quote.
Angelpie wrote:That's all I can remember so far in the last three days. Many of these have been ongoing. I've done everything EXCEPT refresh and reinstall, which I refuse to do, because I've done it too many times in the past. I shouldn't have to go to those extremes to get a browser to work properly.

And I'm sick to death of having my problems blamed on everything but the fact that this is now a crappy browser; no -- it's my profile, or I'm doing something wrong. I'm NOT. Like I said, I've been using this browser since v.1.0, so I know how to work it. .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s62MrU8mHx4
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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mightyglydd
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by mightyglydd »

Just send them over to sumo.....
#KeepFightingMichael and Alex.
TheVisitor
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Re: Giving Up On Firefox/Mozilla

Post by TheVisitor »

mightyglydd wrote:Just send them over to sumo.....
Or send them all to :locked: there are going to be hundreds of such posts in the not to far distant future.
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