Changes in Firefox 57

Discussion about official Mozilla Firefox builds
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toolong
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by toolong »

Hey Arch.I think the qualifier is - Until the next ESR.
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WaltS48
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by WaltS48 »

cyrix007 wrote:I plan to keep using the pre-Webextensions version of Firefox ESR after the big changeover. Will my PC have a deep security hole if I do this, even though a have virus and malware protection installed?
Yes, when the next ESR comes out and you don't update, you will be vulnerable to security vulnerabilities that won't be fixed in the version you are using.

You can check the 16 critical security vulnerabilities and others that have been fixed in ESR 45, that haven't been fixed in ESR 38 here:

Security Advisories for Firefox ESR — Mozilla
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Frank Lion
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

cyrix007 wrote:I plan to keep using the pre-Webextensions version of Firefox ESR after the big changeover.
Yep, that's fine. The ESR versions hang around for around a year unchanged, but are kept up to date with the most important security updates...until, the next ESR comes along and then they stop.

***

ESR, for those not familiar with this stuff, stands for 'Extended Support Release' and not 'Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate' as I'm sure most of you were thinking. They were intended for business users and were first brought in as an emergency measure after Mozilla brought out their 6 week update cycle. Business told Mozilla that they would all stop using Firefox if that happened, Mozilla told the business community that they didn't need them, then realised that they did and hurriedly brought out the first ESR. Now loads of people use them to get away from that uncertainty every 6 weeks. So, that's what ESR is all about...

***

So, no 'big' decision needed by using the 'pre-Webextensions version of Firefox ESR after the big changeover'. The big decision that is needed is for when that ESR expires after a year, i.e. no longer receives security updates. At that point, you have 4 choices -

#1. Use another browser. Some are better than others.
#2. Use the the current Firefox version (with just its webextension stuff)
#3. Carry on using the ESR version you were using - security-wise, not a great choice.
#4. As above, but with Firefox isolated by using a proper existing 3rd party standalone sandbox program. They protect you from anything adverse in the browser from ever getting out. Business users use this stuff a lot and you guys have a year to learn about it all.

Btw Firefox recently announced (mumbled in a few blogs) that they are going to build a sandbox into Firefox. Given Firefox's record on stuff they've attempted to add in the past, that one should be fun to watch.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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cyrix007
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by cyrix007 »

Thanks for the replies to my previous post! The Firefox future will be... interesting.
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Frank Lion
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

Frank Lion wrote: At that point, you have 4 choices -

#1. Use another browser. Some are better than others.....yadda, yadda
Is it just me that finds it confusing to have two threads going on this stuff? I'm damned if I can remember where I wrote what. Anyway, this was the original thread on this, so ...

I mentioned Mariah Carey on another thread (for a legit reason mind, I wasn't discussing huge mammaries or anything) and it reminded me of an important point I wanted to make - if you want to move to another browser then don't ever, ever, go to a one man band outfit - they are all utter divas!

Point is, as I've mentioned elsewhere, it doesn't matter what you use on phones and tablets because those are so insecure anyway you know someone is going to be tracking all that anyway. But...on the desktop, it's different. There, it's the central part of the PC and the connection to the outside world, including all your secure stuff, passwords, buying stuff, banks, etc so you really do have to get that one right.

My experience with one man band outfits goes back years with Linux distros. At first, it seems great, stuff works and people can talk directly to the developer himself (it's always a he) I didn't used to post, just read the support side, but then something dawns on you ....as time goes on and they get more than a few thousand users, things start to change. Yes, you can talk directly to the developer, but only if you do it in an adoring, fawning way otherwise they totally ignore you, then where do you go? They seem to like newbies as they pose no threat and suck up good, but experienced users get picked on. Then you notice the 'because I say so..' stuff - needed DRM stuff doesn't get added or other bizarre choices. Needed security patches not getting added, because they are 'not needed' wtf? says who? ...says the one single guy running the show, that's who!

Finally, you notice that as things expand that no other developers join the project, seems odd. Then 'word on the street' hits you that the developer is such a diva-like, power mad megalomaniac that no one else wants to work with them, that's why! There's just no 'check and balances' of other people involved to keep the whole thing sane, see?

Anyway, that was back in the early days of Linux, when the stuff was all more complex to learn and use. These days, Linux is far easier to use (easier than M$ stuff really) and many various Linux distros have totally got their act together and they have proper teams working on the stuff and it's all far more responsible these days.

So, all that's in the past? Well, yeah, I thought so and then a couple of years back, someone pointed out the various one man band browsers that were around. I checked them out and guess what I found? :P

They start OK and then go bizarre. Seriously, if you value your sanity and don't fancy grovelling to a total stranger to get basic help, then just don't go there. Your desktop browser is too important a choice to be handled by a clown. ;)
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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Mouse5
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Mouse5 »

wonder if the Mods can just Merge all these type of threads into 1 thread , an maybe sticky it
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Frank Lion
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

-Arch- wrote:wonder if the Mods can just Merge all these type of threads into 1 thread , an maybe sticky it
Merging can get confusing, but +1 for stickying this thread, for sure, I reckon.
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mightyglydd
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by mightyglydd »

+2
#KeepFightingMichael and Alex.
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smsmith
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by smsmith »

Stickied.
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Mouse5
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Mouse5 »

thanks dude
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Frank Lion
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

frg wrote:Might be old but a German website just linked to it:

The Future of Firefox Theming - Engineering Plan

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ueD ... nTJ4FU/pub

Sounds like the chromification continues.
I've moved this here, as I feel it was a bit off-topic where it was.. I'll cover this one properly another time, so this is more of a 'placeholder' post. But, it would seem that those of you who are sticking with Firefox are going to have to learn how to make a theme?

Well, I say 'make a theme' - http://www.hasbro.com/en-us/brands/play ... potatohead

'Endless Possibilities'? Don't look endless to me - http://www.hasbro.com/en-us/product/pla ... C5A5653864

Coming up next time....the recent Oscar awards and how that relates to UI design and theming.......
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Mouse5
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Mouse5 »

if you go into the " Nightly Blog " link in Josa's 1st post of his Nightly Threads, you'll notice Mozilla has changed " Preferences " to look rather much like Chrome's https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1335907

you or i can see whats happenoing? Mozilla wanna win back users its lost to Chrome back to Mozilla by Creating a look-A-like Preferences also

Nightly Blog - https://blog.nightly.mozilla.org/
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Frank Lion
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

Frank Lion wrote:Coming up next time....the recent Oscar awards and how that relates to UI design and theming.......
When you write a theme, it's basically about art (what colours work together, contrast levels, focal points, 'real world' lighting, etc) and 'checks and balances' - you have to bear in mind that the user might be extremely busy or might be colour blind or just not able to see too well...things like that. So,, for example, the active tab will be a different shade/colour from the inactives, but will also be higher and will also be the one that doesn't underline the text when hovered over. If needed, you can also make the tab close button a different colour on the actives.

Odd as it may seem, the least important part of a theme is the coding - that's just there to do the above and also explains why people who can only code (like Firefox devs) always make damn poor themes.

So, to make a good theme - you just use over 1,000 years of previous art knowledge and history, where every single 'trick' has been used many, many times before to overcome every single problem before. Not just visual either, the artists of the past were solving 'functionality' problems as well, when they were deliberately steering the viewer to focus on a certain area or even to evoke a certain emotion from the observer. It's no co-incidence that the best themes have been made by people with an art background.

Don't get me wrong, making a theme ain't exactly like painting the roof of the Sistine Chapel, it's just that it's from that world that the 'rules' come from. :P

So....the Oscars. Seeing as it could be a 100 year old Kirk Douglas reading out the winner for an Oscar or a starstuck accountant giving it to him...what clown thought that red envelopes with gold lettering was a 'good idea'? The text is unreadable from more than a few feet away or has poor eyesight or if you are busy because it just doesn't stand out.

A simple, basic, error that anyone with an art background would have picked up on when these were 'designed'.


Back in 2011 - spot the difference - https://www.fastcodesign.com/1663288/th ... d-makeover
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rebop
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by rebop »

All of the above extensions are ones I have used forever. And there are more, of course. So if this will be the end of the road for Firefox, Waterfox, Cyberfox - already the end for Pale Moon in my opinion - what is next? I would hope this topic could recommend new paths for power users as time goes on.

Have not looked at Maxthon in many years. Has anyone here? Anything else I might wish to try now and the clock counts down?

~Bob
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by makaiguy »

Frank Lion wrote:So....the Oscars. Seeing as it could be a 100 year old Kirk Douglas reading out the winner for an Oscar or a starstuck accountant giving it to him...what clown thought that red envelopes with gold lettering was a 'good idea'? The text is unreadable from more than a few feet away or has poor eyesight or if you are busy because it just doesn't stand out.

A simple, basic, error that anyone with an art background would have picked up on when these were 'designed'.
.. and for the same reasons...

On the card itself, put the category (e.g. BEST PICTURE) in large bold type at the top of the card instead of in thin small italic at the bottom.
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