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Firefox Will Try To Show You Saved Archive Of a Page Instead Of 404 Error (ndtv.com)

Posted by msmash on from the less-annoying-web dept.

Firefox has announced a new add-on dubbed No More 404s in its Test Pilot platform which aims to change the way we see 404 links on the web. The add-on, Firefox says, replaces the Error 404 from missing webpages, and replaces them with saved archives from the Wayback Machine. From a report on Gadgets 360: Normally, when presented with a missing link, the browser shows the 404 error. However, Mozilla's No More 404s add-on will give Firefox users the choice to see old Internet snapshots saved in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. This is especially handy for users trying to do research or just digging up some old graves out of curiosity. For now, this add-on is only available in Firefox's experimental Test Pilot platform, with no details on availability for regular Firefox users. Interested users can install the test version here. Apart from this, the Test Pilot platform also introduced improved search results through the Awesome Bar, redesigned the Tabs bar to the side, and even tweaked the history feed.

5 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Addons don't exist I guess. by xession · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This has already been a fixed issue for probably over a decade with addons for Firefox. The addons are why Firefox became so popular in the first place. While its great that they want to include this functionality in the browser, why not just have a list of suggested addons when you install or update? Waste of time on their part...

  2. Time to stop using Firefox? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    That seems like a hilariously bad idea that will be filled with security and PR problems.

  3. Horrible Idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think this is a horrible idea from the website perspective. What if we had to remove several pages/images from the website due to copyright issues? Or maybe the company is listing clients it doesn't represent anymore? Or other information that is no longer valid? They are assuming is a 404 is a mistake but what if it is intentional.

  4. In other news... by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In other news, archive.org becomes inaccessible due to excessive load.

    Seriously, it's slow already. Adding millions of hits on the site isn't going to help.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    1. Re:In other news... by NotInHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Firefox is number 2 on the desktop. http://gs.statcounter.com/

      It never really was in a minority there, but its almost nonexistent in the mobile world, so its combined stats has gotten much lower due to the rise of the mobile platform.