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Firefox Quantum Arrives With Faster Browser Engine, Major Visual Overhaul (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the browser-updates dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla today launched Firefox 57, branded Firefox Quantum, for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. The new version, which Mozilla calls "by far the biggest update since Firefox 1.0 in 2004," brings massive performance improvements and a visual redesign. The Quantum name signals Firefox 57 is a huge release that incorporates the company's next-generation browser engine (Project Quantum). The goal is to make Firefox the fastest and smoothest browser for PCs and mobile devices -- the company has previously promised that users can expect "some big jumps in capability and performance" through the end of the year. Indeed, three of the four past releases (Firefox 53, Firefox 54, and Firefox 55) included Quantum improvements. But those were just the tip of the iceberg. Additionally, Firefox now exclusively supports extensions built using the WebExtension API, and unsupported legacy extensions will no longer work, the company said.

13 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. Weird Gaps? by Luthair · · Score: 5, Informative

    Anyone else seeing large gaps to the left of the address bar and to the right of the search bar?

    Also, the new tabs look a lot uglier...

    1. Re:Weird Gaps? by pr0nbot · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you right click the gap and click Customize, it seems these gaps are "flexible space" and can be removed.

    2. Re: Weird Gaps? by brickhouse98 · · Score: 5, Informative

      The gaps can be taken out. Click the double arrows >> and click customize toolbar. Then just drag and drop to the middle to remove them.

    3. Re: Weird Gaps? by theweatherelectric · · Score: 5, Informative

      but the tab coloring SUCKS

      You can pick a different theme in the Customize settings. Firefox ships with three themes (Default, Light, and Dark). I use the Light theme.

    4. Re: Weird Gaps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      You can also right click on the gap and "remove from toolbar".

    5. Re: Weird Gaps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, Firefox includes and continues to uplift privacy features from the Tor browser. This includes anti-fingerprinting measures. Turn on privacy.resistFingerprinting in about:config.

      This breaks many sites, including Mozilla add-ons (since it doesn't know you're using Firefox 57).

  2. I'm getting a Firefox boner by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    Just sayin'.

  3. Re:It's quantized so it's not continuous anymore by arth1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Quantum is the smallest possible increment. Always remember that when someone tells you it's a quantum leap in performance.

    True and false. The astonishing property of a quantum leap isn't the distance, but that it goes from one state to another without anything in-between.
    That's obviously not what happens with Firefox, though. There wasn't a single commit without any betas, even though it feels like it...

  4. Re:It's NO GO since noscript is DOA by theweatherelectric · · Score: 3, Informative

    NoScript for Firefox 57 will be released today. Just wait a while.

  5. Re:It's quantized so it's not continuous anymore by jfdavis668 · · Score: 5, Informative

    A Quantum is a single unit. A leap is an action. So a quantum leap is an action taken by a quantum, and has no limit on distance, just probability.

  6. Firefox tracking protection by MobyDisk · · Score: 4, Informative

    This isn't a Firefox 57 feature, but for all FireFox users I recommend Options - Tracking Protection - Change Block List - Disconnect.me strict protection. The strict protection is arguably bettern than an ad blocker, since it leaves unintrusive ads that support a site but blocks the garbage ones. I don't mind if a site is financed with ads, because server time isn't free.

    On Slashdot, the ads at the top that tried to stick themselves over the article, that intermittently tried to inject malware and redirect you to other pages, and that showed me whatever I last looked at on Amazon -- those are gone. Instead, I just see the "Slashdot Top Deals" on the right side and bottom. Those aren't so bad, and if they pay the bills then great.

    Until I selected this option, I was browsing in private windows 75% of the time. Now I can go back to normal browsing, which is a slight convenience. If enough people do this, maybe the ad companies will start to figure out that injecting malware is less profitable than an unobtrusive ad.

  7. Pros and Cons by dskoll · · Score: 2, Informative

    Pros:

    • It really does seem a hell of a lot faster than Firefox 56.

    Cons:

    • As others have mentioned, the GUI changes are shit. Thanks to those who told how to remove the blank spaces before the URL bar and after the search bar, but the rest of the changes are horrible.
    • There's currently no viable replacement for the It's All Text plugin that lets you edit textareas in an external editor. That really cramps my style.
    • The rendered content seems a bit squashed compared to FF56.
  8. Re:Extensions, though :-( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you were using recent version before upgrade, then no.