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Firefox 62 Arrives With Variable Fonts, Automatic Dark Theme on macOS, and Better Scrolling on Android (venturebeat.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla today released Firefox 62 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. The release builds on Firefox Quantum, which the company calls "by far the biggest update since Firefox 1.0 in 2004." Version 62 brings variable fonts, automatic dark theme on macOS, and better scrolling on Android. Firefox 62 for the desktop is available for download now on Firefox.com, and all existing users should be able to upgrade to it automatically. As always, the Android version is trickling out slowly on Google Play. The latest iOS version is available on Apple's App Store.

114 comments

  1. Any reason to upgrade, too? by Opportunist · · Score: 0

    Or just bling and bullshit?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. Variable fonts? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    I'm going to post a stupid question and then go read what it is, so here it goes:

    Haven't browsers had variable fonts since the introduction of CSS?

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re: Variable fonts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Variable fonts are like TTF or OTF fonts where you can package all of the different styles in one font to load.

      Previously this was not possible and required packaging each font into separate files. For example, if you wanted the bold/italic variants of a font, you would need to load them all separately.

      This is actually a noteworthy performance improvement for web designers if they start utilizing it. I'm not certain if other browsers even support this yet.

    2. Re:Variable fonts? by tender-matser · · Score: 2

      Haven't browsers had variable fonts since the introduction of CSS?

      No, and they still haven't. What they call variable fonts is just a packaging hack -- more than one typeface in the same file.

      What I expected was the implementation of an algorithm that will stretch the letters instead of "justifying" (filling up with spaces). That was done in western typography since Gutenberg.

      Something like kashida in Arabic, but less dramatic. I know that this kind of microtypography was supported in LaTeX since at least a decade. Is stuff like this supported in CSS? Will it ever be?

    3. Re:Variable fonts? by rudy_wayne · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm going to post a stupid question and then go read what it is, so here it goes:

      Haven't browsers had variable fonts since the introduction of CSS?

      This is something different:

      Variable fonts are an extension to the OpenType specification, which allows a single font file to store a continuous range of design variants.

    4. Re:Variable fonts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What I'd like is something the refuses to download fonts and displays every single piece of text in a font I choose.

      Web designers are idiots who think they're developing for digital TV. Their use of fonts is almost wholly retarded.

    5. Re:Variable fonts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Feel free to edit the CSS with something like Stylus to force your chosen font then

    6. Re:Variable fonts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you cite an example of what you're talking about that's not Arabic? I'm not familiar with it, so not sure how it'd translate to English/Latin characters.

    7. Re:Variable fonts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't that what CSS is for?

    8. Re: Variable fonts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Previously this was not possible and required packaging each font into separate files.

      I think you're mistaken. Variable fonts, e.g. TTCs and Suitcases in TrueType, have been commonly available even before Windows 2000 was a thing. Well done, Mozilla, for implementing 20+ year old technology!

      If, on the other hand, you're referring to the retarded OpenType technology from Microsoft, that's had variable font support since 2016.

    9. Re:Variable fonts? by roca · · Score: 1

      You're flat-out wrong about this. CSS Variable Fonts is *not* about packaging multiple typefaces in the same file. There is a single typeface in the file, with one or more continuously variable "axes" (e.g. "weight" or "width", but you can define other axes like "serif-ness") to control the shape of the glyphs. You should have read the page you linked to.

      Horizontally stretching glyphs to justify lines sounds like a good feature but it would have to be a CSS feature in its own right, because the browser would have to apply different stretching per line.

    10. Re: Variable fonts? by roca · · Score: 1

      Chrome and Safari already support Variable Fonts.

    11. Re:Variable fonts? by ls671 · · Score: 1

      Here is an example:
      E n g l i s h / L a t i n

      Do you get it now?

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    12. Re: Variable fonts? by Waccoon · · Score: 1

      So it basically makes the font downloads larger?

      Seriously, I'm getting sick of these web apps with 2MB of fonts that aren't even used.

  3. Re:I want to like Firefox...but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would have been nice if you had listed any of the various reasons. Is there something Chrome does better?

  4. Re:I want to like Firefox...but... by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    But... I still find myself opening Chrome pretty often for various reasons.

    Yeah, me too, but all those reasons end in google.com, or they are the result of some noobs using it as an interface for something that shouldn't use it as an interface, like for programming drones or something.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  5. Re:New bells and widgets! by Merk42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Variable fonts is improved functionality. It's a Web Standard that Firefox now supports. You know, the whole point of web browser?

  6. Re: I want to like Firefox...but... by DalM · · Score: 2

    Mostly various websites. Particularly government websites (I use their websites constantly.) I really don't know why. For example, the city of Dallas Procurement website doesn't work at all in Firefox. Neither does the Texas Water Development Boards website. I have to use Chrome or IE.

  7. Re:New bells and widgets! by Carcass666 · · Score: 1
  8. Re:I want to like Firefox...but... by tepples · · Score: 1

    some noobs using [the web] as an interface for something that shouldn't use it as an interface

    What's better?

    A. Using the web as an interface for something
    B. Using a Windows 10 license in a virtual machine as an interface for something
    C. Another binary portability mechanism that your reply explains
    D. Not having access to something at all if your device happens to run GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, or macOS

  9. Re:I want to like Firefox...but... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Chrome has a more Metroid-morph-ball-looking logo.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  10. Re:I want to like Firefox...but... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    What's better?

    A cross-platform application. Use Tcl/Tk if you have to, or even python. That's cross-platform. But don't use a web browser to do a simple job. That's unnecessary bloat. Having to load Chrome on a netbook just to twiddle some settings on a drone is dumb.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  11. Agreed. Firefox is getting pretty hard to use by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 0

    I really want to like Firefox. I do. I use it as my primary browser right now.

    But... I still find myself opening Chrome pretty often for various reasons.

    I like to start my computer and go start the coffee, to come back to a system with all my pages reloaded.

    Firefox (of the time) absolutely doesn't want to reload pages if it can help it. It would rather wait until the user clicks on a tab and then make them wait for the page load, and/or thinks that yesterday's cache of Slashdot, or the weather report, or Google news is what you really wanted.

    This can be fixed, but only after a couple of hours of searching and trying out the various combinations of three obscure "about: config" parameters. (The param: browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand should be set to... true or false?)

    Firefox then started with the "Firefox wasn't shut down properly, would you like to restore your pages" thing every time I shut down my computer without closing Firefox first. (Why can't Firefox just ignore this? Why isn't there a checkbox "never ask again" on that page?)

    So I made a script that triggers at system boot that automatically finds and presses that button after Firefox has loaded. This is not a trivial task, due to timing and lack of general transparency on X-windows systems, and has taken me tens of hours and much fiddling to get right. It involved various combinations of xtoolwait, wmctrl, and xdotool.

    All well and good, until the last update...

    And now Firefox starts at system boot, my program presses the "reload button", and... firefox starts and automatically "minimizes" to a tiny screen on the display. I have to manually grab the firefox window, move it, then click the "maximize" window to get a full screen again.

    (And note "xdotool windowsize $WindowID 100% 100%" has no effect, and I don't know why because I've only spent about 1/2 an hour trying to figure it out the next problem. Probably a timing issue or something.)

    At this point the cumulative aggravation of using Firefox is becoming too much to handle, I'd rather not have to spend three or four hours *every update* trying to figure out how to get it to do simple things, and I really *really* liked some of the previous add-ons.

    1. Re:Agreed. Firefox is getting pretty hard to use by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Open about:config in the Firefox location bar
      Type browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash in the filter box, or search for it manually iny
      Double click

              browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash

      It should change from

              browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash default boolean true

                                      to

              browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash user_set boolean false

    2. Re:Agreed. Firefox is getting pretty hard to use by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I like how the grandparent poster demonstrated clearly total comfortability not merely with Firefox's about:config page, but various other lower-level tools and the scripting necessary to glue them together, and you felt compelled to explain what double clicking will do.

  12. Re:New bells and widgets! by rudy_wayne · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Variable fonts is improved functionality. It's a Web Standard that Firefox now supports. You know, the whole point of web browser?

    Now if they would just remove all the useless garbage that *IS NOT* the point of a web browser.

  13. Performance improvement my butt by grungeman · · Score: 2

    Fonts have ceased to be a bottle neck about a twenty years ago.

    Mozilla needs more work on rendering performance. Rendering SVGs is slower than on Internet Explorer 11 in many cases, and in general about four times slower than on Chrome. In one extreme test case it is even about ten times slower than Chrome ( https://testdrive-archive.azur... ), but luckily that is not a typical example.

    The problem with fixing this is that it is really hard work and this kind of work is not really valued. And that is where Open Source does not work too well. Why should people work their ass off if work is not really recognized? At Google engineers are at least paid well, so it's much easier to find people who are willing to do the hard work. Just look at the team size for Google's Slimming Paint project: https://www.chromium.org/blink...

    Yeah, sorry, but variable fonts won't win you too many users I suspect.

    --

    Signature deleted by lameness filter.
    1. Re:Performance improvement my butt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Downloading one file vs downloading three files is a network performance improvement.
      I think it should be good for high latency users.
      High latency means, even if downloading a couple megabyte would not be a big deal, requests add up. Websites often don't give a shit.

  14. Re:This makes ANY browser faster & safer by clockley(571021718) · · Score: 1

    I just tried your software for Linux, it does nothing that cannot be done with a few shell scripts. If you went through the trouble GUI make the most of the interface, provide documentation and make it intuitive. Perhaps the most common use case could be turned into a wizard and the documentation should be rewritten in clear non preachy-ranty prose.

  15. I just updated to it and... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's like my add-ons just disappeared.

  16. Re:New bells and widgets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The new phonebooks are here! The new phonebooks are here!"

  17. Still looking for some things on my wishlist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Consistent new tab navigation behavior on the desktop, and the ability to override CSS / ignore tags without extensive addon configuration.

  18. Re:New bells and widgets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know some of you numpties will criticize Mozilla no matter what they do, but you're just getting silly now. I just tested your claim, and in every case I still get a big green "Download Firefox" button, right there on the front page. You're either making this shit up, or you've fucked up your browser somehow, but there's nothing wrong with Mozilla's website.

  19. You Should Have Upgraded Long Ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Upgrade to Palemoon on your PC and to Brave on your Android devices.

    1. Re:You Should Have Upgraded Long Ago by DarkRookie · · Score: 2

      I suggest Waterfox.
      There is both a PC and Android variant.

      --
      The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
    2. Re:You Should Have Upgraded Long Ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can go that way too.

      I like the Linux version of Waterfox. I still prefer Brave on Android.

    3. Re:You Should Have Upgraded Long Ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Waterfox is a weekend hobby pseudo-fork, nowhere as serious as Pale Moon and the UXP effort, which besides Basilisk and PM28 now includes Iceweasel-UXP, Icedove-UXP and Ambassador, an upcoming IRC client forked and modernized from ChatZilla.

    4. Re:You Should Have Upgraded Long Ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe it's just me, but I just want a simple browser without spyware analytics UXP nonsense.

    5. Re:You Should Have Upgraded Long Ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Telemetry is disabled in UXP, and it's been cautiously removed from the codebase so it doesn't burst everything.

      https://github.com/MoonchildProductions/UXP/commit/5f5523bffd09c2caa5de5a08758db9574cb5978b
      https://github.com/MoonchildProductions/UXP/commit/f030cc6c05c32bcb6ad4ff2615fba84f4274e75e
      https://github.com/MoonchildProductions/UXP/commit/8c1d34e31664e34e53f7b75bafe96cbf86cdc23e
      https://github.com/MoonchildProductions/UXP/commit/134fdc7ec46c242baf924db8e3fea9f360d21e73
      https://github.com/MoonchildProductions/UXP/commit/ab961aeb54335fd07c66de2e3b8c3b6af6f89ea2
      https://github.com/MoonchildProductions/UXP/commit/b28ab55f9675f2e97dda9a4fcac0d4f5267a2bb9

  20. Re:New bells and widgets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If everyone here is so super smart and knows the one true way to do things, I wonder why there aren't many (any?) websites built that way.


    Makes you think.

  21. Annual fee for web app can be smaller by tepples · · Score: 1

    A cross-platform application. Use Tcl/Tk if you have to, or even python. That's cross-platform.

    Which would require tech support to walk users through installing Tcl/Tk or Python with Tkinter. A developer can assume that one of the big four web browsers is already installed, unlike Tcl/Tk or Python with Tkinter. Nor would Apple's App Store Review Guidelines allow publishing a generic Tcl/Tk or Python with Tkinter interpreter for purposes other than learning to program. The developer would have to buy an iOS Developer Program subscription and an Xcode license separately and package the interpreter with the application.

    1. Re:Annual fee for web app can be smaller by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Which would require tech support to walk users through installing Tcl/Tk or Python with Tkinter.

      Or you can just bundle them.

      Nor would Apple's App Store Review Guidelines allow publishing a generic Tcl/Tk or Python with Tkinter interpreter for purposes other than learning to program.

      Yes, it's well-known that the Macintosh platform is not suitable for general computing.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Annual fee for web app can be smaller by tepples · · Score: 1

      Which would require tech support to walk users through installing Tcl/Tk or Python with Tkinter.

      Or you can just bundle them.

      As I understand it, the developer then has to build, test, and offer five bundles of interpreter and application, one for each operating system. In addition, Windows SmartScreen and macOS Gatekeeper default to recommending that the user delete an executable rather than running it, unless the developer has paid the annual Danegeld to the Authenticode EV CA racket (in the case of Windows) or Apple's in-house CA (in the case of macOS). Is this true, and if so, how is it not a burden on smaller developers? What am I missing?

      Nor would Apple's App Store Review Guidelines allow publishing a generic Tcl/Tk or Python with Tkinter interpreter for purposes other than learning to program. The developer would have to buy an iOS Developer Program subscription

      Yes, it's well-known that the Macintosh platform is not suitable for general computing.

      How could I have made it clearer that I was referring to an application for iOS as opposed to an application for macOS?

    3. Re:Annual fee for web app can be smaller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tcl/Tk was good for closs platform, I have to say I only used just one app : aMSN, cross-platform MSN client with some stability bugs but which was very good. Worked on Windows, Linux and Solaris without doing a thing. The interpreter is very small about a megabyte or less.

      Now, for simple settings a web interface that doesn't use any javascript might work. We had goddamn webmail on web 1.0. Then router web interfaces, then CUPS.

      That's unnecessary bloat. Having to load Chrome on a netbook just to twiddle some settings on a drone is dumb.

      But a netbook is a powerful PC that can deal with one tab of Chrome. Good thing they have SSE2, you're really fucked if you don't have it.
      Brave browser is good if you feel raped just by running Chrome, albeit I don't think it will save you any memory.

    4. Re: Annual fee for web app can be smaller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just mentioning it is for Apple should imply it's for the Applephone os and not Macintosh. Mac is near the point of deprecation at Apple. Teams within the company actively sabatogue the mac these days. As soon as they figure out how to make Mac OS into a runtime that can be bundled with Xcode they will pull the plug.

  22. Re:This makes ANY browser faster & safer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Genuinely surprised it's not a rootkit

  23. GUI's better & the future... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: My program does it better or did DOS beat Windows OR did terminals beat out X-11/Wayland + GNome/KDE/xfce & a dozen other++ GUI desktop shells etc.? No!

    * Character mode ALWAYS loses - it's NOT what most people want to use, period! What you tried is the equivalent of 12-15 *NIX terminal commands' functionality.

    (History bears out the above for me)

    Here's 30 reviews by registered /.ers on quality/efficacy of Win32/64 model (Linux one's faster too) https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57130680/ https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57137806/ https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57137868/ https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57137916/ https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57137944/

    * Want more? Ask & "ye shall receive" (like 100,000++ users of my program WORLDWIDE...)

    APK

    P.S.=> It is FULLY documented in files it comes with AND in its README tab (w/ everything you need to know on hosts files + how the program operates)... apk

  24. You've done better? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & here's 30 reviews by registered /.ers on quality of Win32/64 model (Linux one's faster too) https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57130680/ https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57137806/ https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57137868/ https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57137916/ https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12478398&cid=57137944/

    * Want more? Ask & "ye shall receive" (like 100,000++ users of my program WORLDWIDE...)

    APK

    P.S.=> I'm NOT "genuinely surprised" a DO-NOTHING LOSER like YOU squawks by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous worm though... apk

  25. Nice! Focus correct with new tabs. by SlashGodet · · Score: 2

    Just upgraded - now, new tabs focus in the URL bar. THANKS! I had been opening Chrome for just that reason--now I can use Firefox without annoyance.

    1. Re:Nice! Focus correct with new tabs. by Joce640k · · Score: 2

      Yep, default theme now lets you see where the active tab is. It's amazing.

      They had to break something though: The little button to add a new tab is now invisible until you mouse over it. [facepalm.gif]

      How people are supposed to know where the invisible thing is so that they can move the mouse over it? Only the Firefox designers know the answer to that one.

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:Nice! Focus correct with new tabs. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They had to break something though: The little button to add a new tab is now invisible until you mouse over it. [facepalm.gif]

      How people are supposed to know where the invisible thing is so that they can move the mouse over it? Only the Firefox designers know the answer to that one.

      Firefox designers are well funded by Google (again), so the answer is *dark patterns*.
      Most mainstream users don't even understand the concept of multiple tabs and Windows these days, so the topmost tab wins and it's game over for everything else --if you open any tablet you'll see hours and hours worth of work in the form of apps for all sorts of things, but when the user needs to go back to X, they never use the tab functionality, and just start over from their desktop / app drawer.

      It's common knowledge that Facebook and Youtube interfaces are made to keep you on their sites. While NCSA Mosaic intended images to open in a separate context from pages, and at one point video could ONLY work that way via download dialogs, today's internet is highly averse to doing the same because ads are too big a concern. So, browsers allow embedding hundreds of images or auto-playing videos. The social networks added hashtags to make it easier to do a long wiki-walk
      Since this is keeping the advertisers' cash flowing steadily to your eyeballs for hours, they're motivated to make it harder for Google's cash flow to be disrupted by a user's intention to do something on the side.

      So, by hiding the button they will slowly conditioning us, the SAVVY users. We are already forcibly unlearning keyboard tab management due to increasing time with our phones, where there's no choice, and where a single tab model is already king. Eventually instead of leaving the current page to do a search, we'll be more likely to use voice commands for those quickies --and they'll be handled by Google or Siri and steer us towards ads and spending, instead of a potential path of digression (which is on a non-Google, non-Facebook target, and thus not conducive to maximixation of revenue)

    3. Re:Nice! Focus correct with new tabs. by theweatherelectric · · Score: 1

      The little button to add a new tab is now invisible until you mouse over it.

      I don't see that behavior on macOS or Windows 10 with Firefox 62 or 63 beta using any of the default themes. The "+" button is always visible. Which OS and theme are you using?

    4. Re:Nice! Focus correct with new tabs. by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      I don't use it on my phone.

      --
      No sig today...
  26. Really, Dallas May, for various reasons. by SlashGodet · · Score: 1

    But... I still find myself opening Chrome pretty often for various reasons.

    Mostly various websites ... I really don't know why.

    I don't know why, but your charming name Dallas May makes me cut you slack for such slack comments.

  27. Stupid Firefox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does it still render a whole page before realizing I wanted it in a different font size, and then re-render from scratch? Is this how they define speed?

    1. Re:Stupid Firefox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but it's written in RUST so it avoids WHOLE CLASSES OF BUGS!

  28. AAAH It Updated my ESR to 60 (Quantum)!!!! by itsme1234 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What the heck! We have an important update, we recommend you update as soon as possible. BAM! All extensions except two gone, it has some blueish theme and many things look ... strange. Screw you Mozilla.

    1. Re:AAAH It Updated my ESR to 60 (Quantum)!!!! by SEE · · Score: 1

      Waterfox or Pale Moon are the real ESR releases.

    2. Re:AAAH It Updated my ESR to 60 (Quantum)!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Both Waterfox and Pale Moon are run by sketchy people and I just didn't like or trust them whatsoever. Which is very sad since I can't stand the way Firefox has become but there is just nothing to switch to that isn't crap.

    3. Re:AAAH It Updated my ESR to 60 (Quantum)!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      r.i.p. firefox. it's been a good run of firefox and netscape before that. but i'm done. losing the old addons is the last fucking straw. adios. 23 years of dedication and loyalty and you fuck users over.and over. we're outa here. we might still be running mostly mozilla code (pale moon, waterfox...), but it sure as fuck won't be something released by mozilla corp and you surely won't be getting any revenue from search boxes or other built-in sources, nor any telemetry from, well, anything.

    4. Re:AAAH It Updated my ESR to 60 (Quantum)!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I replaced Firefox with Pale Moon and used it very reluctantly for the same reason you stated. Then I installed Brave, which is a Chromium browser. Not only did it not stutter like Pale Moon, but it's got an actual team behind it, and they share code on GitHub. It's become my default browser.

  29. Re:New bells and widgets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bullshit. I can get a download button while running firefox itself.

  30. Re:This makes ANY browser faster & safer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What kind of junk is this? Why not use Pi-Hole (you can run it without buying a Pi). DNS isn't "loaded w/ security bugs" and it's a hell of a lot more effective than a giant hosts file.

  31. Also the end of the line for XUL and Windows XP by xack · · Score: 2

    Firefox 52 has been EOLed now, anyone using XUL or Windows XP have to look elsewhere. It’s the end of an era, back in 2002 Mozilla released Firefox when it was Phoenix as a minimalist browser using XUL and therefore use nimble extentions. Now the XUL fox is dead and being devoured by basilisks under a pale moon.

    1. Re:Also the end of the line for XUL and Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyone using Windows 7 32bit got EOL'd too.

    2. Re:Also the end of the line for XUL and Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is there a way to get it to run on XP, even if that configuration would be unsupported?

  32. Re: New bells and widgets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dark theme indeed...
    and they still cant use any engine but appls safari engine right?

  33. Re:I want to like Firefox...but... by tepples · · Score: 1

    Discordapp.com, a web-based text and voice chat platform, allows uploading server-specific emojis in Chrome. It used to allow uploading them in Firefox as well until the settings UI redesign in May 2017. Since then, clicking the "Upload Emoji" button has done nothing: no change in the window, no message in the developer console. When this bug was reported on Reddit, on Twitter, and on Discord's feedback forum. The official response out of Discordapp.com's developers for the past 16 months has been that if it works in Chrome, it works. (See this Tweet and this feedback reply.)

  34. Another Firefox peeve by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 1

    Open about:config in the Firefox location bar
    Type browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash in the filter box, or search for it manually iny
    Double click

            browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash

    It should change from

            browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash default boolean true

                                    to

            browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash user_set boolean false

    And this is another peeve I have about Firefox.

    "resume_from_crash" set to TRUE means don't resume ask the user, while
    "resume_from_crash" set to FALSE means resume from crash immediately.

    It's like you have to leave your command of English at the door and just "do what the devs say to do".

    (BTW: Thanks for the tip, I just changed it, and I'll see if it works. Would have saved me a zillion hours of work if I could have found it on the net at the time.)

  35. Re:New bells and widgets! by LoneBoco · · Score: 1

    Keep in mind that the built-in tracking protection uses Disconnect's filters. You can achieve the same thing via adding the Disconnect filters to uBlock Origin. The reason I'm mentioning this is because the Disconnect list breaks things like the Twitter embeds that some people like and there isn't an easy way to disable the filter for a single page, unlike with uBlock Origin. "Why did Twitter embeds break?" is actually an extremely common issue people end up having.

  36. "Years Behind Chromium" by pacija · · Score: 2

    Regardless of how much I dislike Google and other big Internet corporations, and how much would I like to have better alternative to Chromium, I read a mailing list post by a guy I trust with software-related stuff - Theo de Raadt of OpenBSD fame - saying "Firefox is YEARS behind (Chromium), unless they change their strategy" in terms of security:
    https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-m...
    I sincerely hope they will change the strategy. Until then it's Chromium for me.

    1. Re:"Years Behind Chromium" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chrome may have better security architecture, but I trust Google so little that I don't even like running Chromium.

      As an example, with difficulty I was able to use Firefox settings to stop it from connecting to weird servers on startup. So far I'm unable to do the same in Chromium.

    2. Re:"Years Behind Chromium" by roca · · Score: 1

      De Raadt is wrong about this. Today, on Linux, Firefox content processes run in an extremely confined sandbox. For example they have no access to any file system or network resources. It sounds like they've had trouble porting Firefox's sandboxing approach to use OpenBSD pledge() sandboxing, but that is probably more about the limitations of pledge() than Firefox's sandboxing approach.

      Then he says "I think firefox is still only 2 process classes" but I can think of at least 4.

      Chromium is ahead of Firefox in some areas, namely fine-grained "process per site" isolation, but Mozilla is focusing a lot of energy on catching up there.

  37. Re:I want to like Firefox...but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well Chrome has integrated support for Chromecast which is very nice. I don't even think there is an extension for Firefox that will do Chromecast.

  38. And STILL no DNSSEC DANE TLSA support! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Neither the Firefox developers nor Mozilla actually cares about security. I don't care about anything else at this point and neither should anyone else.

  39. Retard APK responds to his retarded self by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Retard Alexander Peter Kowalski, when are you going to stop posting fake support for yourself and then responding to it? It only makes you look even more retarded than your usual posts where you get stomped on. Just because you got stomped doesn't mean that you need to continue making yourself look as dumb as you are.

  40. Re:New bells and widgets! by slack_justyb · · Score: 1

    It's a Web Standard that Firefox now supports

    Incorrect. Variable size OpenType isn't a standard at all. It's an extension to OpenType, which is a standard, that was developed by Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and Google. Variable size OpenType allows a font file to give enough instructions on glyph construction, that the browsers can construct font sizes and styles that are not specified in the font file on the fly. Typically, when you specify a font size that isn't in your font cache, the web browser will use the largest font size and then scale upward to make do, fo rmissing styles, the browser just ignores it. This allows a web browser to take the instructions for how the font is built and build any size needed as opposed to scaling the fonts.

    You can see this in action here. The CSS specifies an OpenType file and then goes on to specify styles and sizes that are not in the original file. Thus the browser dynamically builds the fonts according the specific instructions given on how to build those kinds of styles and sizes. Just as an example, you can see this line of code in the style attribute of one of the div tags.

    style="font-variation-settings: 'size' 0, 'quad' 0, 'bevl' 0, 'oval' 0"

    This allows those values "size", "quad", "bevl", and "oval" to be passed down to the font engine. Now those specific names "size"... are specific to how the font was created, the browser just takes those named values and passes it down to the font rendering engine. The font engine will know what to do with those named values because the font file specifies what those named values "do" to the font.

    I believe that Firefox was sitting the fence on this technology since it has yet to become standard and Mozilla didn't want to encourage this style of "helping to make a standard". But yeah, pretty much the W3 has become more and more irrelevant for the web.

  41. Re:New bells and widgets! by slack_justyb · · Score: 1

    It's an extension to OpenType, which is a standard, that was developed by Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and Google.

    Just in case that wasn't clear. OpenType fonts are a standard file format. OpenType fonts are loosely based off Apple's TrueType font format. However, the variable size extension to OpenType is not a standard.

  42. Re: New bells and widgets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, but I heard that the Mozilla people hate oil cans.

  43. Re:New bells and widgets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What we want to hear is Mozilla to give more attention to bug fixing older releases that don't have all those unneeded features.

  44. Re:New bells and widgets! by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

    It's an extension to OpenType, which is a standard, that was developed by Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and Google.

    The "Google" bit is the important part. Chrome added support for this about a year ago, and following it's monkey see, monkey do policy of "innovation" for Chromefox, Mozilla has just finished copying them.

  45. Re: I want to like Firefox...but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Firefox for Android crash accessing random sites, without obvious reasons.

  46. Re:New bells and widgets! by slack_justyb · · Score: 2

    From my original comment

    Mozilla didn't want to encourage this style of "helping to make a standard". But yeah, pretty much the W3 has become more and more irrelevant for the web.

    Now on to what you said...

    Mozilla has just finished copying them

    We're starting to get into the territory of the question that was asked way back in the 90s, "Who gets to make a standard on the web?" I don't think there's been any satisfactory answer to that question. Microsoft felt that the folks writing the web browsers back in the day were the ones who should have the most say in what "is" and what "isn't" a web standard. Mozilla, post Netscape, mostly wanted to stick strictly to W3 published standards. Google came aboard and pretty much was "Yeah! Open Standards!!". Fast forward to around 2016 and Google isn't so hip on waiting on W3 to standardize something. Firefox is starting to see the writing on the wall that standards don't mean much of anything, if no one is willing to follow them.

    So that's where we are with Firefox. Mozilla is content to stick to W3 spec verbatim. Also smaller browser players see standards as good things. But of course, major players don't really want to have to wait on W3 to having meetings, have a vote, have a period for comment, etc just so that they can get their new shiny out the door.

    So yeah, if Mozilla seemed a bit hesitant about implementation, it's because this isn't a standard and supporting it means supporting a non-standard web. I'm not sitting here trying to pass judgement, but it is for sure something to think about for a second. Do we want web browser makers to dictate the web standard or do we want a standards body to dictate it? There's not a right or wrong, it's just a different set of pros and cons. However, I feel that we're heading right back whence we came and we'll soon have sites that only work correctly because they use "Google HTML" and if you want a browser to actually work, you'll need one that is as close as possible to being compliant with "Google" spec. Much like how it once was with the "IE" web.

    So yeah, what might have looked like a "let's copy Google" move, this was more in lines of Mozilla saying, "Hey Goolge! The W3 says nothing about this new type of fontworks you're doing! You are breaking the Internet with putting out non-standard HTML. *looks around industry* Oh I guess no one really cares. I guess we'll hold out. *waits a year, gets a few bugzilla reports demanding feature* Well I guess we'll have to cave on this one."

  47. KAMINSKY REDIRECT POISONING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject (DNS security issue - BIG one) & I would on Pi but it had security issues (recently in dnsmasq) & it means non-native "Bolt-on-'MoAr'" ILLOGIC-LOGIC "your kind" stupidly uses that shows bugs inevitably due to overcomplexity of construction (dnsmasq bug IS an example thereof).

    You also incur MORE OVERHEADS your way!

    By comparison: Hosts doesn't need anything added to run as a NATIVE PART of the IP stack itself (no filter driver like firewalls need & in the case of Windows? Almost useless since it only does IP addresses - MOST THREATS use hostnames).

    LASTLY I see you TRIED to "downmod hide" your FUCKUP last time I posted it (what a loser you are) https://news.slashdot.org/comm...

    APK

    P.S.=> Again: SEE SUBJECT: DNS doesn't have SECURITY ISSUES? LOL - WTF is KAMINSKY REDIRECT POISONING or DNSChangers (as only a COUPLE of known problems w/ DNS)... apk

  48. Registered /.ers review of the Win64 model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your software is just fine - well written, functional... I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine by mmell February 17, 2017

    Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising and malvertising is quite valid - by JazzLad April 20, 2016

    his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant August 10 2015

    his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg September 25 2015

    I like your host file system by Karmashock September 09 2015

    that APK guy, I use his host file by rogoshen1 Tuesday March 03, 2015

    I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK by 110010001000 October 27 2017

    * Linux model = faster/more efficient...

    APK

    P.S.=> APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-1 32/64-bit for Windows https://www.google.comsearch?s...

  49. Cool. by Trogre · · Score: 1

    Does it put back automatic text reflow on Android, so you don't have to scroll all over the place when you zoom?

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  50. Re:New bells and widgets! by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

    Well said, my friend.

    --
    My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
  51. Re:New bells and widgets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What we want to hear is Mozilla to give more attention to bug fixing older releases that don't have all those unneeded features.

    When they bugfix an older release, it becomes a newer release, at which point you, apparently, no longer want it because it's not the older release.

  52. This makes ANY browser faster & safer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK Hosts File Engine 2.0++ 64-bit for Linux/BSD h t t p : / / a p k . i t - m a t e . c o . u k / A P K H o s t s F i l e E n g i n e F o r L i n u x . z i p

    Yields more security/speed/reliability/anonymity vs. any 1 solution (99% of threats use hostnames vs. IP address most firewalls use) more efficiently/FASTER + NATIVELY 4 less....

    Vs. "Bolt on 'MoAr' illogic-logic" slowing you hosts speed u up 2 ways: Adblocks + Hardcode fav. sites u spend most time @ vs. competition loaded w/ security bugs (DNS/AntiVir) + overheads slowing u (messagepass 'souled-out' to advertisers easily detected & blocked addons + firewall filtering drivers) & their complexity leads to exploitation!

    * ONLY 1 of its kind in GUI 4 Linux/BSD!

    (Better vs. Windows model in speed/efficiency/merge)

    APK

    P.S.=> Protects vs. script trackers/ads/DNS request tracking + redirect poisoned or downed DNS/botnets/malware downloads/malcript/email malicious payloads... apk

  53. Registered /.ers review of the Win64 model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your software is just fine - well written, functional... I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine by mmell February 17, 2017

    Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising and malvertising is quite valid - by JazzLad April 20, 2016

    his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant August 10 2015

    his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg September 25 2015

    I like your host file system by Karmashock September 09 2015

    that APK guy, I use his host file by rogoshen1 Tuesday March 03, 2015

    I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK by 110010001000 October 27 2017

    (Linux model = faster/more efficient)

    APK

    P.S.=> APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-1 32/64-bit for Windows https://www.google.comsearch?s...

  54. LOL! Says UNIDENTIFIABLE Jealous Jowie... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See my subject: Says it ALL about you & "your kind" (low online losers who STALK me by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts) that are DO-NOTHING "ne'er-do-well" zeros (like you, lol).

    * Your JEALOUS is truly SHOWING, "Lil' Jowie" - lmao!

    APK

    P.S.=> ... & you KNOW it (now, everyone else does too) - it's NOT my fault you're an undereducated lazy loser, it's yours... apk

  55. Re:New bells and widgets! by Carcass666 · · Score: 1

    Good point. If enough people take up tracking protection, maybe given enough time, the whole mechanism of Twitter embeds will be given up upon. To me, this would be a good thing.

  56. APK's posts makes the internet more retarded by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Alexander Peter Kowalski's posts make the internet more retarded.
    Like how he claims the Chinese copied him but can't produce any evidence.
    How about when he states that hosts does port filtering but again can't backup his statement which was shown to be false.
    There is also his list of "experts" who support him but it turns out they don't say what he is claiming.
    This also ignores his out of context quotes he uses to lie by omission.
    The problem with APK is that his entire reputation is built upon the lie he told years ago that hosts is an effective security solution. It has been exposed numerous times as being a lie and when exposed APK fails to argue logically and instead will try to deflect criticism, change the subject, move the goal posts, return to a previously disproven statement, demand you prove you did better than his file concatenator, or just call people names. Expect that he will used these tactics to try to deflect from these criticisms. He will continue to lie by stating that he won or "dusted" you while failing to refute anything you said, will never provide real evidence, and generally try to dodge the issue.

    Face it APK is one of the most detested individuals here for good reason. When ever his poor behavior, awful logic, over statements, and horrendous writing are called out he has a fit and has done so for years across the internet. He is a spammer, and is an abusive insecure little man who is washed up and never amounted to anything. Until he produces actual verifiable facts supporting his case nothing he says should be taken seriously.

  57. As to YOUR lies? LOL: #1/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & 2 questions you won't answer: 1.) Do hosts stop threats served by hostname (the way threats are done most) by blocking them? Yes. 2.) Do hosts speed you up 2 ways in adblocking (preventing more infection/tracking/slowdown) & via hardcoded favorite sites resolving faster + protecting vs. dns down or redirect poisoned? Yes.

    My hosts program's the only 1 that does the latter @ TOP of hosts cached in RAM (for best performance) & only 1 of its kind on Linux/BSD in easy to use flexible configuration GUI form.

    (I also did that latter part LONG before the Chinese & 1st http://theregister.co.uk/2017/... )

    APK

    P.S.-> You did work that's that effective doing more for less faster in kernelmode speed (cpu priority) w/ less complexity for exploit + excess overheads vs. solutions KNOWN to be security-issue riddled (like addons (souled-out to NOT work by default OR easily detected & blocked that are BYPASSABLE & EXPLOITABLE), DNS & Antivirus)? NO... apk

  58. As to YOUR lies? LOL: #2/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "classic Windows hosts trick to block the Coinhive or Crypto-Loot domains" - https://www.bleepingcomputer.comnews/security/a-new-player-joins-coinhive-on-the-browser-cryptojacking-scene/ - BLEEPING COMPUTER

    SANS ("A related approach to the DNS issue is to create a hosts file on each system that sends requests for spyware to some place else. Both Ramu and an anonymous reader have suggested this" hosts by myself & RAMU right @ START of "malware explosion" mid 2005 on) https://isc.sans.edu/forums/di...

    Aryeh Goretsky/ESET/NOD32: hosts = good security http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7442373&cid=49747129/

    ZD NET http://www.zdnet.comarticle/how-to-use-a-hosts-file-to-improve-your-internet-experience/ "Hosts files really shine by letting you block ads, spyware sites, malware sites, & tracking sites"

    Steve Gibson on hosts https://www.grc.comsn/sn-045.htm/

    Oliver Day (SYMANTEC/SECURITYFOCUS) http://www.securityfocus.comcolumnists/491/

    APK

  59. As to YOUR lies? LOL: #3/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "It's working: Neville... it's working!" See subject & results from THIS month alone https://it.slashdot.org/commen... & https://it.slashdot.org/commen... + https://it.slashdot.org/commen... + https://it.slashdot.org/commen... that's only recently while I've been on Linux (few months now only) & 100's of times vs. MANY other botnets/malwares etc. in the past circa 2006-early 2018 while I was on Windows: There's BULLSHIT & doing nothing pessimsm & then? There's CONCRETE VISIBLE UNDENIABLE REALITY (see those links as proof).

    P.S.=> 3 things show I do it right:

    1st = User praise my hosts engine https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...

    2nd "ATTACKS" I GET (from UNIDENTIFIABLE ac as Elon Musk got https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... )

    3rd BEING IMITATED = "Imitation = sincerest form of flattery" https://linux.slashdot.org/com... JUST LIKE CHINA DID ME TOO... apk

  60. As to YOUR lies? LOL: #4/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Arstechnica = losers who stalked me (as you do now anonymously unidentifiably) to NTCompatible.com & Windows IT Pro magazine forums to their public dismay in Jeremy Reimer & Jay Little + Jarrett DeAngelis (who posts here on /. until I drove his ass off too) when their websites were REMOVED by their hosting providers in Shaw Canada & CrystalTech (for both email harassing me caught on a tracking ticket + stalking me & posting lies about me on them AFTER I destroyed them both PUBLICLY @ Windows IT Pro on Exchange Servers memory being freed UNHALTING them (which tells you Exchange is HEAVILY POINTER ORIENTED linked list driven, which leads to memory fragmentation that CAN halt a serverware)).

    Jay Little the "self-proclaimed 'EXCHANGE EXPERT'" HAD TO CONCEDE IT from MICROSOFT'S OWN DOCUMENTATION proving it FOR me there (where they as usual stalked me AS YOU ARE NOW)

    Thor SCHMUCK?

    Ask him WHY his false accusation of an old ware of mine was 1st taken down to NO threat & CA sold off the SHITTY antivir he sold (as a paid pawn of theirs) & they are GONE, done. dead... lol!

    Lookup "CA Accounting Scandal" on Google - scumbags & THEIR BIRDS OF A FEATHER just go down vs. me everytime!

    APK

    P.S.=> TONS of Security experts KNOW blacklists work (no questions asked) & 3 things show I do it right:

    1st = User praise my hosts engine https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... (so much for ME being "detested" but I'm not here to win a popularity contest - just here to WIN so everyone does).

    2nd "ATTACKS" I GET (from UNIDENTIFIABLE ac as Elon Musk got https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... )

    3rd BEING IMITATED = "Imitation = sincerest form of flattery" https://linux.slashdot.org/com... JUST LIKE CHINA DID ME TOO... apk