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Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

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Re: Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

#311

Does anyone else have the problem that firefox denies acces to `navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition` even if the user clicks "allow"? I hoped it was fixed in the release but seems to be not the case.

I tried https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Geolocation... in Firefox 66 on macOS and Windows. I got "Unable to retrieve your location" on macOS (though it worked in Chrome on macOS). It worked on Windows, though.

On macOS, does setting about:config "geo.provider.use_corelocation" = false and restarting Firefox fix the geolocation error? Firefox 65 or 66 recently changed from always using Google Location Service to first check the operating system's local location service (CoreLocation on macOS, which might have a local location cache for faster lookups).

If disabling CoreLocation fixes the problem, you might look in macOS System Preferences for location permissions. The first time an application tries to use the local location service, macOS prompts the user to grant permission to the application. If you accidentally click "deny", then macOS will automatically deny all future Firefox location requests.

Re: Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

#312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only there was a way to know the aspect ratio of an image at the time of website authoring...

There are such things as dynamically sourced, or generated, images. On-the-fly-computed SVG data visualisations might be such a case. Generally, I'd agree that authoring time is some 9X% solution, though there remain edge cases.

You'd still want those at a fixed size though?

I can't think of a good use case for auto generating arbitrarily large images, and as a user I wouldn't want to visit websites where the web designer thinks that's a good idea either.

Re: Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

#313
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Have you ever tried to click a link only to accidentally click something else because the page won't stop loading? It's infuriating.

This happens to me every single day on the Windows 10 start menu and on my iPhone using the swipe-down search on the Home screen. Why in God's green Earth the developers who implemented these don't cache obvious local results (like app names) to quickly return them is beyond me, and why the position of the results has to move after the fact is even more maddening I typed "Arro" for an app I use last night, it took a…

Had the same problem on my iPhone. I turned off Siri for app search (Settings / Siri & Search / Suggestions for Search) and now the results are instant. (And local to my phone, so no internet-sourced results, but I’m fine with that.)

How Microsoft managed to ruin the Start Menu, on the other hand, is amazing. I had to reinstall a computer because some Cortana corruption had made it impossible to launch apps from the Start Menu’s search results. Even though I disabled Cortana. Incredible.

Re: Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

#314
post #178
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I already use noscript. So many websites work at 100% and load 2x as fast with only 1/3rd of scripts allowed.

I wish there were browser extension to exchange the lists of allowed scripts for sites between the users. So Noscript could automatically preset this for you and you don't need to tune the list for every site by yourself.

I recently discovered that Umatrix has something like this. One of the buttons gives you the ability to click to enable common subsets e.g. "GitHub" , "reCAPTCHA" etc.

Re: Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

#315
post #153

> With this update, Firefox is introducing scroll anchoring, which ensures that you’re not going to bounce around on the page as these slow-loading ads load. While I love the idea of videos not automatically playing, I'm almost more excited for the scroll anchoring feature.

Same. Have you ever tried to click a link only to accidentally click something else because the page won't stop loading? It's infuriating.

I'm pretty sure that A/B-testing shows an increase in ad engagement. Clearly, jumpy layouts must put users in a more positive, open mindset!

Re: Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Staying on the subject at hand, do you not find it annoying trying to find which tab, and where on the tab a video is playing? "I'm saddened that the golden age of the web is probably behind me" Funny, I'd place the golden age before all these things you cite. Out of curiosity what's your favourite website, what most sums up your golden age?

I'm not sure if I'd call it my favorite anymore but I probably use reddit the most. I'm thinking of golden age in terms of the power available to webpages/browsers. This would be when HTML5/webgl/etc features had just gotten implemented, plugins like Flash and Java were still supported, and Firefox used the old extension system. All of the old web was still there alongside the cool new stuff. Now the old stuff is gon…

Reddit, I can see that.

Would you want a reddit where every embedded video in a thread auto played though?

I'm guessing our disagreement is over who has final say over display of content? I would say the client, you would say the server (or creator)? Is that fair?

Re: Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

#318
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Have you ever tried to click a link only to accidentally click something else because the page won't stop loading? It's infuriating.

This happens to me every single day on the Windows 10 start menu and on my iPhone using the swipe-down search on the Home screen. Why in God's green Earth the developers who implemented these don't cache obvious local results (like app names) to quickly return them is beyond me, and why the position of the results has to move after the fact is even more maddening I typed "Arro" for an app I use last night, it took a…

On Android, whenever I want to copy something I have to wait a few seconds for the menu to fully load. Otherwise I end up tapping on the wrong icon. Quite irritating.

Re: Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

#319
post #277
post #236

This it's great and I'm looking forward to trying it. I'm currently in Europe and every webpage now pops up a message about using cookies. If they could work out a way to say accept to all these automatically too that would be awesome as well.

There is an addon for firefox: "i don't care about cookies" which removes such popups. I think it works well, because I can't remember cookie-popups on desktop.

The IDCAC extension just has a filter list for cookie popups and removes them the same way that ad blockers do.

In the uBlock Origin settings you can go to the 'Filter lists' tab and enable more filter lists, including ones that delete cookie popups.

Here are a few good ones:

Built In => uBlock filters - I have enabled all except experimental

Ads => Adblock Warning Removal List (messages asking you to disable adblocker)

Annoyances => Fanboy's Cookie, Annoyance, and Social Blocking Lists (social blocking deletes like/share buttons)

Re: Firefox 66.0 Aims to Reduce Online Annoyances

#320
post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>and half the time I'd end up clicking on the advertisement when it loaded. Just as planned

To be fair I find it with the web in general. That site that you're about to reload because it isn't doing anything? Suddenly loads just as your finger is depressing the mouse button to reload. That JavaScript heavy site that has brought your pc to its knees? Works just as you've elected to kill the process. I assume its a variant of Sods Law.

> That site that you're about to reload because it isn't doing anything? Suddenly loads just as your finger is depressing the mouse button to reload.

I dont think thats coincidence. More likely, the browser already has downloaded the page itself but is waiting for some resource before rendering it. If you reload, it renders what it has immediately.

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