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Reinventing Firefox for Android

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#371

Post by neltnerb »

_delirium wrote: post #300
zamalek wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hard work you guys put in is always appreciated, FF in all its forms has become truly the best browser there is. That being said, how on earth was Reader Mode prioritized above adblocking? As it stands, adblocking is "post MVP"[1][2]. QR code scanning, however, is somehow part of the MVP. This doesn't make sense to me: there are many apps that launch the default system browser when scanning a URL QR code. You can…

I'm not sure if it's prioritization so much as just Reader mode being easier because it doesn't need that much from the extension API. Adblockers need to do more browser-level things like intercept HTTP requests, while Reader mode can be done with just DOM/CSS manipulation.

Also, reader mode is the only way non-mobile websites are readable on my phone. I left chrome on my phone for it (now I use Firefox Focus as my primary mobile browser for the vastly better privacy, but very much miss that it seems to have no reader mode). If this has reader mode I am absolutely going to use it as my backup for when Focus breaks a site over Chrome.

When it came out I considered reader mode a killer feature, and coincidentally it also tends to remove the ads. Or at least the ones not embedded in an article, which is good enough for me as long as they remain stationary.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#372

Post by neop1x »

Ok, tried it. Almost no settings, no tab previews, no addons, not even about:config. So far unusable for me. And unfortunatelly as seless as Foxus - it's effectivelly Focus v2, so I uninstalled it. I hope some provacy features and speedups will eventually be backported to our awesome Firefox which I use daily. Instead of Focus v2, I would like to see Firefox as an alternative default webview for Android.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#373

Post by neop1x »

patrickbolle wrote: post #21
diafygi wrote: post #14

My ideal for mobile: Firefox + uBlock Origin + Containers Now: Firefox + uBlock Origin (no Containers) Upcoming: Firefox (no uBlock Origin, no Containers) Seems like we're moving backwards, no?

This is a preview version (as mentioned a billion times in the article). Addons are planned by the end of 2019. This is for testing.

yes, we'll see. But lack of about:config and minimal configuration is frightening :(

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#374

Post by neop1x »

steve19 wrote: post #25

Still no pull to refresh. They really don't want users to adopt their browser. Literally every single other mobile Web browser supports it. Yet Mozilla has some ideological stance that it breaks web interaction (with what, the 0.0001% of browser that target Firefox above Safari or Chrome on mobile).

this is a perfect candidate for abou:config variable but there is o about:config and eho knows if there is going to be one...

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#375

Post by bwat49 »

pps wrote: post #358
callahad wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like that should have been resolved a month ago with build 1.0.1921 ( https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/2252 )... are you sure your bookmarks are set to sync (check in about:preferences on desktop)? If so, try forcing a new sync Firefox Preview by hitting Settings -> Sync -> Sync Now.

Yes, the only thing I'm not syncing are passwords. Are those 3 folders under "Desktop Bookmarks" visible in clean install before syncing? https://imgur.com/q1W7GgZ Maybe it's synced somehow only partially? All those folders are empty. And also on my desktop browser I can't see bookmarks I created in FP. I tried hitting "Sync Now" multiple times since yesterday, it always looks like it's working, after a second there'…

for passwords you can just use the firefox lockwise app

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#376

Post by Izkata »

lucb1e wrote: post #163
Sammi wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried a new version of android Firefox recently? Experiences from years ago aren't really relevant any more, as Firefox has gotten a lot of work done the last couple of years.

I still have Fennec (Firefox from F-Droid) installed, I didn't notice any major changes since I stopped using it. I use it when there is some web application that expects a modern browser and the webview can't handle it. But then, I also didn't think 57 for desktop was a big update. For me, it made zero speed difference (Firefox has always been fast on my laptop), on Linux with vertical tabs there is almost zero UI d…

The one speed difference I noticed was during startup with 300+ tabs, otherwise my experience was the same as yours.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#377

Post by scarface74 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #207
SXX wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So much of this. Too bad many people who love Firefox don't get how important that Apple decision is for survival for non-Chromium browsers..

non-chromium browsers only matter if the owner in question actually has any incentive to give users more control. Apple exercises even tighter control over their software than Google. Firefox matters not because it's "not chromium" but because it's firefox, a non-profit dedicated to an open web.

Well Apple has a built in content blocking framework for iOS. Chrome doesn’t....

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#378

Post by mncolinlee »

pps wrote: post #348
callahad wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand where you're coming from, but I honestly find Firefox Preview's built-in tracking protection blocks enough ads on its own. I'd encourage you to give it a shot. (Though, to reassure you: proper adblocking is on the roadmap.) On the other hand, QR code scanning is necessary for a good Firefox Sync setup experience, and that genuinely seems crucial to the MVP: we don't want your data stranded on one device…

Any idea why after sync I can see history from my desktop browser, but no bookmarks? There are only 3 clean folders on Firefox Preview.

That's upsetting. Please do report bugs. We do fix them. Bookmark sync had been working in Nightly for weeks, so I'm really surprised. I imagine it's hitting some kind of exception on your bookmarks.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#379

Post by mrandish »

notyourday wrote: post #351
mncolinlee wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're certainly aware of how significant ad blocking extensions are. This release required a great quantity of features with only a six month timeline until now. We already support a very limited set of the WebExtensions API to offer features like Reader Mode. Rest assured that more features will land in the coming months. If you're a developer and you want to help us, our Github site is at this link. We mark easier…

> We're certainly aware of how significant ad blocking extensions are. This release required a great quantity of features with only a six month timeline until now. It is always soft of amusing to watch companies make all kinds of unforced errors with their products because the managers feel that they know much better than the users of the product what should be important to users. They fail all the time just to have…

I agree with you 100% both about ad blocking being essential and product managers being tone deaf to user's priorities, however, I don't see Apple as any paragon in this regard.

> Apple has not introduced anything that was not a direct play on "Our users want X, we are going to give them X, maybe with a bit of a twist"

Unless you want plug-ins in a mobile browser or a headphone jack or ... well, too many things to list really. Apple mobile/tablet software experiences are some of the worst offenders of "We'll tell you how you should want it and if you don't agree, you're just wrong and we're right."

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#380

Post by pps »

mncolinlee wrote: post #378
pps wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any idea why after sync I can see history from my desktop browser, but no bookmarks? There are only 3 clean folders on Firefox Preview.

That's upsetting. Please do report bugs. We do fix them. Bookmark sync had been working in Nightly for weeks, so I'm really surprised. I imagine it's hitting some kind of exception on your bookmarks.

Done https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/3774 :)
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