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Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

blog.mozilla.org

281–290 of 321 posts

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#281
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus, can you just say "we've got themes?" No one is going to remember Firefox as the next MLK Jr because they let you turn the window chrome orange. Meanwhile Firefox Android is still a slow, unstable garbage pile. How many years now since Mozilla began developing exclusively for headline writers instead of their users?

I use FF Android every day, including watching videos, and haven't noticed the "unstable garbage pile". Are you being hyperbolic?

I reinstalled Chrome recently to test a website, and it felt so much faster. It really surprised me.

Still, I won't browse the web without uBlock Origin, so Firefox is here to stay.

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#282

To give some perspective, Microsoft is doing better with VS Code than Mozilla is doing with Firefox. * There are no sponsored ads every time I use common functionality (like opening a new tab) * At least VS Code has a easily available settings page to turn off telemetry To do something half way similar, Firefox requires you to venture into `about:config` where you get a "Here be dragons" message to scare users away f…

This is rather misleading since Microsoft has enormous guaranteed revenue streams and could afford to subsidize VS Code perpetually as a loss-leader for their other services. Saying they're doing better requires a very narrow perspective which assumes you're not competing with them for operating systems, office software, etc.

I don't love Firefox having ads but it's also literally a single checkbox which you can choose to uncheck on that page and there's a difference between showing ads and violating privacy. If you want to see a web where privacy is respected more, I'd want it to look at lot like what Mozilla does as an intermediary preventing those advertisers from collecting PII.

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#283
I'm really liking Firefox View. Having to open the hamburger menu and click twice to get recently closed tabs (and a similar story with synced tabs) was never very convenient, having a nice full page in one click is a huge improvement.

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't want to configure stuff, LibreWolf[0] has all the phoning home / telemetry stuff blocked out of the box. [0] https://librewolf.net/

Even better, you can manage LibreWolf updates via homebrew on Mac, and it doesn't harass you about new versions. If you browse HN routinely, you end up seeing the Firefox updates anyway, which is a good reminder to update LibreWolf. I've been really annoyed recently by software that doesn't respect my decision to update on my own schedule, or software that doesn't even let me make that decision at all in the settings…

Why don't you want the thing that has probably the largest attack surface of any program on your computer to get patches immediately?

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#285
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kind of like the colourways, but the way they present it is quite a bit over the top. Just call it themes and be done with it.

From Mozilla's point of view its probably that people might get confused between the old and new themes and wonder why all the highly customisable themes we use to have no longer work. So we have to have a new the colourways name so Mozilla can market the 'new' feature and sidestep the problem.

Themes still work, wdym?

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people think it's one person implementing Theming, PDF editing, and Privacy Mode protects; and that he just needs to re-prioritize his backlog? Why can't developer of difference capabilities contribute in different ways? I'm a competent developer but I will never be kernel module, crypto, or netcode competent; does that mean I should just forgo contributing to anything?

If it's implemented by volunteers then yeah let them work on whatever they want. If it's implemented by paid employees at Mozilla then it's up to them what devs they're hiring, and if they spend their finite budget on devs reimplementing theming then that's totally on them.

They didn't reimplement anything. They're normal themes, just bundled with the browser and with a special chooser.

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#287
post #9

> Last year we launched Firefox Colorways, a new desktop feature that allowed our users to express their most authentic selves and bring joy while browsing the web > “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision…

Which presumably you could already do with userChrome.css if you really cared anyway!

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I observed the change in tone in Mozilla blog posts, from experts talking about their craft to marketspeak. Even posts I should be professionally partial to, like those about UI design, rub me of the wrong way. It's often full of "creating delightful experiences" and "streamlining a seamless flow".

Former Mozilla engineer here. > I observed the change in tone in Mozilla blog posts, from experts talking about their craft to marketspeak. I think I can explain what you're seeing here. The original blog.mozilla.org was run very much like the old "MSDN blogs" from Microsoft (think Raymond Chen's The Old New Thing.) When I started at Mozilla a decade ago, my manager told me to file a request for my own space on blogs…

thanks for the explanation, didn't know about those spaces.

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#289
post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're telling me that if I enter ftp://blah to something expecting a secured connection that it'll work just fine no problems? Then I have to ask what the point of the 'S' really is. >Also, FTP is still used a lot, unfortunately. Um, like, yup. Please see my original comment on my feeling on this.

No, what I'm saying FTPS is just plain FTP over TLS connection, there is nothing special about it. When you talk to a web server, do you refer to the piece of software that does communication for you "http client" or "https client" or "http and or https client"? What I'm saying: You're being needlessly pedantic. When people say FTP, they might mean SFTP, it might talk about FTPS or plain FTP. If I read original comme…

Thanks for the mansplanation. I was confused on what FTPS was.

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision that we can make the world better, on the internet and beyond.” Hooli is about people. Hooli is about innovative technology that makes a difference, transforming th…

There's a great Polish saying for this occasion: a fish rots from the head down.

Mitchell Baker.
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