Firefox 69.0 Released • Hacker News Board

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#261

Post by xvector » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 10:20 PM UTC

CommieBobDole wrote: post #214

acdha wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why do news websites want to shove autoplaying videos on people's throats so much, what's wrong with playing at any time when you want? There was a bubble awhile back when advertisers were being told that video had better metrics, and all of the news sites jumped on higher-paying ads. That seems to have tapered off as advertisers noticed poor returns and learned that Facebook had been massively misrepresenting the…

We may never be free of it; it's gone on long enough that there's a whole generation that's grown up thinking it's normal to get information by watching a five minute video that conveys the same information as five lines of text.

People that choose 5-minute videos over 5 lines of text probably aren't doing it because they can't do the latter. They do the former to fill time. Popcorn for the brain, if you're bored.

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#262

Post by keithnz » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 10:23 PM UTC

Just out of interest, how many people run the "release" version of Firefox?

I'm currently using Firefox Developer on the latest auroua update channel version ( 70.0b3 ).

I haven't really expereienced any problems and am only vaugely aware of new things from time to time. Actually mostly I'm not sure if I'm noticing something new or something that's existed for a long time. Like for instance the other day I put in an address in the address bar and it gave me a "switch to tab" option because I already had that open in a browser window, I swear that's new, but I'm not sure!

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#263

Post by shabbyrobe » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 10:24 PM UTC

namewasmypw wrote: post #222

gfodor wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advertising, tracking, and privacy are three separate concerns. We conflate them due to the way current advertising networks work: they track you, storing + analyzing the data in centralized servers (which violates your privacy), to deliver ads. You can deliver ads without tracking (for example, contextually based upon the page you are looking at, without any storage of that information or historical state.) And you…

Advertising is an issue of user autonomy and a user's security in their autonomy. Users don't want to see ads. A browser that is supposed to be "for the users" shouldn't have its main screen be something that their users specifically do not want. For most of us, adware is a type of malware. For Mozilla, they have a tradeoff between user autonomy and cash flow. They can at least say that the bad things they do are bec…

Which bits of telemetry can't be opted out of? I've set at least a hundred things in my about:config to tamp down on it but I'm never quite sure I've got all of them.

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#264

Post by nhebb » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 10:28 PM UTC

Aardwolf wrote: post #54

> The Block Autoplay feature is enhanced to give users the option to block any video that automatically starts playing, not just those that automatically play with sound. Good. I know a news website that was on purpose disabling sound on videos to prevent that. So not only does it autoplay, you need to click to unmute anyway to actually hear it! Why do news websites want to shove autoplaying videos on people's throat…

I was excited for a second, but ESPN's site still autoplays videos, e.g.:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/boxscore?gameId=401110...

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#265

Post by thiagomgd » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 10:29 PM UTC

sellingwebsite wrote: post #230

gnud wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It _really_ bugs me that pocket isn't packaged as a pre-installed extension, that you can uninstall normally.

But you can disable it quite easily: about:config -> extensions.pocket.enabled: false

that's not 'easy' for most people.

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#266

Post by thiagomgd » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 10:33 PM UTC

envornment wrote: post #33

> The Block Autoplay feature is enhanced to give users the option to block any video that automatically starts playing, not just those that automatically play with sound. Does this also block GIFs from auto-playing? Blocking no-sound videos from auto-playing will keep GIFs alive for another decade.

not having a real alternative to GIFs will keep them alive for another decade. By real alternative I mean: behaves like an image, you drag'n'drop like an image, on your desktop shows the thumbnail of an image and when you open, doesn't open the video player, play just once and stops.

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#267

Post by thiagomgd » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 10:33 PM UTC

dblohm7 wrote: post #123

bobcostas55 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There has to be some reason why those are not the defaults though, right?

My understanding is that Chrome is the outlier when it comes to font rendering.

but still is what most people are used to... so in a sense, chrome is the default

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#268

Post by rhizome » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 10:58 PM UTC

acdha wrote: post #250

rhizome wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It won't de-pivot, advertising techniques are a ratchet and they all become yet more products or options that agencies & sites provide. We'd still be getting popunder Netflix ads from Zedo if browser makers hadn't shut that functionality down.

If advertisers aren’t seeing returns, they’ll eventually shift spending since video ads are expensive to produce and place. I wouldn’t bet against them finding something even more annoying, however.

Of course they're going to come up with new and exciting forms of interruption, but "shift spending" is extremely malleable, and agencies will still provide the feature for a price. Also, it's my understanding that there are no "returns" per se on brand advertising (vs. product advertising), regardless of medium.

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#269

Post by ronanyeah » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 10:59 PM UTC

Heliophite wrote: post #239

nice

nice

Re: Firefox 69.0 Released

#270

Post by jahlove » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 11:03 PM UTC

asadotzler wrote: post #242

jahlove wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or at least make it an extension. But they know people would uninstall it if they were given the option.

People are given the option to disable it in Options/Preferences and most of them don't. What makes you think implementing it as an extension with a similar disable capability just in the Add-ons Manager instead of Options/Preferences would be any different?

Exactly what setting are you referring to? Because the one they list on their website is in "about:config" [1], and anytime you go into about:config, Mozilla scares users about voiding their warranty. Only tech-savy power users are going to attempt that.

> In the address bar, type about:config and press Enter.

> 1. The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I accept the risk! to continue to the about:config page.

> 2. Type pocket in the Search box above the list of preferences.

> 3. Double-click the extensions.pocket.enabled preference to toggle its value to false.

[1] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-or-re-enable-po...