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Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

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Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#71

Post by yoasif_ »

pessimizer wrote: post #43
CorrectHorseBat wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if that has anything to do with it, Chrome is even worse in that regard and it's market share has only grown.

Even worse in what regard? Did you reply to the right comment? Chrome imitates Chrome far better than Firefox does. I just don't think they can catch up at this point. edit: maybe you meant addons? Chrome has more addons, with more users, updated more often. Chrome fails at ublock because it wants to, but as long as you're not messing with Google's core business, Chrome is (of course) going to be better off than the…

More addons on mobile?

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#72

Post by yoasif_ »

causi wrote: post #31
doix wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, when they did the big performance rewrite(quantum?) and killed pentadactyl (vim mode), I was really upset. I remember using Firefox 52-esr for as long as I could to keep my workflow the same. In my mind, that was peak Firefox. Yes performance wasn't great, but I didn't care. It was good enough and I mostly browsed with JavaScript disabled. The new vim mode plugins can't compete with the old plugins because they…

The really galling thing is they lied right to our damn faces about how "the new faster systems breaks the old add-on system" while they were still using XUL behind the scenes. In fact an HN reader compiled versions of Firefox 57 and above with user-installed XUL enabled and they work perfectly well.

Nothing is really stopping people from keeping those extensions compatible. Unsupported doesn't mean impossible - it just means you need to do some tweaks: https://webextensions-experiments.readthedocs.io

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#73

Post by throwaway0x7E6 »

guelo wrote: post #2

Mozilla doesn't seem to have a clue why people prefer firefox. It's not because of privacy or security, though that's nice. It's certainly not because it behaves similarly to chrome. It was always the extensibility. The power of plugins that allowed adblocking to be invented on firefox. They threw that away in the name of security and supposed clean code. Clean code doesn't get you users.

they know it.

that's why they've killed XUL. that's why they're going even further by enforcing an inferior extension standard from their supposed competitor. that's why they've killed off the extensions and about:config for the android version. that's why you can't even use a private extension on desktop without jumping through the hoops. that's why usercss (toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets - legacy and disabled by default - the writing is on the wall already) and userjs will get axed. that's why about:config will get axed on the desktop version as well.

all of that is just off the top of my head. and in the end, Firefox will be a clunky and inferior alternative for Chrome with not 2%, but 0.2% of the market. which is the goal.

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#74

Post by [deleted] »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #28
TrianguloY wrote: post #22

Fenix is basically a whole new browser, and that means that all features need to be implemented again (which takes a lot of time, and I don't think Firefox developers have much of it). Lots of Fennec features are still missing (view source code, save as pdf, install general addons, the whole about:config...). Why they changed is a mystery, maybe the old browser had a core privacy bug or something that couldn't be fix…

Another fun missing feature is the ability to delete cookies for a site.

[deleted]

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#75

Post by lfksodjsn »

jonkoops wrote: post #34
dblohm7 wrote: post #29

(Former Mozilla developer here, who worked on GeckoView[1], the modern way to embed Gecko into Android apps, including all currently shipped Mozilla browsers on Android) From an engineering perspective, the sad thing about this is that the work to finish extensions in GeckoView was essentially completed in the months after the initial Fenix release. When GeckoView was still being rolled out into release, we understan…

This pretty much feels to me what is happening to Mozilla as an organization from an outsider perspective. Engineering is no longer as important as the evangelism and management is making strange decisions that lack focus on what the target audience really is.

No post body was provided.

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#76

Post by throwaway0x7E6 »

mmmrk wrote: post #5
guelo wrote: post #2

Mozilla doesn't seem to have a clue why people prefer firefox. It's not because of privacy or security, though that's nice. It's certainly not because it behaves similarly to chrome. It was always the extensibility. The power of plugins that allowed adblocking to be invented on firefox. They threw that away in the name of security and supposed clean code. Clean code doesn't get you users.

I'm a decade-long user and am perfectly fine with modern Firefox (plus uBlock), both on the desktop and on Android. In fact, I don't want to go back to the before-times. Speak for yourself.

then you're not a poweruser. you'd be perfectly fine with stock Chrome too.

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#77

Post by ZeroGravitas »

ropeladder wrote: post #17
therealmarv wrote: post #7

That's not true. It's more that Mozilla white lists only very few of the addons for the mobile browser. The fork Iceraven whitelists/allow all (?) of the addons (not all work fully, so the whitelist has a purpose): https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser

"the whitelist has a purpose" doesn't really capture what's going on, though. It's more like they whitelisted some of the most popular extensions and then just stopped completely with no intention of continuing. With the much more limited plugin API (and simple html plug-in config pages) of the new browsers you'd think it would be easier to build and vet secure, cross platform add-ons.

Somewhere in a parallel universe, Mozilla just let all the plugins claim compatability, and vaguely fascist users who dont like their politics are complaining that the instability of Mozilla on Android is the reason they hate them.

And further along, in a universe where they poured a lot of time energy and money into fixing the whole plugin ecosystem and succeeded, they're complaining about something that didn't get done because of that shift in focus.

The conversation goes something like:

"Why are they spending time and money on fixing mobile addons no one uses? I think this is because their management are too political, not like their old unpolitical leadership. And as I say every time they get mentioned "I hate people who say and do political stuff!!". It makes me so angry. They should only do what I want or I'll force them out of business from pure spite. That'll teach them to be political.

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#78

Post by jay3ss »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #28
TrianguloY wrote: post #22

Fenix is basically a whole new browser, and that means that all features need to be implemented again (which takes a lot of time, and I don't think Firefox developers have much of it). Lots of Fennec features are still missing (view source code, save as pdf, install general addons, the whole about:config...). Why they changed is a mystery, maybe the old browser had a core privacy bug or something that couldn't be fix…

Another fun missing feature is the ability to delete cookies for a site.

Click on the lock in the URL bar then "Clear cookies and site data"

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#79

Post by sp332 »

sbernecchia wrote: post #26
vsskanth wrote: post #9

I use bypass-paywalls-clean addon and I'm forced to use Firefox Nightly and deal with all its weird bugs (it's nightly so that's expected) because of this. Things have improved quite a bit though. They finally fixed that stupid scrolling bug that cuts off a part of the page below the nav bar. That finally got me off Kiwi Browser. Eagerly waiting for all add-ons to be allowed in stable.

you can use fennec from f-droid too. it's compiled from stable, not nightly.

You don't have to put so many copies of the same comment on one story.

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#80

Post by itvision »

I've closely been following Mobile Firefox development over the past year - this browser is dead, like totally dead.

Bug reports pile up, nothing is really fixed, a ton of commits about telemetry, some commits here and there changing certain UI elements, some refactoring, almost nothing else. Go check its revision history all you want: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/commits/main

Mozilla has seemingly totally given up on it. It's incredibly sad.

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