Firefox Quantum (57) released

[BC_Programmer]

It was actually released  yesterday but is notable as it is quite a significant departure from previous releases.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

    A powerful, new engine that’s built for rapidfire performance.

    Better, faster page loading that uses less computer memory.

    Gorgeous design and smart features for intelligent browsing.

The primary thing affecting most users (myself included) is that the old-style Add-on API has been deprecated, and for some add-ons there is no way to "replace" them or rewrite them for the new API due to the new API being more limited in terms of things like the user interface. presumably the changes made were done to improve performance.

I've been using one of the larger add-ons which has no replacement, Classic Theme Restorer, since Firefox 4 made it's own revisions to the interface that I did not like, so I found the new 57 to be somewhat infuriating in it's User Interface- from the icons, to the appearance of the tabs, to- well, pretty much everything.

Thankfully, not all is lost- The Classic Theme Restorer add-on page lists it's incompatibility and links to This github page which provides an alternative series of steps. As it happens the new Firefox UI can be customized, just not through an add-in, instead requiring editing/adding custom CSS. Following those steps I was able to change things "back" to the appearance I was mostly used to in previous Firefox versions, removing almost all of my complaints about the new version of Firefox.

[patio]

Just curios...did any of your tweaks to the appearance affect performance ? ?

The UI isn't appealing by any means but i'll live with it for the snappy performance gains.

Thanx.

[BC_Programmer]

I haven't noticed any difference in performance from adding the custom CSS. I think Firefox loads it to "replace" some kind of built in stylesheet of the same sort.

This is how I've got it looking now, which is quite different from the default appearance in Firefox 57. There's a few options in the CSS file when fiddling with it to use different icons and certain visual differences based on user preference by uncommenting sections of the CSS file provided. It's rather annoying that some of these customizations require familiarity with stylesheets though. A lot of them really could just be toggles in the options.

[Mark.]

just got it this morning, nothing untoward yet, seems OK.
with an SSD, 16GB RAM but a crap internet service, can't say I can notice any performance difference.

[Salmon Trout]

My main loss was Noscript, but I am getting to grips with uMatrix as a replacement. I really wish I could move the address box. I found a custom CSS on Github

https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx/releases/

[Allan]

I decided to stick with ver 56. Won't be upgrading any time soon.

[DaveLembke]

Firefox 57 broke some games my daughter plays online. Went to find version 56 to download to reinstall Firefox and unless Mozilla has it hidden somewhere all older versions are nowhere to be found. Through digging I found this page which you would think would allow you to select an older version and download it, but all links force 57 on you.  https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/releases/

I saw on google places like filehippo claim to have version 56 but I'd rather get a clean copy from Mozilla if a clean copy of 56 is still available. This is insane. 

Now performing the second system restore since the first system restore the minute there was a connection to internet Firefox was off to the races downloading 57. I went in as it was 1.9mb downloaded and selected NOT TO automatically update, but nope. It decided to update anyways because I guess once it starts to download it its off to the races to update you no matter what you select during the download. So performing second system recovery and then network cable disconnected in hopes that I can stop it from automatic update to 57 and keep it at 56.0.2 until they can get the bugs worked out of it.

UPDATE: After lots of google searching I Found the FTP site for Firefox older Offline Installer versions and got 56.0.2 at https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/56.0.2/win64/en-US/

Mozilla doesnt make it easy to get there from their site. I found this FTP method from an outside link that someone shared in a forum when someone else like myself was frustrated that all point to latest 57. Downloading 56.0.2 ( 36MB ) now.

Here is the root of their FTP for all versions in case anyone wants any other versions other than 57:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

[BC_Programmer]

That FTP is listed on their support article about getting previous versions of Firefox here.

and keep it at 56.0.2 until they can get the bugs worked out of it.

It's far more likely that the "some games your daughter plays online" are the source of the problems, and not Firefox.

[DaveLembke]

The games work fine with 56.0.2 and latest Adobe Flash. But with Firefox 57 one of her games I think it was called Village Life was hanging at 52% loading progress bar. Got the system rolled back and she was happy because the game then loaded with no problems.

One of my systems updated to 57 and I haven't seen any problems yet for myself. Just tested Forge of Empires and its running it better with 57 than 56.0.2. Usually by now the game would start to build lag and it hasn't so maybe 57 fixed my online game issue and caused problems for her.

[Allan]

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/56.0/

[arenasand]

Firefox is recognising my computer but not my wife's laptop. Is this because of the changes?
What can I do?

[soybean]

The new UI did not thrill me but I'm working with it.  I would rather not have the black background for the tabs across the top of the Firefox window.

I just looked at a new feature which lets the user capture screenshots within the browser window.  For info, see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-screenshots

[patio]

squared off tabs bugs me...

Kinda waitin on addons to get updated as well...other than that fine.

[Mark.]

Firefox is recognising my computer but not my wife's laptop. Is this because of the changes?
What can I do?

Firefox version?
Windows version?
have you tried the previous version to see if the issue goes away?

[Allan]

I just looked at a new feature which lets the user capture screenshots within the browser window.  For info, see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-screenshots

Screenshot feature in version 56