Firefox 66 aims to minimize common online inconveniences

[Shawn Knight]

Why it matters: Mozilla on Tuesday pushed out a new stable release of its Firefox browser that aims to minimize common online inconveniences. Chrome's worldwide market share isn't what it used to be but by adding helpful features like blocking autoplay content and scroll anchoring, it stands to win back some users looking for an alternative to Chrome or Internet Explorer.

Firefox 66’s bellwether is block autoplay, a feature that automatically blocks autoplaying content. Notably, this only works on videos that also autoplay sound. As such, clips that autoplay on Facebook, for example, with the audio muted will be unaffected by this feature.

Should you want to view a video, simply click the play button to watch it. Similarly, you can add sites to your permissions list to prevent Firefox from blocking them in the future. To access the list, click the lowercase “I” with a circle around it in the address bar then go to Permissions and select “allow” from the drop-down box.

Firefox 66 additionally introduces scroll anchoring. This feature remembers where you are on a website, ensuring slow-loading ads or images won’t cause the page to bounce around as they load.

Searching is also more efficient in Firefox 66 when you’ve got a slew of tabs open. In this instance, you may have noticed the tab overflow menu – a down arrow that appears on the right side of the plus sign where you can open a new tab. Now, you can search all open tabs from the tab overflow menu.

These features and more can be found in the latest stable release of Firefox 66, out now for your preferred platform.

Lead image courtesy Sharaf Maksumov

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/79266-firefox-66-aims-minimize-common-online-inconveniences.html

 

[m4a4]

That's a nice feature to have by default. I know I'm running an autoplay blocker right now on FF. If I can get away with 1 less plugin, I'd be happy.

 

[MaXtor]

Those are actually some really great features, I just updated.

Oh and...
"Chrome's worldwide market share isn't what it used to be..."
I think you meant to write Firefox there.

 

[psycros]

If Mozilla was so concerned about "online inconveniences" they wouldn't have broken most of the best UI addons after FF v56. They wouldn't have introduced craploads of useless bloat like Reader Mode and Pocket. They wouldn't have slavishly copied Chrome at every turn. They wouldn't have tried to hide extensions and full themes. Tab overflow? How about multiple tab bars, or multiple bookmark toolbars - but no, every sensible interface convenience is either gone or repressed. Mozilla drove away its most faithful users and developers with their continual disregard for user choice. Mozilla alone killed Firefox.

 

[EClyde]

It's slow and clunky

 

[miciyu]

Nice new features!
I've been using Firefox for quite a while now, and although I was unhappy with the major change in it around version 56, I now quite enjoy the reader mode, and the many other features that these guys have introduced so far. It's definitely fast enough for me, I use it daily for all my browsing.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Firefox 67 is going to have the first wave of WebRender It’s supposed to have a significant speed boost for Nvidia users!

 

[fktech]

Firefox is the best. Chrome is second best and IE SUCKS!!!

 

[Gmachine]

Can you guys recommend a good video downloader for FF. Used to use Eagleget but after version 56, just couldn't get any good extensions/plugins.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Can you guys recommend a good video downloader for FF. Used to use Eagleget but after version 56, just couldn't get any good extensions/plugins.

You can pretty easily modify Video DownloadHelper to not require a paid license for full functionality. Let me know if you'd like me to write an article about how to do this.

 

[Gmachine]

Can you guys recommend a good video downloader for FF. Used to use Eagleget but after version 56, just couldn't get any good extensions/plugins.

You can pretty easily modify Video DownloadHelper to not require a paid license for full functionality. Let me know if you'd like me to write an article about how to do this.

Yes I would love that, thanks a bunch, it will really help.

 

[wiyosaya]

The do not auto-play video "features" have been there for a while - one just had to know about them.

about:config - in the nav bar.

Type "autoplay" in the search bar

Set "media.autoplay.enabled" to false
Set "media.block-autoplay-until-in-foreground" to true

No more video autoplay in firefox or its derivatives.

 

[Markoni35]

Hopefully they will finally add Bookmark Search which displays in which folder was the bookmark located. Something I reported 10 years ago and they still didn't implement (although it seems they are close).

I also had a feature request to block audio when several tabs are open. I asked for Chrome and Firefox simultaneously. Google implemented the feature in 6 months, Firefox needed 3 years. But finally, thanks to me and a few other users who asked, each browser tab has that little speaker which you can click to mute the tab.

Firefox is really slow in fixing bugs. Took them several years to fix the bug with hijacking the browser and displaying the "FBI Warning" page. The only team that was slower in fixing bugs is Internet Explorer. They had a "bug" from version 3 to version 7 which enabled installing any executable directly from the internet, without user permission.

Well... it wasn't really a bug, Microsoft allowed it for the purpose of spying. But still... after the hole became known they just didn't patch it. That's really lazy programming. If you get an "order from above" to keep a spying security hole open, then do what Google does, just open another one. Which isn't known to everyone.

 

[VitalyT]

Did it?