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Firefox aims to simplify cross-browser Extension development

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When they're all the same . . . (Score: 2, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-08-24 13:21 (#J9Y2)

The more Firefox is the same as all the other browsers the less reason there will be to use Firefox specifically. I use certain plugins that are essential for my browsing requirements and work-flow. Many of these will likely cease to exist:

* Adblock Plus
* DownThemAll!
* Firemacs
* It's All Text!
* NoScript
* ProfileSwitcher
* Session Manager
* Grease Monkey

While it will be nice to have more supported and up-to-date plug-ins, I believe that the cost is too high for the value gained - especially since most plug-ins for the masses that this will facilitate aren't plug-ins that are desirable unless you're one of the sheep.

Re: When they're all the same . . . (Score: 1)

by metamer@pipedot.org on 2015-08-25 03:22 (#JBZW)

I barely use Firefox or one of its forks without first installing Adblock Plus, NoScript, RequestPolicy, Cookie Monster, and HTTPS Everywhere. The loss of any of these would make me reconsider updating to a version where these were broken. I have also recently been happy with customizing the Firefox UI with Stylish and with the additional features provided by HackTheWeb and Vimperator. While alternatives may exist in the Chrome world, switching away from Firefox to retain already present functionality seems irritating at best.

Re: When they're all the same . . . (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-08-26 14:36 (#JGYV)

While I hope that firefox remains a bastion of experimentation, there is also vivaldi now. Which is carrying the opera torch for crazy UI experiments. And really most of the best browser UI ideas started with opera.

Re: When they're all the same . . . (Score: 2, Interesting)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-08-26 21:17 (#JJ3R)

And really most of the best browser UI ideas started with opera.
Opera had some good ideas, but they usually managed to do them entirely the wrong way. Meanwhile, Firefox might have borrowed some rough concepts, but they fixed them in the process, so they were actually useful. Look back to when Firefox added tabbed browsing, and shortly after, Opera soon after added a second, entirely different method of tabs you could choose to use instead...

Some goes for the notification bar. It was taken from IE, but it didn't do much of anything useful there. After that, IE copied back the improved design from Firefox.

Unfortunately, their more recent changes (wholesale copying Chrome's UI) have been downhill all the way.

Plus, after Google banished all ad-blockers from the Play Store, Firefox became the only Android browser to take a stand and keep their ad blocking features, while all others cowered and dropped the feature. Ironically, mobile is where ad blocking is the most beneficial, and now it's the hardest place to do it. It's also one of just a few that allow you to change the built-in search engine to something other than Google.

Re: When they're all the same . . . (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-08-27 17:18 (#JMYM)

I'm not sure I agree with you. As I remember it, Opera had tabbed browsing since the earliest days I used it, maybe 2001? Firefox added it after Opera, and IE added it many years after that. Opera had the "speed dial" feature first, Firefox added it afterwards.

Might be the early-onset alzheimers, but I am almost certain Opera was the innovator here. You mention a 'second, entirely different method of adding tabs.' I don't remember that, or don't know what you mean.

Vivaldi is where I'm putting my hope. After Opera 12 the management team changed, and the new team decided to just copy Chrome badly and strip out whatever innovative features Opera ever had. Pathetic.

Used to be where I could install a Linux distro, add mutt, slrn, and opera, and be good to go.

Re: When they're all the same . . . (Score: 2, Informative)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-08-27 21:17 (#JNMF)

Yes, Opera had tabs first, but they behaved nothing like the tabs Firefox created.

"Opera's tabs behave like 'mini windows' within the browser meaning you can drag them out of the browser, drag them back in and also minimise them and restore them within the browser"
http://www.wikivs.com/wiki/Firefox_vs_Opera#Tabbed_Browsing

What's more, I don't think Opera invented that at all, since applications like Microsoft Office managed multiple open documents the same way (just without the ever-present tab bar), long before Opera:
* http://www.studmed.ru/docs/static/2/f/0/a/7/2f0a7d1d089.png

Since my desktop manages multiple browser windows just fine, I saw absolutely no benefit to Opera's tabs. Opera also cycled through tabs in most-recent-viewed order. So open a handful of new tabs (in the background) from a page, visit the first one and close it, and you go back to the last page you viewed, not all the new tabs you just opened. Again, absolutely no better than how my desktop window manager handles multiple browser windows.

When Mozilla (later Firefox) came out with tabs that when closed took you left-to-right or right-to-left (not through your history) in 2001-2002, Opera copied the feature in 2003.

The old-fashioned tab bar at the bottom:
* http://www.estudiologos.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Opera_6.0.png

While the new (Firefox-style) tabs were at the top:
* http://g1.idg.pl/ftp/pc/opera72.jpg

Back in Opera 6.0, at start-up, you could choose between single-window mode (classic tabs), or multiple-windows "SDI/MDI mode". Then for Opera 7.0, they offered tabs in the SDI mode as well:

"New MDI/SDI combination gives users the best of two worlds by allowing surfing in both MDI or SDI, with tabs (or even a combination) without restarting Opera"
http://www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/windows/700/

And the tabs on the SDI interface windows behaved like Firefox's tabs (no overlapping windows, cycling left-to-right, etc.), not like Opera's MDI tabs always did.

And incidentally, Opera wasn't even the first web browser with tabs, either. It was beaten by NetCaptor by about 3 years.

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2015-08-29 00:28 Informative +1 zafiro17@pipedot.org

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