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Mozilla firefox what's new. An easy way to return your Firefox browser settings to your previous settings

It will become available on the stable channel today - November 14, 2017. Current browser users will receive the new version automatically on that date if Automatic Updates is enabled.

Firefox users can run a manual check for available updates by selecting the Help > o Firefox submenu from the main menu.

The new version is already available for download on the Mozilla FTP server. However, it is recommended to wait for the official announcement from Mozilla. The company will update the download links on November 14th.

Major changes to Firefox Quantum

Firefox 57 is one of the most important browser releases from Mozilla in a long time. The organization decided to abandon support for classic plugins, seriously updated the interface and integrated some parts of Project Quantum into the browser.

Photon design

Firefox 57 comes with an updated interface. This is the biggest browser redesign since the introduction of the Australis interface in Firefox 29.0.

The new Photon interface is part of the Mozilla Quantum project and includes not only visual changes, but also speed and responsiveness improvements.

The changes affected the new tab page, the main Firefox menu, themes and settings.

If you were using a previous version of the browser, you will immediately notice the Firefox theme changes. The new Firefox 57 comes with light and dark themes and graphics density optimizations for mobile and compact modes. Compact mode minimizes available space, while mobile mode is optimal for touchscreen devices.

The Firefox menu is located in the old place, but no longer consists of large icons, but of text links with small icons. You will no longer be able to add or remove items from the menu.

However, various personalization options are still available. The user can move or delete many elements of the browser interface. New items can be placed on the main toolbar or in the new “>>” menu for items you don't want to place on the toolbar.

When you visit a website, a new “...” menu appears in the address bar. This is a new action menu that includes options to directly interact with the page. Using the menu, you can bookmark a page, save it to Pocket, copy or email a link, send a tab to a linked device, or take a screenshot.

The first two options are duplicated in the address bar as separate icons. Right-clicking on an entry brings up options for adding or removing an icon from the address bar.

The New Tab and Home pages in Firefox 57 are based on an Activity Stream. Activity Stream was initially launched as a pilot experiment before Mozilla implemented the functionality in the browser.

The pages feature search, top sites, favorites, Pocket recommendations and snippets from Mozilla. Firefox users can customize the new tab page by clicking on the gear icon.

So the Photon interface isn't just about new visual changes. Mozilla has improved animations, icons and other elements to improve the responsiveness of the browser.

Project Quantum

The second major change in Firefox 57 is a new internal engine based on the Quantum project. Mozilla said earlier that Quantum made Firefox twice as fast as the recent Firefox 52.0. This is an impressive performance boost.

Quantum uses the technology offered by modern processors. It supports parallel computing and other features and uses them to speed up Firefox.

The Quantum CSS engine, also known as Stylo, is the first major component of the Quantum project that Mozilla has integrated into Firefox. According to Mozilla, the organization's engineers fixed a total of 468 performance issues over several months of development.

Despite the major performance gains, Quantum also makes the browser more stable, as Quantum Compositor has been moved into its own process thanks to the implementation of Electrolysis (multi-process support).

Working with add-ons

Firefox 57 no longer supports legacy add-ons or themes. Firefox users who ran classic extensions in previous versions of the browser will find them disabled after upgrading to Firefox 57.

Plugins and themes that have been disabled will appear in the “Out-of-date extensions” section on the about:addons page. The user has options to remove the add-on and search for a replacement.

However, there is no guarantee that there will be an alternative for the add-on you need. For example, the Classic Theme Restorer plugin has no replacement because the WebExtensions platform does not provide such functionality.

Therefore, Firefox 57 only supports WebExtensions. Many popular extensions have already been ported, but not all of them. Some plugins will never be ported for one reason or another (due to lack of developer interest or API shortcomings).

Mozilla plans to support legacy add-ons for as long as Firefox ESR 52 is supported. With the release of Firefox ESR 59, support for legacy add-ons will be completely discontinued.

New permissions

Firefox 57 introduces new permission controls. Now users can independently control access to the device's location, camera, microphone and notifications.

Open the about:preferences#privacy page and scroll to the “Permissions” section. By clicking on the “Options...” button, a list of sites that have requested access to the corresponding function, for example, location, will open. You can remove individual sites or all sites from the list at any time.

There's still some work to be done in this regard, as the new controls don't have the options offered by the classic Firefox permissions system (removed by Mozilla).

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Mozilla has unveiled Firefox 61, the new release of its most famous software product. The new product is notable for a number of internal optimizations and, among other things, is now equipped with a full-fledged dark theme.

Key New Features in Firefox 61

Key improvements in Firefox 61 focus on performance, security, and strengthening the tools available to extension developers. We especially note the following points:

  • Render web pages faster with Quantum CSS improvements and the new Retained Display Lists feature;
  • Faster transition between tabs thanks to content pre-rendering. It works when you just move the cursor to a tab, even if you haven’t clicked yet;
  • TLS 1.3 support is enabled by default (TLS is a protocol that provides secure data transfer);

Firefox 61 is the fourth major browser update from Mozilla this year

  • Loading FTP sub-resources on pages other than FTP (HTTP/HTTPS) is now blocked. The main problem with FTP was that any data transferred there was unencrypted.
  • Extension developers now have tools that allow them to hide tabs and control the behavior of the browser when opening or closing tabs. This will be another step towards restoring the capabilities of last year.

However, in addition to the above, there are several very specific innovations in the interface. The most significant thing is the significantly updated dark theme.

Improved dark theme

The dark theme has been formally present in Firefox for a very long time (see how), but previously it only recolored the browser header. All other elements remained light:

Dark theme in Firefox 60

Starting with Firefox 61, the dark theme is also applied to the new tab page and main menu:

Dark theme in Firefox 61

The address bar drop-down menu has also become darker:

The address bar dropdown UI is now also dark

Some other pop-up menus and UI elements also now change color when the dark theme is activated:

A dark version of the bookmark drop-down menu also debuted in Firefox 61

Page settings with site cells

Clicking on the gear-shaped button on the new tab page now opens not a side panel, but a full-fledged new settings section:

New settings section

It's called "Home" and it contains options regarding what to display in Firefox's new tabs.

Quickly adding new search engines and more

Finally, another feature concerns the rapid addition of new search engines. Now, directly from the “actions on page” menu, you can add the search engine of the currently viewed site to the list of available search engines. For example, this trick works with YouTube:

Adding a new search engine in one click

Firefox 61 also features a number of new features for web developers, improved bookmark syncing, and some improvements for macOS users.

Future versions of Firefox

The next major update will be released a little later than usual, as the developers slow down the pace in the midst of summer. According to the official schedule, Firefox 62 will be released on September 5 this year.

In the current beta versions, the developers have already made a number of changes:

  • Added quick activation of “tracking protection” to the main menu;
  • The bookmarking interface now displays a preview and icon of the current page;

Mozilla recently released Firefox 53. Today this update has already been delivered to most users, and the rest will receive it soon. Despite the fairly frequent release of new versions of the browser, the release turned out to be very interesting, so we decided to tell you more about it. Next - in detail about what's new in Firefox 53, as well as in Firefox 54, which will be released a little later.

The release of new versions, we recall, occurs in parallel with work on the new appearance of Firefox Photon and the new Quantum engine, which, if all goes well, will see the light this fall in Firefox 57.

New in Firefox 53

Display tab titles. Let's start with the tabs. Top FF 52, below Firefox 53:

Notice how the headers are displayed. In the old version, an ellipsis is used for the part that does not fit; in the new version, the text fades out. As a result, each title shows at least one more letter. Sometimes this will help you navigate without moving the cursor to the tab.

New interface for notifications and requests. One of the biggest changes in version 53 is the changed interface of various interfaces that pop up from the left side of the address bar. You will see it, for example, when the browser reports the successful installation of the extension.

At first glance, only the design has changed, but this is not so. If you look at other notifications/requests, you can see an obvious benefit to usability: you often have to click less. This is what a request for notifications from a particular site looked like in FF 52:

This is what he looked like now:

It was/has become similar for the user location request:

And also the logic/password saving interface:

In addition to the fact that the new UI has become clearly more convenient and visual, it has also become a little more intrusive. Previously, a pop-up notification/prompt could instantly disappear as soon as you made a single click on a web page. Now they hang until you select some action.

This may seem inconvenient for experienced users, but, on the other hand, this way the browser begins to behave more clearly for the average user, who might be interested in a certain message from the program, but it disappeared before he had time to see it.

Compact design themes. Not long ago, Mozilla already brought several lightweight themes to Firefox. Now the company has gone a little further and added two full-fledged themes - light and dark. Users could already see the latter earlier in Firefox Developer Edition.

Now it is included in the main browser package, and also has its own light version. You can activate themes from the interface designer:

and from the add-on manager:

The new themes are designed in a very simple, minimalistic style and are unlikely to attract lovers of various beauties in the interface:

However, they have one undeniable advantage: they are compact. For example, when the window is maximized to full screen, the length of the browser header interface when using the standard theme is 71 px. But with any of the two compact ones – 62 px. For owners of netbooks/laptops with small screens, this should be quite interesting.

Themes for private mode. Another change with themes is that they can now run simultaneously with private mode:

Previously, only the basic browser theme was used for private browsing, regardless of what design the user chose for surfing in normal mode.

Quantum Compositor. At the beginning of this note, we already mentioned the new Quantum engine, which is a hybrid of the current Gecko engine and the experimental Servo. Without waiting for the fall, Mozilla decided to integrate one of its subsystems - Quantum Compositor - into the browser right now. This integration should provide Firefox with a small performance boost and also reduce the number of crashes, especially due to graphics drivers.

Displaying speed in the download interface. Mozilla continues to make various changes to the pop-up download interface. In the previous version, it received a redesign and learned to display the last five elements instead of three. In Firefox 53, in turn, the ability to display loading speed has returned.

It was in the browser a long time ago and, alas, disappeared. Now she has finally been returned.

View JSON in Firefox. You can now view JSON files in Firefox. Where will the average user meet them? For example, the default browser offers to backup your bookmarks in this format. If you did it and decided, without restoring, to view your bookmarks through the web browser itself, then for FF 52 inclusive it looked like this:

Now the browser has a full-fledged built-in viewer for the following files:

Updated Firefox player interface. The standard built-in Firefox player has received a slightly updated interface in this release. It was:

The changes are minor, but we think the new version is nicer.

Time required to read. In the summer of 2015, Firefox introduced Reading Mode. Since then, Mozilla has slightly expanded the number of options available there, and also taught the program to read texts by voice. In this version, the developers went a little further: now the “fire fox” can also estimate the time it will take to read:

Alas, the function itself is still not friendly with Russian text and the interface for enabling it is displayed only on English-language pages:

Selecting Firefox bit depth in the online installer. Another change concerns not the browser itself, but its network installer. There, for the first time, it became possible to choose between 32 and 64-bit versions. This, by the way, means that the latter have finally reached such a level of quality that Mozilla is no longer shy about offering them to most users.

The x64 version has no restrictions on RAM consumption, and in theory should work a little faster. However, if the user chooses it, the user will pay for it with a noticeably higher consumption of the same RAM.

End of support for XP and Vista. There is some seriously sad news: as of version 53, Firefox is no longer available for XP and Vista.

There are two important clarifications worth making here. Firstly, Mozilla supported the release of its browser on these platforms for a year longer than Google and Opera (the release of the new Chrome and Opera for these OSes ended in the spring of 2016), and also five years longer than Microsoft itself.

Secondly, Firefox 52, which works without problems with XP and Vista, is a version with an extended support period. Minor updates, including bug fixes and vulnerability closures, will be released for it at least until April 2018.

New in Firefox 54

However, there will be few changes there, unlike version 53. And if web developers see a few differences for themselves, then ordinary users have practically nothing to expect.

In general, there is nothing surprising here: the company has done a lot in the latest updates, including the current version 53. Work is underway on large-scale innovations scheduled for the end of autumn. In addition, something should appear before them, and in the summer, ordinary employees need time to rest. As a result, version 54 promises to be one of the most boring in recent times.

Of the few changes, we will again note only the download manager: the animation of the button on the toolbar will change there. Additionally, instead of the current green horizontal progress bar

Brought an automatic night mode feature for MacOS, a new privacy tip and replaceable fonts. A browser representative stated that it is

"the basis for future updates that will help people feel safe online."

When you enable Night Mode in macOS 10.14, the dark theme will be activated automatically. The new feature can be found in Settings under Display. The iOS update also lets you swipe to switch between regular and private browsing and search through open tabs.

When you disconnect from the desktop version of Sync, which lets you sync bookmarks, tabs, and passwords across devices, Firefox will now ask if you want to wipe your profile with that data.

Replaceable fonts allow you to place fonts in one file. Typically, each of them, be it Arial, Arial Bold or Arial Bold Italic, has its own file. With the update, text web pages containing variable fonts will load with less data usage.

The Android version of Firefox has faster page scrolling and improved loading times. This was achieved in part by blocking third-party trackers, which typically increase page load times and pose privacy risks.

What's new in Firefox 62

  • Firefox Home (default new tab) now allows users to display up to 4 rows of top sites and history sites.
  • A tab menu option "open in container" is displayed for users with containers, allowing them to open a tab in another container
  • Before removing all certificates issued by Symantec in Firefox 63, a preference was added to allow users to not trust certificates issued by Symantec. To use this setting, go to about:config in the address bar and set the "security.pki.distrust_ca_policy" setting to 2.
  • Added FreeBSD support for WebAuthn
  • Improved graphics rendering for Windows users without hardware acceleration using parallel main thread rendering
  • Support for CSS forms, which allows you to speed up the loading of heavy web pages. New CSS editor.
  • Support for CSS (OpenType Font Variations) fonts, allowing you to create beautiful typography with a single font file

Updates for corporate users:

  • By default, autoconfiguration is isolated to the documented API. You can disable sandboxing by setting preferences "general.config.sandbox_enabled" to false.
  • Firefox Enhanced Support (ESR).
  • Added Canadian English (en-CA) language

Changes in Mozilla Firefox 62

  • The bookmark description field has been removed. Users who have saved descriptions using this field may wish to export those descriptions as html or json files as they will be removed in a future release.
  • Dark theme is automatically enabled in macOS 10.14 dark mode
  • Changed default enforcement setting for security.pki.name_matching_mode
  • Adobe Flash applets now run in a more secure mode using the sandbox process on macOS.
  • Users who disable syncing can now erase their Firefox profile data (including bookmarks, passwords, history, cookies, and site data) from their desktop computer
  • Changed WebRTC that handles screen sharing: the main window will expand to full screen

Firefox 62 for Developers - Changes

  • The three-panel inspector in Developer Tools separates the rules into its own panel
  • Changes,

Mozilla has completed work on Firefox 63. This version came out very modest in terms of the number of innovations, and in this short article we will talk about the key ones.

New in Firefox 63

The first change concerns an option related to switching tabs using Ctrl+Tab in order of use. Previously it was always disabled by default, but is now enabled for new users (new profiles) of the browser. However, if you are a long-time Firefox user, then nothing prevents you from enabling it manually:

By the way, starting with Firefox 63, along with enabling this option, visual switching of tabs is activated using visual previews:

A similar feature existed in Firefox before, but it was only possible using a special parameter in about:config, which was known only to a few. Now many more users will become familiar with the visual switch.

Back in Firefox 63, Mozilla continues to add and make it easier to access various options related to privacy and tracking protection. You will notice the updated interface and new options both in the menu with information about the site in the address bar and in the browser settings:



Finally, we note that this release has unfortunately removed the option to opt out of Firefox updates entirely:

Now the program offers a choice between automatically installing updates or constantly checking for their availability, but installing them only with the user’s consent. The "Never check for updates" option has disappeared in the web browser since Firefox 63.

Finally, a few words about other changes:

  • In Firefox for Windows, developers now use the Clang compiler, which should have a positive effect on performance;
  • In Windows 10, the browser began to take into account the activation of the dark OS interface and automatically switches its interface to the dark version;
  • If the operating system has the option to minimize the use of interface animation effects enabled, Firefox now also disables animation;
  • On Linux, extensions now run in separate processes;
  • macOS has improved overall performance and speed of switching between tabs;
  • For Android, the function of unpinning and viewing a video over the current page (picture-in-picture mode) is available.

Next version of Firefox