Firefox 71 Available With New Kiosk Mode, New Certificate Viewer

[ssokolow]

1. How can I create a new variable?
2. How can I sort this list by default/not default, variable name or type?
3. What's all these idiotic icons at the right?
4. Why does mouse right click opens the standard HTML page dialog?

Because they ported it from XUL to HTML and, like 99.999% of HTML UIs, they didn't bother to reinvent all the stuff that a real UI toolkit will give you.

[timofonic]

Because they ported it from XUL to HTML and, like 99.999% of HTML UIs, they didn't bother to reinvent all the stuff that a real UI toolkit will give you.

Can't modern HTML totally replace XUL?

[Ray_o]

Any ETA for enabling WebRender by default?

It's a shame that picture-in picture support only supported for Windows.

picture-in-picture works on linux, search for media.videocontrols.picture-in-picture.enabled in about:config page and toggle it.

[Charlie68]

In my experience on Tumbleweed session full-wayland Firefox is terrible, we hope that this version greatly improves the Wayland experience. The good news is that instead Chromium on wayland works really well and even hardware acceleration on the videos works very well, while on Xorg there are some graphic artifacts in some videos.

[ssokolow]

Can't modern HTML totally replace XUL?

It certainly could. The problem is that they never bring the stuff they do in HTML to feature parity and then rationalize it as not being worth the effort for features almost nobody uses.

That's why I hate this "do the UI in HTML" craze. It throws out decades of comfort and efficiency improvements that have piled up in the native toolkits.

[bug77]

1. How can I create a new variable?
2. How can I sort this list by default/not default, variable name or type?
3. What's all these idiotic icons at the right?
4. Why does mouse right click opens the standard HTML page dialog?

Sort we knew we'll loose a long time ago. Bummer, but as long as you can filter, you can still find stuff.
Right click is another functionality loss. But it's really a minor annoyance, at best.
Icons on the right took me all of 10 seconds to figure out. Then again, on the desktop I have to luxury of hovering the mouse over icons, I have no idea how this will work on mobiles.
To create a new variable, start typing its name in the search box. As long as you don't type the very of an existing property, a + button to create a new variable will show up.

All things considered, I don't see the benefit for end users in this move. I get it devs are moving away from XUL, but it would be nice to throw us a bone while at it.

[timofonic]

It certainly could. The problem is that they never bring the stuff they do in HTML to feature parity and then rationalize it as not being worth the effort for features almost nobody uses.

That's why I hate this "do the UI in HTML" craze. It throws out decades of comfort and efficiency improvements that have piled up in the native toolkits.

Are they on drugs or something? I don't get it.

Why such crappy decisions in software? Even a 8 year old can agree those decisions are stupid.

Are there psychologists specialized in the STEM sector? I see severe mental pathologies everywhere, not just autism/asperger.

[ssokolow]

Are they on drugs or something? I don't get it.

Why such crappy decisions in software? Even a 8 year old can agree those decisions are stupid.

Are there psychologists specialized in the STEM sector? I see severe mental pathologies everywhere, not just autism/asperger.

It's part of a pattern that has existed for as long as there's been software, which should be applicable to anything with similar characteristics if you look at management rather than programmers. People see that something is "bloated", "no fun to work on", and full of features that "nobody uses" and desire to rewrite it without "all that cruft". The greatest evil of HTML UIs is that they enable that sort of carving away valuable features to succeed by hitting just the wrong balance of "makes it easier to reinvent the wheel" and "offers a virtue (portability) that management wants".

It used to be that companies would try to write a competitor to something like Microsoft Word and be taught their folly when they discovered that "Yes, most people only use 20% of the features... but nobody uses the same 20%".

It's caused by an ignorance of the purpose of "all that cruft" combined with our normal instincts toward laziness. it's sort of the reverse of the second-system effect. and one of the driving factors behind things like NIH. See also the CADT model.

TL;DR: HTML UIs have just the wrong blend of pros and cons (eg. specifically with regard to which wheels you do and don't have to reinvent) to encourage and allow people to get away with shipping half-assed UIs. (ie. They present false economies aligned in such a way that it takes discipline and insight to realize how much is being lost in this "good enough" proposition.)