Why you SHOULD be using Firefox

I find that Firefox has a habit of disabling the sound in Windows settings, I can watch 2 tunes on YouTube today and then tomorrow - if i go on YouTube the sound won't work, i did wonder if when moving the pointer with the touchpad i was pressing something by accident but even with a mouse only it still does it, switched to Edge for a fortnight and the sound didn't stop working, came back to Firefox and it happened a few days later. doesn't bother me as it's easy to fix and i like the feel of FF.

The grouping of tabs feature wasn't for me but as a mobile first website designer the new split screen feature is cracking, i can open 2 inspectors with the responsive mode feature set to 290px, make live changes and check the visuals to compare without having to do it in a new tab, perfect for if you're modernising an old site that was created 'desktop first' and are implementing new sections while running it through Pagespeed Insights to see which change made the biggest improvement etc.

It's nice when a new feature is actually something that has advantages - rather than is just a novelty, well done to Firefox.
 
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Glad split view is finally built in, but I feel like it can have a little more polish on how to activate it. With Vivaldi you can drag the tab to the side of the window to activate it, for Firefox I don't have the muscle memory to right click -> split view yet.
 
I tried it, but it's not a feature I will use.

Two tabs in different windows is better.

That way I can have say YouTube in one window and browse in the other.

With split window thing you can't browse.

More interested in this VPN feature which isn't active yet for me.
 
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Am i wrong for thinking split window is more useful due to how a lot of website are designed for thin and tall mobile phone screens, not that I'm complaining as working with side-by-side windows has been something that's been touted since W95 but for some reason it never seemed to work for me personally.

Has designing things for mobile phone screens finally made having two windows/workspaces side-by-side on a desktop monitor actually usable. :)
 
opethdisciple said:
One of my PCs has the VPN feature enabled but the one where it might be useful it's still not activated...
Click to expand...

Glanza said:
VPN is a staggered roll out, I've got it on my home PC but my work one hasn't picked it up yet.
Click to expand...

Try this:
www.askvg.com

How to Enable or Disable Free Built-in VPN in Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox 149.0 and later versions come with a free built-in VPN feature to improve privacy and safety. This article will help you in enabling or disablin
www.askvg.com www.askvg.com


Edit: the work machine might be controlled by group policies etc...
 
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The VPN option wasn't showing for me so I followed the instructions on askvg.com link I posted earlier and it did indeed allow me to use the VPN.

Firefox released an update today so its now on V149.0.2 one change I did notice is that the following options which were only available via "about:Config" are now showing in the normal "about:preferences#privacy" menu

Turn on VPN automatically:
When I open Firefox
In private windows


I know this is only a beta and I jumped the gun a little and used the guide from askvg.com to brute force the VPN as it were but my experiences so far are thus:

1. There was an option to create a firefox account via the vpn button that sits next to the search bar but it didn't work so I had to create the account via the "about:preferences#sync" menu.
(This might have been because of problem #2)

2. When I turned the VPN on it wouldn't connect; I was using Enable DNS over HTTPS using MAX Protection and found that if I stopped using MAX protection the VPN started working.

3. It is very slow i.e. fast.com reported download speeds between 1Mbps to 4Mbps.

4. Today the VPN stopped working for a while no biggie its a beta... but at one point the little green VPN connected tick vanished and showed I was now disconnected but it didn't stop me from browsing, so theres no VPN kill switch ohh dear...

5. Later it started working again, browserleaks.com/ip says I'm in Los Angeles San Francisco and using Fastly, inc Netherlands DNS but I got a Facebook security warning email:

"Someone just logged in to your Facebook account near *******, United Kingdom on Firefox on Windows. If this wasn't you, we're here to help you take some simple steps to secure your account."

Now I'm almost 100% certain that the VPN icon was green and showing as connected before I logged into Facebook so why does browserleaks say I'm in Los Angeles but Facebook say I'm in the UK.....




Meta annoyed me by saying I needed to accept tracking cookies or pay £2.99/ month, more so because they got fined by the EU for doing that but get to do what they want in the UK despite us sharing the same GDPR laws...
So my plan was to just use Firefox and the free VPN when I wanted to use Facebook but in its current state I wouldn't trust their VPN solution as far as you can throw it maybe they will fix it maybe they won't who knows.
 
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Ended up using Firefox loads lately, just for the container tab plugin. I have loads of different MS / Google tenants to look after now and it allows me to log in to different accounts in different tabs, it's amazing.
 
A couple of issues with FF:

1. I bank with Santander and the bookmark does not display an icon. (Works in Edge)

2. Steaming via Now TV is not hi definition. Pixelated compared to Edge.

3. Currently doing a course via udemy. It's been working fine this last week but today I am finding videos take ages to load and when they do they are not buffering fully so the video stops.

(As of 7pm it is now working in FF again)

I tried it in Edge and it is working perfectly. So currently watching it via Edge.

---

Ok well I have found a new one.

On my work Mac laptop Office 365 is not working properly in Firefox.

Try it in Safari and it works. The links are clickable, I can see the apps and they have icons. All of which have not been functioning in FF.

It seems like the evidence of web incompatibilities is just mounting for FF now...

They should just switch to chromium like edge.

They are fighting a losing battle. I know it's good to have an independent engine but the amount of web incompatibilities is just mounting and they don't have the resources to keep up.

The choice is death or adapt unfortunately.
 
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Ice Tea said:
Am i the only one that dislikes split view?
Click to expand...
No I don't like it either but it depends on your work flow; I like to drag tabs to different windows and sometimes it gets in the way and turns it into split view which isn't what I wanted it to do but other people might find it really useful.

I can't remember which browser released it first but I disabled it and when Firefox added the feature I disabled it in Firefox as well.
 
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opethdisciple said:
Steaming via Now TV is not hi definition. Pixelated compared to Edge.
Click to expand...
Streaming in browsers has always been a bit hit and miss especially with Firefox but its not all down to the browser it is because of the DRM and the streaming channels think everyone wants to pirate their content.

Disney only allow 720p streaming via any browser, others allow upto 4k but under very strict conditions such as using Playready v3 / Edge.

There's a plugin I came across that assisted in video downloads from websites users complained that it didn't work on YouTube and someone responded saying Google wouldn't allow an app in the Google store if it allowed downloads from YouTube because Google own YouTube... But if you used Firefox you could get a different version of the app that might work, if that is the case then that might be why the streaming platforms don't like Firefox...

That said I was recently surprised when I looked at Netflix browsers support page which says it wil stream 1080p now, I'm sure in the past it was limited to 720p. It's still poor compared to Edge and now Chrome which both allow 4k Netflix streaming but its a step in the right direction.
 
Even then annoyingly there are per-content restrictions - some stuff via a desktop browser is still limited to less than 1080p due to "rights" it is stupid. If someone was really determined to pirate there are ways. I find Firefox seems a bit flaky with HDCP in recent updates as well - sometimes I've had to restart the whole system despite everything ticking green on HDCP before stuff like Amazon Video will play in "high" definition.
 
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