I'm pretty disappointed with the offerings on hand myself, but the first comment on the article nailed what I'd like to see perfectly: Group 2 browser icon with Group 1 everything else. The weird...
I'm pretty disappointed with the offerings on hand myself, but the first comment on the article nailed what I'd like to see perfectly: Group 2 browser icon with Group 1 everything else.
The weird foxhead logo is just bizarre, and reminds me strongly of another logo that I can't remember by name at the moment.
Yeah, ditto. All the icons are especially god-awful, IMO. Seriously, WTF is this shit? That has to be a joke, right? Please, someone tell me it's a joke. :/ If they go through with any of these...
Yeah, ditto. All the icons are especially god-awful, IMO. Seriously, WTF is this shit? That has to be a joke, right? Please, someone tell me it's a joke. :/
If they go through with any of these changes I will definitely be reapplying the old icons manually.
There is so much stuff they have changed with FF trying to ape chrome, I'm thankful for the userstyle.css hacks that are possible (until they decide they need to depreciate those too) to get it...
There is so much stuff they have changed with FF trying to ape chrome, I'm thankful for the userstyle.css hacks that are possible (until they decide they need to depreciate those too) to get it looking and running like I'm used to.
I have been trying to theme Firefox for a long time now. But all I've been able to do with it is look for themes other users have submitted and trying those out. But none seem to be as good as the...
I have been trying to theme Firefox for a long time now. But all I've been able to do with it is look for themes other users have submitted and trying those out. But none seem to be as good as the one I have on Chrome right now.
Do you know if there's anyway to create your own theme without knowing how to code? For Chrome there are a few Chrome apps that allow you to create your own theme from scratch. But I haven't been able to find anything like that for Firefox.
Well, on Chrome I can change almost everything. Like the color of the fonts in the tab and the bookmarks, the color of the back, reload and home buttons, and –most importantly– the background...
Well, on Chrome I can change almost everything. Like the color of the fonts in the tab and the bookmarks, the color of the back, reload and home buttons, and –most importantly– the background image. I know Firefox can change it, because I've tried some themes that have the tab background in dark or with faded images. But I cannot choose the image I want as a background.
I use https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx which requires copying some files to your profile directory and then commenting lines in and out, no coding required. Took me about 30 mins to get...
ohai Yeah, that stuff is beyond my purview, and honestly nobody in the rank and file of engineering even knew this was a thing until the post went up. I understand why they're doing the work that...
ohai
Yeah, that stuff is beyond my purview, and honestly nobody in the rank and file of engineering even knew this was a thing until the post went up.
I understand why they're doing the work that they're doing (they want a consistent brand across all Mozilla products, which has been expanding lately [see Focus, Rocket, etc]). But I personally think it would be bad to depart too much from the existing branding. I'd rather see us build incrementally on what we already have, rather than making a clean break.
As someone who's been using firefox since it was called phoenix, this really bothers me. What's so bad about that? All I want them to be is a web browser. Literally nothing else. I don't want...
Say “Firefox” and most people think of a web browser on their laptop or phone, period. TL;DR, there’s more to the story now, and our branding needs to evolve.
As someone who's been using firefox since it was called phoenix, this really bothers me. What's so bad about that? All I want them to be is a web browser. Literally nothing else. I don't want pocket, I don't want hello, I don't want ads on the new tab page. All I want is a fast, efficient, standards compliant, privacy conscious browser, and absolutely nothing else.
These logos are terrible, and the existing logo doesn't need to change. Nor does the core product. Be a good browser. That's all I ask. Don't be trendy, don't sell out, don't latch onto "the latest thing". Ugh.
I honestly could not agree more. I don't have a problem with Mozilla branching out into other services, but for the love of god PLEASE stop intentionally conflating them with your flagship...
I honestly could not agree more. I don't have a problem with Mozilla branching out into other services, but for the love of god PLEASE stop intentionally conflating them with your flagship product.
Your market share plummeted for a reason, and it wasn't just because of Chrome.
Not to mention the historic reason the Mozilla Foundation exists in the first place - Netscape was dying due to bloat and feature creep so they had to sell out to AOL. I had switched to Opera at...
Not to mention the historic reason the Mozilla Foundation exists in the first place - Netscape was dying due to bloat and feature creep so they had to sell out to AOL. I had switched to Opera at the time because I couldn't stand all the bells and whistles in Netscape Communicator Gold 4.85+ Premium Edition or whatever.
Alright fair enough, let me rephrase then. AOL/IE not withstanding, the reason firefox was created was to eliminate bloat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Firefox#Early_versions
Alright fair enough, let me rephrase then. AOL/IE not withstanding, the reason firefox was created was to eliminate bloat.
Hyatt, Ross, Hewitt and Chanial[8] developed their browser to combat the perceived software bloat of the Mozilla Suite
Yes, but by that point Netscape had already hit the skids. Remember, originally Netscape was not free (as in beer); businesses were expected to pay to use it. Then MSFT came along and gave IE away...
Yes, but by that point Netscape had already hit the skids. Remember, originally Netscape was not free (as in beer); businesses were expected to pay to use it. Then MSFT came along and gave IE away for free.
I like Pocket's suggestions, they're where I've gotten the majority of content I've posted to tildes. And I think it's a good thing that Mozilla owns Pocket, since it gives them a lot of insight...
I like Pocket's suggestions, they're where I've gotten the majority of content I've posted to tildes. And I think it's a good thing that Mozilla owns Pocket, since it gives them a lot of insight on the flow of the web (something Google obviously has far more of), without having to compromise security in their browser to get it.
As for the ads on new tab pages, I much prefer that (especially since they managed to build targeted advertising with zero privacy concerns) to Mozilla continuing to rely entirely on finding from Google. If Google pulls their contract, which they've done before, they'll be forced to move to... Bing? And that's assuming Microsoft is willing to fund them to remotely the same level. With the ads, they might be able to become financially independent.
They do indeed have more sources of funding. But Google's portion is so substantial that if they were to pull out, since Oath/Yahoo is suing Mozilla, the only player that could try to take over as...
They do indeed have more sources of funding. But Google's portion is so substantial that if they were to pull out, since Oath/Yahoo is suing Mozilla, the only player that could try to take over as the default search engine in Google's default regions would be Microsoft, who may not be willing to provide as much funding as Google has been. What's worse, since there wouldn't really be competition (Firefox, now with Alexa?), Microsoft would be able to low-ball them hard.
Mozilla doesn't have the cash to operate for very long, so it could really devastate Mozilla if Google pulls out. Google has already repeatedly shown hostility towards non-Chrome browsers, so all it takes is the value of hurting Firefox to outweigh the value of being the default search on Firefox for them to stop. Hopefully Mozilla can remove dependence on them.
Not true, actually. The move to Yahoo was Mozilla's decision, not Google's. But becoming financially independent of Big Search is definitely something that MoCo leadership has been exploring.
If Google pulls their contract, which they've done before
Not true, actually. The move to Yahoo was Mozilla's decision, not Google's.
But becoming financially independent of Big Search is definitely something that MoCo leadership has been exploring.
Wasn't it quite simply that Google's offer wasn't big enough? I guess that doesn't constitute Google pulling out as I said, but them low-balling Mozilla to hurt them is my fear.
Wasn't it quite simply that Google's offer wasn't big enough? I guess that doesn't constitute Google pulling out as I said, but them low-balling Mozilla to hurt them is my fear.
I really don't like the direction Firefox is headed in, as they've started forcing users into updating. I don't know when this started, but I want to say it was about 1-2 years ago. There are...
I really don't like the direction Firefox is headed in, as they've started forcing users into updating. I don't know when this started, but I want to say it was about 1-2 years ago. There are certain tasks I have to run for my business, which uses specific extensions, which don't work with the newest versions. I know how to keep myself safe on the Internet because I'm a developer and stay off shady sites.
Unfortunately, last winter I noticed Firefox was bulldozing right past my settings and updating itself without my consent, even after I killed the update service. I rolled back twice and noticed it kept putting me on the current version. I managed to figure out how to keep the browser at V50.1.0, but it still whines and complains, launching a popup at startup saying that it could not complete updates. No kidding.
Firefox is quickly going a bad path, and I wonder how close we are to Google or Microsoft buying it and stripping away all control.
Some extensions just don't work or have the same level of flexibility in quantum. I was stuck on the old version until certain extensions that I use daily had been updated to work with it or...
Some extensions just don't work or have the same level of flexibility in quantum. I was stuck on the old version until certain extensions that I use daily had been updated to work with it or alternatives found. Sometimes the extension author cannot update the extension because the core functionality requires access that is just not possible on the new FF builds.
for the longest time NoScript didn't have a compatible version, it does now, along with the fact that a lot of the functionality I was using it for can be achieved via Ublock Origin's 'advanced' mode.
and there were a few others that I realized when going though that I no longer needed (but updates were not available) however they don't come to mind right now.
If you're running a 64-bit OS, be sure to install the 64-bit version of Firefox. I have far less issues with the 64-bit version than with the 32-bit version.
If you're running a 64-bit OS, be sure to install the 64-bit version of Firefox. I have far less issues with the 64-bit version than with the 32-bit version.
The irony. In my experience Safari is by far the most broken browser on the market, especially in regards to their shoddy web standards implementation and strange rendering quirks. It's the new IE...
However, that issue doesn't exist at all on Safari
The irony. In my experience Safari is by far the most broken browser on the market, especially in regards to their shoddy web standards implementation and strange rendering quirks. It's the new IE as far as having to add custom workarounds on your site to get it working properly for users. Just look at the Tildes issues list to see what I'm talking about: https://gitlab.com/groups/tildes/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=all&search=safari
System 1 is pretty different from the existing icons, but I think it looks really nice. I can also see the value in choosing system 2’s more recognizable icons. I’m sure Mozilla will make the...
System 1 is pretty different from the existing icons, but I think it looks really nice.
I can also see the value in choosing system 2’s more recognizable icons.
The biggest problem with the icons is that they're too "busy". The colors, especially the gradients, combined with the shapes in such a way that the flow of color doesn't even match up with the...
The biggest problem with the icons is that they're too "busy". The colors, especially the gradients, combined with the shapes in such a way that the flow of color doesn't even match up with the flow of the shapes leaves us with a visually confusing set of icons. Quite frankly, they're an eyesore.
I get why they're doing this, and to be honest I haven't used Mozilla products enough to really feel an emotional attachment to the Firefox icons. From a marketing standpoint (which is not an...
I get why they're doing this, and to be honest I haven't used Mozilla products enough to really feel an emotional attachment to the Firefox icons.
From a marketing standpoint (which is not an industry I work in), it makes sense. They're not just starting to branch out from browsers, they've been doing that for a long time. And when I think "google" I definitely don't just think of just the search engine. Firefox (no longer Mozilla I guess?) is trying to sell a suite of applications, and it makes sense to shift brand focus.
I think the logos are alright, nothing groundbreaking. Like others have said they'll probably look dated in a couple years.
The Firefox brand has much better recognition than Mozilla in the marketplace, so I think new offerings are trying to leverage the former, rather than the latter.
Firefox (no longer Mozilla I guess?)
The Firefox brand has much better recognition than Mozilla in the marketplace, so I think new offerings are trying to leverage the former, rather than the latter.
Firefox Focus - Lightweight mobile browser featuring on-by-default private browsing, ad blocking and tracking protection Firefox Rocket - Browser designed for minimal data use - currently only...
Firefox Focus - Lightweight mobile browser featuring on-by-default private browsing, ad blocking and tracking protection
Firefox Rocket - Browser designed for minimal data use - currently only available in Indonesia
Firefox Sync - Sync your bookmarks, extensions, settings between Firefox browsers
Firefox Send - free encrypted file sharing service
Those are the ones I think think of off the top of my head.
I'm pretty disappointed with the offerings on hand myself, but the first comment on the article nailed what I'd like to see perfectly: Group 2 browser icon with Group 1 everything else.
The weird foxhead logo is just bizarre, and reminds me strongly of another logo that I can't remember by name at the moment.
GitLab probably
That's the one! Thanks.
Much too close to GitLab. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if it were a favicon, for sure.
Yeah, ditto. All the icons are especially god-awful, IMO. Seriously, WTF is this shit? That has to be a joke, right? Please, someone tell me it's a joke. :/
If they go through with any of these changes I will definitely be reapplying the old icons manually.
It looks like a case of "change for the sake of change".
There is so much stuff they have changed with FF trying to ape chrome, I'm thankful for the userstyle.css hacks that are possible (until they decide they need to depreciate those too) to get it looking and running like I'm used to.
I have been trying to theme Firefox for a long time now. But all I've been able to do with it is look for themes other users have submitted and trying those out. But none seem to be as good as the one I have on Chrome right now.
Do you know if there's anyway to create your own theme without knowing how to code? For Chrome there are a few Chrome apps that allow you to create your own theme from scratch. But I haven't been able to find anything like that for Firefox.
Well, on Chrome I can change almost everything. Like the color of the fonts in the tab and the bookmarks, the color of the back, reload and home buttons, and –most importantly– the background image. I know Firefox can change it, because I've tried some themes that have the tab background in dark or with faded images. But I cannot choose the image I want as a background.
They released a test pilot project that did exactly that just a bit ago IIRC.
I use
https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx
which requires copying some files to your profile directory and then commenting lines in and out, no coding required.
Took me about 30 mins to get FF set up the way I wanted it to look.
Those icons are going to look so horrifically dated in just a few years.
They're the Microsoft Office: Mac icons, basically.
Actually, I seem to recall some Mozilla devs popping up on ~. That said, definitely better to comment there :)
ohai
Yeah, that stuff is beyond my purview, and honestly nobody in the rank and file of engineering even knew this was a thing until the post went up.
I understand why they're doing the work that they're doing (they want a consistent brand across all Mozilla products, which has been expanding lately [see Focus, Rocket, etc]). But I personally think it would be bad to depart too much from the existing branding. I'd rather see us build incrementally on what we already have, rather than making a clean break.
As someone who's been using firefox since it was called phoenix, this really bothers me. What's so bad about that? All I want them to be is a web browser. Literally nothing else. I don't want pocket, I don't want hello, I don't want ads on the new tab page. All I want is a fast, efficient, standards compliant, privacy conscious browser, and absolutely nothing else.
These logos are terrible, and the existing logo doesn't need to change. Nor does the core product. Be a good browser. That's all I ask. Don't be trendy, don't sell out, don't latch onto "the latest thing". Ugh.
I honestly could not agree more. I don't have a problem with Mozilla branching out into other services, but for the love of god PLEASE stop intentionally conflating them with your flagship product.
Your market share plummeted for a reason, and it wasn't just because of Chrome.
Not to mention the historic reason the Mozilla Foundation exists in the first place - Netscape was dying due to bloat and feature creep so they had to sell out to AOL. I had switched to Opera at the time because I couldn't stand all the bells and whistles in Netscape Communicator Gold 4.85+ Premium Edition or whatever.
You're completely missing the elephant that was in the room: Microsoft and IE.
Alright fair enough, let me rephrase then. AOL/IE not withstanding, the reason firefox was created was to eliminate bloat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Firefox#Early_versions
Yes, but by that point Netscape had already hit the skids. Remember, originally Netscape was not free (as in beer); businesses were expected to pay to use it. Then MSFT came along and gave IE away for free.
I like Pocket's suggestions, they're where I've gotten the majority of content I've posted to tildes. And I think it's a good thing that Mozilla owns Pocket, since it gives them a lot of insight on the flow of the web (something Google obviously has far more of), without having to compromise security in their browser to get it.
As for the ads on new tab pages, I much prefer that (especially since they managed to build targeted advertising with zero privacy concerns) to Mozilla continuing to rely entirely on finding from Google. If Google pulls their contract, which they've done before, they'll be forced to move to... Bing? And that's assuming Microsoft is willing to fund them to remotely the same level. With the ads, they might be able to become financially independent.
They do indeed have more sources of funding. But Google's portion is so substantial that if they were to pull out, since Oath/Yahoo is suing Mozilla, the only player that could try to take over as the default search engine in Google's default regions would be Microsoft, who may not be willing to provide as much funding as Google has been. What's worse, since there wouldn't really be competition (Firefox, now with Alexa?), Microsoft would be able to low-ball them hard.
Mozilla doesn't have the cash to operate for very long, so it could really devastate Mozilla if Google pulls out. Google has already repeatedly shown hostility towards non-Chrome browsers, so all it takes is the value of hurting Firefox to outweigh the value of being the default search on Firefox for them to stop. Hopefully Mozilla can remove dependence on them.
Not true, actually. The move to Yahoo was Mozilla's decision, not Google's.
But becoming financially independent of Big Search is definitely something that MoCo leadership has been exploring.
Wasn't it quite simply that Google's offer wasn't big enough? I guess that doesn't constitute Google pulling out as I said, but them low-balling Mozilla to hurt them is my fear.
Nope, that wasn't it.
I can't really say anything else; those details are under NDA.
(I'm a Mozilla employee)
Alright, thanks for sharing what you can. 👍
I really don't like the direction Firefox is headed in, as they've started forcing users into updating. I don't know when this started, but I want to say it was about 1-2 years ago. There are certain tasks I have to run for my business, which uses specific extensions, which don't work with the newest versions. I know how to keep myself safe on the Internet because I'm a developer and stay off shady sites.
Unfortunately, last winter I noticed Firefox was bulldozing right past my settings and updating itself without my consent, even after I killed the update service. I rolled back twice and noticed it kept putting me on the current version. I managed to figure out how to keep the browser at V50.1.0, but it still whines and complains, launching a popup at startup saying that it could not complete updates. No kidding.
Firefox is quickly going a bad path, and I wonder how close we are to Google or Microsoft buying it and stripping away all control.
If you want less frequent updates, sounds like you want the Firefox Extended Support Release. Currently ESR 60 and 52 are available.
yeah, really, update your extensions if they're so critical
Some extensions just don't work or have the same level of flexibility in quantum. I was stuck on the old version until certain extensions that I use daily had been updated to work with it or alternatives found. Sometimes the extension author cannot update the extension because the core functionality requires access that is just not possible on the new FF builds.
if its okay for me to ask, what do they do? I might be able to help out :)
Something I no longer use because the exploit was patched by most websites, you could use it to spoof location on quite a few streaming sites
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/modify-headers/
for the longest time NoScript didn't have a compatible version, it does now, along with the fact that a lot of the functionality I was using it for can be achieved via Ublock Origin's 'advanced' mode.
and there were a few others that I realized when going though that I no longer needed (but updates were not available) however they don't come to mind right now.
Has it occurred to you that maybe you just hit a bug?
System 1's masterbrand icon looks too identical to GitLab's logo.
If you're running a 64-bit OS, be sure to install the 64-bit version of Firefox. I have far less issues with the 64-bit version than with the 32-bit version.
The irony. In my experience Safari is by far the most broken browser on the market, especially in regards to their shoddy web standards implementation and strange rendering quirks. It's the new IE as far as having to add custom workarounds on your site to get it working properly for users. Just look at the Tildes issues list to see what I'm talking about: https://gitlab.com/groups/tildes/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=all&search=safari
System 1 is pretty different from the existing icons, but I think it looks really nice.
I can also see the value in choosing system 2’s more recognizable icons.
I’m sure Mozilla will make the right choice.
The biggest problem with the icons is that they're too "busy". The colors, especially the gradients, combined with the shapes in such a way that the flow of color doesn't even match up with the flow of the shapes leaves us with a visually confusing set of icons. Quite frankly, they're an eyesore.
I get why they're doing this, and to be honest I haven't used Mozilla products enough to really feel an emotional attachment to the Firefox icons.
From a marketing standpoint (which is not an industry I work in), it makes sense. They're not just starting to branch out from browsers, they've been doing that for a long time. And when I think "google" I definitely don't just think of just the search engine. Firefox (no longer Mozilla I guess?) is trying to sell a suite of applications, and it makes sense to shift brand focus.
I think the logos are alright, nothing groundbreaking. Like others have said they'll probably look dated in a couple years.
The Firefox brand has much better recognition than Mozilla in the marketplace, so I think new offerings are trying to leverage the former, rather than the latter.
What are those app/service icons related to? All I know about Firefox is the browser.
Those are the ones I think think of off the top of my head.
EDIT: Added Send, descriptions
Do you mind adding a brief label or description of what these app/services do? It's not really clear from their name.
Don't forget the 1982 Clint Eastwood movie.
Its just fine.