[ale] AARG Firefox devs delete several important UI options

[Sparr]

Firefox has always had thousands of configuration options that aren't in
the preferences panel. If you want to be a power user, use about:config


On Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 9:11 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Just thought I'd pass this along.  The Firefox dev team has deleted
> several UI options in Firefox 23 that they think are unimportant but that I
> and a number of people commenting on blogs etc. think are important.  This
> article lists most of them:
>
>
> http://www.askvg.com/mozilla-to-remove-several-unnecessary-options-from-firefox-preferences-window
>
> Some of them impact the way I have my Firefox's set up and some of them
> change user defaults even after the user had intentionally modified them.
>  If you care about any of these, you can temporarily turn off auto updates
> on ff 22 (if you even still have ff 22) and look at the menus to see where
> things have changed.  I spent several hours last night researching how to
> undo what the dev team has done.  I've found alternate ways of setting or
> workarounds for almost all.  I'm going to have to spend more hours
> reconfiguring all my ff installations, pc's, logins, vm's, after they
> upgrade to 23.  This will take a large and annoying amount of time.  When
> I'm done, I should still have the system configured the way I want but will
> still be able to do auto updates.  As has been stated here before by
> others, you don't want to leave auto updates off if you can avoid it.  I
> hope to post detailed instructions on how to override the changes in a
> separate post.  Posting the details now would!
>   take a good bit of time.
>
> Here's what they've changed:
>
> A) Tabs on top checkbox is gone - I hate this feature.  I want the menu on
> top, then the address bar / nav bar, then the tabs.  Some may like it, but
> the point is, you need to be able to change it.  This is fixable.
>
> B) Load images automatically checkbox / exception list is gone - I and
> many people use this periodically when they don't want to load images, for
> speed or bandwidth considerations or data caps, etc.  Fixable.
>
> C) Enable javascript checkbox / advanced javascript configuration is gone.
>  This is something that's security related and something I set on every
> installation I do for myself.  What really burns me is that they've not
> only deleted the controls, but have altered the default settings I already
> had.  I keep javacript turned on here and let noscript control it on a site
> by site basis.  However, the advanced screen would let you disallow scripts
> moving or resizing windows, raising or lowering windows, or changing or
> replacing context menus.  I had all these features turned off and that's
> the way I wanted them.  Now, the dev team has changed the defaults that I
> HAD ALREADY SET to be the opposite in two of the three cases.  As a
> consequence, I have to go to every pc, vm, and login I have and use a very
> kludgy method that takes 5X longer to configure, and put the systems back
> the way I had it.  But, it's fixable.
>
> D) The dialog to override automatic cache management is supposedly gone,
> but I think it may still be there, at least for the moment.  I don't know
> if that's fixable if they remove it.  I've never used it.
>
> While I'm here (in the options / preferences, advanced, network menu) you
> should know that html 5 websites can potentially store many MB of data for
> offline use on your system.  There are a couple of dialogs in this menu to
> control and monitor that, as well as a checkbox to "Tell me when a website
> wants to store data for offline use".  I'd leave that checked.
>
> E) Options to turn off or on SSL3 or TLS1 are gone.  The entire
> certificate management interface is supposed to be gone, but I think it's
> still there.  I've never used the first options.  I occasionally have to
> tinker with security certificate exceptions.  I don't know if the SSL TLS
> things are fixable or if they need to be.
>
> F) The option to turn off the nav toolbar is gone supposedly, but it still
> looks like it's in the view menu.  I don't know if that's fixable if they
> remove it.  Many people like to eliminate tabs and the nav bar and just
> have a small window with information displaying in it, like weather.
>
> G) The always show the tab bar option is gone.  Conversely, is the easy
> option to hide it.  Logic for why people want this is the same as for the
> nav bar.  This is fixable.
>
> That's it for now.  I hope to be posting detailed instructions to
> implement the fixes, but that email will take me a while to type and I have
> to find time for it.  If anyone has specific questions, feel free to ask.
>
> HTH
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
>
> --
>
> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
> Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
> quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
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>
>
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