this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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Can we please stop with the browser bloat? This is something that should be a plug-in, not a kitchen sink feature.
I actually don't agree, and the reason is - non tech people. You and me can install plugins but ordinary people don't do that. So the default experience must be good, offering improvements to the experience over Google Chrome.
Otherwise all privacy features could also be plugins. Imagine if that was true. Firefox would have no identity and you would have to install plugins and make it your own.
So some features should be built in. Maybe the ability to get pop-ups about false reviews will actually make users go "wow that is so useful".
Compromise: Develop it as a Plugin and then install it by default. That way people who don't want the feature can easily remove it completely. That approach would likely also reduce the number of Firefox forks whose sole purpose is to remove the new features some consider bloat.
That's actually what Firefox usually did for these kind of features. They're usually delayed as system add-ons.
Or make it so that people have a choice to add some of the extension features when installing the browser. Debloating is not fun
Sometimes it feels like debloating is a hobby to people with little to show for it
Well, the whole point of debloating is to end up with little in the way of stuff instead of lots of stuff ;)
I do get that and used to do a lot of it myself, but usually the results are just fairly minor. That's what I meant by it seeming more like a hobby than something hugely beneficial
I suspected so, but the way you worded it was just asking (neigh, demanding) to be "misunderstood" for humouristic purposes :)
I think it's just me not being a native speaker and being lazy with my wording
Not a criticism.
As far as I can tell (not a native speaker myself) it was properly worded and I only acted as if I had misunderstood it for humouristic purposes.
I've done it for actual expressions used by native speakers by simulating language ignorance and interpreting them in a literal way, for fun, just like I did here.
Sorry if it sounded like a criticism - I meant to just take the piss in a friendly way.
No worries, I didn't take it in a bad way
Most people don't want a 45th prompt when they just want to install firefox to check facebook and their mail
True, also wouldn't be too much work. Just some additional dialogues on first start up asking you which plugins you'd like installed
Good solution, perhaps two simple options at browser install: Default / Custom. That way you don't have to uninstall all the stuff at the end.
Probably handle it similarly to how Chrome handles an extension asking for new permissions. It disables the add-on and gives the user a small non-intrusive notification on the options menu. Opening the notification notified the user about the change in permissions and asks them if they want to re-enable the add-on or remove it from Chrome.
Now, let's talk about adblockers... Oh, wait, Google would get upset if FF had an inbuilt adblocker and could stop giving us those $weet money...
If Google stopped sponsoring, Mozilla would go down and Google would get slammed with anti-monopoly lawsuits from the EU.
So Mozilla can do whatever they want and Google won't stop sending them money. Since that is a lot more profitable in the long run.
So... What are they waiting for? Are they going to rely on gorhill for ever?
You want Mozilla choosing what gets blocked?
Sure, as long as we still have options to disable their blocker and use a 3rd party one if we choose. It's astounding how many users don't bother to install an adblocker and it would be a massive improvement for those users who don't know better.
There's been more than one occasion that I've used a family member's PC and they have Firefox installed without a single extension, they didn't even know that extensions existed.
Use LibreWolf. It's Firefox with pre-installed uBlock Origin and pre-configured privacy settings. It also doesn't have any of the Firefox bloat like Pocket
No way I'm giving market share to gecko and, thus, to Mozilla. I just point how how hypocrite they are. I'll keep satisfyingly using Brave.
Blockers need to be an extension, keeps everyone honest.
Reminds me of gnome.
Agreed. This is well outside the scope of native browser functions. Firefox already has a rich extensions ecosystem. They can just include the extension with the browser by default for all I care, but as a native feature, this makes no sense.
They do that. Screenshot upload and so on are handled as extensions.
Firefox extension platform frontend is a mess and has been for years.
I'd say these should be "recommended plug-ins" but imho FF/Moz embarassed themselves on that front with the whole "Pocket" thing.
I agree and I worry about what options they'll remove from about:config next to make room for or force the acceptance of new features like they have a habit of doing.
There's LibreWolf. It allows you to disable many things that you can't disable in normal Firefox. It also has uBlock Origin pre-installed and it's pre-configured for privacy.
+1. When Edge added a price tracker / financing thing, the same people threw a fit.
If you were pro that, you should be pro this.
Just use LibreWolf if you want debloated Firefox
Librewolf isn't just a debloated version of Firefox. It's built with a completely different goal of being extra locked down for privacy. More so than the defaults of Firefox. Also, it doesn't even include auto update functionality unless you're using a package manager.
That's good, isn't it?
I completely forgot this was even as thing because I exclusively use Linux and install/update everything with a package manager. You can also use Chocolatey on Windows or Homebrew on macOS. I feel like more people should use package managers, by using them you avoid having to download some random executables from shady websites and your system doesn't get bloated up by 423942389 update daemons that are constantly running in the background.
It is, but it's also not for everyone
Also, I strongly don't expect everyday users to use package managers. And personally, I like having notifications in the app whenever it's time to update so I can take action right there.
Why? Pretty much every website works fine on LibreWolf.
I mean, yeah, sure, it would be great if LibreWolf had an auto-update functionality, for me it's not a deal breaker though.
Amazon only operates in 58 countries, so it's basically useless for everyone else. But the company they acquired (fakespot) seems to do more than amazon, but that still does not make it worth packaging it with the browser