Mozilla Firefox 124 Is Now Available for Download

An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla Firefox 124 looks like a small update that only updates the Caret Browsing mode to also work in the PDF viewer and adds support for the Screen Wake Lock API to prevent devices from dimming or locking the screen when an application needs to keep running. The Firefox View feature has been updated as well in this release to allow users to sort open tabs by either recent activity (default setting) or tab order. Also, Firefox 124 expands Qwant's availability to all languages in the France region along with Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland.

This release also adds support for using HTTP(S) and relative URLs when creating WebSockets, as well as support for the AbortSignal: any() static method, which takes an iterable of abort signals and returns an AbortSignal (more details are available here). For Android users, Firefox 124 enables the Pull to Refresh feature, which is now more robust than ever, by default and adds support for the HTML drag and drop API when using a mouse, which accepts plain text or HTML text by the drop operation from external apps.

For macOS users, this release uses the fullscreen API for all types of full-screen windows, promising a better match to the expected macOS user experience for full-screen spaces, the Menubar, and the Dock. If you want to disable this feature, you'll need to set the full-screen-api.macos-native-full-screen preference to false in about:config. For Windows users, this release adds the ability to populate the Windows taskbar jump list more efficiently. According to Mozilla, this change should allow for a "smoother overall browsing experience."

We really need Firefox to be good again.

[xack]

I only use Firefox because the alternative is Chromium based junk, and Webkit is kind of abandoned outside of MacOS. I know about the usual suspects such as Pale Moon, Librewolf, Waterfox etc, but Firefox is the only real mainstream alternative with significant funding and major compatibility. I do keep tabs on the Ladybird and Servo projects, but they even struggle on simpler sites, anything with heavy javascript just crashes them. Mozilla as an organization is too aimless, when it should be focusing on its technical merits such as security and operating system support. The R3dfox project proves that it is still possible to run on Windows 7 with patches, and Mozilla's own telemetry reveals 10% of its users are Windows 7. You can scream "It'S oUt Of SuPpoRt" as much as you like, but we are in a cost of living crisis and many people don't want to buy an expensive Windows 11 computer with AI crap on it right now. Mozilla should focus on making Firefox the browser that people choose to use, not because its the "least worst option". I've been on the internet for almost 25 years now, and have been using Mozilla based browsers on and off since 2001, please save us from the "everything is chrome in the future" meme.

Re:We really need Firefox to be good again.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mozilla as an organization is too aimless

And that is the real problem. The people running Mozilla are incompetent buffoons. Firefox is doomed as long as these clowns are in charge. If it wasn't for Google giving them hundreds of millions of dollars every year (most of which is wasted on pointless crap), Mozilla would have disappeared years ago.

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

The people running Mozilla

There's someone running Mozilla? As in, doing this on purpose?

Re:

[markdavis]

>"We really need Firefox to be good again"

Personally, if we are talking desktop, which is mostly all I use for browsing, Firefox still is good. For performance, security, and compatibility with standards, it has never been better. My only real complaint is the lockdown of the UI. It is still FAR more configurable/customizable than Chrom* and Firefox also supports userChrome (see https://github.com/Aris-t2/Cus... [github.com] for an excellent suite of tweaks). However, I do wish they would open up the addon abilit

Re:

[Vlad_the_Inhaler]

My previous Android phone had the Samsung browser installed automatically, I'm pretty sure it's optional with my current phone and probably would have noticed if it was installed.
Amusingly, Samsung made the claim that their browser was one of the most popular ones in the world around four years ago, they based this on download statistics and not actual use. I suppose the same could be said to apply with Chrome, I only use it when Android functions call it automatically (or when the Firefox security setting

Poor UI

[devslash0]

If they want to make the dent in the browser market, their focus should be to restore the old look and feel. Current UI experience on desktop is absolutely unbearable.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't call it unbearable, but it is definitely not as good as it used to be and not as good as it could be.

It all comes back to arrogant, incompetent assholes in charge. Over the past several years they have made many really bad design decisions. When Chrome started becoming popular they started trying to make Firefox more like Chrome. And when people complained and said "If we want Chrome we'll use Chrome" Mozilla's reply to all complaints is always the same -- a very thinly veiled "Fuck You, we

Re: Poor UI

[drinkypoo]

They are anti-Linux-user, too! Only on Linux do you have to have scroll bars so narrow you can't find the fuckers. On Windows they are about three times wider! And they refuse to offer an option to set the width from the preferences like you used to be able to. Yeah you can work around it but how fucking arrogant.

Re:

[markdavis]

I agree with you. I can't stand hidden or fade-in or narrow scroll bars. That is exactly why I used this:

* Bring scrollbar buttons back with: widget.non-native-theme.gtk.scrollbar.allow-buttons True
* Set widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.size to something like 18 to put it back to a normal size.

But most of the fault is not Firefox under Linux, per se, it is the selected GTK 3 theme. Doesn't matter if you are using Gnome or not (I certainly don't) all my GTK-using apps had the same or similar issues until

Re:

[JThundley]

Hey thanks for this, very useful! I thought I was stuck with the super skinny scrollbars with the rest of my theme.

Let me also recommend this which improves scrolling: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-... [mozilla.org]
More info and a video about it are on https://fastaddons.com/ [fastaddons.com].

Re:

[dskoll]

I find the Firefox UI OK. Yeah, the changes were jarring as they occurred, but I'm used to them now. No way will I use Chrome as my primary browser, so that pretty much leaves Firefox.

Session Saver/Manager for Firefox?

[Futurepower(R)]

Can you recommend a Session Saver/Manager add-on for Firefox?

The old add-ons were abandoned.

Re: Session Saver/Manager for Firefox?

[Anamon]

I guess what people want from a session manager varies a lot, but I personally use Simple Tab Groups and am quite happy with it, maybe it's worth a look.

Re:

[Merk42]

What is unbearable about it?

Re:

[eneville]

The UI doesn't matter much when there's no in-your-face advertising like there is for chrome or edge. There's not likely going to be promotion for Firefox in the start menu on Windows, and whilst Chrome is a better advert delivery vehicle, Google will have a preference for it.

What about the other search engines - do any of them want to direct users towards Firefox more than Chrome?

Personally, can't see why, with such a mature Internet audience these days, people don't just instinctively reach for Firefox.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

The problem is Firefox doesn't offer anything particularly compelling to most users. Keep in mind most people aren't unhappy with Chrome and don't believe Google is the devil incarnate, so forgot all that stuff. What features does Firefox have that can be explained in a few words and make it a clearly better browser?

Privacy? They all claim to have that.

Speed? None of the major ones are particularly slow.

UI? Every browser is the same for the basic features that most people use.

Where Firefox is particularly l

Re:

[eneville]

Your points are true, but if the browsers are mostly the same, why don't more landing pages direct people towards the more neutral firefox, than the ones that have more direct input from the advertisers?

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

If they test with Chrome then their site will work with almost all browsers. Recommending Firefox means supporting it.

Re:Poor UI

[bussdriver]

One should not have to constantly work around their poor UI decisions and the removal of abilities to configure it the way USERS want with BS excuses.

The tab bar can't be replaced with an add on. still.
The toolbars are mostly gone and not flexible. add-on overflow sucks big time...
The MacOS menus and optionally enabled windows menubar are missing obvious things like Refresh (or navigation) and the Tools menu lacks passwords and other tools. Menus are also a quick reference for keyboard bindings. Help lacks a keybindings item...
Help doesn't have the "report a broken website" option anymore.

Oh, and the browser will expand into all available RAM with no option to let me cap it's usage! Sure, it has some limitations that prevent thrashing but I can't set that! I have SSD for swap I'd rather not wear it out faster just browsing the web.

This one doesn't restart itself on update?

[byronivs]

They need to fix [superuser.com] that. What that linked question asker wants is probably not good policy, but all the responses are nanny, except a Linux oriented one that sounds plausible but is shot down because other apps don't demand it. Anyway this is because Firefox (properly so) doesn't keep track of your history when asked.
I use TreeTabs to bookmark a fully loaded window of tabs to folder first. For each open window.
I'd rather have it ask before all-fail behavior.

Right now, apropos of political nonsense, I enthuse a minor protest using Waterfox, a downstream forked version of Firefox because I want to see what Firefox can be. Unfortunately, the only improvement Waterfox adds for me is no screaming security splashes on my home network. That's nice, but not really enough to recommend a change. The menubar is wonky. Anyone allowing tabs on the side has my attention. Except anything google or microsoft backed. (whoops)

PS And yes, I can make certs and sign them for my home network. I just don't want to since I'm pretty sure I am the site I'm visiting. There's a great article on Ars [arstechnica.com] right now about how to DIY certificate stuff.

Re:

[markdavis]

>"Anyone allowing tabs on the side has my attention. Except anything google or microsoft backed. (whoops)

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-... [mozilla.org]

I am not endorsing or recommending that, nor do I use it. I am just aware of it.

So... we're doing announcement for updates now?

[Cask Strength]

The bar has dropped really low.

I am sure..

[BloomFilter]

Both Firefox users are happy with the updates.

Firefox or ?

[Stephen Chadfield]

Firefox is the only browser I can bear using. And I don't like it all that much. Maybe I should just sell all my gadgets and go back to vinyl records, paper books and FM radio. Happier days.