

Mozilla Firefox 14.01 release notes... - 01Michael10
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/14.0.1/releasenotes/

======
Kliment
I'm pretty happy about the click-to-plugin. I have to use java on two sites
and absolutely hate it when any other page has java content. I already use
flashblock to get this behavior with Flash, and having it for the media
plugins would be great too.

~~~
SaulOfTheJungle
I like it as well. For those who haven't turned it on:

    
    
      1. Go to about:config
      2. Set plugins.click_to_play to true

------
debacle
Really excited about the pointer lock API. Makes the browser a viable gaming
platform now.

Edit: There appears to be a bug in the pointer lock code - not sure what's
going on, but my mouse is getting locked into the wrong monitor if I move the
Firefox window between monitors.

~~~
gioele
Yay, pointer grabs in user-supplied code! What could possibly go wrong?

[https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=x11+mouse+grabs+proble...](https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=x11+mouse+grabs+problems)

For those not familiar with the problems: pointer grabs are notorious for
being a pain to deal with. They have many strange corner cases and security
problems. They also have weird interaction issues with things like modal
windows, popups, screensavers and the like.

~~~
cameronh90
My understanding is that the app must be fullscreen, and the user can always
escape fullscreen and pointer lock with the ESC key. I guess there is a risk
that the browser could hang in that state, though, which makes it even more
important for Mozilla to focus on their browser's stability.

~~~
gioele
> My understanding is that the app must be fullscreen, and the user can always
> escape fullscreen and pointer lock with the ESC key.

It is similar in other windowing systems. But, but...

You are in fullscreen mode with a pointer grab. An important window pops up
over the full screen: "10 minutes of battery remaining". What is the state of
the grab while this window is shown? Will the code holding the grab be
notified of this window? How will the pointer grab behave while the pointer is
over the other window? Will the other window able to gain focus with a click?
Should windows over other fullscreen windows be allowed at all? In general,
how will the pointer grab reflect on the OS windowing system's pointer grab?

Past windowing systems tells us that it is extremely difficult to get all this
right if the code doing the grab and doing the window management are the same
code, something that is not going to happen with web apps.

~~~
comex
Since there's a good chance moving the mouse is moving some gun around in 3D
space rather than any visible pointer, the answer should be the same as for
normal 3D games: to use the pointer or other windows, you must press ESC.

------
moreati
Glad to see the screensaver/power save inhibit API
<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=697132>. I was surprised when
HTML5 <video> didn't do that from the start

~~~
gioele
Yes, browsers should take responsibility for doing it without asking the web
devs to handle it, with the possibility of messing it up.

Operating systems have spent years dealing with power saving policies and
application requests for keeping the display/disk/music/connection on. After
about 10 years we are now reaching a point where all this have acceptable
defaults and decent GUIs to change the settings to suit one's needs. Now all
this will have to be redone again inside the browser.

Shortly people will complain that the browser did not let the monitor sleep at
the end of a video/movie. Or, in the future, that the browser did not prevent
the computer from going to sleep while the music was playing AND that the
browser let the computer to sleep while the music was playing.

------
manmal
No Retina support :( There is a temporary fix for that, but it requires
layers.acceleration to be disabled.

~~~
tomflack
Well you saw how long it took to get OSX full-screen support. I wouldn't hold
your breath about retina.

------
ward
Why the "..." ? Am I missing something?

~~~
mgunes
It probably implies "yet another Firefox release (without many significant
user-facing changes)..."

There seems to be a general grudge among somewhat technically-minded people
against the entire phenomenon of new Firefox releases since Firefox switched
to its frequent release model.

~~~
melling
Not at all. Most people don't care about the frequent updates. I certainly
don't. I get a daily update. There's simply a section of the geek population
that likes to whine loudly. If you don't like Firefox's update cycle switch to
Chrome.

~~~
mgunes
If you read my comment slowly, you'll note that I didn't express any
dissatisfaction with Firefox updates, and said "somewhat technically-minded
people", which corresponds to your definition of "a section of the geek
population".

------
MartinMond
So does this now use SPDY to connect to Google's servers by default?

~~~
udp
Not just Google's servers, but any server where SPDY is available (e.g.
Twitter).

This is handy: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/spdy-
indicato...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/spdy-indicator/)

~~~
notatoad
really though, just google's servers because google is the only spdy-enabled
site where https is forced. twitter doesn't come in over spdy unless you type
in https.

~~~
kalleboo
Twitter does have an "Always use HTTPS" option for when you're logged in.

------
pasbesoin
Favicons are not displaying in the address bar... erm, WonderBar or
MarvelousBar or whatever it's called now... AwesomeBar?

Anyway, they show up in the sidebar (e.g. a new bookmark) but not in the
AwesomeBar. Maybe a an issue in combination with extension IdentFavIcon
(0.3.4.7)?

I know, HN is not a bug tracker. But since the thread's already here.

~~~
darkstalker
They were disabled intentionally, now displays the "trusted" status. This was
to avoid some malicious sites putting a lock icon, thus pretending to be
"safe" sites

~~~
pasbesoin
I actually had a moment of speculation in that direction, but then figured
that it would be contrary to the trends/momentum in... I don't know, "design"
and "image" and, well, "looking pretty".

Thanks for the information. And I'm kind of glad to read it. :-)

P.S. Shame on me, for not looking further into the release notes -- although I
did take an initial look but didn't note this change.

P.P.S. <http://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2012/06/site-identity-ui-updates/>

------
masklinn
> Full screen support for Mac OS X Lion implemented

Aaaand fuck.

~~~
grecy
I still don't get why everyone is so pissed off about fullscreen.

OK, sure, with two monitors, it renders the second display useless. I get
that.

So why don't you just not use fullscreen mode, and continue doing everything
you've been doing with dual monitors since the days of OS X 10.0 ?

You lose nothing, and gain nothing, so it makes absolutely 0 difference in
your workflow.

~~~
masklinn
> I still don't get why everyone is so pissed off about fullscreen

1\. because it's garbage

2\. because applications which used to have a working fullscreen mode — such
as firefox — and get converted to the Lion API result in no gain and lots of
pain

> So why don't you just not use fullscreen mode, and continue doing everything
> you've been doing with dual monitors since the days of OS X 10.0 ?

Like use fullscreen mode on Firefox, which has been there forever? Oh wait,
now I can't. Just as I can't use fullscreen mode on, say, Quicktime X. Or have
movies display on the big screen. I didn't really want them on the 27" anyway,
the 15" is so much better isn't it? Pulls you closer to the screen, unless you
don't care for the picture.

> You lose nothing, and gain nothing, so it makes absolutely 0 difference in
> your workflow.

Yes actually: Firefox still had a fullscreen mode which actually worked
correctly. Now it does not, unless there is some sort of hidden setting able
to toggle back to the "old" API as there is in VLC.

~~~
johnthedebs
FWIW, Mountain Lion will fix this and comes out in about a week.

It doesn't fix the fact that you're left with one (or more) useless displays
in full screen mode, but it does let you choose which display to do the full
screening on.

~~~
elliottcarlson
Unless I have missed an article stating otherwise, there is a lot of noise
about it not being fixed in Mountain Lion:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4235432>

~~~
johnthedebs
The problem that remains in Mountain Lion is that you can only use 1 display
at a time when in full-screen mode.

It's better than Lion in that you will be able to choose _which_ of your
displays is used to go into full-screen mode, rather than always just using
the 'main' display.

Disclaimer: I haven't actually tested in Mountain Lion, but this is the only
consistent explanation I've been able to gather from careful reading of
people's complaints and Apple's description of the feature change.

