From a usability standpoint, WebExtensions have a lot less control of the browser and some use cases are completely closed off. The Webex version of Tree Style Tabs, for instance, requires you to have a redundant tab bar on top because it's not allowed to hide the main one. Pentadactyl can't have it's sub-buffer anymore. Download managers/scrapers like DownThemAll can't even do their main function anymore. On and on and on.
Part of security is availability - the most secure system is one that is unplugged and unusable. Mozilla has taken the step of putting covers on all the outlets (damn those who want to plug something in), bubble-wrapping all the knives (damn those who want to cut something), and essentially baby proofing the browser (damn those who are adults), making it far less usable in the process.
Firefox was the extensible browser. That was its differentiation. Now it's yet another Chrome clone (hang the technical differences, those are not what I refer to) with an extension system to match, but it's not made by Google, so that's a positive, I guess?
If I sound upset, it's because Mozilla took what was a big part of my daily life, an amazing and infinitely versatile tool that I'd grown with and customized over the years until it was like a comfortable pair of shoes and just completely fucked it in the most thorough way possible. Sure, an extension broke every upgrade or two, but it was survivable. This? This is not.
Okay, it's faster. Neat. Whatever. I didn't use Firefox because of it's blazing speed.
As of this moment, there are no good browsers. There is nothing out there that matches what Firefox was. (And ESR is just prolonging the inevitable).
This is legitimately saddening for me and many others - and no amount of insisting this is better despite the many more important ways its worse will change that. Mozilla's target user at some point stopped being me and started being someone else . I can accept that. What I can't accept is this constant, infuriating, paternalistic posturing that it's for my own good.
I agree that I'm very disappointed with the transition to Web Extensions. In addition to the items you mentioned, Vimium can no longer be used while on a built-in page such as the about: pages or the start page. This is really frustrating since it requires different commands depending on context and leads to breaks in my flow.
I am hopeful that over time we will see an expansion of the current API to include a lot of the functionality that we are currently missing, but Firefox may never achieve the same level of useability that it has had until this point.
You can hide the tab bar manually. Supposedly the plug-in should be able to hide it but they claim there is a bug currently in 57 preventing it from working.
Part of security is availability - the most secure system is one that is unplugged and unusable. Mozilla has taken the step of putting covers on all the outlets (damn those who want to plug something in), bubble-wrapping all the knives (damn those who want to cut something), and essentially baby proofing the browser (damn those who are adults), making it far less usable in the process.
Firefox was the extensible browser. That was its differentiation. Now it's yet another Chrome clone (hang the technical differences, those are not what I refer to) with an extension system to match, but it's not made by Google, so that's a positive, I guess?
If I sound upset, it's because Mozilla took what was a big part of my daily life, an amazing and infinitely versatile tool that I'd grown with and customized over the years until it was like a comfortable pair of shoes and just completely fucked it in the most thorough way possible. Sure, an extension broke every upgrade or two, but it was survivable. This? This is not.
Okay, it's faster. Neat. Whatever. I didn't use Firefox because of it's blazing speed.
As of this moment, there are no good browsers. There is nothing out there that matches what Firefox was. (And ESR is just prolonging the inevitable).
This is legitimately saddening for me and many others - and no amount of insisting this is better despite the many more important ways its worse will change that. Mozilla's target user at some point stopped being me and started being someone else . I can accept that. What I can't accept is this constant, infuriating, paternalistic posturing that it's for my own good.