With FF57 legacy Addon don't work. So unless Addon makers update their Addons to work with FF57 new interface they will not work. I think unless you can logging your errors finding a solution for your situation will be hard to do.

cloverdavid said

My satellite carrier, ViaSat, has a new browser which, while it has some shortcomings, is a real challenger to Firefox.

Not a new browser per say as it is just based on the open source Chromium with their own look and claims of innovation.

As to the add-ons, Here are your choices; 1) Contact its support and ask if they will update 2) Find a replacement 3) Downgrade to a prior Firefox 4) Do without

Thanks for the suggestions, BUT I was hoping that someone representing Mozilla who is knowledgeable about FF would respond. I am not going to contact each add-on developer and ask them to fix it for FF 57. Why isn't this something Mozilla can handle?

So, at the moment, I am using FF 56.0.2. Cannot understand how Ver 57 is so different from earlier versions.

cloverdavid said

Thanks for the suggestions, BUT I was hoping that someone representing Mozilla who is knowledgeable about FF would respond. I am not going to contact each add-on developer and ask them to fix it for FF 57. Why isn't this something Mozilla can handle? So, at the moment, I am using FF 56.0.2. Cannot understand how Ver 57 is so different from earlier versions.

We are knowledgeable, that was not nice. Firefox Support is provided by Volunteers who donate their time helping users.

Mozilla ok's Extensions submitted by the Developers to be used with Firefox. They ok them only and give the Developer a web page to distribute their Extension from. This in no means that Firefox Support does the Developers Support when their page has a Support link and a contact Link.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/extensions/

https://mozilla.github.io/extension-finder/

https://www.howtogeek.com/332449/whats-new-in-firefox-quantum/ https://www.howtogeek.com/333110/how-to-customize-firefox-quantum-and-remove-the-white-space-around-the-title-bar/ https://www.howtogeek.com/333805/how-to-change-or-customize-firefoxs-new-tab-page/

https://www.howtogeek.com/334716/how-to-customize-firefoxs-user-interface-with-userchrome.css/ http://techdows.com/2017/09/classic-theme-restorer-userchrome-css-modify-firefox-57-photon-ui.html https://www.accessfirefox.org/Theme-Font-Size-Changer.php https://www.userchrome.org/ https://www.accessfirefox.org/Firefox_Accessibility_Themes.php https://www.userchrome.org/what-is-userchrome-css.html http://kb.mozillazine.org/UserChrome.css https://github.com/axydavid/FirefoxUI/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/wilfredwee/photon-australis Note not all code in one place, dedicated sub-Reddit/Firefox on this

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

cloverdavid said

I am not going to contact each add-on developer and ask them to fix it for FF 57. Why isn't this something Mozilla can handle? So, at the moment, I am using FF 56.0.2. Cannot understand how Ver 57 is so different from earlier versions.

User to user support forum, not staffed by Mozilla developers or paid employees. Plus the collective knowledge of many long term users who provide support here is greater than most individual employees.

Add-on developers had the option to subscribe to a mailing list for many years now; those who did where notified many times over the last couple of years as changes to the extensibility of of Firefox was being planned and carried out. Some addon developers did update the product, while others didn't; while other developers realized that their Legacy addon wouldn't translate to the WebExtension format. As far as contacting each developer individually; very hard when there are thousands of addon developers for Firefox, and not Mozilla responsibility to do it like that. If the addon was hosted at the official addons web site, an email was sent periodically about upcoming changes.

It wasn't an on / off event that was decided in a moment in time; it was a slow gradual process that evolved over the last few years starting around the time that Australis was released in 2014.

Firefox 57 is "tagged" as Quantum for a reason - loosely translated, an "important change" from what is now in the past. New UI (user interface) that is faster than the previous one, along with massive changes "under the hood" that have evolved over many previous versions and were completed for Quantum.

And similar comments was made about the previous major UI change, Australis which came in Firefox 29 back in April 2014. And also about Firefox 4.0 in March 2011.

Some people like it, while others don't. My own feeling are mixed. The user interface is what most people complain about and don't like. Those people may see it as more limited ability to customize the UI, which is true to a certain extent. But it still can be done via userChrome.css, so that's not an absolute limitation as some people perceive it to be.

As far as extensions getting "lost", there have been at least 3 other somewhat major events or large changes with Firefox in the past where users needed to look for similar replacement extensions for what they had been using. But this switch in Quantum from Legacy extensions to WebExtensions is the largest change by far. Now the WebExtensions are more similar to extensions as used in WebKit and Blink based web browsers, allowing extension developers to create extensions for Firefox a lot more easily. I have even seen online "converters" to make an extension for Firefox from a Chrome extension. But the downside is that developers are more limited in what features they can add to Firefox; more dependency on standard API's and no more "globs of code" thrown in to effect an ad hoc semi-API for one use or one extension, which is good from a security standpoint for users.

PKshadow and others. Thanks for your replies. There was nothing "not nice" about the language in my inquiry. I support Mozilla and make a donation every year -- and have for many years. I have used FF for as long as I can remember. I thought this money went to help defray expenses for new developments. My comment about getting a response from "knowledgeable" people was there because sometimes people who are not knowledgeable and have no connection with Mozilla try to answer a question that requires expertise. Bottom line: why does updating to Firefox 57 (as well as previous version updates) cancel out some of the extensions? It seems that something in your code for FF 57 disables the extensions. Why? Other browsers don't seem to do this. Mozilla's position seems to be: "Dear Extension Developer: If you want your extension to be recognized by FF 57, it's your responsibility to make that happen." I do not have the time or energy (I'm almost 80) to deal with a dozen developers, especially since it appears Mozilla created the problem. (And, I don't like how FF 57 makes customization more difficult. I've reverted to FF 56.0.2) Cloverdavid