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Why the idiotic 'features'?!

  • 8 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by James

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3 December, 2016

I just updated---kicking and screaming in protest---to the latest Firefox version after intentionally delaying for many months. Why? You know why----because every technology makes (almost) everything worse with its nonsensical, and often damaging 'updates'. From Microsoft O.S. to Firefox to __________(<--fill in the blank), virtually every software, O.S., etcetera seems bent on making its users lives miserable. Either that, or there truly is a huge vacuum in common sense and good design sense in the technology world.

But enough about the obvious. In brief, what the heck is up with the following 'features' (or 'curses') on Firefox 50.0.2?

1) Youtube (and any 'picture' or video site). Ohhh, dear, siren-song Youtube. You promise so much and deliver quite a bit, despite your inexplicably stupid ways. But Firefox, why are you making things worse?

    i)  The whole screen has to go dark for a full second (or longer) every time I click 'play' on a video?
    ii)  That DAMANABLE, OH THAT DAMNABLE POPUP "youtube.com is now fullscreen".  Oh DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU TO FIERY HELL.......  Really.  I've griped about this before in previous versions of Firefox.  There is ABSOLUTELY NO EARTHLY REASON TO INFLICT THAT OHHHHH SO ANNOYING POPUP ON US!  Are your designers/programmers just so utterly devoid of any common design sense, or do are you sadists?
    iii)  The unreliable playback of all videos on all sites in any resolution.  So, it's 2016, and I've been watching videos for years and years.  I have a late 'model', fast processor and lot of RAM, etcetera, etcetera.  And yet I can't watch reliable video playback on Firefox.  Chrome?  Check.  Even Internet Explorer?  Three quarters of a check.

2) "Recently Bookmarked"---the list which shows up, upon dropdown of your Bookmarks list. It can't be eliminated, nor can you delete individual Bookmarks one at a time. It unnecessarily fills up my drop down box and just has no reason for its existence when there is already an "Other Bookmarks" tab / arrow.

3) Still on the bookmarks topic, why are the "Bookmarks Toolbar" and "Show All Bookmarks" still in the dropdown bookmarks box with no way of hiding them? This was already a problem in the version of Firefox I upgraded from---something like version 30! Heck, the "Show All Bookmarks" is there TWICE! I love my ability to make and organize bookmarks. These 'list fillers' just make it a bit farther to scroll down to access the bookmarks I want to click.

I was going to add more complaints. But I haven't used this new version much yet. I will add more observations on the (what should be) obvious at a later date.

In the meantime, am I the only one who feels this way?

May I wish all Firefox users a good day, despite their use of Firefox! lol

Cheers

3 December, 2016 I just updated---kicking and screaming in protest---to the latest Firefox version after intentionally delaying for many months. Why? You know why----because every technology makes (almost) everything worse with its nonsensical, and often damaging 'updates'. From Microsoft O.S. to Firefox to __________(<--fill in the blank), virtually every software, O.S., etcetera seems bent on making its users lives miserable. Either that, or there truly is a huge vacuum in common sense and good design sense in the technology world. But enough about the obvious. In brief, what the heck is up with the following 'features' (or 'curses') on Firefox 50.0.2? 1) Youtube (and any 'picture' or video site). Ohhh, dear, siren-song Youtube. You promise so much and deliver quite a bit, despite your inexplicably stupid ways. But Firefox, why are you making things worse? i) The whole screen has to go dark for a full second (or longer) every time I click 'play' on a video? ii) That DAMANABLE, OH THAT DAMNABLE POPUP "youtube.com is now fullscreen". Oh DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU TO FIERY HELL....... Really. I've griped about this before in previous versions of Firefox. There is ABSOLUTELY NO EARTHLY REASON TO INFLICT THAT OHHHHH SO ANNOYING POPUP ON US! Are your designers/programmers just so utterly devoid of any common design sense, or do are you sadists? iii) The unreliable playback of all videos on all sites in any resolution. So, it's 2016, and I've been watching videos for years and years. I have a late 'model', fast processor and lot of RAM, etcetera, etcetera. And yet I can't watch reliable video playback on Firefox. Chrome? Check. Even Internet Explorer? Three quarters of a check. 2) "Recently Bookmarked"---the list which shows up, upon dropdown of your Bookmarks list. It can't be eliminated, nor can you delete individual Bookmarks one at a time. It unnecessarily fills up my drop down box and just has no reason for its existence when there is already an "Other Bookmarks" tab / arrow. 3) Still on the bookmarks topic, why are the "Bookmarks Toolbar" and "Show All Bookmarks" still in the dropdown bookmarks box with no way of hiding them? This was already a problem in the version of Firefox I upgraded from---something like version 30! Heck, the "Show All Bookmarks" is there TWICE! I love my ability to make and organize bookmarks. These 'list fillers' just make it a bit farther to scroll down to access the bookmarks I want to click. I was going to add more complaints. But I haven't used this new version much yet. I will add more observations on the (what should be) obvious at a later date. In the meantime, am I the only one who feels this way? May I wish all Firefox users a good day, despite their use of Firefox! lol Cheers

All Replies (8)

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Good grief! And now even this Firefox user forum is possessed.

Why did it make my subpoints under "1)" look like they're from a different planet and need to be scrolled side to side to view??

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If you start a line with a space then the forum software adds a <pre></pre> block and this disables wrapping.

See:

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You can set browser.bookmarks.showRecentlyBookmarked to false on the about:config page to hide this item.

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Oh. My. Word!

Now this damn Firefox won't even play accuradio.com music streams---something at least the old one did well.

What the bloody, f***ing hell?!?!

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cor-el said

If you start a line with a space then the forum software adds a <pre></pre> block and this disables wrapping. See:

Thank you very much! Very helpful. Though I'd wonder why it does such an esoteric, seemingly useless little thing. But let's not get off track---lol.

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cor-el said

You can set browser.bookmarks.showRecentlyBookmarked to false on the about:config page to hide this item.

Aha!

Yes, by double clicking that field on the about:config page. It works!

Again, thank you very much :)

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And my apologies for my language.

There is literally nothing in the entire world that makes me swear except technology problems.

I believe it's because of my innate belief that A) computer technology, is, by definition, 'the latest' thing on this planet. B) As such, it should logically be the smartest, best designed concept of the modern age. And since it obviously isn't, and since this inexplicable contradiction is constantly beating us over the head, I get crazy---lol.

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rmwpg said

Oh. My. Word! Now this damn Firefox won't even play accuradio.com music streams---something at least the old one did well. What the bloody, f***ing hell?!?!

It uses the HTML5 player unless the OS does not have needed codecs as Flash Player is used as a backup. Much like Youtube uses HTML5 for player and Flash as a backup.

To see if your system can support HTML5 look at https://www.youtube.com/html5/ as all should be blue check marks.

If not then you may have a N or KN version of Windows 7 and need to install codecs. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-video-audio-problems-firefox-windows